The Serpent and the Rose by Kathleen Bryan

Title: The Serpent and the Rose
Author: Kathleen Bryan - a pseudonym for Judith Tarr. I picked out the book thinking she was a new author, as it says "a bold new voice (in) fantasy" on the back cover. But now I would like to read some of her other books.
Series: War of the Rose, Book 1
Genre: Fantasy
Setting: An alternate-history sort of France.
Reason for Reading: I saw it in the fantasy section of the library and thought it looked interesting.
Finished In: Days
Pages: 316
Copyright Date: 2007
Cover: A man, a woman, and some knights on horseback riding through a barren forest. The trees are leafless, twisted, and a little creepy.
First line: "The chapel was made of light."
Best part: Difficult to put down, with strong and believable characters.
Worst part: Seeing snakes demonized as evil in a patriarchal way just seems weird to me at this point.
Imaginary Theme Song: "Just a Girl" by No Doubt
Grade: B
Recommended for: I think there was more of an alternate history thing going on than I had background for. So, I suspect fantasy buffs who like European history would enjoy it.
Related Reads: Shadow of Albion by Rosemary Edghill and Andre Norton. Anno Dracula by Kim Newman.

Ingathering by Zenna Henderson

Title: Ingathering: The Complete People Stories
Author: Zenna Henderson
Genre: Speculative fiction, short stories.
Setting: Mostly the US, a few of the stories are set on alien planets.
Reason for Reading: gentlescholar read me one of the stories, "Ararat," and I loved it.
Finished In: Months.
Pages: 577
Copyright Date: 1995
Cover: A desert with a lizard in the foreground and a crashed spaceship in the background.
First line: "The window of the bus was a dark square against the featureless night."
Best part: Many of these stories are very sweet and warming.
Worst part: The aliens are Christian? Come now.
Imaginary Theme Song: "Get Together" by the Youngbloods
Grade: C+
Recommended for: Anyone that needs a bit of a lift.
Related Reads: Illusions by Richard Bach.

This book has a lot of good moments, though I think I would have enjoyed it even more if there was a shorter selection of the best stories instead of a complete omnibus with frames between chapters. I found the way the author wrote about depression to be a little frustrating, and then there was the whole Christian alien thing. But I definitely enjoyed the stories, especially "Ararat," "Pottage," and "Captivity."

When "Ararat" was first read to me, it reminded me a lot of a movie I had seen many years ago. It turns out that this movie, "The People," was actually based on Henderson's work. Old black and white thing, kind of fun and silly as I recall but it's been quite a long time.