The Mysterious Disappearance of the Reluctant Book Fairy

The Mysterious Disappearance of the Reluctant Book Fairy by Elizabeth  George
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Annapurna (a/k/a Janet) is a librarian with a Special Ability. Mildred is an Indomitable Force. Add one indie bookstore with money woes, adventure-seekers with deep pockets, a best friend who can't keep a secret, and a dollop of literary opinions. Voilà - fifty pages that will leave you laughing and yearning for a friend named Annapurna.

Janet has always been able to lose herself in a story. Literally. Not as a character, already written, but as a participating extra. As a sickly child, she drank tea alongside Alice in Wonderland, tried on Cinderalla's slippers, and climbed down Rapunzel's hair. Her secret was never meant to be public. Ah, but after she settled an argument with her talkative friend by transporting her to a pivotal scene beneath an oak tree in To Kill a Mockingbird, she became a very popular girl indeed.

Years later, she has long eschewed her talent, and has spent 15 years travelling the country in a school bus with folks who want to duplicate "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." Her now-married friend, Monie, entices her back to her hometown; a library job is the lure, but a desire for temporary escapes from her dullard husband is the real motivation. Monie really, really needs a trip to the terrace at Monte Carlo where Maxim proposed to Rebecca's nameless successor. (The delicious scene with Mrs. Danvers will have to wait.)

Enter the Indomitable Force, a stalwart fundraiser for local causes. She learns about the Special Ability. Enough said.

(Janet, by the way, is not a pushover. She has always sent people into books they had not requested, because a trip on the Argo is better than a game of quidditch, n'est pas? She insists on Dracula instead of trips with glittery vampires, refuses all requests for Danielle Steel, and acquaints many with The Scarlet Pimpernel and Pemberley.)

Elizabeth George has concocted a wicked funny book, a total delight. Will you think about "Being John Malkovich" and larks by Jasper Fford? Of course. That's part of the fun.

Five stars for a book that's short, but oh, so savory.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


View all my reviews

Uprooted

Uprooted by Naomi Novik
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What Naomi Novik has created in Uprooted is a new vision from old fairy-and-folktale tropes. We have seen enchanted and malevolent forests before; likewise, the cold wizard from the stony tower who claims a young girl from a nearby village every ten years.

What we have never seen before is how the young girl challenges her selection because her beautiful friend had been groomed for the honor by her proud family, how the girl who is selected masters her own nature and changes the course of her magical training to add compassion to power, and how material corruption can be understood and transcended by the power of a woman's faithfulness.

Each of the revelations of this book follows a new logic down an old, old path. Read it with joy and astonishment.

Five stars, and straight on 'til morning.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


View all my reviews