Sweet sweet murder

Back to the bookshelf! I just finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. And wow. What a great book. I make no bones about being a big mystery fan. I'll be happy to read any detective novel you toss at me. From Doyle to Baldacci and everyone in between. Love 'em. I also like to look out for books my kids might enjoy. For the most part they prefer their Fantasy novels, Robert Jordan, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and the like, but they're occasionally open to other options. Luckily I ran into a couple books by Alan Bradley and they piqued my interest. The stories revolve around one Flavia de Luce, an 11 year old English girl and are based in 1950. She's quite precocious but plagued with two older sisters with whom she does daily battle of pranks and verbal sparring. Miss de Luce is also an aspiring Chemist and the book is littered with her pontificating on different chemical formulas and reactions, in great detail. While this may sound off putting, it really is fascinating, but I've always been a science nerd. The vocabulary is also extremely wide ranging with a great deal of classical allusions and quotes from great literature, some of the rarer words and phrases are explained on the spot.
The first book tells the story of a dead body in their cucumber patch and the search for a rare invaluable stamp. It's twisting and turning, the final reveal is somewhat clear, but as it's aimed at a younger audience I didn't have a problem with it. There is quite a bit of pathos and loads of humor. I give it 5 and half out of 6 Amelia Peabodys.
And yes. There is a pie involved. No, the recipe, is thankfully not included.
More about Miss de Luce and the series at her website.

More books - Dune

So, I'm in the middle of a couple books right now. I'm rereading Dune after a Twitter conversation when someone mentioned the Kwisatz Haderach. I mentioned that the words were based on a Jewish mystical concept, literally translated as a contraction of the path. It is mentioned several times in the commentaries on the Torah, specifically when various Biblical persons travel long distances in miraculously short periods of time. The Hebrew term is closer to Kfitzas HaDerech. So I decided to reread the book, that I probably haven't looked at since Middle School (shout out to Darrel C. Swope Middle School Reno, Nevada). Wow, what a difference 25 years make. I recognize so many things that totally went over my head the first time around. Also living in the Mideast and following regional politics has made a difference as well. Basically it comes down to the fact that the entire Freman theology is based on Sunni Islam. After looking it up, there seem to be some aspects of Zen as well, but I'm less knowledgeable about that.
And yes. Kwisatz Hadarech is actually referred to as the Shortening of the Way at some point by Stilgar at one point. For a bit more on the Jewish concept of Kefitzas HaDerech take a look here. I'm certainly enjoying the book much more this time around so thanks to Tom, Chris and KJ for suggesting it.