Books I've Read Recently

Well, sort of recently-- over the last couple months.

Books I would Highly Recommend:

North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell-- a sort of Pride & Prejudice story, but with more political themes.

The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck-- short, quick read, about a village wiped out by a tsunami and how the people who are leftt alive recover.

Homesick: My Own Story by Jean Fritz-- about Jean's life growing up in China and how she wishes for America even though she's never been there. This covers the few years she and her family lived in China before the Chinese revolution (1927).

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley-- a Newberry Medal winning fantasy novel written in 1984. I love fantasy novels and I'm always looking for more!! I think this has at least one more book from the same land, and the author has written a number of other books so I should be happily entertained for a while. This is about Aerin, the daughter of the king who has never been fully accepted as royalty because it is rumored her mother was a witch woman who enspelled the kind into marrying her to get an heir, only to die of despair when she realizes she has given birth to a daughter. Aerin must uncover the truth of her origin and find a way to fill her place as the king's daughter.

Books I've Enjoyed: These are mostly books from several series that I have been reading the last couple years.

Rapture of the Deep: A Bloody Jack Adventure by L.A. Meyer-- Book 7 in the Bloody Jack series-- another book, another adventure. There are some things I don't like about the series-- the characters can be a little crass/forward, and as a reader I know she won't get to marry her sweetheart until the series is going to end so this makes it feel like a never-ending problem.

The Chrestomanci Series by Diana Wynne Jones-- author of Howl's Moving Castle (which I also just read again), these are about the wizard Chrestomanci. Overall I really like Jones' books, but you never get a complete explanation of how magic works in the worlds she creates so I always feel unsure of what/how things happen. I feel like this with the howl books as well.

Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale-- I just read the newest release, book 4, Forest Born (Utah Beehive Award Nominee for 2010) and I enjoyed it. I liked it more than book 2 or 3, but The Goose Girl, book 1, is still my favorite. Sometimes with her books I get the impression that she's trying to come up with the most outlandish things she can think of to keep the reader entertained, when really she should just stick with telling us a good story. BTW, I was reminded of her book Austenland as Kurt and I were watching the BBC series Regency House Party about 10 modern day people going back in time to the early 19th century to find love while they try to live true to that time period (men lived so much better than the women!).

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban-- Utah Beehive Award Nominee for 2010, this book is about 11 year old Zoe who wants to give piano concerts at Carnegie Hall, but her dad buys her a Perfectone D-60 organ. Her teacher discovers she is talented and signs her up to play in the Perfectone Perform-O-Rama contest. Despite reality not matching her dream, Zoe forges ahead to make the best of the situation.

The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas-- Utah Beehive Award Nominee for 2010, Conn lives on the streets and tries to steal a wizard's lotus stone, something that should kill him, and when it doesn't the wizard takes him on as an apprentice. Conn discovers someone is trying to steal the magic of his city and must work out how to stop them. I guess this is part of a series of 4 books, but it looks like my library system only has the next book.

Books that were Okay:

The Lion's Paw by Robb White-- an okay children's adventure novel about a brother and sister who run away from an orphanage so they aren't separated, and Ben, who's father is missing-in-action, and also runs away so his father's boat won't be taken from him. They are trying not to get caught by the authorities and are in search of The Lion's Paw, a rare sea shell. Supposedly it is one of the most sought after out-of-print books and it has rave reviews on Amazon, but it was just okay for me.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, and the sequel The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey-- I don't know quite how to explain these books so read about them at amazon-- for me they were a too complicated with too many things to keep track of. There is a 3rd book, but I don't have much interest to read it.

Author - Melissa Nathan

I've read 3 of her books:

Pride, Prejudice, & Jasmin Field

Persuading Annie

and

The Nanny.

The first two are modern re-writes of Jane Austen's books Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion. I found the PP&JF at a used bookstore years ago, and I still like to read it once in a while. It is a light and easy read, stays true to Austen's story (will Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy end up together???), but also has an original take on the story that makes it fresh and modern.

I just read PA for the first time, and found the first 3/4ths of it a little boring and a little complicated. I couldn't exactly tell how Nathan's characters were supposed to match up with Austen's and how the story was supposed to match up (which was probably my fault for trying to match them up in my mind, but that's how my brain works), but then the ending made the story more interesting, and made it enjoyable overall.

I hesitated over The Nanny for a while. I had horrible visions of the Scarelt Johanson movie and knew I wouldn't be able to stomach that kind of squirmy, embarassing blather. I know the Nanny Diairies is a different book entirely, but I figured there is enough related subject matter to give me concern. Anyways, this book reminded me of PP&JF, with the light, fast moving story. Actually, the plot reminded me of Austen's Northanger Abbey, but I don't know if Nathan intended this one to be an retelling of Austen's novel. I might just read the Nanny Diaries now so I can compare them.

I'm going to be on the look out for Nathan's other books: The Waitress and The Learning Curve.

Aaach. While reading about The Learning Curve at amazon I learned that Melissa Nathan died of breast cancer shortly after finishing it, her 5th novel. It makes me sad for all sorts of reasons.

Confusion & Poetry

An email newsletter I subscribe to said today, October 15th, is World Poetry Day, which had me all excited, until I did a search online and my hopes were dashed. Today is NOT World Poetry Day (March 21st was - so not even close to today) and National Poetry Day was October 8th. This same newsletter said to write a poem in honor of National Poetry Day (Oct 15th) and then listed World Poetry Day under October 15th. And then I googled "poetry day oct 15" and found that the National Library and Information System Authority, somehow linked to Trinidad & Tobago, 2 countries who share an island, will be celebrating National Poetry Day today.

Well, whatever!! Any excuse to share some of my favorite poetry!!

Emily Dickinson

Tell all the truth but tell it slant --
There's a certain Slant of light
Much Madness is divinest Sense

And lots more Dickens!!! (I heard a Fly buzz -- when I died --)

Robert Frost - Nothing Gold can Stay & Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Robert Browning - My Last Duchess (I love how evil the Duke is!)

Shakespeare's Sonnets - Too many to list individually, but one is Sonnet 116, which I had to memorize in high school, but I obviously still remember it because of the Sense and Sensibility movie with Hugh Grant.

A poet/poem I have recently been learning about is Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite (her only complete poem recovered).

Favorite poetry I've read with my kids:

AA Milne's When we were very young & Now we are six
Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verse
Margaret Wise Brown's poetry (We have a book called Nibble Nibble, as well as others like Goodnight Moon and A Child's Good Night Book)

Nyah's favorite poetry right now is from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein-- she recently memorized Melinda Mae.

Austin's favorite is Bone Poems by Jeff Moss-- he recently memorized Bones:
Bones are important,
They do a big job.
Without them, you'd be just
A big squooshy blob

We have also been listening to William Blake the last couple months (The Tiger) -- Librivox is a great place to download poetry and make your own CD!!

One of my manyy favorite books is The Oxford Book of Story Poems, which includes classics such as The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson (thank you Anne of Avonlea!) to more modern favorites like Jabberwocky by Lewis Carrol. It also has one of my favorites from when I was a kid- The Owl and the Pussycat.

My favorite book about poetry is The Art of Poetry - How to Read a Poem by Shira Wolosky.

And since I've moved from actual poems to books about poetry, I must be starting to get carried away! I could list LOTS more, but I will control myself and stop now.

Do YOU have any favorites? Please share by leaving a comment!!

So sad!!

With my little girls napping less, our new school year starting, and all the regular mom duties I take care of, I can no longer spend as much time blogging as I wish I could and so I am putting this blog on hold for a time. I hope to post occasionally when I read a really great book and have a spare moment, but it just isn't happening these days!!

Recent great reads:

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (watch the BBC mini-series too!)

Goose Girl, The Princess Academy, and Austenland by Shannon Hale (Austenland is a Jane Austen related story where a modern day girl is dreaming of finding her own Mr. Darcy, ends up taking a vacation to a resort set in the Pride & Prejudice time period where she has to act like a character of that time - really fun read; Goose Girl has sequels, but I didn't think they are as good)

The Seer and the Sword by Victoria Hanley (I read another by Hanley but like this one the best)

Look at that!! I'm already trying to squeeze some book reviews in!! But really I won't be blogging here much in the near future (I can already hear a little voice calling to be rescued from her crib-- naptime over already!)

The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen

Picture from this book. This is the copy I have, but I used the online version for these posts.

She saw her sisters rising out of the flood: they were as pale as herself; but their long beautiful hair waved no more in the wind, and had been cut off.

“We have given our hair to the witch,” said they, “to obtain help for you, that you may not die to-night. She has given us a knife: here it is, see it is very sharp. Before the sun rises you must plunge it into the heart of the prince; when the warm blood falls upon your feet they will grow together again, and form into a fish’s tail, and you will be once more a mermaid, and return to us to live out your three hundred years before you die and change into the salt sea foam. Haste, then; he or you must die before sunrise. Our old grandmother moans so for you, that her white hair is falling off from sorrow, as ours fell under the witch’s scissors. Kill the prince and come back; hasten: do you not see the first red streaks in the sky? In a few minutes the sun will rise, and you must die.” And then they sighed deeply and mournfully, and sank down beneath the waves.

The little mermaid drew back the crimson curtain of the tent, and beheld the fair bride with her head resting on the prince’s breast. She bent down and kissed his fair brow, then looked at the sky on which the rosy dawn grew brighter and brighter; then she glanced at the sharp knife, and again fixed her eyes on the prince, who whispered the name of his bride in his dreams. She was in his thoughts, and the knife trembled in the hand of the little mermaid: then she flung it far away from her into the waves; the water turned red where it fell, and the drops that spurted up looked like blood. She cast one more lingering, half-fainting glance at the prince, and then threw herself from the ship into the sea, and thought her body was dissolving into foam.

BUT that's not all!!! Go here to find out how "The Little Mermaid" ends.

Can You Guess #3

Guess what children's classic fairy tale this passage comes from:



[She] could not help thinking of her first rising out of the sea, when she had seen similar festivities and joys; and she joined in the dance, poised herself in the air as a swallow when he pursues his prey, and all present cheered her with wonder. She had never danced so elegantly before. Her tender feet felt as if cut with sharp knives, but she cared not for it; a sharper pang had pierced through her heart.


She knew this was the last evening she should ever see the prince, for whom she had forsaken her kindred and her home; she had given up her beautiful voice, and suffered unheard-of pain daily for him, while he knew nothing of it. This was the last evening that she would breathe the same air with him, or gaze on the starry sky and the deep sea; an eternal night, without a thought or a dream, awaited her: she had no soul and now she could never win one. All was joy and gaiety on board ship till long after midnight; she laughed and danced with the rest, while the thoughts of death were in her heart.


The prince kissed his beautiful bride, while she played with his raven hair, till they went arm-in-arm to rest in the splendid tent. Then all became still on board the ship; the helmsman, alone awake, stood at the helm. [She] leaned her white arms on the edge of the vessel, and looked towards the east for the first blush of morning, for that first ray of dawn that would bring her death.

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

As I am typing, Olivia is watching Finding Nemo, and Marlin and Dory are in the belly of the whale. Lovely coincidence. Notice the 50 cent price tag? I love people who throw out wonderful masterpieces and DI takes them and sells them and they are found by me. I was on the brink of buying a cheap paperback version online for $4 when I found this beautifully, illustrated, hardback, unabridged, early translation of Carlo Collodi's fabulous book. While I was trying to find a link for this book I found price tags as much as $50!! Treasure!! This amazon link is not the exact edition I have, my book is blue and the one on amazon looks liek a condensed version, but you can see a couple more of the illustrations if you want.

The father and son were on the point of drowning when they heard a voice like a guitar out of tune saying: "Who is it that is dying?"

"It is I, and my poor father!"

"I know that voice! You are Pinocchio!"

"Precisely. And you?"

"I am the Tunny, you prison companion in the body of the Dogfish."

"And how did you manage to escape?"

"I followed your example. You showed me the road, and I escaped after you."

"Tunny, you have arrived at the right moment! I implore you to help us, or we are lost."

"Willingly and with all my heart. You must, both of you, take hold of my tail and allow me to guide you. I shall take you on shore in four minutes."

Geppetto and Pinocchio, as I need not tell you, accepted the offer at once; but instead of holding on by his tail, they thought it would be more comfortable to get on the Tunny's back.

When they reach the shore, Pinocchio sprang on land first so that he might help his father to do the same. He then turned to the Tunny, and said to him in a voice full of emotion:

"My friend, you have saved my papa's life. I can find no words with which to thank you properly. permit me at least to give you a kiss as a sign of my eternal gratitude!"

The Tunny put his head out of the water, and Pinocchio, kneeling on the ground, kissed him tenderly on the mouth. At this spontaneous proof of warm affection, the poor Tunny, who was not accustomed to it, felt extremely touched, and ashamed to let himself be seen crying like a child, he plunged under the water and disappeared.