Response to Ju

Sharon Shinn is more a girly fantasy writer in that there is lots of romance. However, they are definitely more fantasy than Enchanted Chocolate Pot and less fantasy than Tolkien. So--there you go.

Just Finished

Just finished the Mysterious Benedict Society. It was worth reading. But I must say a tad bit repetative . . . like the kids would discover what they already knew. And the ending started to have a great climax but then fizzled out (for me). I did like it. It is/was on the New York Best Seller's list and I would reccommend it. I might even read the second one. BUT, I wouldn't say it was my favorite.

I forgot to mention we're also reading The Hobbit for our RS book group. Should be interesting. I'll be starting that today.

Ans - - how "fantasy" are the Twelfth books? Are they for me? Were they like Enchanted Chocolate pot or more like Lord of the Rings style?

Ju

What I've Been Reading

I read the first half of How Stupid Are We. The one about the American voter. I wasn't a fan. Basically, it was used as another Bush-bashing venue. I quit reading it.

Then I read the Twelfth House series by Sharon Shinn. FANTASTIC!!! I loved it--especially the first and last (there were four). The first one is a must-read for all fantasy fans--and it works as a stand-alone if you don't want to read the rest. Of course, after you read the first one, you'll want to finish them all. But . . . in case you don't, the first one really does work as a stand-alone. The main character in the first book (Mystic and Rider) is a mystic who can control fire. She gets really mad in a few scenes and what she does with fire is way cool. The other main character is a King's Rider--one of the most elite fighting force in the kingdom. He's sweet--in a teenager "sweet!" sort of way. Loved them.

Thanks for updating us Julia--I think it is fun to hear what people are reading.

What I've been Reading

Here's my latest update:

I'm currently reading The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
So far so good! It's taken me 300 pages to finally have that "can't put this book down" feeling, but I think it is very clevery and a great book.

I just finished reading, "This year I will . . . " by M.J. Ryan. Basically a great book on setting goals and how to actually follow through and accomplish them. The main thing it inspired me was to recognize the small steps taken toward your goal rather than trying to finish it in a day and thus not finishing it at all! Great book!

And, I have a book I've started and plan to read ASAP - - it's called "Get Everyone in Your Boat Rowing in the Same Direction: 5 Leadership Principles to Follwo so Others will Follow You" by Bob Boylan. It's mainly for corporate managers and such, but I figure, HEY Mom's run their own mini coroporations, so I'm assuming it will be helpful. :-) hee-hee

Last but not least, I just read "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" (can't remember author). Have any of you read this?? I would LOVE to add this to our book chat someday. It's a very intriguing book. Definitely worth reading, but better if you have someone to discuss it with!

Hope you all have a fabulous Christmas! Post about your New Year's Goals . . . I'd love to hear what you're all working on. LOL JULIA

Edith Wharton

I think I'll have to read Ethan Frome again, now that I'm more of a realist than I was in high school. In the meantime, I ordered Glimpes of the Moon of paperback swap so I hope to read that shortly.

Right now I'm reading The Christ Commission. Seemed fitting for Christmastime I guess. It's about a mystery author who tries to prove that Jesus' death & resurrection were a hoax.

Edith Wharton

In case you missed my comment: I LOVED Ethan Frome. That's just me. Anything depressing, sad, and unhappy tends to be my favorite. It's fairly typical Edith Wharton, except it doesn't have hardly any social commentary at all. Most of her other novels I've read (and no I haven't read them all--I space them out to savor them longer) focus on the social structures as one of their main themes. If you want the one and only Edith Wharton I've read with a fairly happy ending, read The Glimpses of the Moon.

Need Suggestions

Hey, I'm looking for a good classic Christmas read that is third or fourth grade level for John to read this month. Any suggestions?
JULIA

Other B Girl response

Have you seen the movie with Natalie Portman? (I think that's who it is.) Anyway, I thought it was actually a very fabulous movie, myself. After reading the book though, I'm sure you won't find it nearly as fascinating. :-)

The Other Boleyn Girl

My sister Megan gave this to me to read forever ago, and I finally did. And I stayed up WAY too late two nights in a row. That is just tempting fate with Miriam and Cowen still in the same room and the general state of sleep deprivation in the house. However, it was a hard one to put down.

Good points: the story was extremely well-researched (a major factor in historical fiction) and extremely well-written. The characters very much came alive. The only thing I knew about Ann Boleyn came from watching the movie "Ann of a Thousand Days" which made me cry at the end watching little Elizabeth walking in the gardens while her mother was beheaded. However, the book made everything much more realistically complex and there was no "good guy" or "bad guy." Although if there was a bad guy--I'd say it was Ann. Maybe. Like I said, the author did a great job of putting in shades and gray areas and complexities--just like real life. Very believable writing.

Bad points: it was very, very bawdy. Lots of references to sex, without actual graphic sex like you find in Harlequin Desires. For example, the one sister who had had a four or five year affair with Henry spends a few paragraphs giving her sister tips on what pleases the king in bed. The author doesn't romanticize it, so it seems very bald and in your face. Also, and this is what I liked least, the Boleyn brother was homosexual. While it never went into details of any sort--I still really hate that.

Overall--I would be careful picking up that author again but I am definitely going to read the ones my sister Megan recommended that she said were much cleaner.

Elizabeth Enright

I heard about this author fairly recently.
I read "Thimble Summer" to the girls and we all enjoyed it.
Then I heard about a series that she wrote about the Melendy family. We're about 4 chapters into the first book, "The Saturdays", and it's very popular with the girls (not so much with my 5 year old son). If you like books along the lines of Anne of Green Gables, the Betsy-Tacy series, and All-of-a-kind Family, then you'd probably enjoy this author.

On my own I'm reading a book about Libertarianism that is actually not too dry. I wanted to learn more about this political viewpoint. I'm slowly working through it. I only read it at night and I usually start falling asleep because I waited too late to get started.