Book Log #31: Nine Coaches Waiting, by Mary Stewart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again–if you like old-school romantic suspense, then Mary Stewart is the author for you. And out of all her various novels I’ve read, Nine Coaches Waiting stands out as one of the most solid. I’ve often found Stewart’s work to be almost more about the scenery than about the actual plot, but not so here. Her prose is as lush in this work as it is in any other, and happily, there’s an excellent little plot to give it heft.

Linda Martin is a young Englishwoman taking on the position of governess to a nine-year-old French count. As with any good Gothic suspense novel, this means we’ve got the obligatory remote setting along with the governess in question, as well as the obligatory cast of potential threats to our heroine’s life as well as that of her young charge. We have the young count’s charismatic uncle, confined to a wheelchair. We have the uncle’s son Raoul, who serves the role of the obligatory love interest. And, we have the obligatory mysterious attacks on the young Count Philippe–and ultimately, how Linda must choose to handle them.

You might think this is a historical novel with Linda being a governess. Don’t. The name “Linda” is certainly a giveaway that this novel is set in a timeframe contemporary to the author’s own lifetime, as is the presence of cars and other modern-at-the-time technology. But that said, it’s historical in the sense of being over 50 years ago; the book was, after all, first published in 1958. This might make it feel dated to some readers, yet, what with the classic Gothic elements in the plot, I found it all strangely and pleasantly timeless.

As with most other Stewart novels, the pacing here is not terribly intense, but that’s quite alright. I found the increasing urgency about the life of young Philippe fraught with tension, eventually overshadowing Linda’s initial concern about hiding her own childhood in France. Philippe’s uncle Leon is compelling, all the more so for the force of his personality being constrained by his physical limitations. My only real beef with the book at all is that I found the chemistry between Linda and Raoul almost perfunctory, as well as the brief appearance of another male character who, in a more modern novel, might have served as a rival love interest. Yet, even that was ultimately fine and contributed to the novel’s overall timeless feel.

All in all, check this out if you get a chance. It’s a nice switch from a lot of more modern novels, indeed. Four stars.

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

Book Log #32: Spirit Dances, by C.E. Murphy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my giddy aunt, this one was fun! I’m already on record as a documented fan of the Walker Papers, so it’s easy for me to say that this one was my favorite one yet–but it’s the absolute truth. This far into the series, all the characters are well and thoroughly established, and Murphy has the rhythm of the series moving nicely. We’ve got a purely prosaic challenge to Joanne for once as she has to face the first time she has to shoot someone on the job, and how this affects her not only as a shaman, but also simply as a cop. It’s excellent character development for her. And we’ve got transformative magic on the loose, magic capable of turning Jo herself into coyote form.

Most importantly for my purposes, though, we finally get some payoff on the excellent slow build of the relationship between Joanne and Morrison. Next to that, everything else in the book is kind of extra. I can’t say more than that without going into spoiler territory, so I shall content myself with noting that the ending of this one had me simultaneously going YAY! and AUGH! And I cannot wait to devour book 7.

So yeah, this is almost more fangirling than actual review, but hey, like I said–I’m a fan. And I loved this one. Keep ‘em coming, Kit! Five stars.

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

Tune work tonight

With two brand new flutes to break in, I’ve found myself wanting to practice as well as write for the last couple of nights, and so tonight I’m doing active tune work. This means trying out all previously learned tunes on both the new instruments, as well as seeing which of the next ones work better on which instrument.

Here are an assortment of things I have thus learned.

One, there is a certain pure, clear tone that a properly played piccolo can make. I’m NOT good enough to do it consistently, but I can get there. It requires not only a good embouchure, but also that you make sure and drink enough water, which is a problem in our fairly dry, cold house! I’m learning from Chirp, though, that if I play Chirp correctly, I can in fact approach a piccolo-like tone on it. Which is pretty impressive given that Chirp is made of applewood.

Two, I like the Lisdoonvarna/Swallow Tail Jig/Morrison’s set better on Chirp than I do on the new big flute. But I like Blarney Pilgrim better on the big flute, and will probably also like Da Slockit Light and Si Bheag Si Mhor better on that one as well.

Three, I am more nimble on Chirp, unsurprisingly, since Chirp is piccolo-sized. Even though the big flute is intended for “small hands”, it’s still a bigger instrument than I’ve been used to playing for a while, and it’ll take me a bit to work back up into it. I cannot yet achieve that purity of tone I was talking about above on the big flute, not yet, not while I’m trying to also play quickly.

Four, I’m playing with Apples in Winter and Cliffs of Moher tonight, and am learning from both of these tunes that I’m trying to punch their primary beats too hard. They both want to flow better than I’m letting them do. I need to work on that. I can pick out both tunes fairly easily on the sheet music, but that’s not the same thing. Reading off the sheet music is for purposes of just learning the tunes. Finding their music, i.e., making them actually sound good, is another question entirely. I’m still working on a lot of that with all of these tunes I’m trying to learn.

Fifth, I’m also playing with Jig of Slurs, in no small part due to my interest in the “Fortierville” set on La Volée d’Castors’ so very awesome live album–and while I’m starting to get Jig of Slurs down at least as a tune, again, it’s going to be a bit before I can whip through this thing as music. Especially if I want to play along with the La Volée recording. Which I DO. Relatedly, I have also observed that at least based on comparison to that recording, I’ve been playing Chirp kind of flat.

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.