NEW AT THE MID-COLUMBIA LIBRARY SYSTEM…

            Fact or fantasy?  They’re equally intriguing to readers.  Explorers and travelers are dreamers and we love to read about their adventurous souls.  Pure fantasy captures our imagination, young and old.  Enjoy the following fiction and non-fiction titles, new at your local library.

 

EXPLORERS, A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF EXPLORATION by Richard Sale, Collins, New York, 192 p

Astounding historical snapshots of our world are shared in Explorers, offering readers a rare opportunity to “take part” in perilous first treks into mountains, polar areas, deserts, jungles, the underworld and the sea.

But it is not the view of mountain climbers or the cold artic that will stay with you long after you finish the book. It is a sepia portrait of two Aborigines in Australia. In their eyes is the haunted look of suspicion, fear and sadness that seems to portent the harm that was to come their way as western civilization advanced. The photo was taken by B.H. Purcell in 1893.

The first man to cross Australia, Edward Eyre, later said, “It is a most lamentable thing to think that the progress and prosperity of one race should conduce to the downfall and decay of another.”

The tales of discovery (and the rivalries among explorers to be the first to conquer peaks or to traverse territory) are not always noble or honorable, but they nevertheless are fascinating.

 

But be forewarned. You will need a world atlas handy when you read this book on exploration.  There is not one map in it, an oversight that is hard to fathom.

Perhaps the author, Richard Sale, simply didn’t grasp that most people don’t possess his instant recall of far-flung places in the world.

As a scientist and photographer Sale crisscrossed the world many times. Of particular interest to him is the Arctic. His earlier works include On Top of the World and Arctic Odyssey. 

--Reviewed by Bonnie Taylor, author and trustee of the Mid-Columbia Library System Board.

 

MISTER MONDAY by Garth Nix, c2005, Scholastic Press, New York, NY, 361 pages.

Welcome to the weird world of Garth Nix, master of dark fantasy.  Mister Monday is the first installment of his newest series, Keys to the Kingdom.  The Creator has set the universe in motion, drawn up The Will to keep things functioning properly, appointed seven Trustees (one for each day of the week) to oversee things, and left on an extended vacation.  Unfortunately, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  The Will has been torn into seven pieces and imprisoned for eternity at the far flung edges of space and time. 

But something has gone terribly wrong with the evil plan of the Trustees to continue running things their way!  A minor clause of The Will escapes, travels to present day earth, and takes up residence in a tiny frog.  By jumping into the throat of Skeezer, Mister Monday’s creepy butler, he tricks Monday, trustee of the lower house, into giving away the Minor Key (shaped like the huge minute hand of a clock) to Arthur Penhaligon. 

Sinister Monday plans to then regain possession of the Key just as soon as Arthur dies from his severe asthma attack, but the magic of the Key revives Arthur, who turns out to be the Rightful Heir to the Kingdom.  Though the Key must be willingly given, Monday and his evil minions try every trick in their book, including a swarm of dog-faced Fetchers that spread an incurable plague, to coerce Arthur into returning it.  Though he appears ill equipped for the task, Arthur must enter an enormous House – which only he can see – to secure the greater key (the clock’s hour hand) and save earth from this mysterious Sleeping Plague.   Recommended for readers in grades 5th through 8th.

--Reviewed by Joyce Willis, employee of the Mid-Columbia Library System.

 

SON OF A WITCH by Gregory Maguire, c2005 Harper Collins, New York, NY, 334 pages.

Hearing just a few bars of the music from the 1939 film classic can transport to us Oz as quickly as the click of the ruby clad heels. No matter what incarnation, America loves Oz.  When Gregory Maguire wrote Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West a decade ago, he tapped directly into America's love for Oz and masterfully created a world based around the character we love to hate, all the while examining ethical and political questions.

In Son of a Witch, the sequel to Wicked, the main character, Liir, possible son of the Wicked Witch of the West, is found physically shattered and near death. He’s taken to a cloister to heal his wounds, where otherworldly Mother Yackle instructs Candle, a junior maunt with a talent for music, to tend Liir in an effort to heal his body and soul. With her music, she slowly coaxes life back into Liir.

As Candle's playing ignites Liir's memories, we learn of his life and the World of Oz since the death of the Wicked one.

Emerald City has become more militarized and pursues a course of colonialism against the less technologically developed realms of Oz. The mysterious and ultra-pious Emperor Apostle has gained control. The peoples of the west, the scattered tribes who inhabit the Vinkus, live in dread and distrust as innocents have been routinely skinned and scalped. Creatures of the air fear taking flight lest they’re attacked. The merry old Land of Oz has never looked so bleak.

Son of a Witch is a darker novel than its predecessor, and as heavy on allegory as Wicked, if not more so. It is complex, but like Wicked, gives more depth and flavor to the vibrant strand of American culture known as Oz.

--Reviewed by Kyle Cox, Communications Director, Mid-Columbia Library System.

A YEAR IN THE WORLD: JOURNEYS OF A PASSIONATE TRAVELLER by Frances Mayes, c2006, Broadway Books, NY, 417 pages.

            People travel for a multitude of reasons.  For Frances Mayes to leave her beloved house in Tuscany the reasons were compelling:  9/11; her mother’s death; nine friends stricken with breast cancer; a traumatic home invasion in San Francisco. Each incident contributed to her sense of carpe diem.  So begins a journey to places dreamed of but yet to be seen.  A Year in the World took five years to complete after Frances and her husband Ed listed places they longed to visit. 

            Starting in Sardinia, Frances says, apropos of nothing, “I want to taste the last drop.”  Soon they’re off to Spain, land of harsh sunlight and shadows, poetry by Federico Garcia Lorca, architectural remnants of the Moorish culture, earthy, passionate flamenco.   As Frances and Ed wander through ancient cities, prowl markets and antique stores, search for the perfect cup of espresso or the perfect meal of tapas, we are vicarious companions reading her journals full of literary gossip and historical whimsy. 

            At each successive destination, Portugal; the Cotswolds in England; Fez, Morocco; the Greek isles, etc., Frances and Ed briefly live among the natives, share their cities, music, literature, food and culture.  Not every destination is the fulfillment of dreams (Ed is too sick with food poisoning in Fez to enjoy the Medieval city), and some surpass all expectations, like the rose gardens of England in July.

            Whether she’s at home in Bella Tuscany or abroad, few travel writers can make a reader feel they’ve seen the world without leaving their armchair like Frances Mayes.

--Reviewed by Marsha Bates, employee of the Mid-Columbia Library System.