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.