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Month in review

Reviews:
Angus and the Cat by Marjorie Flack
Another Life by Charles Oberndorf
Austenland by Shannon Hale
Castway Cats by Lisa Wheeler
Chicka Chicka ABC by Bill Martin Jr. and Lois Ehlert
City of Light, City of Dark by Avi
Clifford the Small Red Puppy by Norman Bridwell
Constellation Chronicles: The Lost Civilization of Aries by Vincent Lowry review copy
Day of the Dragon-King (Magic Tree House #14) by Mary Pope Osborne
The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers
Dino-Dinners by Brita Granstrom
Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House #1) by Mary Pope Osborne
Don't Say Ain't by Irene Smalls
Do You Want to be My Friend? by Eric Carle
Emmaline and the Bunny by Katherine Hannigan
Esoteric City by Bruce Sterling
Evolution's Shore (aka Chaga) by Ian McDonald
Harriet and the Garden by Nancy Carlson
I Spy Fun House by Jean Marzollo
I Wish That I Had Duck Feet by Dr. Seuss
Jin Jin the Dragon by Grace Chang
Lizzi & Fredl: A Perilous Journey of Love and Faith by William B. Stanford
Logicist by Carol Emshwiller
Madeline and the Cats of Rome by John Bemelmans Marciano
The Mammy by Brendan O'Carroll
Minifred Goes to School by Mordicai Gerstein
Miss Pickerell and the Geigor Counter by Ellen MacGregor
The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood
Nightwings by Robert Silverberg
One Yellow Lion by Matthew Van Fleet
Opera Cat by Tess Weaver
Queen Vernita Visits the Blue Ice Mountains by Dawn Menge
Riding High by John Francom and James Macgregor
Sassy by Gloria Mallette
The Stars Down Under by Sandra McDonald
Strange Reading by Grant Uden
The Sunless Countries by Karl Schroeder
Tarot Cafe Volume 1 by Sang-Sun Park
Tepper Isn't Going Out by Calvin Trillin
Tiger on a Tree by Anushka Ravishankar
Vacation Under the Volcano (Magic Tree House #13) by Mary Pope Osborne
The West End Horror by Nicholas Meyer
Where Is the Green Sheep by Mem Fox
Yoko's Paper Cranes by Rosemary Wells

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Nightwings: 01/02/10

Nightwings is one of those books in my early acquisitions from the days when I had first fallen in love with books and was buying in bulk from the Friends of the Library sale at my local library. I've had the book on my to be read shelf for twenty years (or roughly 2/3 of my life!).

Nightwings is a short book set in the far future where our current modern civilizations have fallen, the world is inhabited in part by extra terrestrials and the earth civilization that remains mimics old medieval society except that there are some futuristic conveniences.

While I was reading the novel I noticed that there were three long chapters. What I didn't realize (and I could have done my homework, but I didn't) is that they are actually three short stories. These were originally published in Galaxy from 1968-9. I should have realized this because Nightwings reminds me most of "Against the Current", the very first FSF short story I ever read for Silverberg's efficient use of language. In his longer books he tends ramble.

The stories follow a Watcher whose job in life is to search the skies four times a day. He is looking for signs of a returning alien invasion. When it comes from an unexpected source he and the rest of the world have to come to terms with a sudden and drastic change to their lives.

What I liked best about Nightwings was the way Silverberg lets Watcher describe the future world and how he learns more about the history between now and whenever it is that Watcher lives. There are enough clues and ties to present time to make his future seem tangible.

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