The Hiding Place

This book will, quite possibly, change your life.

It has mine.

It's the story of Corrie ten Boom,

a survivor of the Holocaust.

It is different than the other Holocaust survivor

stories I've read in that

she was not Jewish, but rather Christian.

It was also different in that,

its pages were so full of love and courage and faith

that I could only feel those same things as I read.

This is a book not only worth buying,

but worth reading over and over.

Catching Fire

by Suzanne Collins.People, I am in agony. (Long SIGH). Just finished reading this about an hour ago. It took me that long to collect myself enough to turn on my computer. It is going to take me so much longer to get the story out of my head. The closest I can come to describing how I feel is to invoke memories of how YOU felt after the 4th Harry Potter book came out, you were drawn into the story, and then it ended without any satisfactory resolution. If anything, you felt more compelled to read the 5th book than ever, even though it wouldn't be published for another year or so. That is how I feel right now. I desperately want to dive right into the next book.

I started reading The Hunger Games on Thursday, finished it Friday. Bought Catching Fire Saturday night (I knew if I bought it in the morning my Saturday would be a wash) and couldn't put it down today.

Its so tough to write about how I'm feeling, and a brief synopsis of the story without giving away spoilers. I need someone to talk to about this. About what has been going on and what we think the 3rd book will bring us. I have read reviews on Catching Fire that were a bit derogatory when comparing it to The Hunger Games. I completely disagree. I think that the games and arena pictured in Catching Fire were appropriate given the tributes who were present. And anyone who doesn't think the traps and snares and trials throughout were as intense as the first book has become completely desensitized in my opinion.

Angst.

I am so looking forward to reading the third and final book in this trilogy.

Dragonhaven

by Robin McKinleyI felt a little bad for saying I was mad at Robin McKinley in the last post, so I decided to read one of her recent novels to make up for it.

Dragonhaven is the story of Jake, a teenager growing up in a Wild Animal Preserve. Both his parents have worked there his whole life, and he plans on living there his entire life as well. The catch is that life at the preserve is a bit precarious because money is tight and various government factions are always looking for ways to get rid of it so they can use the land for development or oil drilling or gold hunting or whatever. And the biggest catch of all is that the preserve is actually for preserving dragons. Thats right, dragons.

It turns out dragons aren't just mythical creatures afterall. They've just figured out how to survive without attracting much human notice. There are preserves in Kenya and Australia too. But the preserve Jake lives/works at is the biggest in the world. And other than finding dragon scales and smelling the air no one has seen a real dragon in decades. Until Jake stumbles upon a dying dragon who has just given birth...and all the babies are dead except one. Technically it is illegal for a human to "interfere" with nature to save a dragon's life...and so Jake makes a split-second decision to try to save the dragonlet, come what may in consequences. And the entire book is pretty much about his struggle to help the dragonlet survive without attracting the notice of anyone around him....

I enjoyed reading this book a lot. It was laugh-out-loud funny in a quite a few places. And it was interesting, I didn't want to put it down because I genuinely didn't know how the plot would resolve itself. However, I picked the book up not knowing anything about it, and it took about 50 pages for me to catch on to what the book was really about. Mostly this is because the entire novel is told via Jake's streaming consciousness, in the past tense because the story happens when he is 14-15 years old, but he's writing it down as an 18-19 year old. The author does a great job of getting into a teenage boy's head: this book reads just like you're really listening to a 15 yr old talk and try to explain things. And this is partly why its so funny in places, because of his descriptions or whatnot. But it is also why its a bit hard to get into until after 50 pages, because Jake is struggling with how to start telling his story.

If you can make it past the first 50 pages I definitely recommend this book. Its entertaining. Original. And it feels real, even though its fantasy. I think you'll find it gives a view of dragons that hasn't been given in literature ever before.

River Secrets

By Shannon Hale.

Like Enna Burning before it, River Secrets picks up right where its predecessor novel leaves off. Therefore, to get into it you've really got to read the first two books in this Bayern trilogy.

Can I just say, to get it out in the open, that reading River Secrets made me kind of angry? It is such a good book---and it just brought to my mind The Blue Sword and The Hero And the Crown by Robin McKinley, and made me so angry she never wrote a 3rd Damar novel! It would have been wonderful! Shannon Hale has managed to write 3 really great books, all centering around the country of Bayern, all told from different perspectives and involving different adventures and twists and turns....and Robin McKinley could have done this with Damar and she ended up going a whole different direction. Makes me, as a reader, feel snubbed. And I know RM published those 2 novels almost 20 years ago, but reading a really great "third novel" just brought out all these repressed feelings of what might have been. Sigh.

ANYWAY: River Secrets is told from the point of view of Razo, another friend of Isi and Enna. Kind of fun to read about Bayern and Bayern traditions from a male perspective this time. Razo and many others of the soldiers belonging to the king's personal guard, Bayern's Own, accompany an ambassador to the capital city of Tira, in an effort to establish good relations between the two countries. However, a lot of people are still upset about the war which recently ended, and seem to stop at nothing when it comes to stirring up conflict, false accusations, and potential uprisings. Razo has to solve a few mysteries in order to ensure a 2nd war isn't begun.

These Bayern books are truly enjoyable. Go read them now if you haven't already!!

Enna Burning

by Shannon Hale.

After I read The Goose Girl, a lot of people told me I absolutely had to read Enna Burning. It took me a while to get a chance to check it out of the library because our library seems to have it on constant hold-status even though it was published in 2004.....but I finally got my hands on it.

What can I say? Enna Burning was in fact really good! I wouldn't recommend reading it unless you have read The Goose Girl though, because the story picks up a few months after The Goose Girl ends, only this time it is told from the perspective of Enna, Isi's friend who was a fellow animal-keeper in The Goose Girl.

Enna is hilarious. The things she says just make me laugh out loud. If you've read The Goose Girl, you'll remember that Isi learns the language of animals. Well, this story is about Enna learning the language of fire. It turns out she's quite good at controlling heat and pulling or pushing it away, but the story really pivots on whether the fire will eventually consume her since fire is an all-consuming force. Take into consideration that Tira, the nation to the east of Bayern has declared war on Bayern and is trying to take over the country and you've got a great fanciful read that really has an ending the reader doesn't expect. Good read.

Last Bus to Woodstock

by Colin Dexter.


I love watching old Inspector Morse shows on PBS, so this week I decided to finally read the book that started it all: The Last Bus to Woodstock. This is the very first Inspector Morse mystery.

The story starts when 2 girls who obviously know each other can't figure out the bus schedule so they decide to hitch a ride to Woodstock. They're last seen climbing into a red car. Several hours later, one of these girls is found murdered in the back of a pub parking lot.

Inspector Morse and his new partner Lewis have to filter through all the statements of witnesses to the hitch hiking, discover who is lying, what they're lying about, and why. This isn't your typical Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot mystery where all the clues are presented at the beginning. Instead you find things out as you go along, but by the end the reader does know as much as Lewis and Morse and so has the same opportunity to solve the puzzle as they do.

Sunset at Blandings

by P.G. Wodehouse

So frustrating!!

The other day, when football season started, 

and I went to the library...

I picked up this book. I was craving a little P.G. Wodehouse &

his witty, light-hearted, and romantic situational humor.

I was in a bit of a hurry, 

and Sunset at Blandings was the first one I picked up.

I didn't need to read the back because it didn't matter what the story

was about, it was written by one of my favorite writers.

Thanks, Amazon.com

This weekend I sat down to read it & last night 

HALF way through the story,

just as the plot threads are getting tangled

and the main characters are finding themselves 

in over their heads & the love stories are thickening...

The story ends.

Ends.

I turn the page expecting chapter 17,

and instead I get a note that says -more or less-

"these 90 pages were found in Wodehouse's

hospital room when he died on February 14, 1975."

Such a bummer.

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

Oh. My. Heck. I just finished devouring this book and I'm starving for more. Thankfully, it's part of a trilogy and the second book comes out in a few days. I'm pre-ordering it on Amazon.

Here's the blurb on the book cover:

"In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

"Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before - and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love."

The book was incredible. It's intense. The characters are so well-developed. Each page begs to be turned. There's adventure, romance, suspense, and societal commentary. It seeps with questions about integrity, freedom, ethics... I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

My Sister's Keeper

Jesse, Anna, and Kate live a fairly stereotypical middle class life but each is attempting to defy their circumstances. One child is rebellious, one donater, and one terminally ill; these attributes actually define their existence. Underlying is a child that makes grand gestures of goodwill, one athletic superstar, and one quitter, respectively. The firefighter father can't seem to quench the mother's passionate obsession of curing Kate from Lukemia. The family doesn't seem to have any religious background besides the thorough knowledge of the constellations and their histories.
What I like about the story is the medical awareness of struggling through treatments in hope of sending cancer into remission. I also like the rather blaring message of wake up people and take every day as a gift because you never know how long we have left.

"So far I have found that 10 out of every 10 people die."

What I don't is all the swearing, the awkward love scene that doesn't really contribute to the story (more a distraction) and certainly how selfish I find all the characters.
The mother is not a bad mother, she loves each of her children. At first I struggled to see the problem in her parenting because she loves Anna but eventually I get it as the story develops (you will too if you read it). In fact I think she is a very good mother and how much better this entire family would be benefited if they had a knowledge of the purpose of this life. We are here to receive a body. We are here be tested and to overcome our trials so we may live forever in the presence of our Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father sent the Savior Jesus Christ to take on not only all our sins but all our afflictions and pains as well. Anna in this novel completely dismisses the creation of Adam and Eve as our forebearers, Christ as our Savior, but is constantly struggling to find someone to see her as an individual and recognize her worth as a soul.
This novel leaves me with angst emotions because I want so much to share with her how important we all are to our Heavenly Father no matter how much or how little love and attention our earthly parents have shown us.
An endearing account of sister's dividing room because they needed their own space and mother's reaction:

I do not know how long it took my mother to wonder why I wasn't coming to the kitchen for lunch, but when you are five, even a second can last forever. She stood in the doorway, staring at the line of marker on the walls and carpet, and closed her eyes for patience. She walked into our room and picked me up, which was when I started fighting her. "Don't," I cried. "I won't ever get back in!"
A minute later she left, and returned with pot holders, dishtowels, and throw pillows. She placed these at odd distances, all along Kate's side of the room. "Come on," she urged, but I did not move. So she came and sat down beside me on my bed. "It may be Kate's pond," she said, "but these are my lily pads." Standing, she jumped onto a dishtowel, and from there, onto a pillow. She glanced over her shoulder, until I climbed onto the dishtowel. From the dishtowel, to the pillow, to a pot holder Jesse had made in first grade, all the way across Kate's side of the room. Following my mother's footsteps was the surest way out.

Like most novels I believe it to be far superior to the movie. This being said I have not watched the movie. However it is like reading a love note. You can take it in personally and envision what each sentence means or evokes to you as the reader. The movie stamps the directors vision as to the physical attributes of a character, pushes side story drama into the forefront, and presents sensory overload with music and scenery.

These Is My Words

by Nancy Turner


LOVED IT.

Devoured it.

Will be mailing it to Todd to have him read it, but with the caveat that he MUST mail it back when he's done so I can keep it on the bookshelf.

Plan to read it again. I hardly ever do that. Only with the really good ones.

Adventure. Romance. Raw emotion.

One of the best books I've read in years.

Wow.

Tuck Everlasting

by Natalie Babbitt.Tuck Everlasting is a really sweet story. It is. Its a delight to read. If you're typically a fast reader you could probably read it in 2-3 hours. Just short and simple.

I enjoyed it until I got to the end. My issue is that is just ends! The story is flowing along, and then wham! The last chapter takes place a lifetime after the previous one, without any explanation or insight. I was left wondering about everything that had happened in the interim, and why certain characters chose the way they did. The closest thing I can compare it to is a creative writing assignment for a college course---you have an idea, you flesh it out, things are coursing along and suddenly you realize you've almost hit your page limit so you hurriedly wrap things up. That is what the ending reminded me of. I was in a bad mood for 3 days because of it.

I need to learn not to let books bother me so much.

***
Winnie Foster meets a family one day who claim to be immortal. She has to decide whether to protect their secret, and whether she would like to join their status or keep her own mortality.

Inkspell

by Cornelia Funke.

I read this as soon as I could after reading Inkheart....but I was kind of disappointed. Mainly because the book really sets up the third and last installment instead of wrapping its own storylines up nice and tidy. I really got to like Dustfinger, a character brought to life from a book in Inkheart, during this story. You really see him as a rounded character. In fact, I would venture to say that the majority of this book is more centered around him than around Mo, Meggie, Elinor, and Resa.

After reading Inkheart and Inkspell so close together I have noticed the author's foreshadowing style is a bit predictable, and I guessed correctly what happened in the 3rd book, according to wikipedia. (I just don't have the time to read it, and there are a few plot spins that make me not want to read it too so I cheated by reading the synopsis on wikipedia. Hey, I still wanted to know how she ended it!)

Plus, I have to admit that a close associate warned me over the weekend that the 3rd book was night and day different from the first book....so that kind of turned me off too. But I'm glad she warned me because after seeing the synopsis I would have been mad if I had spent a couple days reading it and was disappointed that what I wanted to happen didn't happen afterall.

Inkspell continues the adventures begun in Inkheart, only instead of having characters come out of books into the "real world" like in Inkheart, the characters enter the inkworld within the pages of the fictional Inkheart book in Inkspell.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

by Mark Haddon.

I read this book because I saw it recommended on a friend's facebook wall. Random, I know. But I googled it and thought it sounded interesting so I went and checked it out. This story is told from the point of view of an autistic boy, and the author has spent over a decade working with autistic and other special-needs children; this story is the result of many of his experiences.

I also was intrigued because my cousin is autistic, and as I read the story I could genuinely see some of my cousin's thought processes represented in the manner the story was told, and also the logic for behavior chain-reactions. There are a few F-bombs dropped along the way, just as a heads up.

Christopher is a boy who finds his neighbor's dog dead in the neighbor's front yard in the middle of the night. He is understandably upset, and when the neighbor comes outside she jumps to the conclusion that Christopher is the one who killed her dog. What follows is a narrative of events resulting from this initial incident.

Treasure Hunt for Free Books, gift certificates and more...

Dear Readers,

TWO GREAT PROMOTIONS,

31 CHANCES TO win free stuff!

This is real because I personally know the author Laurie LC Lewis and she sent me the link...

Happy Hunting!

Welcome to Our “Summer Treasure Hunt:

Dig for Clues and Win” Contest!-
Some friends and I have put together an exciting contest to kick off your summer! Beginning June 1st, we will be giving away a prize a day. That’s right: 30 days, 30 treasures! There should be something for everyone: romance, mystery, historical, contemporary, and young adult fiction; children’s picture books; a variety of non-fiction; and just to liven things up even more, we’ve included a few exciting non-book prizes: a free 30 page manuscript edit, for you aspiring authors out there; an e-bay gift certificate; and a gift-certificate for a Vinyl Expressions Quote.

How can you win one of these fabulous prizes? Follow the rules below:

SUMMER TREASURE HUNT RULES:
You can send in an entry for each day’s prize, or only for those prizes that strike your fancy. The rules are simple:
(1) Go to the website or blog indicated for each day, find the answer to the question for that day, then email the answer with your name and mailing address to jdipastena@yahoo.com.
(2) Please send a separate entry for each day and type the day you are entering in the subject line. (Such as: June Treasure Hunt, Day 1; June Treasure Hunt, Day 2, etc).
(3) Deadline for each day: Midnight PST
(4) The winner will be contacted and announced on the day following the deadline.
You do not have to wait until the designated day to enter. You can start sending in your entries right now, or begin entering at any point along the way. And check back here each day between June 2nd-July 1st to read the names of the winners.
If you have any questions, feel free to email Joyce DiPastena at jdipastena@yahoo.com.

And now…let the treasure hunt begin!
http://www.laurielclewis.com/promotions.html

The Romanov Bride

by Robert Alexander


Historical fiction set in Russia, early 1900's, just as the Russian Revolution was breaking out. Each chapter switches between two perspectives. We hear from Grand Duchess Elizabeth, the sister of the last tsarista in Russia, Alexandria (wife of Nicholas), as well as the fictional Pavel, who was right in the midst of the revolutionaries. I liked how you could see the events unfolding from the viewpoints of both the Romanov family and peasant life. It weaves through historical events and shows how Ella's and Pavel's lives come together in a dramatic ending.

It does drop the f-bomb three times, though, which I hate. So. . . beware. I ripped out a page and grabbed a sharpee for the last incident!

It's told in a compelling, honest, story-weaving kind of a way. The author did a great job of giving both characters a real voice. It felt like reading a diary or listening to them tell a story around a fire. Definitely makes me want to read the author's other books about the Romanov's.

The Nazi Officer's Wife

I sit here as I sit with you today in my favorite cafe on the square in the city of Netanya by the sea in the land of Israel, and an acquaintance stops to chat and says, "So tell us, Giveret Beer, what was it like then, during the war, living with a Nazi Party member inside Germany, pretending to be an Aryan, concealing your true identity, always fearing exposure?" I answer in a little voice that is dazed by its own ignorance, "Oh, but I do not know. I think I do not remember this anymore." My gaze wanders and loses focus, my voice turns dreamy, halting, soft. It is my voice from those days in Brandenburg, when I was a twenty-nine-year-old Jewish law student on the Gestapo's "Wanted" list, prentending to be an ignorant twenty-one-year-old nurse's aid.
You must forgive me when you hear this small voice from then fading and faltering. You must remind me: "Edith! Speak up! Tell the story."
It has been more than half a century.
I suppose it is time.

I have been meaning to read this book for a while now after a few recommendations. This is the autobiography of Edith Hahn Beer and her experiences as a Jew during the Holocaust. Her general tone is one of sorrow, bent pride, and bitterness. It is amazing what she went through and she is grateful for the life she was given afterward; but overall, as compared with other witnesses of this atrocity, she is not hopeful in her message, she is merely telling her story. I can understand why she suppressed the experiences for nearly 50 years. This is the only biography I have read that truly evoked some of the emotions and smells I experienced while visiting Dauchau and conversing with survivors.

Similar genre I have read:
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
Christian German sent to concentration camp for involvement in Resistance
The Diary of Anne Frank
Jewish girl's diary of hiding during the holocaust
Yearning for the Living God by Enzio Busche
German man and soldier who finds that God has never abandoned him
A Distant Prayer: Miracles of the 49th Combat Mission
American fighter pilots and their experiences as POW

The Neverending Story

by Michael Ende. Translated by Ralph Manheim.


This story is one that I fear gets overlooked because of people's memories of the movie that came out oh so long ago. I passed it in the library last week and decided to check it out again. I hadn't read it for about 13 years. I was worried it might not live up to my expectations, but it did! This story is every bit as good as I remembered, which is a relief! The book is 27 chapters long, and the first chapter is really a sort of prologue. The first letter of the first word of each chapter is gigantic and made into a picture, just like with old-fashioned story books, and the second chapter's letter is 'A' and the very last chapter's letter is 'Z' which is kind of fun.

Also, I would like to say that the very first Neverending Story film ends after the chapter beginning with 'L' and the second movie is pretty much made up and doesn't resemble the second half of the book at all. Also, I seem to remember being scared of a wolf in the movie when I was younger. That wolf is barely a character in the book at all. That is how much the films are edited-down/altered versions of the story. Of course the book is better---it always is.

Bastian Balthazar Bax stumbles into a bookstore one day and sees a book called the Neverending Story. He spontaneously steals the book, and is so overcome with shame about it that he decides he can't ever go home and face his father. Instead he hides in the school attic, and spends the rest of the day reading. The more he reads the later in the day it gets, and the more engrossed he becomes. The crux comes when he realizes that his story is part of the story he's reading, and unless he makes an important decision the two stories are destined to continually repeat themselves, over and over, in a type of Groundhog Day phenomenon. Bastian makes a hard decision, and soon finds that his life will never be the same again.

Inkheart

by Cornelia Funke

I LOVED the beginning, got a smidge bored just before the middle, and then zoomed through the entire second half.
It tells the story of a man named Mo and his daughter Meggie. When Mo reads aloud, characters from the book come out to stay - but always trade places with someone from our world. It's basically a run-in with some dark characters that used to be in the book he read from. There's danger, intrigue, a little bit of romance, as well as some good friendships. A few interesting plot twists and enough creativity to keep you thinking.

Twilight

by Stephenie Meyer.

All I'm going to say is that in my opinion, the book is
way better
than the movie.

The End.

Princess Academy

by Shannon Hale.
As one of my friends put it, when she recommended this to me, "Princess Academy will delight your brain."


She was right. This book was absolutely delightful in every sense of the word. Its got all the trappings of a fairy tale princess story with a good dose of Woman Power. I couldn't recommend it enough, whether you are ten, twenty, or seventy. And I've got to say, I had no idea how this story would end. It isn't predictable at all.

Miri is a girl who has always felt out of place in her village, high in the mountains. Everyone in the village works in the quarry to mine linderstone to barter with the traders, but her father won't let her take one step in the quarry without any explanation. One day the king's messenger arrives to tell the villagers that the king's priests have divined that the next princess will come from their village. As a result, all girls of a certain age must attend a princess academy, effective immediately.

This is quite daunting, because the villagers know nothing of outsiders, let alone how to read, write, or any of the custums of the rest of the country. Miri looks at the princess academy as a chance for her to actually be good at something, and a means of proving her worth. Miri learns a lot at the princess academy; perhaps most importantly how to be brave in the face of danger.

The Doll in the Garden

By Mary Downing Hahn.


Ashley and her mom move into the upstairs of an old house midsummer. An old woman, Miss Cooper, lives in the bottom half of the house. In the evenings, a white cat always comes into the yard and meows at the house. Ashley's neighbor Kristi tells her that the cat is a ghost and only appears during the summer. Ashley notices that the cat doesn't have a shadow. One day Ashley and Kristi are messing around in the back garden when they unearth a treasure which starts the ball rolling in their ghostly adventures with the white cat.

This book is a quick-read. It doesn't waste time with inconsequential characters, and the plot moves forward fairly quickly. At the same time, the reader doesn't know how it will end. I read the whole book in less than an hour, and even though it was fast it was still enjoyable. I'd recommend it to girls in fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grades. Or adults like me that still get a kick out of children's lit. I think I'm going to go check out more books by this author, apparently she's got quite a few ghost stories published that are pretty good!

Ender's Game

I just finished reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

I've been meaning to read this book for the past 10 years and just haven't gotten around to it. Boy, was I missing out! This book is definitely one to read and remember.

Ender is a boy named Andrew Wiggin, who lives with his family thousands of years in the future. Aliens have attacked earth twice over the recent centuries, and the earth's government is concerned that a third attack is imminent. As a result, they scan young children to monitor whether they would make good leaders to champion what well may be the last stand to preserve humanity and life as we know it on earth. Ender is believed to be someone who would be a good leader and so is taken away from his family to attend Battle School somewhere in space. Here the students are divided into teams to learn skills and strategies as they compete against other teams to win "battles."

The book reads really easily---even though it takes place thousands of years in the future it flows easily and the focus of so much of the story is on the human interaction of child to child or adult to child, and how our relationships with each other shape our choices and determination to either assimilate with the majority for the sake of peace, or to stand tall individually because in the long run being true to ourselves will give us internal peace.