Over Sea, Under Stone

by Susan Cooper

Simon, Jane, and Barnabas Drew come to Cornwall on a summer holiday with their parents and their great-uncle Merry, a noted historian. While exploring their rented house on a rainy day, they find a hidden door leading to a neglected attic, and under a floorboard in the attic Barney comes across a mysterious manuscript, written partly in faded and obscure Latin, and partly in a language none of them can read. They don't want to tell their parents about it, as that would probably mean it would be taken away from them on the ground that it belongs to the owner of the house and they shouldn't disturb it; Barney in particular, having recognized the names of King Arthur and King Mark amongst the Latin, is adamant not only that the manuscript represents a quest but that the quest is theirs and no one else's. Fortunately Great-Uncle Merry is in a different class of grown-up, and not only supports their right to follow the map, but translates the instructions for them and watches over them when other parties start to show too much interest. Then Merry is decoyed away, and the children are left to follow the clues and avoid the competition on their own.

Of course the one I really wanted to read over the Christmas holiday was the second in the series; the summer vacation described in the first book was thoroughly unseasonable, and it was hard to feel too bad about Barney's sunburn. I seem to remember that this was another series where as a kid I read the second book first, and I don't think it matters much until you get to book three or four, but I'm not sorry to have started with the first in the sequence this time.

It strikes me that although both are thoroughly worthy of their beautiful Folio editions, this is probably a better book than The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. That one is a perfectly good and entertaining children's book, but I was aware the whole time I was reading it that as an adult, I was not the intended audience. I had the same feeling reading The Box of Delights, by John Masefield, a few weeks earlier; I never got hold of that one when I was a kid, and I couldn't help feeling that I'd have liked it a lot better if I had. Now, I have nothing against children's books on principle; I hold that a good story is a good story no matter where in the library it happens to be shelved, but there are books kids love that don't necessarily hold up well for adults.

And there are children's books that don't condescend, that adults can also read again and again and get more out of them every time because you bring more to them.  Over Sea, Under Stone and the rest of its series are like that.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

I can already tell that 2016 is going to be a year of rereading. I used to do a lot more of that than I have done recently; when I was a kid I would read favorite books over and over, but somehow in recent years I came around to the idea that I have less time to read now, so any time spent on a book I've already read is just time taken away from all the fabulous new books that I claim I've been looking forward to.

I suspect it's closer to the truth to say that the time I spend on video games is just time taken away from rereading the books that I love, and that reading those books again would make me happier than getting a new campaign high score in Kingdoms of Middle-Earth.

I'm putting it to the test this year. In the first two weeks of January I've already reread four books. Granted, one was because I'd simply forgotten I already read that one, so it might as well have been new to me, but the other three I loved as a kid.

On New Year's Day I reread The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Joan Aiken.

I actually stumbled across the second book in that series first, at the library where my mom took me to stock up on books every Saturday. I forget now why I picked up Black Hearts in Battersea; probably something to do with the Edward Gorey cover. Looking back on it I think this may have been my first introduction to the concept of alternative history, though at the time I wasn't familiar enough with the history of England to notice what was different about the Hanoverian pretenders.

When I realized that there was an earlier book in the series, I thought that because the library didn't own that one I would never get to read it. I had never heard of the concept of interlibrary loan back then, and in any case, I was the kind of library patron who makes me really sad now that I work in a library: if I couldn't find something on my own, I gave up instead of asking the librarian for help. I'm not sure what I thought the librarians were there for, but I didn't want to bother them.

Imagine my shock when I subsequently stumbled across a copy of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase on a bookshelf in my own house. Apparently it had belonged to one of my older siblings, and though I had cheerfully read their copies of Winnie the Pooh and Black Beauty and The Adventures of Robin Hood, I had overlooked this book year after year. Probably because it didn't have an Edward Gorey cover.

It's a simple enough story: the orphaned Sylvia comes to stay at Willoughby Chase with her rich cousin Bonnie just as Bonnie's parents, Lord and Lady Willoughby, depart for sunny foreign climes for the sake of Lady Willoughby's health, leaving a distant relation, Miss Slighcarp, as Bonnie and Sylvia's governess. However, Miss Slighcarp has nefarious plans to take over the estate; she promptly dismisses the servants, sells off the furniture, and ships the girls off to the kind of boarding school that makes Jane Eyre's school look like a holiday in the south of France. With the help of Simon, a boy who raises geese at Willoughby Chase, Bonnie and Sylvia run away from their school and make their way to London, where they hope their aunt Jane and Lord Willoughby's lawyer can sort everything out.

I wasn't as thrilled by it all as I remember being as a kid, but it was still a thoroughly enjoyable story, especially Bonnie's frequent displays of temper. There's not much alternative history in this one, aside from the fact that in the early 1800s there's already a Channel Tunnel, and wolves from northern Europe have used it to recolonize the island of Britain. The actual starving wolves are a constant lurking presence in the first half of the novel, but it's the metaphorical wolves that pose the real threat.

What I read this year (December)

I've been keeping a book diary since mid-1998, and in all that time I have never finished a book on December 6. Not this year either.

59. American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare; The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee, by Karen Abbott (finished December 1). In which we follow the development of burlesque as a theatrical form, with special attention to the contributions of the Minsky brothers, and also the life and career of Rose Louise Hovick, better known as Gypsy Rose Lee. I knew the basic outline of the story from the musical Gypsy, based on her memoir--I first saw the TV version with Bette Midler as Mama Rose, who is such a larger than life character that she generally completely overshadows whoever's unfortunate enough to be playing Gypsy. Turns out she was toned down a lot from real life.

60. The Affinity Bridge, by George Mann (December 11). In which Sir Maurice Newbury, investigator for the Crown, and his new assistant, Miss Veronica Hobbes, are assigned by Queen Victoria to look into the crash of an airship on which, it turns out, all the passengers were tied to their seats. Revenants and automata are also involved: great fun.

61. Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans, by Gary Krist (December 15). In which the author pulls together the birth of jazz, the short but colorful existence of the semi-legal vice district of Storyville, and the still-unsolved murders committed by the Axman. Fascinating, especially the parts about jazz.

62. Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas, by Stephanie Barron (December 21). In which Jane Austen, visiting friends at Christmas, gets involved in solving the murder of a naval courier and the theft of the treaty he was carrying. I love these mysteries, and I still think they capture the spirit of Jane Austen's own novels a good deal better than 98% of the unofficial sequels that keep coming out. 

63. The King's Deryni, by Katherine Kurtz (December 29). In which Alaric Morgan manages to avoid all the pitfalls inherent in being publicly known as a member of a feared and oppressed race of sorcerers, and grows up enough to be useful to his king. I've been waiting a long, long time for this one, and there's no way it could ever have been good enough to support the weight of expectation, but I enjoyed it well enough.

64. Astro City: Through Open Doors, by Kurt Busiek (December 30). In which we continue to explore what the existence of superheros might mean for the rest of us. I'm a big fan of Astro City, and glad to see it returning.

And that's it for this year! Shelfari says I read five more books than this, but I think those are probably graphic novels that I skipped over in my book journal, so I'll stop here.

What I read this year (November)

54. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed (finished November 4). I talked my coffeeshop book club into reading this over the objections of our founder, who doesn't read nonfiction for fun. I really enjoyed it, but I have a feeling the scene where the author and her brother have to put down their late mother's elderly horse is going to be the one where we lost some readers.

55. Closer to Home, by Mercedes Lackey (November 8). I felt distinctly meh about this when I read that Lackey was continuing the story of these particular characters, but my low expectations gave me room to be pleasantly surprised. I really liked the novel's take on the Romeo and Juliet story, and I now find I'm actually looking forward to the next one.

56. Engines of War, by George Mann (November 21). In which the Time Lord formerly known as the Doctor, after countless solitary years fighting the Time War against the Daleks, picks up a stray human again against his better judgment, and finds himself being reminded of some things he thought he had forgotten. I've been wanting to see more of the War Doctor since his appearance in the 50th anniversary special, and enjoyed this book so much I promptly looked up some of the author's other work.

57. Childe Morgan, by Katherine Kurtz (November 23). In which Alaric Morgan starts to grow up, but not fast enough to suit the purposes of King Donal, to whose service he was pledged before his birth. I thought a little better of it than the first time I read it; it seemed less like a crowd of characters rushing back and forth in search of a plot. Still seemed more like setup than actual story, but succeeded in making me cry at the end.

58. The Christmas Cat, by Melody Carlson (November 30). In which Garrison Brown must fulfill the conditions of his grandmother's will by personally and individually rehoming each of her six cats, to which he is violently allergic. My coffeeshop book club wanted to read something light and fluffy for December, so I suggested this one. I didn't realize at the time how short it was! I enjoyed it all the same.

What I read this year (October)

48. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien (finished October 9). In which the history of the Eldar in Middle Earth is told, from before the formation of the world to the end of the Third Age. Granted, it's like reading the sagas of the Icelanders for fun. Tolkien, of course, translated the sagas from Icelandic for fun...which figures, somehow. I find this book easier to get through with each reread; it was a real slog the first couple of times I tried it, but this time it flowed away quite easily at the gym.

49. The King's Curse, by Philippa Gregory (October 10). In which Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, lives carefully in the shadow of her family name, as merely to be a Plantagenet is unsafe in the age of the Tudors. I wasn't previously much familiar with the life of Lady Pole, who became the oldest person executed by Henry VIII. I always like it when I can learn something from a historical novel.

50. Watership Down, by Richard Adams (October 12). In which a small number of rabbits, prompted by a vision of coming disaster, search for a safe place to establish a new warren. Another old favorite that I just felt like rereading. I remember being intimidated by the size of it when I first read it at age 12, but this time it went really quickly.

51. Tortall and Other Lands, by Tamora Pierce (October 16). In which we visit some old friends, and fill in some background. I'm not usually a fan of short stories, but on the other hand I'm inclined to be a completist when it comes to authors I really like, and I've been a fan of Pierce for a long, long time.

52. Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace, by Kate Summerscale (October 17). In which Isabella Robinson's private diary becomes a court document. Another e-book that I read mostly in half-hour increments at the gym. This one goes to show that tawdry divorce cases playing out in the popular press are nothing new.

53. Meet--the Tiger! by Leslie Charteris (October 27). In which Simon Templar meets Patricia Holm, and the rest is swashbuckling history. And yes, both the em dash and the exclamation point are essential components of the title. This was a triumph of interlibrary loan: they found it for me at a university in Connecticut, when I'd long since come to the conclusion I was never going to get my hands on a copy of the very first book to feature the Saint.

What I read this year (September)

42. I Work at a Public Library, by Gina Sheridan (finished September 10). In which the author demonstrates the universality of cuckoo library patrons and the inevitability of human excrement on the floor. Like a number of other library blogs and memoirs I could name, this just goes to show that librarians everywhere have stories of this kind. (The one I always tell from my library is the Naked Man on the Staircase story.)

43. The Wife, the Maid and the Mistress, by Ariel Lawhon (September 13). In which the disappearance of Judge Crater is elucidated by the three women in his life. I read this for my coffeeshop book club, and though it was a tawdry story I found it absorbing; I also didn't guess the twist at the end. In fact it made me want to reread the thing, just to see if the author had played fair and dropped clues that I might have caught if I'd been paying more attention. I learned my lesson, too, and waited to read this one until much closer to the meeting!

44. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien (September 13). In which small hands venture great deeds because they must, and the world is saved, but not for everyone. I started a reread when I was on vacation in Colorado this summer, and stuck with it when I got home. I have honestly forgotten how many times I've read this brilliant book; it's been a favorite since I was nine or ten years old, and every time I go back to it I get something new out of it, because I bring something different with me.

45. A Dark-Adapted Eye, by Barbara Vine (September 24). In which Faith Severn, spurred by a true crime writer's interest in her family history, goes over the complex reasons that caused one her aunts to murder the other many years before. I read this for my pizza parlor book club. I think I was one of only two who finished it, but I enjoyed it. It seemed old-fashioned, but in a way that I like; I was surprised to check the publication date and realize it was published in the 80s.

46. Enter the Saint, by Leslie Charteris (September 25). In which Simon Templar saunters onto the scene, equally ready for a scrap or a song, and while the Snake and Whiskers come to well-deserved bad ends, a Lawless Lady joins the elect. I can see a whole-series reread coming up; they've all been reissued in paperback, so I can finally get hold of the ones I've never been able to track down at used book stores. Watch for the sign of the Saint, he will be back.

47. Lock In, by John Scalzi (September 27). In which Chris Shane, stricken with Haden's disease in childhood, joins the FBI's Haden-related crimes unit just in time to look into a murder involving an Integrator--a Haden's survivor who can let others borrow his body. Excellent near future police procedural, with some very interesting things to say about identity and gender.

What I read this year (August)

37. Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast (finished August 4). In which cartoonist Chast writes and draws a memoir of dealing with her parents in their declining years. I have really enjoyed a number of memoirs in graphic-novel format, and this was a great one. The story hit close to home too, as I'm sure it would for anybody who has been involved with caring for elderly parents.

38. Vanished Kingdoms, by Norman Davies (August 6). In which the noted historian discusses a number of political entities, mostly in Europe, which once existed and now no longer do, including both those as little known as the kingdom of Alt Clud in Britain and those once as powerful as the Soviet Union. It took me forever to read this, but when I joined a gym this year and figured out I could bring an e-reader and read while I used the elliptical machine I finally felt like I had the perfect opportunity to stick with this book.

39. The Late Scholar, by Jill Paton Walsh (August 8). In which Peter Wimsey, now the Duke of Denver, discovers he has also inherited the position of Visitor to an Oxford college, and is called upon to settle a dispute amongst the fellows. I didn't enjoy this quite as much as the previous installment, but it was still pretty fun.

40. In the King's Service, by Katherine Kurtz (August 20). In which King Donal Haldane plots to raise a Deryni protector for his crown prince even if he has to sire one himself. When I found out that the long-delayed last volume of this trilogy is finally coming out in December, I figured I'd better reread the first two, as I have very little recollection of where we left off!

41. Grave Sight, by Charlaine Harris (August 29). In which Harper Connelly, who can feel the last moments of the dead, has to start getting some answers from the living when more people start dying. My quirkier book club suggested an author rather than a title for this month, so I got to pick one of Harris's non-vampire novels. I liked it a lot, but didn't go on to the other books in the series; and then I missed the book club meeting about it.