Unplugged

I can't seem to fix the blog to get pictures to post. Every attempt gets the same result. My computer freezes about halfway through the posting process. This is a new problem and one that I can't seem to get around at the moment. Partly this is because I just don't have time to fool with it, and what little free time I had on Saturday was swallowed whole by a book.

Things are v. v. busy up in here. Knitting time is scarce, and what little I have goes mostly to secret stuff. Also must say, when you're knitting secret stuff that can't be blogged, it gets a little hard to keep the blog interesting. I mean, I could tell you I finished the first piece and hope to cast on the second in the next day or two. But that's really all I can report, and that's dull and pictureless. Doesn't liven things up on an already busted blog.

For the record, I am living in a magnetic warp of some kind that causes things to break around me. So far, besides the blog, the electronic death toll in the last few days includes a printer, a bridal registry kiosk computer thingie, four scanners (four!), a cash register, and the air compressor on my house's HVAC system. Not all of these things belong to me. Apparently, all I have to do is appear in the general vicinity of Things That Plug In for them to die suddenly and spectacularly, usually with loud noises, sometimes with sparks.

So if any of you were thinking of inviting me over for a tea party, might want to wait until this particular curse is broken. Just sayin. For your protection and all.

Plus which, your knitting budget will thank you. Less money on gadgetry repairs means more money on yarn!

Book Report

So, what with all the breaking and dying of electronic stuff around me, I had no choice but to unplug and read a book. You know, the kind that's printed on paper. So old-fashioned.

I have to preface this report with two confessions. First, I am a dead sucker for historical fiction with female protagonists. Throw in some political intrigue and a few fancy gowns and stolen kisses, and I'm a goner. Love the stuff.

Second, "Through a Glass Darkly" by Karleen Koen was a life-changing book for me. It was released right about when I wrapped up my fancypants creative writing degree in a program that most decidedly and emphatically focused on litfic. I was a rebel -- a scorned rebel, I should say -- because I admitted to reading and even enjoying (gasp! oh the horror!) an occasional book that was a little less on the highbrow side. But mostly, I concentrated on litfic like a good little creative writing student.

Koen's first book proved with every keystroke that genfic with a strong genre bent can be every bit as noble and satisfying as the best litfic. Yes, now it reads a little dated. Even a little on the purple side. But the characters still leap off the page and the tension crackles through every line. Fantastic book. Every story should grab hold of your heart like that one does. Still does, even after all these years and after all the changing fashions that make it read a little outdated now. I know I'm not the only one who responds to the book this way because it was on the bestseller list forever and remains in print even now.

Here we are, almost two decades later, and Koen has written a prequel to that book. The prequel is called "Dark Angels," and is the story of Alice, Duchess of Tamworth, and how she came to fall in love with Richard, her husband and the first duke under Charles II. This prequel makes a few nods at the original -- Annie and Perryman both make appearances, as does the original Dulcinea the cat -- but for the most part, there is little to tie this prequel to the original story. It's a standalone.

The story begins as Madame (Princess Henriette of England and France) arrives to visit King Charles in England. Alice is with her as a maid of honor. Back and forth across the Channel a few times, flirtations, secret letters and treaties, wicked men, glittering gowns, poison, intrigue, torture in dank stone cells -- it's all here. If you go for this kind of thing, you'll definitely find it in this book, and then some. Koen is a genius at writing political intrigue and making it seem glamorous. Few writers can pull it off with anything approaching her flair.

I wish the author had respected the original a bit more. Even now, all these years after reading the original, I remember the story in it about how Alice and Richard first met in a churchyard when she was comforting a child, and how his kindness was the antidote to her bitter confusion. Well, the bitter confusion is still apparent, but the rest has changed. Also, this new one lacks the depth and breadth of the original, and the secondary characters just don't have the same sparkle.

Even so, I had a hard time putting it down. There were children in my house needing attention, and they were more or less forced to fend for themselves as I read. I intended only to read for an hour or so yesterday morning while I knit my secret knitting before the kids arrived. But next thing I knew, it was 2 a.m., I'd been reading more or less all day, even holding the book open and scanning lines while doing laundry. I read all 500+ pages yesterday.

That's the sign of a good book. If you're into historical fiction at all, maybe you'll enjoy it too. Strongly recommended.