The Elemental Masters Series by Mercedes Lackey

Several years ago, I read The Fire Rose which incidentally doesn’t show up on the list of the Elemental Masters series currently published in with these other four titles. The four which I read this Christmas holiday are The Gates of Sleep (Briar Rose), The Serpents’ Shadow (Snow White), The Wizard of London (The Snow Queen), and Phoenix and Ashes (Cinderella). These four books have interwoven characters in such that they show up in each other’s books. Alderscroft is the Wizard of London and gets a mention in each of the others as a possible source of help but only in the FLBaum Ozian sense during the Gates of Sleep. Set at the turn of the century when women were fighting for the right to go to school, vote, have a career, and the right to own their own destinies let alone property. Magic clashes with industrial might, the earth elementals are injured by cold iron, and pure evil allows the non-magical to steal power (another reason for wanting Briar Rose to die). An Air Master who loves his planes blanks magic out of his life and as such is the only one who can see the truth about Cinderella. Eastern magic meets Western magic and the clash of prejudices almost destroys Great Britain if not for the intervention of the handsome industrialist who recognizes Snow White as the princess even if she is half-caste. But what causes a fire master to seem so cold and unable to connect with others – how about denying his Element in order to conquer Ice. I’ve loved these just like most of Lackey’s other books. By the way, Fire Rose is Beauty and the Beast in San Francisco.

The Christmas Train by David Baldacci

Every Christmas needs at least one campy romance about the hope of romance during the holidays. And with the new cuts to Amtrak, a train story seems appropriate. I picked this one up since I was on a Baldacci kick. It’s wraps up all the great classic story lines – the mysterious thief, the reunion of lost lovers, survival while trapped by nature, and the hero who doesn’t realize that he is a hero until the end when he rescues everyone. Oh, and there is a great twist to the end. But, it’s a sappy Christmas book – anyone want my copy?

Beauty - Robin McKinley

Fantasy seems to go in trends, and the current trend is the retelling of familiar fairytales. I like this twist on Beauty and the Beast. What if Beauty wasn’t her name or her face? What if Beauty was a nickname that was an ironic curse? What if her older sisters were Grace and Hope and they fit their names perfectly? But how do you explain Honour to a 5 year old? And when she didn’t understand her name and says she would rather be Beauty, would you start calling her that? How would you change it if she wasn’t a Beauty? If you were plain and called Beauty, wouldn’t going to a strange castle (much bigger than the shack you were living in) be a wonderful escape, especially if you loved to read and it had an open library?

McKinley does a wonderful job of weaving a story both familiar and strange. At least it doesn’t have the flavor of the Disney movie.

1776 David McCullough

“There was a great to-do for about 25 years about how young people today don't like to read and don't like books, so you have to dumb down the vocabulary, increase the number of illustrations, so forth and so on. It was conventional wisdom in academics and among publishers. Then along came Harry Potter and blew all that misconception out of the water. Of course, young people will read something if it is appealing, if it's compelling. They're human beings. I think by nature, we really instinctively love history. Our great stories are all once upon a time. We want to hear what our parents remember from childhood. We want to go to movies that are somewhat historical in nature. The two most popular movies of all time: Gone with the Wind and Titanic. That's not just coincidental.”

When I read that quote from David McCullough my first thought was, but he left out Star Wars, then it hit me that his grammar made the statement inaccurate. Then I began wondering if it was a misquotation since I don’t see a historian of McCullough’s caliber making that type of factual and grammatical error. Bringing up Harry Potter in front of Congress though was enough to grab my attention so I threw his name into the “if I get time, I’ll read something of his” pile. Then my neighborhood book club read “1776’ but I didn’t have time to join them since I was in school and busy with schoolwork. So, when I ended up looking at a 600 mile drive over 3 days, and 1776 was available as an audio book, I grabbed it.
For a history, it was interesting and McCullough does make it come alive. I didn’t realize just how much of the American Revolution was in that single year. I tend to think of the Revolution lasting from 1776 to 1783 and it all gets spread out in my mind. Concentrating on just the single year made for an interesting drive. I couldn’t wait to get back in the car for the next segment.