Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

First, our family loves Hayao Miyazaki's movies- I was first introduced to Hayao Miyazaki in my high school Japanese class with My Friend Totoro. It was a little hard to get what was going on because it was in japanese for class, obviously. Then a while ago (10 years or so?) Pixar and Disney started translating the movies into English and its so awesome!

Our Family Favorites: Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Porco Rosso, The Cat Returns, Castle in the Sky, My Friend Totoro (the dakota and elle fanning version is the best, but we've had a hard time getting it--netflix employees don't realize there are two different versions so you might get the older version, which is still good), and Kiki's Delivery Service.

And there are a couple we haven't let the kids watch, but Kurt and I love: Lupin the 3rd: Castle of Cagliostro (there are tons of Lupin the 3rd movies, but this is the only one Hayao Miyazaki was a part of) and Princess Mononoke.

And Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea was released in Japan in 2008 but hasn't been released in the US yet.

Get them, watch them, love them-- enough said. (Note to reader- yes they are all a little weird, quirky, whatever, they are still fabulous)

Anyways, this brings me to the Second part of my post-- The totally great, awesome, fabulous, delightful, enchanting, non-stop action book Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I have been in a reading slump the last few months, but I have been snapped out of it by this wonderful book (and a couple other new series I'm in the middle of reading and will post about when I'm done). The movie is an excellent adaptation as far as those go, but the book has so much more to the story, characters, and my own enjoyment. PLUS, there are more Howl books by Jones, which means my hold list at the library is now full. My only warning is that you can't go into this book thinking about it seriously- its not going to have complete character development or describe everything down to the last detailed speck in the corner. Don't analyze it-- ENJOY IT!!

Poor Tom Bombadil!

As I have mentioned on my Our Days blog, my son Austin is listening to The Lord of the Rings and currently he is listening to The Fellowship of the Ring. Because of recent problems (staying up past midnight and listening instead of doing chores) he is listening to them downstairs, and as a result we are all listening to them. The audio cd's are an animated reading of the books, which means they are mostly the character dialogue with just a little of the explanatory details. So far I would have considered them mainly unabridged, until TODAY! I'm making dinner and the Hobbits leave the Shire and are suddenly walking into the Prancing Pony. What? What's up with that?

Poor Tom Bombadil is completely left out!! WHY?! First in Peter Jackson's movies and now the audio cd! Actually, the audio cd was probably made before the movies, but you get the idea.

Personally, I like him, and I like when he saves Merry and Pippin from Old Man Willow and then sings Old Man Willow back to sleep. I'm pretty sure it is the only song in the whole series that I can stand to read all the way through.

I would love to read The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and other verses from the Red Book, but my library only has it in spanish. That stinks.

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

Creel's aunt decides the only way to bring the family out of poverty is for Creel to be rescued by from a dragon by a knight who would then marry her. Though, of course, she must be captured by a dragon. When Creel does end up with a dragon she discoves he doesn't want to eat her or fight a knight or meddle with her problems. He only wants to be left alone with his shoe collection. Thousands and thousands of shoes. Creel tells him she is willing to leave and convince the unwanted knight to go away as well, in exchange for a pair of shoes. With this bargain made, Creel sets off. She sends the knight away, and instead of returning to her family, decides to travel to the capital city and seek out a way to earn her own fortunes.

This story was a fun, quick read. The plot isn't very fluid, but enjoyable. The sequel, Dragon Flight was similar. Thumbs Sideways.

The Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini

Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr of the Inheritance Series (not the Inheritance trilogy anymore, apparently Paolini wants to drag us around by the book jacket for a few more years).

I really enjoyed rereading the first two books in anticipation of reading the third. With three books of hundreds of pages each I'll keep my summary simple.

Eragon is a teenage boy living in the mountains when he discovers a blue stone, that later hatches into a dragon. They are bound to each other through the dragon's power, and Eragon becomes the first free dragon rider in decades. The evil king sends the bad guys to catch them, but they escape with help from a number of people, fairies, dwarves, and a rebel organization. They must train in dragon rider arts in order to defeat the evil king.

I really do like these books, even if my summary seems a little hostile. I'm annoyed I didn't find out the series is no longer a trilogy until I read the letter from the author at the end of book three. Hello? What hole have I been under? Who knows. And why couldn't he put his letter at the beginning? Practically the whole book I was thinking he needed to wrap things up because with each page read I was closer to the end.

Letters telling readers the series won't end with three books should be at the beginning of book three, and introductions giving away main character identities should be at the end, not the other way around. All this aside, I am greatly looking forward to the next book and can only hope it will be the last one, but won't be terribly disappointed because it would really mean more great books to read.

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

I couldn't put this book down--I read for a whole day, much to the annoyance of my family. I discovered this book at my local library, where it is a nominee for the Beehive book Awards for Children's Literature, Association of Utah. The author beautifully blends the traditional fairy tales, such "Cinderella," "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," and "The Frog Prince," and fey folklore, into an intriguing story. There are probably elements of more fairy tales involved as well.

Set in Transylvania, five sisters sneak into the fairy world through a portal in their bedroom on the night of the full moon where they dance the night away, unknown to all around them. As they get older other forces, in their world and the fantasy world, threaten to disrupt their happy lives, and they must make choices and sacrifices that will affect all their lives.

This is Juliet Marilliers first novel for teens (I'm going to be reading her adult Sevenwaters Trilogy soon) and I look forward to reading the follow-up novel Cybele's Secret. Thumbs UP!!