Book Review: The Scarlet Pimpernel - by Baroness Orczy

Synopsis: The Scarlet Pimpernel is the first novel in a series of books focused around a group of men known as the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel. This is the tale of the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel, a mysterious Englishman of mysterious identity who, together with his network of daring comrades, cunningly sneaks French nobles bound for the guillotine out of France during the French Revolution.

... Actually, this is NOT the tale of the Scarlet Pimpernel. This novel really tells the tale of Lady Marguerite Blakeney, a beautiful, witty, stylish French actress who marries the oh-so-very English Sir Percy Blakeney. Their marriage begins passionately enough, but by the time our story begins, the Blakeneys have become estranged and bitter toward one another. Through a misunderstanding, they each believe the other no longer holds any love for them. Percy is a notorious fop with a shallow personality and a reputation for downright stupidity. Marguerite is a beatiful trendsetter and the life of the party. Both display thinly-veiled contempt for one another whenever they are together. Over the course of the novel, Marguerite becomes embroiled in a plot involving high intrigue with the French government and the Scarlet Pimpernel himself.

SPOILER ALERT: An agent of the new French government, the villain Chauvelin, has traveled to England in an effort to ferret out the identity of the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel. He blackmails Marguerite into helping him. Once Chauvelin discovers the man's identity, he hightails it back to France to try to catch the man red-handed in the act of helping more emigrees to escape. About the same time all this goes down, Marguerite and Percy begin to patch things up in their marriage. Before they can fully reconcile, Percy is called away from home on urgent business. Then everything goes to hell in a handbasket when Chauvelin, who (with the unwilling aid of Marguerite) has finally discovered the Pimpernel's true identity, hightails it back to France to try to catch the man red-handed. Marguerite soon realizes that the Scarlet Pimpernel is none other than her very own husband, Percy, and that his witless foppishness has been nothing but an act meant to hide his secret identity! Guilt-stricken at what she has done, she pursues her husband to France to try to save him from Chauvelin's clutches.

It's a relatively short novel, but oh, what a story! There's a little of something for everyone in this book: gut-wrenching drama, exciting action, and touching romance. The story is told primarily from the point of view of Marguerite Blakeney, so the reader discovers the true nature of Chauvelin's plot and the mystery of the Pimpernel just as she does. You are taken through the range of emotions she goes through every time the plot takes another twist.

This novel is a part of a series about the League of men who work for the Scarlet Pimpernel. It's easy to see the widespread influence that this novel had on modern romance novels. Many of these center around a focal "adventure" plot, where the hero of the novel is a part of a group of men who work together in some common cause. Each member of the group usually gets his own story/romance. I'm looking forward to reading more of the books in this series.

BookMooch: for all your book-moochin needs

Love the lovely BookMooch.

I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and really like it. The basic process is: You put up books you own that you're willing to give away to other people. Other people put up books they're willing to give away to other people. When somebody puts up a book you want, you mooch it from them and they mail it to you. When somebody mooches a book from you, you mail it to them. All anybody pays is the cost of postage.

It all works on a point system. You get a point for every 10 books you add to your "Inventory" of books you're willing to give away. You also get a point for every book you mail out to someone. When you mooch a book from someone else, a point is deducted from your account.

The best part is, BookMooch does all the legwork for you. You can create a "Wishlist" of books you really want. As soon as someone adds one of your wishlisted books to their Inventory, BookMooch automatically sends them an email requesting that they send the book to you. You can even import books into your Inventory from other places like LibraryThing. And of course, the entire BookMooch inventory is searchable.

I tend to keep all the books I read, but I did have about a dozen or so lying around that I didn't want to keep for one reason or another. I've already sent out 4 books and had several sent to me and more on the way. I think it's a great way to get those books you're having trouble tracking down anywhere else, or don't want to pay high dollar for.

Early Ink - the inside scoop in upcoming book releases

Early Ink is a brand new site devoted to letting people know about new and upcoming books to be released. From their About page:

It is an "...online gateway for readers to find out about new and upcoming books from multiple publishers in all genres. At the same time, Early Ink is a place for authors and publishers to advertise, promote and offer previews of their upcoming titles."

You can download book excerpts/previews and also leave comments for a book. There's also a section they call "Media Buzz" that keeps you updated on a particular book's coverage by the media. Sounds like it might be handy if you want to know if the author's going to be on NPR talking about the book, etc.

What I like: 1. That it covers multiple publishers and 2. That you can get an RSS feed for updates on books from a particular genre. So if you read, say, a lot of trashy romance (ahem...) then you can get a feed of just the new romance stuff. It'll be interesting to watch this site and see whether it takes off.

Thanks to: kristinm in our LibraryThing romance readers' group!

The Hollywood Librarian movie

The library community is all in a froth over the upcoming release of The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians Through Film, a documentary film about librarians and what they really do. According to the site, it is "the first full-length documentary film to focus on the work and lives of librarians." It will chronicle the profession through commentary and clips of American movies that have portrayed librarians, as well as showing interviews with several real-live librarians in the trenches. Exciting stuff.

The trailer has been making the rounds among the various librarian listservs and blogs lately and, as a 30-something librarian, I feel compelled to point out that the clip doesn't seem to show a whole lot of folks in my age-bracket. I personally know a lot of other young librarians in their 20's and 30's, so I truly hope that the film makes an effort to show the broad range of ages and backgrounds of people drawn to this profession.

The Hollywood Librarian is set to premiere this summer at the American Library Association annual conference held in Washington, DC. (wish I was going...)

Book Review: An Arranged Marriage - by Jo Beverley

Synopsis: An Arranged Marriage is the first novel in Jo Beverley's "Company of Rogues" regency romance series. This story takes place in England during the period between Napoleon's abdication and the Hundred Days. The plot has some kind of convoluted beginnings but then becomes pretty straightforward about halfway through. In brief: The heroine, Eleanor, is drugged and raped by the earl of Stainbridge, one Christopher Delaney (who was also drugged at the time) - all as a part of a plot by Eleanor's good for nothing brother to win the favor of this really mean old lord named Deveril, who inexplicably wants Eleanor for himself. Meanwhile, Christopher's roguish twin brother, Nicholas Delaney, has been asked to serve his country by wooing his former mistress, Madame Bellaire, who is under suspicion of plotting to bring Napoleon back to power. A guilty Christopher, who really isn't the rapist sort, pretty much forces his brother into marrying poor Eleanor in order to do right by the girl. Now poor Nicholas, who really is quite a nice guy, has to try to juggle his new, skittish bride and his evil, traitorous mistress - all somehow without looking like a total jerk. (Don't try to work it out; I've tried and it's all way too complicated).

I didn't like this book all that much. I think part of the problem is the confusing style. There were several times when I had to re-read passages over and over to figure out what the heck was going on. It's one of Beverley's earlier works and I think part of it can be chalked up to a new writer testing her wings.

I didn't feel that there was quite enough interaction between the hero and the heroine for my taste. Due to the clandestine nature of his "mission," Nicholas is forced to maintain a cool distance between himself and his wife. This aspect of the story reminded me a LOT of The Scarlet Pimpernel. The details are different, but the basics seem similar: He loves his wife, but has to pretend indifference/stay away from her because of his secret life of espionage. That alone is probably what kept me reading. But whereas in Pimpernel, this served to really make you feel deeply for the plight of the hero and heroine, in An Arranged Marriage it becomes tiresome and frustrating for the reader. I kept wanting to yell at the characters, "Just talk to each other, for pete's sake!"

In spite of it all, I found myself liking the secondary characters in the novel immensely, particularly Francis and Lucien. So much so, in fact, that I still want to read the next book in the series. I'm hoping I'll find that in subsequent books the author will have found her stride. You can tell she's got lots of talent, and I'm not one to give up on an author just based on one less-than-stellar experience.

My LibraryThing rating: 2 stars

Cool Toy: Animal Hospital - from Parents

The Animal Hospital toy, from the folks at Parents magazine, has a little something for every toddler.

It's like a combination doctor playset and vet clinic. It comes with cute little plush pets that they can put inside and then "unlock" the door to let the little guy out using a set of keys that actually work! There's also an assortment of veterinary instruments that they can use to "treat" the animal. The best part: comes with its own storage! All the pieces can be closed up inside for portability (and easy cleanup). A great toy for the budding little veterinarian in your household. My kids would love this!

found via: parent hacks
foto from: amazon

favorite word #5: wrought

not as in wrought iron fence, but as in the destruction wrought upon our fair city

Kickass movie: Hot Fuzz

Hot Fuzz

We went to see it for my birthday and it was great! Laughed. Our. Asses. Off. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were both excellent. And Timothy Dalton was ohso smarmy. We'll definitely be buying this one when it comes out on DVD.

foto from: imdb

Book Review: Minx - by Julia Quinn

Synopsis: Minx is the third novel in a regency romance trilogy by Julia Quinn. In this book, Dunford finally gets his story. The somewhat rakish and rather dissipated friend of the characters we met in the first two books finds that he has inherited a title as well as an estate in distant Cornwall. What he doesn't realize until he arrives to look over his new property, is that he has also been named guardian of the tomboyish hoyden Henrietta (aka: Henry). Henry has lived virtually her whole life on the Cornish estate, managing it herself for years under the less-than-watchful eyes of her uncle. When the old man dies and a stranger from London inherits the estate, Henry is terrified that she will be turned out of the only home she has ever known. She sets out to frighten off the new owner (our Dunford) so that he will want to remain as far away from Cornwall as possible. Dunford, on the other hand, sees through her ruse and finds himself drawn to Henry in spite of himself.

The plot in this book is again a rather typical romance novel plot. It centers around two people who are unexpectedly thrown together and experience a number of misunderstandings, but ultimately find love. But again, it is the characters who make this book so enjoyable.

Dunford is a great character. We've seen him in the first two books being his charming self. If he is one thing, it is honorable. He demonstrates a steadfast loyalty to his friends in both Splendid and in Dancing at Midnight. He also doesn't just make snap judgements about people and dismiss them. He really tries to understand Henry and what motivates her feelings and actions. He struggles to reconcile his responsibilities to her as her guardian with his feelings for her as a woman.

Henry also has many facets to her character. She is tomboyish, to be sure, but Quinn doesn't let that trait completely rule her character. She doesn't wear dresses because they are impractical for her lifestyle; however, that doesn't prevent her from enjoying her femininity when given the opportunity to explore it. And she's really quite funny sometimes as she makes her way through the complicated rules of London high society.

LibraryThing rating: 4 stars

Book Review: Dancing at Midnight - by Julia Quinn

Synopsis: Dancing at Midnight is the second novel in a regency romance trilogy by Julia Quinn. It tells the story of the lovely, yet bookish, Belle Blydon (whom we met previously in Splendid) and the dark and brooding John Blackwood. Blackwood is a veteran of the Napoleonic wars who earned, as a result of his service, both the title of Baron and a terrible leg injury that left him with a permanent limp. Belle meets John while visiting her cousin, Emma, who is married to the Duke of Ashbourne. Ashbourne's land borders John's and Belle encounters the hero while relaxing in a meadow on his property. The two don't exactly hit it off right away; John is grouchy and sardonic, offending Belle's tender sensibilities. Unused to the idea of being disliked by anyone, Belle sets out to make the man like her. She succeeds.

What is great about Julia Quinn is that she can take a relatively average, bare-bones story and make it into a good read using great character development and snappy dialogue. Belle is a sweet girl, with a good deal of determination in her. John is tortured not only by the horrors he experienced during the war, but also by the memory of a tragedy for which he blames himself. Belle helps John to triumph over his self-inflicted guilt and come to terms with it. There are a couple of truly great scenes in this novel, one incredibly funny and the other incredibly exciting. The supporting characters are also charming: We see Emma and Alex from Splendid, of course, as well as Dunford (who returns for his own story in Minx) and the hilarious aunt Persephone.

I gave this book 4 stars in my LibraryThing catalog

favorite word #4: cherries

Blackle - the energy saving search engine

Blackle is like Google, but the screen's all black instead of white. That's pretty much it, really. Why should we care? Because it takes less energy to display a black screen on your monitor than it does to display a white screen. Hey, it's all about saving the planet, baby.

From their About page: "In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages. We believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up. Secondly we feel that seeing Blackle every time we load our web browser reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy."

I ran a test search on Blackle using the term "praying mantis" and the results were not identical to those retrieved by Google, but pretty darn close. The top 4 or 5 hits were really the same, just in a different order; after that, it varied only a little. On the whole, though, looks like an eco-friendly option for those casual searches. An added benefit: If you use your computer in the dark a lot (say, at night with the lights off), it spares you from the horrid, eye-raping brightness of a white homepage...

thanks to: LibrarianInBlack

Happy mantis

This foto nearly made me spew my dr. pepper this morning when I saw it. The little guy looks so darn triumphant.

found via boingboing

foto credit: Lawraa

Bearaphim ipod covers

Why, oh, WHY do I not have an ipod yet??? Check out these supercool bear-themed ipod covers from Boomwave. Their paws even hold your earbud cords for you. My favorite is the sleek black Ursa Miner.

Thanks to popgadget for this one!

Dilbert's performance review generator

For the middle-manager in all of us, Dilbert provides this handy performance review generator. It's great, if for no other reason than for coming up with those proactive, progressive-sounding, flowery (yet innocuous) terms that we find it necessary to use when describing ourselves for the ol' annual review.

Book Review: Splendid - by Julia Quinn

Synopsis: Splendid is the first in a trilogy of regency romances by Julia Quinn. The heroine, Emma, is an American gal visiting her aunt's family in London for the Season. Bored with stuffy society rules, Emma longs to free herself from the confines of her role as a proper young lady and decides to dress up as a maid and take a brief shopping trip to the local market (a la the movie Aladdin). There, she meets Alex, the handsome Duke of Ashbourne when she unexpectedly saves the life of his young nephew. Alex is taken with the pretty maid and finds himself fixating on her, only to discover her true identity later that night. What follows is a nice little courtship, where the couple form a sort of friendship and then eventually admit their deeper feelings for one another.

This book was a nice little love story. It is one of Quinn's earlier novels, and you can kind of tell. The language is a bit flowery like you see in romances written the 1970's and 80's; and the story itself is also not quite as enthralling as her later works. However, I liked the main characters quite a lot - especially Emma, her cousin Belle, and their friend Lord Dunston. Emma is a fun character who's game for anything. She doesn't back down from a challenge and is a loyal friend. One thing that kind of bothered me, though, is that Emma's cousin Ned (and as a result, Emma herself) does some rather questionable things. I'm not sure that the interpretation of what was honorable for gentlemen that is offered in the novel is particularly accurate. Ned does some gambling and loses an obscene amount of money to a man and then decides not to honor his bet (based on the grounds that the other guy was cheating) and then he and Emma actually plot to steal the promissory note away from the guy. Sure, the guy was cheating, but I'm not sure that the solution the characters arrive at is the best one either.

On the whole, though, it was ok. I liked the secondary characters well enough that I still want to read their stories. Besides, I loved the author's Bridgertons series, so I think the next couple of books have the potential to be really good.

I gave this one 3 stars in LibraryThing

Favorite word #3: swashbuckling

YARRRRR!!

Favorite word #2: nautical

Favorite word #1: barnacle

I just love nautical words. Huh. I like the word nautical also... hmmm...

Favorite words

Since nobody reads this anyway, I thought I'd use it to keep track of my favorite words. I'll be listing them as I think of them.

Oh, and I guess I should add that, yes, I know I AM SUCH A GEEK.