#book: from the mixed-up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler

[haveyoureadthispoll]

When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort - she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She saved her money, and she invited her brother Jamie to go, mostly because he was a miser and would have money. Claudia was a good organizer and Jamie had some ideas, too; so the two took up residence at the museum right on schedule. But once the fun of settling in was over, Claudia had two unexpected problems: She felt just the same, and she wanted to feel different; and she found a statue at the Museum so beautiful she could not go home until she had discovered its maker, a question that baffled the experts, too. The former owner of the statue was Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Without her - well, without her, Claudia might never have found a way to go home.

[book--brackets]

[ofliterarynature]

NOVEMBER 2023 WRAP UP

[ loved liked ok no thanks (reread) DNF ]

The Moonstone • Chaos Terminal • (The Raven Boys) • The Ghosts of Trappist • (Fugitive Telemetry) • From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler • The Art of Destiny • The Bell in the Fog • (Exit Strategy) • Who Goes There? • Salt Magic Skin Magic • The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up • (Dracula) • (Rogue Protocol) • The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store • The Boneshaker • The Archive Undying • (The Scorpio Races) • Camilla

Total: 18 (audiobook: 15 / ebook: 3)

I started my month off by finishing my reread of The Scorpio Races on November 1, as is right and proper :) This has consistently been my favorite of Maggie's books, and it never feels right the years that I haven't reread it. I think I hit the right method this year and rather than binging it or following a structured reread (which would be cool, if you could match the timeline of the book) I listened to the audiobook on and off throughout Oct and finished it off in one last burst one the 1st. I think this is some of Maggie's best writing, but I also admit I am no longer able to judge this one objectively and will save you all the sales pitch for now :)

The Archive Undying was...confusing. It wasn't that I couldn't follow what was happening on the sentence level or in the immediate present, but try zooming out to the larger picture and I was lost. It was hazy, very much like a fever dream. I would not be opposed to trying some of the author's other work in the future, but I have no interest in revisiting this book/series, and wouldn't really recommend.

The Boneshaker has been sitting on my bookshelf for years ever since I picked it up at a library book sale, and it's managed to survive every shelf purge since. And I'm glad it did! It's a strange MG/YA book about a girl, her bicycle, a small western town just off a crossroads, a snakeoil salesman, his medicine show, and deals with the devil. It was fascinating! I've been almost tempted to send a copy to Sydnee McElroy just for fun. I will definitely be investigating the author's other series.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - I got tempted into this one because the Book Riot Podcast couldn't stop singing it's praises, and then it started making some of the year end/best of lists and... it's ok I guess? I don't really get the hype, tbh, and I got close to DNFing because it just wasn't interesting. I was at least forewarned that the "murder mystery" in the marketing was overblown, but I am here to tell you to ignore its existence completely. There is no mystery, there isn't really even a murder, and it doesn't happen until the end of the book anyway. I fully admit this was just not a book for me, and anyone who wants to read it I wish you well.

Not much to say about my Murderbot reread, other than choosing to give the audiobooks a break and rereading in a text format was an excellent choice, I really feel like I've picked up on a lot of things I didn't before, and it gives me time to think about things (I have some questions about the actual irl existence of rogue secunits, tbh). This is my second full time trough the series, and I think Exit Strategy is maybe the weakest solo link in the original quartet, but that makes me very happy to have the newer books as well. And I have to say it, FUGITIVE TELEMETRY IS BETTER IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.

Dracula Daily wrapped up this month, so I'm probably not the only one to have Dracula show up on their reading list. I listened to most of it via RE: Dracula, which I appreciated so much for helping keep me on track this year. I probably won't follow along next year, but big thanks to everyone for helping me learn to enjoy a book I hated both times I had to read it for school! I'll still be percolating that Greenwing & Dart AU somewhere in the back of my mind in the meantime.

I picked up the idea of "sparking joy" from the general internet and have found it hugely helpful in letting go of things in life, so I've been meaning to pick up The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up for a while, and was finally spurred into it when I picked up a copy at goodwill. I found some actionable advice in Kondo's method, but sooo much of the book felt like a sales pitch on how following this method could fix everything wrong in your life (and I mean *everything*). It left a very bad taste in my mouth - I think a workbook or checklist could be useful, but wouldn't recommend the book itself.

Salt Magic Skin Magic is a historical fantasy with magic, adventure, and a gay romance, which is so entirely in my wheelhouse. It hit all the same points I tend to find/enjoy in KJ Charles' work, and I had such a good time reading this - no surprise, apparently she helped edit this! Thanks to the HOTE discord group for reccing this one, I'll definitely be checking out some of the author's other work!

If you didn't know, Who Goes There? is the short story that the movie The Thing was based on - which I have not seen, but I went on a brief dive into antarctic exploration/horror in anticipation of this month's book club (All the White Spaces, which I actually read for last month but that meeting got delayed) and this popped up pretty quickly. It was available from the library and short, so why not?! The beginning felt a little rough, but I would have loved to see the tension of the main plot drawn out even longer. Liked this a lot better than the actual book club book, but I don't know that I'll watch any of the adaptations.

The Bell in the Fog - Lavender House sequel! I was so glad when this was announced; I love queer books, historical books, a mystery with a lead who actually does some detecting, and a character trying to find themselves and their community? Absolute catnip for me. It also doesn't pull its punches about the violence and injustices faced by the queer community, so it's definitely a bit darker than my usual tastes and will have to try hard to make it onto my favorites list. But if the author continues to write these I will absolutely pick them up.

The Art of Destiny - bless the library for not dragging their heels on the audiobook for this sequel, but lucky me, they did finally add the first book in time for me to get them both in the same year. Unlucky me, this does not appear to be the end of this series D: third book when??? Anyway, I won't deny that these books move a little slowly, but when they move, they move. If you want a big fantasy that's diverse, funny, cartoonish but epically violent, has a cast of all ages, and centers it's story on non-romantic relationships - this is so good, come join me in wailing for a book 3 announcement.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler has lived in the back of my mind for a while as a favorite childhood book of a booklr friend who is sadly no longer on tumblr, but who I say hi to occasionally on other sites - anyways, I found a copy at goodwill and took it as a sign. This one's for you, Lourdes! If I'd found this as a kid, I probably would have reread it a lot, that's how I was too lol. For now, it was a fine read, but I don't think it'll have a lasting hold. Any fans interested in more middle grade about fine art might check out the Chasing Vermeer series by Blue Balliett.

The Ghosts of Trappist - I think it's impossible for me to not enjoy myself reading this series (NeoG), but this one was a bit of a backslide from the improvements in book 2. On one hand - a very ambitious plot, probably the least soap-operaish of the bunch, and I loved the emotional arcs (and the possible ART/murderbot reference?). On the other - over a dozen pov characters is too too many. my god. I think a tighter focus could have done a world of good, but if this is also where the series wraps up I'd be totally satisfied. I'll definitely check out the author's other series.

I admit, rereading The Scorpio Races sparked something in me and now I'm determined to set off on a full Maggie Stiefvater read/reread, starting with The Raven Boys. I really loved this when it first came out, but my interested petered out as the series progressed and I started college, and I haven't touched the spinoff yet. My impression from the first book is still that Maggie's writing is so goddam beautiful. Her sentences make me want to weep, but for me there's so much focus on the line that I'm constantly losing track of the big picture. I'm still enjoying myself, but I feel like I'm coasting a lot on nostalgia and aesthetic between moments of a story - though is it me, or does she write a lot in scenes/vignettes, rather than a constant flowing story? I've found some success in centering myself by imagining the scenes as depicted by a CW supernatural teen show of my high school years and it's quite lovely, actually - I can't believe the TV show plans got dropped and never picked up again. We'll have to see how the rest of the series goes.

Genuinely, I can't believe that I read Station Eternity earlier this year and that the sequel, Chaos Terminal, is out already. Despite liking the author's first book (Six Wakes) and normally liking the tropes they're playing with here, I did not like the first book. No idea why I read the second one then (hope?), but it was better, definitely! I still didn't like it. No idea if I'll finally call it quits on this series or get lured into another one if it gets written.

The Moonstone was an unexpected surprise! I made it to November still 2 books short on my 6 classics challenge and panicked when the first one ended up dnf'd - what if this one was bad too??? But I really should know better, give me a half decent mystery and entertaining characters, and I'll be fine. And it was epistolary! I had a good time groaning over all of the characters foibles and quirks, even if I spent the whole time just going, Hey Guys? you could avoid all of this if you just let the nice Indian men have their diamond back. Good fun if you like a mystery and have some patience.

My only DNF this month was the previously mentioned classic - from the moment I decided on a classics challenge, I knew I wanted to try something by Frances Burney given how much I liked her novel Evelina. Unfortunately for me, the only one the library had on audiobook was Camilla... and it was 37 hours long. I gave it a shot, but only made it about 3 hours in. I really do applaud Burney for her ability to create characters who are intentionally/unintentionally causing harm even if they sometimes have the best of intentions. It's absurd, truly, but I'm not in a place I can take that right now - especially since the victims were children, and it happened *repeatedly*. I think if I was to try this one again I'd need to take it slowly in small parts.

Am I horribly wrong about anything? Do you have any classics you'd recommend for next year?

[beartrice-inn-unnir]

For the book ask thing — favorite book (or books, I can never pick just one), and what you’re currently reading? I’m always on the lookout for queer sci fi and fantasy recs!

For favorites, here’s one fantasy and one sci-fi:

I have to give A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske a round of applause. It’s wonderful. Joy in a box. It’s an Edwardian English missing persons/murder mystery with magic and complicated families. It also uses one of my fav magic-user tropes - the magician who does a lot with very little power. It is also rather sexy, which is often a surprise to bookclubs.

For sci-fi, I’m going to pick Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers. It’s technically the third in a series, but the stories are only loosely connected by shared characters. They’re all worth a read, but this one is full of thoughts about memory and purpose and belonging. I’m planning a reread of this one soon.

And for what I’m currently reading:

I’ve been rereading The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard, which is massive and lovely - like a trusted friend holding your hand and saying “sometimes we can change the world with compassion and bureaucracy, and the people who love us will understand us and it will be good.”

I’m also reading From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg for the first time right now. I found it in a used bookstore and am enjoying it. I know it’s a classic for a lot of folks, but I’d never read it before.

I hope you enjoy any of these! And I’m always happy to offer more recommendations 📚🌊

[bookcoversonly]

Title: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler | Author: E.L. Konigsburg | Publisher: Atheneum Books (2007)

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

Books on Film: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (aka The Hideaways) (1973)

Claudia has a vivid imagination, and she loves reading fantasy stories. But her parents wish she was more focused and practical.

For reasons she can’t fully express, she decides to run away from home and stay at one of her favorite places, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She invites her brother Jamie to come along, and they travel together to New York:

They spend a lot of time exploring the museum during the day …

Finding amazing beds to sleep in …

And exploring the museum more at night …

Soon, they stumble across a mystery: was the museum’s latest acquisition really made by Michelangelo?

This question leads them to do research at THE PUBLIC LIBRARY!

But ultimately, the person who’s most likely to know about the statue is its previous owner, the mysterious recluse Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler:

Mrs. Frankweiler knows more than she’s willing to share. But the more time she spends with Claudia and Jamie, the more they all start to share their secrets with each other.

Full disclosure: I read this book multiple times when I was a kid, but I never watched this movie until this year!

I got a big kick out of this interpretation of one of my favorite books, and I also enjoyed this time capsule of 1970s New York City. I thought that both of the kids were great naturalistic actors. And Ingrid Bergman was, as always, FANTASTIC.

Want to take a deeper dive and learn more about this book, this movie, and this museum? Check out these links!

NYPL

IMDB

Just Watch (Streaming)

The True Story Behind Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Her Mixed-Up Files

Explore the Met and Celebrate 50 Years of Mixed-Up Files

[newberyandchai]

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1968)

Jim: What are you reading? Abby: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Jim: Best book. Abby: Yeah, but I've read it before. Jim: So have I. Hey, question: If you had to spend the night in the Met or the aquarium, which would it be? Abby: Definitely the aquarium. Jim: Definitely. Yes. Glad you said that. You don't wanna help me with some of my sales, do you? 'Cause I'm kind of swamped. Abby: Sure.

It's the most mundane Office quote to devote any brainpower to remembering (although my name popped up, which is a plus), but this was my only exposure to From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler before picking it up at the bookstore in the kids' section a few months ago. I thought it might be one of those amazing, fast-paced mysteries that involved a group of quirky kids getting trapped in a museum or an aquarium, somehow chancing upon a crime taking place and catching the criminals before any police have a chance to get involved... but nope.

This was a really boring book and I didn't like it.

...I could stop there, but since my last post didn't include any kind of synopsis of the book in question, here you go: A very young girl decides to run away from home with one of her brothers and hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art until she teaches a lesson to her parents in appreciating her more. The siblings aren't discovered by anyone for several days, which leads to very exciting descriptions of bathing in the museum fountain and hiding in public restrooms while the security guards do their nightly rounds. They sleep in a centuries-old bed and buy food from the nearby automat (if that gives you any idea of the timeframe) and are constantly worried about how many cents they're spending on food and transportation, etc.

But to get to the meat of the story, the girl quickly becomes interested in determining whether a new statue supposedly by Michaelangelo is really an original or a fake. They follow some "clues" and write to the museum, but they receive an unsatisfactory answer in the P.O. box they rent for this specific purpose. In the end, they visit a (slightly rude) rich old lady outside the city who gives them an hour to look through her file cabinets to find out the truth about the statue's origin.

Without spoiling the ending (although I'm sure you can probably guess how everything turned out), it was disappointing. There wasn't any kind of antagonist aside from budgeting concerns, which is hard to take seriously these days when they're talking about the difference between 16 and 20 cents. Something about knowing they're sleeping in an extremely ancient bed that someone was murdered in freaked me out a little, too, and it didn't seem thrilling so much as stressful.

There was a bit at the very end about needing to have a secret -- how knowledge that no one else knows transforms you, even if no one else knows. Claudia (the main character) is desperate to know the truth about the statue because it will make her exciting and important, which is something she doesn't feel at home.

"Returning with a secret is what [Claudia] really wants. [The statue] had a secret and that made her exciting, important. Claudia doesn't want adventure. She likes baths and feeling comfortable too much for that kind of thing. Secrets are the kind of adventure she needs. Secrets are safe, and they do much to make you different. On the inside where it counts."

I'm not sure I entirely agree. The thing about secrets (or maybe a better word in this context is the truth) is that people can choose to see them as lies that sad people concoct for all kinds of pitiable reasons. Lies are (among many other reasons) sometimes created to make people feel important when they don't have anything exciting to share or contribute (I'm thinking of a certain someone saying something along the lines of boasting to be able to solve the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office...).

I think the book's quote insinuates that if you know your secret is real, that's what gives you your own sense of value — but deep inside the adult side of my brain, I think I might be too concerned with the believability aspect. If something unbelievable (or even extremely believable) is true, but everyone else believes it's a lie... is it really true? (Inside the current political landscape of the U.S., it appears even reality is debatable.)

And I'm pretty bad at keeping secrets as it is, so never tell me about any surprise parties.

I would rate this book a 5/10 and Unrecommendable. It did not meet my expectations and went from being very practical (how to very practically and frugally live in a museum for a few days) to more abstract (~secrets change you~) in ways that didn't add up to a satisfactory ending for me.

Your mileage may vary.

[josephconrads]

Title: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler

Author: E.L Konigsburg

Rating: 3 out of 5

Review: Hadn't read this for year so I forgot that the central plot of this is them investigating the statue. Enjoyed this through and through and once again it made me want to stay overnight at a museum. It's just a quick, fun, read and the little bit of mystery that it provides is entertaining.

[nerd-at-sea5]

yellowjackets fav books from my books hc's

lottie - the haunting of hill house, a hero born and the song of achilles

natalie - the locked tomb series, radio silence and last night by at the telegraph club

van - one last stop, percy jackson - specifically the titians curse and the lord of the rings series (+ the hobbit)

tai - infamous, all 7 harry potter books, and the a good girls guide to murder series

shauna - the goldfinch, a secret history and the hunger games series (+tbosas)

jackie - the six of crows dulogy, the seven husbands of evelyn hugo and the mixed-up files of mrs. basil e frankweiler

[cedarbookhs]

One of my favourite micro-genres, especially growing up, was books about kids or teens running away from home and living in unusual places. Some of these are more serious and involve leaving abusive homes. Others, the home life and excuse for leaving is entirely perfunctory and the adventure is the point. The common theme is that the kid leaves voluntarily (isn’t stranded somewhere, but goes there specifically) and then ends up living independently in some unique setting that gives the story a large part of its identity.

My Side of the Mountain — inside a tree in the Catskills

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler — the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art

Maniac Magee — inside a buffalo house in the zoo, in a baseball stadium, and more

The Invention of Hugo Cabret — a grand Parisian train station

notabookbut The Kings of Summer — a homemade shanty in the Ohio woods

Last Sam’s Cage — the Calgary Zoo

The Boxcar Children — a freight car

Suggest more if you can think of any, I know there are lots of other examples.

[irisbleufic]

Here we go: my first brand new work in this fandom in like a decade, FML. This is a stand alone fic; first two chapters out of six are live.

TEASER:

“Listen, man, I’m really sorry,” Joey said. “It’s just…I don’t know where everybody went.”

Billy shoved his hands in his pockets, his old swagger returning. “Does it really matter?”

“I don’t know about you,” Joey said, jabbing his finger at Billy’s nose, “but I’d rather not get detention for a week because I ditched the group.”

“Please,” Billy said, rolling his eyes. He pulled something out of his back pocket and thwapped it against his palm. “Why go looking for them when you could join me on an adventure instead?” He thwapped his palm a few more times, and Joey realized it was a book.

“Gimme that,” Joey said, snatching it away from him. He realized he was holding the most tattered paperback copy of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler that he’d seen since the one in his old elementary school library at Immaculate Conception.

“Ever read that?” Billy asked, grinning like he already knew he’d won. “It’s up your alley.”

[haveyoureadthispoll]

An inspiring tale of a fourth-grader who fights back when her favorite book is banned from the school library--by starting her own illegal locker library! It all started the day Amy Anne Ollinger tried to check out her favorite book in the whole world, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, from the school library. That's when Mrs. Jones, the librarian, told her the bad news: her favorite book was banned! All because a classmate's mom thought the book wasn't appropriate for kids to read. Amy Anne decides to fight back by starting a secret banned books library out of her locker. Soon, she finds herself on the front line of an unexpected battle over book banning, censorship, and who has the right to decide what she and her fellow students can read. Reminiscent of the classic novel Frindle by Andrew Clements for its inspiring message, Ban This Book is a love letter to the written word and its power to give kids a voice.

[msmargaretmurry]

2 and 44 for book meme, and if those have been asked/answered, dealer's choice!

2. Favorite fantasy book(s).

a wrinkle in time obviously!! as previously mentioned for this meme, robin hobb's farseer books (the first trilogy is my most favorite, but i also have a lot of love for the bingtown traders trilogy and the second fitz trilogy; although here i must admit i haven't read the last 7 books in the series because i fell off the reading wagon in general after the third trilogy). lynn flewelling's nightrunner series. loved the raven cycle, loved six of crows/crooked kingdom (enjoyed the other books in that universe too but the crows books were the best). the radiant emperor duology is a recent entry into the faves list.

44. The book(s) whose stories have become part of your very makeup.

a wrinkle in time obviously!!!! and, again, the farseer books. recently maggie read the farseer books at my behest and was like "wow i understand so much about you as a person now." the giver. plenty of girl-centered classics: anne of green gables; little women; the little house on the prairie books because my mom read them all to my sister and me as kids although i do acknowledge their very problematic aspects as an adult. from the mixed-up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler was formative to young me, as was running out of time by margaret peterson haddix. animorphs got me into trauma and found family early. i only read the left hand of darkness for the first time a couple years ago but it did change me as a person.

[meret118]

A half-century ago, a girl and brother ran away to New York City from their suburban Connecticut home. And the Metropolitan Museum of Art hasn’t been the same since.

If visions of Claudia and Jamie bathing—and collecting lunch money—in the Met’s Fountain of Muses bring up fond childhood memories of your own, you’re among the legions of readers who grew up loving E.L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. The classic children’s book turns 50 in 2017, and the tale of the Kincaid siblings spending their days wandering about the paintings, sculptures and antiquities, and their nights sleeping in antique beds handcrafted for royalty, is as popular as ever. The 1968 Newbery Medal winner has never been out of print.

(The same year, her debut novel Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth received the Newbery runner-up honor; Konigsburg is the only author to ever achieve the dual literary feat.)

-----

I wish I'd known about these as a child. They sound delightful.

[notbecauseofvictories]

I saw you mention Flowers in the Attic- did you read that, fresh, as an adult? I was given that book at twelve and reread it every so often, and I've always wondered what in the world someone would take away from it if they read it as a grown-up and it didn't burrow into their brains during puberty, so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. It feels like the sort of book that's almost unreadable if you didn't get to it early

I did! I read it for the very first time about eight months ago, on a total whim---I think I saw the ebook was available through the library? And of course I knew it by reputation, so curiosity did the rest.

As an adult, I was actually very impressed by it as a novel. It's extremely readable, with a lurid, almost soap opera feel that leavens what might otherwise be out-and-out tragedy. It actually reminded me a lot of Michael McDowell's pulp horror novels, like The Elementals and Blackwater---all three play with the same gothic themes of generational sin and clannish infighting in the American South, though McDowell uses monsters to make his point.

I will say that I was unprepared for the sheer degree of neglect and abuse VC Andrews put on the page. Everyone talks about the incest, but there's so, so much gutting tragedy leading up to it that it felt like a natural response to the trauma these kids are asked to endure. (I was much more horrified by the shriveling, anhedonic twins than anything Chris and Cathy did.)

That being said...I can absolutely see how it would burrow into a young reader's head. The lurid soapiness, the forbidden thrill of it all, would be devastatingly effective for a reader who hasn't encountered it before. Gothic is and remains a fun genre, there’s a reason it’s branched off in a hundred different directions. But also---as an adult you spend the whole narrative conscious of how young these kids are, how grossly unfair and tragic it is that they are being asked to endure the cruelty around them. That awareness imbues the book with tragedy and robs it of some of its thrill. 

As a younger reader, though, I can imagine their suffering takes on an almost heroic cast. I grew up on (and adored!) wilderness survival books, where a boy or girl survives in nature by dint of their courage and cleverness---same thing with books like Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler or the Boxcar Children, where the adults are removed from the picture and children rise to the challenge. Cathy and Chris do the same, even if their mountain/arctic tundra/uninhabited island is the attic and social roles they're forced into by their grandmother's cruelty and mother's selfish neglect.

I would have loved to read some scholarly articles about the role of incest in Flowers in the Attic specifically, and it was even namechecked in the afterword of one of the books I skimmed! But unfortunately it seems like the academy’s focus has been on the European Romantic/Gothic literature of the past---so I’ll have to wait for my essay on what incest in pulp novels, holiday commercials, and fantasy television, says about the modern American psyche.