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Review: The Once and Future King

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

I give this book a 4.

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Everyone knows the story of King Arthur, or at least, some part of it. I thought about trying to read Mallory and decided to pass. Then I thought of the cute Disney film, The Sword in the Stone, and learned that much of it came from the first “book” in this story. Truth be told, I was always curious about this book, but never took the time to read it, so at last I had an opportunity to listen to the audio book and took it.

For the most part, I adore this book. This is everything the story of King Arthur should be, a combination of realism and fantasy, innocence and guilt, and as always an underlined lesson to be learned. I don’t know if this is supposed to be a children’s book, but I guess it could be, as long as an adult is around to do a lot of explaining. If you can get a teen to sit down and read (or listen to) a book of this length, I think they will enjoy it.

I must say there are a few long passages that seem to drag the story along, over describing or explaining things, but I’ve been guilty of that myself. I would have to say that my least favorite part of the book was the whole love triangle. It seemed really silly to me, but most love triangles are, so that wasn’t a big deal and it is actually part of the original mythology. There were also some very drawn out political discussions that I could have done without, but if you’re a fan of politics in general, you’ll be quite pleased. My favorite part was, of course, Arthur’s youth.

It’s a shame that it took me so long to getting around to this story. It’s clear how this story has inspired others of its kind and I’m glad that to have finally experienced it.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Review: Grimm’s Fairy Stories

Grimm’s Fairy Stories by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

I give this book a 4.

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This is one of those cases where you’ve heard of something for so long that you think you’ve already experienced it, but then you realize that you haven’t so you give it a try and it’s not what you expected…Does that make sense?

Everyone is familiar with some aspect of the Grim Fairly Tales, but how many of us have actually read any of the original stories. A fan a fairy tales for as long as I can remember, I decided it was time for me to right a great wrong I had committed against myself. I had never read any of the Grim stories until recently and I was shocked, amazed, weirded out, and a little disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved these stories, they were awesome, but they were not what I think of as fairy tales. I have been so brainwashed by mainstream modern thinking that I almost wouldn’t allow myself to enjoy these stories for what they truly are, brilliant.

I think the main two reasons I didn’t give this book a five is: 1. that I would never actually read these to any child under the age of 10. If a nine-year-old happened to pick these up and love them, good for them, but I’m not planting crazy dreams into the minds of any kids anytime soon…oh and fables these are not; not many good lessons to be learned here. 2. Some of the stories seemed to overlap or repeat. I know that in this day and age, everyone borrows ideas from everyone else, but I figured back then, these guys should have been able to come up with a collection of stories that didn’t all sound the same…but of course, I’m exaggerating. Most of the stories were quite original, but the little bit of repetition there was, drove me crazy.

I must give the brothers Grim and whoever influenced them, some French guy I can think of, a clap of praise for inspiring and influencing storytellers for centuries beyond their time. I might, just for fun, one day write my own versions of these wonderful stories. I mean, they are now permanently stained onto my brain, I might as well do something with them…Truthfully, I’d recommend this to anyone ten or over, but a mature adult mind may appreciate them better.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Review: Mr. Churchill’s Secretary

Mr. Churchill’s Secretary (Maggie Hope Mystery #1) by Susan Elia MacNeal

I give this book a 3.

Okay

First thing I want to admit is that I’m just now becoming acquainted with historical fiction in books. In the cinema it has always been one of my favorite genres, but I’ve never stopped to read any of it. With that being said, I’m starting to have an appreciation that is still very new and maturing.

Maggie is a very smart, almost genius, young mathematician, who is supposed to be flattered by an unexpected opportunity to be one of Mr. Churchill’s secretaries. WWII is just beginning to take its toll on London as the Nazis and the IRA take turns dropping or planting bombs in the city where Maggie and her friends struggle to just get by and make it through.

Of course, not all is quite as it seems. For one, a man Maggie is sure can’t stand her begins to look out for her well-being, then friends begin to act strange and she’s not sure if it’s a coincidence or not, and on top of everything else not mentioned, one of the parents she thought died years ago might still be around.

I think my problem with this book is that I really enjoyed the historical aspects of the story, but had difficulty reconciling the fiction aspects and the development of the characters. All the characters are well-developed, but I just don’t know if I relate to them. As a woman, still in an age facing the glass ceiling, it was easy to relate to Maggie, but the rest of the characters are a puzzle to me.

I feel as if the emotional aspect of the story could have been more involved. I get it, Maggie is this strong-willed woman who rises above her struggles, but what about everyone else. I just feel like that emotion was put to the side because there was a war on, as it should be, but it didn’t feel real to me.

The suspense and espionage was great and kept me interested in times when I was not emotionally attached, and as much as I hate to say it, I wish Maggie had more romance in her life (I’m not a traditional romance, chik-lit kind of girl).

[A slight tangent here-I encounter more and more stories every day with homosexual characters in them, in the same manner as is on TV and in the movies so that is no big surprise, but I wonder if there is a trend involving the “special aunt”. I’ve seen this general character quite a bit now.]  Trend or not, I like the aunt. She’s one of the few characters I felt really expressed good emotion and she did it in a letter, without interacting with any of the other characters.

All in all, this was a very entertaining story and an easy read/listen. I’d recommend this for adults with a love of history, spy thrillers, and or WWII, though it does seem to be geared toward women and may not be welcomed by conservative readers.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords