I have two other reviews in Bookslut this month, both for adults: The Caliph's House by Tahir Shah and Dreadful Skin by Cherie Priest.
Fans of Priest will know that her latest book is a rich southern gothic that puts together a nun and a werewolf in the post Civil War south and west. It's almost post apocalyptic in a way, but that was much of the country in that time and so when I had visions of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns dancing in my head while reading it, I was fine with the comparison (and I wrote about it in my review). I just loved the book though - I'm a sucker for a good werewolf story and when you throw in a nun and all sorts of conflicted thoughts on religion, well it gets really good as far as I'm concerned.
I just ordered Priest's first book, Four and Twenty Blackbirds from Powells. I got the second, Wings to the Kingdom, for Christmas and see that third in this trilogy, Not Flesh Nor Feathers is due out this year. Cool covers on these books, don't ya think? Check out the Tor Art blog for more on that.
The Caliph's House is billed as A Year in Provence in Casablanca and that is on the mark, although there is no way to really compare anything between the two countries. It does involve a man and his family moving to Morocco, buying an incredible house in a state of disrepair and going through the tedious process of having local labor rebuild it. But there is also a fascinating family story here, as the author's grandfather retired to Morocco years before and died there. Shah also finds himself wrestling with otherworldly influences Peter Mayle never dealt with, namely more than jinn with issues that throw everyone into a tizzy. It's funny - for sure - but mroe than that very interesting. It made me want to read more of Shah's work and I'm looking for to that.
