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.