The Ropemaker

By Peter Dickinson.
This has got to be the most surprising randomly-pick-a-book-up-and-start-reading-it success stories. I was sucked into this story faster than you can say Mary Poppins. Peter Dickinson surely deserves every literature award he's ever received. What a master. I can't believe I've never read anything of his before when he is married to one of my favorite authors.

In a nutshell, this story is a piece of history from a fictional Empire. Mr. Dickinson is a very disciplined writer---you find out things as you go that would be really easy to get lost in, but his way with words and information assist you along so that your mind stays focused on the plot and not the fantastical details of the culture and lifestyles encountered along the way. When the story ends you're left satisfied but extremely willing to start reading the sequel, Angel Isle. And incidentally, I'll be on my way soon to find Angel Isle at my local library...and please note that any synopsis I attempt is sure to be poor indeed. The story is just too epic, too layered, to be given justice in less than 2000 words. And I don't think you'll want to waste your time on 2000 words when you could spend it reading the actual book itself...

Tilja has lived all her life on the family farm Woodborne. However, the day comes when she and her younger sister Anja discover that Anja can hear the voices of Cedar trees, while Tilja cannot. This means Tilja will not inherit the farm while her sister will. Tilja is heartbroken at the thought of leaving Woodborne. Meanwhile, the Valley in which her people have resided for 20 generations unmolested is losing the magical protection which kept the wild horsemen to the north and the Empire's soldiers to the south from ravaging the homesteads therein. Although Tilja has no magical gift she must accompany her grandmother along with 2 men who can hear the voices of water to seek a magician to reinstate the protection the Valley has long enjoyed. Along the road Tilja discovers something about herself that may prove the difference in whether they succeed or fail in their mission.

Stardust

by Neil Gaiman.

I have to confess, this is one of those rare times in my life where I find myself appreciating ...NAY, ADORING... the film version of a story more than the book itself.

Usually I'm a hardcore 'original story is always best' kind of girl. And this time I don't believe it is. Gaiman has written this book with great fantasy flair, any fantasy lover will enjoy it no doubt. And he mentions without apology many adventures that Tristran and Yvaine have along the road just like Tolkien refers without apology to many histories, adventures, and overlaps throughout his works. But there is something missing (for me anyway) in the novel that the film Stardust captures. Maybe it is the fact that the moviemakers set out to make their adaptation more whimsical than the pages inspiring it, openly acknowledging that they'd like to be compared to The Princess Bride. (And there, my friends, is an interesting comparison of book/film----I think The Princess Bride is a great book and a great movie adaptation, but at the same time there are a lot of differences but each is enjoyable, thoroughly, in its own right). Whereas the novel Stardust really can't be called whimsical at all. I could say it was fantastical (it is fantasy after all) or magical or really intelligent for the way it references classic nursery rhymes and poetry we've all heard since the cradle. But it isn't necessarily humorous and definitely not whimsical and it isn't even witty and for that reason I feel that the movie has taken the story from the book and improved upon it, greatly. Just the ghost princes alone illustrate this point with their witty commentary and laugh-out-loud body language, symbolically narrating the audiences' reactions to plot development with hilarious accuracy as opposed to their somber presence in the book, not to mention other changes which contrast the two. Perhaps its because I feel like the movie is a smart movie--there are layers in it so that people can pick up nuances and innuendos and really enjoy the banter, whereas this is missing in the book. In the book what you see is what you get, there really isn't room for more interpretation. I could watch the movie every week and still laugh and glean inspiration for living a better life from it...sadly, I cannot do that from the novel. Nope.

But it is still worth reading, at least once.

Now I'm curious if anyone else feels the same way I do.

Stardust is a story about Tristran Thorne (yes in the book his name is Tristran but in the movie its Tristan) and how he sets out to gain his Heart's Desire, whom he believes to be a lass called Victoria. Tristran is the result of his father's brief interaction with faerie magic during a visit to the Wall Market, but has no idea of his unconventional parentage. He is ignorant of who his true mother is or where he was born, and has been raised in the village of Wall which is located on the border of the land Faerie, with only a broad stone wall with one gap separating the two. Tristran and Victoria see a star fall one evening, and Tristran bravely goes through the gap in the wall to bring back the star to gain the love of Victoria. However, when he finds the star he is met with a woman, not a stone of celestial volcanic rock like he has imagined he would find, and the adventures he has a result make for a very enjoyable read. And of course there is a surprise ending (very different from the movie) for tying up loose ends and resolving character plots!

Enchantment

by Orson Scott Card.

This was an amazing book for me to read. I love fantasy, and I love the way that Orson Scott Card's brain works. Yes, it was published in 1999 but sometimes I'm a little slow to jump on the wagon okay? Okay.

Essentially what he has done is to gather all the versions of several fairytales/folk stories and combine them all into one big novel. You'll no doubt recognize Sleeping Beauty, but I loved recognizing little bits of Andrew Lang's compilations along with tales from the Grimm Brothers, not to mention quirky and not-so-popular characters from old tales as well. The research he had to have done gathering all the versions of these stories to write this book just overwhelms me. He did a phenomenal job.

The story starts during the Cold War, or just as it was beginning, in the Soviet Union. It follows the thoughts and actions of Ivan, a child whose parents decide to convert to Judaism in order to obtain visas to leave the Soviet Union since they believe the time for free travel is going to be limited or cut off entirely (and of course they were right). They end up coming to America to raise Ivan in the land of opportunity, and that is pretty much all I can tell you without spoiling the book. Granted, all that I've told you happens in the first 5 chapters so please know that I haven't given anything away, this story is amazing, and I ended up staying up until 3am to finish the book like a teenager because I was so enthralled.

I Am A Mother

by Jane Clayson Johnson

I loved this book! It is written to an LDS audience though it is perfectly fine for any female audience or male for that matter. Affirmation of the uniquely feminine quality of motherhood for those with or without children. All of those who have meekly responded, "Oh I'm just a mom." This is the empowering book for you. This is not a man-hater book but a memoir of one lady's choice to give up the fast life of television journalism for a less glamorized but more meaningful life as a mother. As she said, “I left one wonderful thing for another incredibly wonderful thing.”

Her expressions, however, are not sugar-coated. She acknowledges just how tough the job can be, the moments of self-searching and wondering. It is not just the middle-of-the-night feedings and the never being off duty. She has a chapter in her book called, “Can I quit now?”

“Sometimes, the challenges of mothering, the daily physical and emotional exhaustion and occasional self-doubts causes us to devalue what we do and to devalue it in the eyes of our children. The day-in-and-day-out of daily mothering is invisible, because so much of what we do doesn’t last, and we do it within the walls of our own home where it is not noticed. I traded in fancy lunches and fancy restaurants for something better. Still, there is no one to tap me or any mother on the back and say, ‘terrific diaper change.’ There’s no praise or recognition for the day in and day out of mothering.

We pay a lot of lip service to motherhood. We give mothers awards and we occasionally say, aren’t they great, but we don’t extend them the same respect in reality. I have experienced that first hand. When I told one executive that I was leaving New York and moving to Boston, he said, ‘What are you going to do?’ I told him, ‘I have the opportunity and privilege to be a mother.’ ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but what are you going to do?’

“We have to change that paradigm,” said Jane, and she hopes her book will play a role in that shift. “I want every woman to feel for herself that mothering matters, that nurturing matters, that we have to start valuing these skills in our society and really most importantly in our selves.”

Coraline

by Neil GaimanI haven't seen the movie on purpose, because I wanted to read the book first. Its a really quick read, I think it took me about 3 hours to finish it front to back.

I would recommend this book to mothers, and mature children. As in children who are older than 9 years old. I think children younger than 9 might get nightmares from this book. There isn't anything specifically graphic or violent in it, but its the idea of what is presented that I can see young children taking and letting their imagination run wild with in a really not-good way. That being said, I enjoyed it! I probably won't ever buy this book, but I will recommend my own kids read it when they're old enough to understand it.

Gaiman has written a dark fairytale that centers on a little girl named Coraline. She and her parents move into a new flat, which is essentially an old house subdivided into 4 apartments. 1 apartment is empty, and Coraline discovers a key that opens a door connecting her unit to the vacant one. Surprisingly, the other quirky tenants of the house warn her about danger, and she has some dreams that provide warning or insight to the situation as well. When Coraline's parents go missing it is up to her to not only find them and bring them back to the real world safely, but to rescue other children who have gone missing many years before.

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.