lory_enterenchanted's Reviews (582)

These short essays combine appreciation of the wonders of nature with reflections from the author's life and experiences. Often they were VERY short and fragmentary, leading to a wish for more depth and continuity. The author is a poet, and they were similar to lyric poems in prose, which gave them a quirky kind of originality, but also sometimes failed to satisfy.

To my mind, a good romance novel is really about personal / moral development. This one is a charming example. I love how Freddy and Kitty mature and come gradually to appreciate each other. I am not a huge fan of the rake as love interest trope, so this is a nice alternative.

Part of my ongoing project to better understand and heal my own gut issues. The research is very exciting and promising, if somewhat limited and premature. The authors often present not-fully-tested theories (to be fair, they do say when they are doing this) or talk about their personal choices for their own two children, which are not evidence. Along with this filler, though, is a solid case to be made that our gut microbiota has a profound effect on many areas previously thought to be unrelated, and that improvements in gut health can likewise profoundly affect our physical and even mental health. Sadly, this also means that the modern threats to said gut microbiota -- especially the fiber-poor Western diet, the astronomic rate of unnecessary C-sections, the compulsion to oversanitize everything and fear dirt, and the dangerous, but seemingly unstoppable overuse of antibiotics -- have had a devastating effect that may not be reversible. 

"We are a composite organism, an ecosystem," the authors say at the book's conclusion. The age of the individualistic, atomistic worldview, the prejudice that led us to see things as separate and disconnected, is at an end, a very dead end. In science, as in every other area of life, we must begin to see each part always in relation to the whole. And in terms of our physiology, that means becoming aware of and working in harmony with our invisible microbial friends. Here's to that hope for the future.

After a couple of disappointing mystery reads this month, I enjoyed this one! The "secret staircase" conceit was appealing because I love those kinds of secret rooms. Character and relationship development was minimal, but the characters didn't depress or annoy me at least. I'd read another one in this series, just to see what happens to them all next.

Reviews and more on my blog, Entering the Enchanted Castle I started reading this because I couldn't sleep one night, and then I had to keep going to the end. An odd mixture of comedy of manners, thriller, melodrama, and sentimental romance, veering wildly through various emotional trajectories. I think it would have been more successful if it had stuck more to just one or two sorts of stories; as it is, we are just settling into one when we get taken off in another direction; just after the most gooey sentimental bit, we get a grim, cynical ending as a chaser. Maybe Burnett was making fun of her own genre-writing formulas somehow? Also, very class-conscious and snobby, but that's Burnett for you. In some ways reminiscent of a grown-up A Little Princess, but with a heroine who is much more ordinary than Sara, almost stupid, and notable mainly for her slavish devotion to the man who rescues her from a life of poverty. I remember being disappointed the first time I read it, and so it was again.

Reviews and more on my blog, Entering the Enchanted Castle I got interested in this from the review at annabookbel.net -- unlike Annabel, I've never seen Cox onstage or even on film (except in Braveheart, where I must have seen but didn't consciously notice him), and I don't watch TV so haven't seen him in his current hit show. Still I enjoyed his memoir about his life in the theatre, later emphasizing more movies and TV since he chose to go Hollywood and become a successful character actor. The earlier part of the book was more compelling; later on it became very fragmented and name-droppy. Aside from repeated self-castigations for being such a bad husband to his first wife and bad dad (and it seems he really was), there wasn't much coherence to the thoughts his personal life or inner journey. Often reads like he's talking to you over a beer, with his conversational asides and quips. The most interesting musings are about acting as a form of "expiation," but he's never able to make it quite clear exactly what he means by it, except that he does it and Ian McKellen doesn't.

A reread in order to review the new Folio Society edition, to come shortly on the blog. Reviews and more on my blog, Entering the Enchanted Castle

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

This was a fun adventure story with a memorable setting and characters, well-crafted language that was by turns evocative, suspenseful, funny and heartwarming. The twists and turns of the plot kept it exciting, ringing some clever changes on the usual "orphan stranded in nasty family" story, and rewarding us in the end with the perfect ending for everyone. The books of Frances Hodgson Burnett are an obvious inspiration--Little Lord Fauntleroy is explicitly referenced, but A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, and even The Lost Prince are in the background too. Ibbotson makes the genre her own, though, with her own excellent storytelling. The romantic, somewhat patronizing view of the "Indians" is an unfortunate flaw, but the powerful sense of the wonders of nature will hopefully make an even stronger impression on young readers.

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

A fantastically detailled, suitably pointillistic (composed largely of brief interviews with cast and crew of the original production) account of the development of a unique and important piece of theatre. Now that it's become a legend, it's fascinating to look back at its origins before anyone knew it would work, the tensions and conflicts behind the scenes, James Lapine's inexperience as a writer and director. The connecting and sustaining thread throughout is Lapine's close collaboration with Sondheim, who was just coming off a painful failure with Merrily We Roll Along and yet willing to dare again to do something completely different, following an artistic dream, taking a chance on an unknown. The complete script of the show is included at the end, but it's no substitute for watching a performance -- fortunately the recording of the original production is available.

This was a lovely book celebrating friendship and the true nobility of the human spirit. Ibbotson is marvelous at both goodies and baddies, and her little idiosyncratic touches are hilarious (like Pom-Pom the Outer Mongolian Pedestal Dog). I want to go to school at Delderton!