Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never too fond of Books.

Once more in the grip of a winter storm, in an uncharacteristically cold and snowy winter, with the winter Olympics dominating the television, I am led to think of winter-themed books from my youth.

There was, of course, the classic Mary Mapes Dodge book Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates. Kind of apropos as the Dutch seem to be winning all the speed skating medals.

But then I liked Elizabeth Ladd's Indians on the Bonnet and Walter D. Edmonds' Drums Along the Mohawk a large part of which was set in winter on the American frontier.

Finally, I was a big fan of Jack London's two classics: the short novel White Fang and the short story "To Build a Fire". I remember one winter as a boy taking my Red Flyer and pretending I was a musher in Alaska. My imaginary dogs didn't pull too well unfortunately.

Are there more modern, winter-based books, you would recommend?

Nemo, the Storm and a Literary Dichotomy

The weather people have decided to name all big storms, not just hurricanes. So the one that is currently (February 8, 2013) threatening and pummeling the area where I live has been christened "Nemo".

It came up in conversation that the name certainly conjures something different today than it did when I was young. Thinking about it, that certainly is true.

The current generation associates Nemo with a cute little animated fish that goes on a great adventure, really through a series of coincidences. Though scary at times his adventure is relatively safe and we, as readers (or viewers), really want him to succeed.

Nemo, when I was a kid, only conjured the Jules Verne character Captain Nemo. He most definitely was NOT on an adventure through coincidence, the adventure was not safe, and most readers do NOT want him to succeed.

Captain Nemo is a much more appropos character to link with this storm than Little Nemo.

I don't think the weather folks had any of this in mind when they set up their list of names. Or will the next big storm be called Ichabod?

Review - Witch and Wombat

Witch and Wombat is a fanciful little jaunt through the idea of a magical world connected to the mundane world and the further idea that the former derives its energy from the latter. In this case that energy is seriously depleted as the mundane is losing faith in dragons, fairies, and magic in general due to their burgeoning technological marvels.

However, hope is still alive in the form of the fantasy role-playing gamers. Enter Bentwood and his idea of taking fantasy gamers on real adventures in the magical world. So four gamers are chosen to go on an adventure with Hali the witch, their babysitter/guide and her familiar Bernie, normally a crow but for the adventure changed into a wombat because of "marketing analysis".

Of course nothing goes as planned with the monster unions go on strike and the Tooth Fairy leading an actual revolt. But our intrepid gamers, Hali, and Bernie make everything come out right in the end. Bentwood gets rave reviews for his "tour" and Hali gets the ugly hut she's been looking for.

This book is fluffy. It is not a dark swords and sorcery story nor does the plot have much depth. That said, it is easy to read and pleasant to read. It is recommended for someone who is looking for light fantasy but written for the mature reader (i.e. NOT the Jewel Kingdom or Droon).

Witch and Wombat is available in Kindle edition but is out of print currently (it was originally published in 1994 by Warner). There are plenty of second-hand copies available online (we even have ours up on Biblio.com for $3.77, free shipping).