The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

I have very fond memories of reading the Blue, Violet, Orange, Green, etc Fairy Books at my very first school library. I'd love to eventually collect all of these books (12, I think?), but preferably not the particular edition that my Blue Fairy Book came in. It's very good quality, but I wasn't impressed by the cover design. Yes, I am that shallow :-p if my books are old, the cover design is allowed to be slightly unimpressive, (styles and trends were different in the past, that's part of the charm) but if it's a new book I'm a bit more picky.

Overview
Not too much to tell in this section. The book is a collection of about 30 fairy tales from many different traditions--English, French, German, Arabian, and Scottish. Some of the stories are credited to other 'collectors' like the Brothers Grimm or Charles Perrault, while others have no such citation. I don't know whether this means Lang dug them up himself or not, but I think all of the non-cited stories are from England, so maybe he felt that he could claim partial ownership.
The book's greatest weakness is that Lang saw fit to include an excerpt from Gulliver's Travels. Horrible idea. It may have several fantastic elements, but Gulliver's Travels is satire and political commentary! It's no more a fairy tale than A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. But even if we ignore its pedigree, the excerpt really breaks the rhythm of the book and bogs it down; the tone is too pompous and formal. Gulliver's Travels was a fine book on its own, but it doesn't fit here. On the whole though, the stories are excellent.

Recommended for: Everyone, why not?

Parental Worries: The book was designed for children, and there's not much I'd object to. Having said that, these are not morality tales. The heroes are not sterling examples of behavior, but I don't think that's too much of a problem. (see below)

Ramblings
The best thing about these books is the random, obscure fairy tales that haven't been made into Disney movies or otherwise re-told a million times. "Snow White and Rose Red" is one of my favorites in this category, but other good ones from this volume are "The Goose Girl" "Prince Darling" and "The Story of Pretty Goldilocks" (different Goldilocks). Some of the tales are pretty strange, and occasionally morbid or shocking. I was surprised to realize this, because I'd heard Lang was of the school that freely edited tales to make them more acceptable for children. However, I don't remember being traumatized by any of these stories as a child, so I think my 'shock' is merely a sign that I've grown up and forgotten that kids love that kind of thing. They can enjoy a fun story with a hero that doesn't always act like a perfect gentleman (or gentlewoman) without completely accepting and condoning his or her actions.

Its also interesting to compare the ethnic backgrounds of the tales. The stories with French sources tend to be lavish and glamorous, whereas the tales from Grimm are characteristically dark and down-to-earth. There's two tales from Scotland at the end of the book that are written with full dialect intact. (dotchter = daughter, sae = say, etc) I can't decide whether the overall result is charming or annoying--there's a fine line there somewhere.

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

With the exception of A Christmas Carol, all of Dickens' novels require a serious commitment (600 t0 800+ pages worth), but it's almost always worth it. This was Dickens' first novel, and I can easily imagine that it made him an instant hit. Just as a measure of its popularity and impact, there's at least one literary device (Wellerism) and one medical condition (Pickwickian syndrome) that derived their names from this novel. I also remember the Little Women girls playing Pickwickians, and although I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about at the time, in hindsight this is exactly the type of book that would be fodder for children's playtime. I've liked the Dickens novels that I've read in the past, but this one is my favorite so far.

Overview
The opening chapter is presented as the minutes of a meeting of the 'Pickwick Club'. It is by far the least-organized and most difficult chapter of the entire book. Fortunately, it's also unique, so if you can make it through, stuff starts making more sense almost immediately. The general idea of the first chapter is that the esteemed and venerated Mr. Samuel Pickwick has agreed to travel the countryside with three companions and provide the club with the complete record of their adventures for the education and entertainment of the members.

Mr. Pickwick's three young companions are introduced at this point: Mr. Tupman, the romantic; Mr. Winkle, the sportsman; and Mr. Snodgrass, the poet. As the story progresses, Mr. Tupman's conquests include almost winning the heart of someone's spinster aunt, before she runs off with another scoundrel; Mr. Winkle's sportsmanship consists of accidentally shooting Mr. Tupman in the arm; and although none is ever offered, I will let you take a guess as to the quality of Mr. Snodgrass' poetry.

The first half of the book follows Mr. Pickwick and co. through several seemingly random visits to small English towns, where they take in the sights, mix with the local color, and generally manage to get themselves into plenty of trouble. They also collect and record any stories that their acquaintances have to tell, and these can range from tragic to hilarious to just . . . strange (but always entertaining). The last half has more direction and slightly more cohesiveness; it follows several storylines and has a more subdued tone, although there's still plenty of humor involved.

Usually, the only books that leave me laughing out loud are Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, but this one had my husband slightly worried because I kept randomly chuckling while working in the kitchen.

Recommended for: Anyone with enough time

Parental Worries: Umm, it's Dickens. Wholesomeness is basically a given.

Audiobook Comments: Read by Patrick Tull, who does a splendid job. I would highly recommend tackling this book on audio, for several reasons. The names that Dickens gives his characters are a joy to hear aloud; their humor and appropriateness are not quite as effective in print. Also, (and I had to check the print edition to make sure of this) the wonderful accents in the book are actually spelled out, and I at least would find reading it to be fairly tedious at times. (as with any heavy accent, they require a bit of translation that isn't necessary when read aloud)

Ramblings
Dickens is famous for his characters, and several of his most memorable come from this work. The title character is so lavishly and outrageously praised by the narrator that I almost expected him to be the complete opposite, but he turns out to truly be as good-hearted and lovable as the narrator claims (although perhaps not as dignified :-p ). My favorite character by far though is Sam Weller, Mr. Pickwick's manservant. Sam is not a trained valet, but was originally a bootblack who became mixed up in the affairs of the Pickwickians and was subsequently hired by Mr. Pickwick, who found his originality and wit refreshing. Sam is not only great fun but one of the most virtuous characters in the book. He and his father also have a charming accent that I'd never heard before--all of their v's are pronounced as w's, which means that things are 'wery nice' or 'conwenient'.

As with any of Dickens' novels, The Pickwick Papers is chock full of social commentary. However, most of it is lighthearted satire, with one notable exception. The debtors' prisons of London, which lock away men who would work to clear their debts, but provide good-for-nothings with the life of leisure that they desire, are not a matter for levity. It's interesting to look at Dickens' development over the course of this novel, which was released in serial form over a year and a half--he starts out with a very unconnected, piecemeal story with a light tone and eventually builds to a serious condemnation of a social injustice that strikes close to him personally. (Dickens' father spent some time in a debtors prison when he was about 12 years old, bringing a harsh end to an otherwise happy childhood)

Another thing that really made me smile is Dickens' lawyers. Dickens does not like lawyers, and it shows in all of his books. Remarkably, only two of the lawyers in this story are truly despicable; the others are merely amusing, although his criticism of lawyers in general and the justice system in its entirety is still very strong.

W Juliet by Emura

This isn't actually a book, it's a manga series. Manga is one of my guilty pleasures, although I don't read as much now as I did in high school and college. It's expensive, addicting, and nerdy by definition, but it's also a lot of fun, as long as you pick your titles wisely. There's a wide range of quality in the world of manga, and as it becomes more popular in the US, providers are translating anything and everything they can get their hands on.

Overview

W Juliet is, as you can probably guess, a romance story. However, the hook is that it also falls into the sub-genre of 'gender-bender' romance, which is fairly popular among manga fans. We're not talking homo- or transsexuals here, but more of a Twelfth Night variety of humor. Your typical story in this vein has a girl starting high school diguised as a guy in order to join a sports team/cover for a relative/stay with a close friend. Shenanigans ensue; everyone has a lot of fun, except for the poor guy who falls in love with the main character and cannot understand why he's suddenly and very selectively become gay.

W Juliet varies from the formula because this time it's the guy who has to make it through high school as a girl. This sounds like a bad idea at first; a girl can dress like a guy in order to accomplish something and still keep her femininity, but a guy dressing like a girl is probably slightly confused, right? Not so for Makoto. He wants to be an actor, but his strict, traditional father wants him to take over the family business (a martial arts dojo). They strike a deal--if Makoto can make it through high school as a girl without anyone finding out the truth, then Father will recognize his ability and allow him to follow his dream. It turns out that Makoto really is a good actor, and his school is thrilled with their beautiful new student.

Oh, but it isn't enough to have one cross-dresser! Enter Ito Miura, the school tomboy. Okay, so she's not actually pretending to be a boy, but she's tall with short hair, and she prefers the boy's uniform to a short little skirt that won't let her run around. All of this turns into a bit of confusion on the part of strangers, and lands her the male lead in many of the drama club's productions. Since she also wants to be an actor, it's natural that she makes friends with Makoto. It's also natural that when Makoto's changing into her costume for the next act, Ito has no compunction about wandering into the dressing room. Whoops.

So the whole story comes out, and Ito becomes part of the conspiracy. The rest of the series consists of Ito and Makoto falling in love and trying to keep Makoto's secret from the rest of the school. It's great fun, and alternatively sweet and hilariously funny. I haven't actually finished the series yet, but I think I'm only one volume away.

Recommended for: Girls and manga fans

Parental Worries: None so far. The two are remarkably well-behaved, considering that their family and friends don't think twice about them sharing a room for the night. This is the type of manga where a girl gets flustered and nervous about hugs and her first kiss, and that's about as far as they go. (again, I haven't read the last volume, but I'm not expecting any surprises)

Ramblings
When I first started reading this series, I was kind of thrown off by the crazy gender switching and characterization. Ito looked like a boy (not even a particularly pretty boy) and Makoto was rather feminine. I honestly wondered a little what the two saw in each other. As the series develops though, we get to see more of Makoto not acting like a girl, (it's really a stunning change, he's a handsome guy) and Ito getting coerced into dresses and kimonos that show off her truly striking beauty. This development was something I really liked about the series; anime and manga characters (especially romantic couples) are usually designed to be 100% aesthetically appealing, so it was refreshing to have a bit of discord at first. (I may be giving the artist a little too much credit here, the changes in character design could be the result of polishing and refining the manga's art style, but it produces the same result either way.)

Another thing I really enjoy is that the actual relationship between the two is very real, and very healthy. This isn't a pair of emotionally dysfunctional kids clinging to each other for protection against the big bad world and trying to fill the holes in each others lives; there's more joy and less angst than in any other love story I can think of. There's still a bit of angst, or it wouldn't be much of a story, but it's kept to a minimum--most of the conflict comes from outside forces and extraordinary events. In fact, there's a surprising amount of action for a high school romance that isn't based around superheroes or magic. (This isn't to say that some of their adventures don't take a turn into the supernatural, but they're just amusing sidelines, not significant plot drivers) It turns out that Ito's family also runs a dojo, so when rival clubs or hired thugs try strong-arm tactics, the two heroes are fully capable of kicking ass.

The supporting cast is also lots of fun; between crazy schoolmates, crazy teachers and Ito's four overprotective brothers, there's always something going on. I can't wait to get my hands on the last volume. ^_^