Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

Alice I Have Been
by Melanie Benjamin
Delacorte Press (Jan. 12, 2010)
368 pages
Historical Fiction
Source: Shelf Awareness

Summary in a Sentence: 

Benjamin's debut imagines Alice Liddell's experiences before and particularly after Lewis Carroll immortalized her.

My Thoughts:

"But oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful?"

I had some vague idea that Alice in Wonderland was indeed based on a real girl. What I didn't realize, however, was that Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, knew Alice Liddell quite well and even photographed her extensively when she was a young girl. (I have included a couple of these photos in this review.)

I completely lost myself to Liddell's world, living at Oxford as the dean's daughter with her father, mother, and sister. Dodgson and Alice understand each other and have an emotional connection that, while not altogether inappropriate, often teeters on the edge of an intimacy that could be disturbing. It is this strangely close bond that threatens to tarnish Alice's reputation and follow her forever.

This is historical fiction at its best. Melanie Benjamin extensively researched Liddell's life and stuck close to her story. An author's note in the back of the book gives insight as to what is fact and what is fiction in Benjamin's narrative, but suffice it to say that the author has captured the essence of both Alice and Lewis Carroll's humble beginnings. Highly recommended.

*Read this one while you wait for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland to come out in March 2010.

This book earns five points towards The Four Month Challenge.

Also Recommended:

• White Stone: The Alice Poems by Stephanie Bolster
• Still She Haunts Me by Katie Roiphe
• Princess Alyss of Wonderland by Frank Beddor

Other Reviews:

• Good Books & Good Wine 
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The Glimmer Palace by Beatrice Colin

The Glimmer Palace
by Beatrice Colin
Riverhead, 2008
416 pages
Historical fiction
Personal copy

Summary in a Sentence:

Lilly Nelly Aphrodite takes her first breath in Berlin as the 20th century dawns and keeps right on going until she is Germany's top silent film star.

My Thoughts:

Ever since I watched the German silent film Metropolis last year, I've been deeply fascinated with the early film industry. This novel follows Lilly Aphrodite from the dawn of the 20th century to the eve of World War II and gives readers an intimate glimpse into the world of Germany in the throes of World War I and the decadence of the 1920s German film industry.

An interesting facet of the novel that sets it aside from other historical fiction is the structure. At the beginning of every chapter, the author opens with short unconnected stories about the German film industry and an accompanying photo from turn of the century Germany. The photos above and below were among those included in the book. I love historical fiction because it is an imagined story based on real events. These vignettes and photos help connect the reader with the era and the characters.

Silent film star Pola Negri

Besides All Quiet on the Western Front, this is the first book I've read set in World War I. Reading about the complete devastation of the citizens of Germany in a textbook is one thing, but reading about it from the standpoint of Lilly personalizes the loss and poverty that was so widespread and gives the reader a glimpse as to  how these circumstances led to the rise of Hitler in the '30s.
 

For fans of historical fiction as well as the history of cinema.

This book counts towards the Random Reading Challenge.

Rating: 4/5

You might also like:

• The Sister by Poppy Adams
• Thrumpton Hall: A Memoir of Life in my Father's House by Miranda Seymour
• A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell
• The Innocents by Caroline Seebohm
  

Other Reviews:

Read reviews from The Tome Traveller's Blog, Bookgirl's Nightstand, and A Writer's Pen.

Guest Reviewer: Angry Management

Angry Management
by Chris Crutcher
Pub: Greenwillow, 2009
ISBN: 9780060502478
246 pages
Genre: Fiction (Novellas)
Source: Library Copy


Please give my mom Ann, a high school library media specialist, a warm welcome here on A Bookshelf Monstrosity as she reviews Crutcher's new book :)

Summary in a Sentence:

A collection of short stories featuring characters from earlier books by Crutcher such as Sarah Byrnes and Angus Bethune.

Mom's Thoughts:

I just finished reading Angry Management by Chris Crutcher today.  I enjoyed it very much.  It was basically 3 short stories or novellas in one book.  One interesting thing was that Crutcher used characters from some of his previous works--Angus Bethune, Sarah Byrnes, Mr. Simet from Whale Talk, and others.  But you would not have to read any of his previous books to enjoy this book.  Mr. Nak is the leader of the Angry Management group at Global Community Health.  I like the case notes Mr. Nak writes at the beginning of each novella (Nak's Notes).  He describes these as First Impressions.  I liked each story, but my favorite was "Meet Me at the Gates, Marcus James." Recommended for fans of Crutchers'  Deadline and Whale Talk.

Rating: 4/5

You might also like:

• Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
• Ironman by Chris Crutcher
• Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn
  

Other reviews:

• Finding Wonderland
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and

The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir

The Life of Elizabeth I
by Alison Weir
Publisher: Ballantine, 1998
ISBN: 9780345425508
532 pages
Genre: History; England & Wales
Source: Library copy


Summary in a Sentence:

Chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth I, and discusses both her political and private life; includes information on her relationships with Robert Dudley, Mary Stuart, and Philip of Spain.

My Thoughts: 

My interest in Queen Elizabeth I has long been fed by documentaries, movies, and historical fiction titles such as I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles. I've always found her to be very fascinating and thought it was high time I read a biography about her. But which one do I choose? I found it serendipitous when a student at the high school library at which I'm interning checked in this extensive biography of the Virgin Queen, so I  promptly checked it out myself.

I'm so glad I did. I've been on a bit of a non-fiction tear lately, and this biography didn't disappoint. Weir is very thorough, covering all aspects of the queen's reign, from her foreign policy to her personal life. The most discussed topic throughout Weir's writing is Elizabeth's battle to stay unmarried. Elizabeth spends years and years doing a courtly and strategic dance with other heads of state, leading them on for as long as possible in courtships she has no intention of agreeing to in order to keep the peace with foreign nations. Weir makes an excellent point that Elizabeth has good reason to be very wary of marriage. Just look at the disastrous marriages that her father kept entering into, and what happened to her unfortunate mother! Elizabeth knew that in order to be the true head of her country, she must remain single. I cannot imagine the pressure she constantly felt from both her advisors and subjects to capitulate and marry.

This book is recommended to all who are interested in Elizabeth and who want to read an extremely thorough narrative of the queen's private and public life.


Also Recommended:

• Children of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
  
• Pirate Queen: Elizabeth I, Her Pirate Adventurers, and the Dawn of Empire by Susan Ronald
• The Young Elizabeth: The First 25 Years of Elizabeth I by Alison Plowden
  

Review: Every Soul a Star

Every Soul a Star

by Wendy Mass

Publisher: Little, Brown 2008

Summary in a Sentence:

Ally, Bree, and Jack meet at Moon Shadow, an isolated campground, to watch a total eclipse of the sun; but soon they begin to learn a great deal about themselves, each other, and the universe.

 My thoughts:

 
Let me begin by saying that I found out about this book because of my (former) babysitting charge's hearty recommendation. She just finished reading this with her mom and they both loved it. I love it when 13 year olds tell me that I simply must read a book!

Ally, Bree, and Jack tell their stories in alternating chapters of their experiences at the Moon Shadow campground, building up to a solar eclipse. I was immediately drawn to Jack and really found his thoughts resonating deeply with me. I think he reminded me a little of myself at 13 or 14. Mass includes just enough elements of astronomy to pique your interest without making you feel like you are -gasp!- learning something, which is just perfect for the target audience of middle schoolers.

Ally lives at the campground with her family where she is homeschooled. Bree, dragged to the eclipse by her family is the stereotypical mall-bound and materialistic tween, which leads me to my only complaint of the novel. I felt that Bree's character was too one-dimensional and predicable for most of the book. It isn't until about three quarters of the way through the book that her character begins to show some multi-dimensional characteristics that the reader can begin to relate to,and she really turns out to be the surprise character twist of the novel. Where the novel shines is with the character of Jack. He reluctantly agrees to go to the campground in order to pass his science class. More interested in drawing and keeping to himself, Jack undergoes a transformation to become a leader of sorts among the campground's inhabitants.
As the story progresses, we see the characters grow and develop as they form unlikely friendships and become more comfortable with themselves.

Lastly, I loved how the book was built around the facts of astronomy in general, and solar eclipses in particular (the author includes some informative endnotes on astronomy and also provides some helpful websites). Mass is very engaging and keeps the reader on their toes throughout the entire novel.

Also Recommended: 

• Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
• Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs
• Shooting the Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell
  

Other Reviews:

• Librarilly Blonde 
• The Reading Zone 
• Book Nut
  

Review: The Kin by Peter Dickinson

 

The Kin 

by Peter Dickinson

Publisher: Firebird, 2003

ISBN: 9780142501207

628 pages

Genre: Historical fiction

Source: Library copy

Summary in a Sentence:

 

Dickinson's Kin series, Suth's Story, Noli's Story, Po's Story, and Mana's Story, novels about four prehistoric children, are published here in one edition along with Pourquoi tales interspersed throughout the novel that provide a folkloric heritage and belief system for the Kin and also explain character motivation.

  

My Thoughts:

After reading a few just so-so books, I really wanted to get lost in a great tome of a story. The Kin was just the ticket. The book is actually four novels published in one volume, weighing in at just over 600 pages. The story is paced really well, so I would look up from reading and realize I had just knocked out 50 or 75 pages in no time. I'm a huge history fan and have always been interested in the history of early mankind. Set in prehistoric Africa, this novel imagines what life was like for the clans of people surviving in the African deserts.

The stories of Suth, Noli, Po, and Mana are interspersed with Oldtales, or creation stories about the Kin's First Ones, which I found to be really interesting and illuminating as to how the characters behaved and reacted to life in the wild. Each First One is an animal, such as a monkey or a pocupine, and each Kin is named after a First One. The mixture of myth and history was just perfect and very entertaining.

A most interesting aspect of this book is how Dickinson imagined communication between speaking and non-speaking humans. The four children the stories follow belong to the Moonhawk Kin, which consists of highly verbal humans. Along the way, they encounter the Porcupine Kin, who are nonverbal but are still very communicative through sounds and gestures. Some of the Moonhawks say that the Porcupine Kin are not really 'people' because they can't speak words, but others, particularly Noli, are convinced that the Porcupine are just as human as anyone else even though they are different.

All in all, this novel is a very interesting and thought-provoking work of 'prehistorical' fiction.

P.S. This counts toward my Random Reading Challenge.

Rating: 4/5

Read Alikes: 

• The Ropemaker by Peter Dickinson
• Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver
• The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel