Things I Wish My Mother Had Told Me

Lucia Van Der Post has been writing for decades and I'm so glad I got to see her work in print - since I'm not much a peruser of The Financial Times  or  The Times of London. Her writing is glib and informative and never ever pushy. This is seriously my kind of book!

"Things I Wish My Mother Had Told Me; A Guide To Living With Impeccable Grace and Style".  Has all kinds of advice from what kinds of clothes to wear to which skin products work to where you can find nice stuff for cheap prices (oh yes, she mentions Target more than once) and where you can find outrageous stuff for outrageous prices ($40,000 for a made-for-you perfume, anyone?).  It's like having 368 pages of a girly magazine that you'll never want to throw away. 

She goes into love and marriage (I appreciated her views) and keeping a home as well as the style section (I've only gotten through part 1 and a bit of part 2 - couldn't wait to blog about it!) and I've started picking it up each evening with a highlighter to mark favorite quotes and passages.  It's so much fun!

Pendragon Books by D. J. MacHale

I've always seen these books at the library and thought, "I'm not in the mood for another retelling of King Arthur". I thought this since Uther Pendragon is Arthur's father.

Anyway. These books are NOT about King Arthur. They actually remind me of Stargate. It is a story about a 14 year old boy named Bobby Pendragon, who discovers he is a Traveler. He travels to these different worlds via wormholes and it is a fight between good and evil. Some of the cultures are primative and some are quite technologically advanced. All in all, they are fun. There are 10 books in the series and I'm on the sixth one right now. The last book is due to be released in May 2009. The first one is not as strong as later ones in the series. They get progressively better.

Okay I just finished "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart. I really liked it. It's about this boy, Reynie, who responds to an ad for "special and talented kids", which is a series of obscure tests. He ends up with three other orphans and they become spys and enroll in a mysterious school.

It's a great one to read with your kids. It's been described as Lemony Snickett and Harry Potter. It is a lot like Lemony Snickett, but not nearly as dark and dreary.

The best part of the book is that it's one that you can put down and come back to again.

There is a sequel called "The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey." I've ordered the book and will let you know when I've finished it.

Fortune and Fate

I know I'm the major Sharon Shinn fan here, but once again I'm going to tout the awesomeness of her Twelfth House series. This is the latest book, the first one is Mystic and Rider and all of them are better than her Angels series.  I think this latest one is my favorite so far (though book one was really good)

They are fantasy in the candles&carriages sense, and there is some magic in them, but no strange creatures. It's an all human cast for those of you who are species-ist.  :)  (well, besides the horses. and a big cat in one of them. but they're just regular animals. so it's okay.)

Homesick: My Own Story

by Jean Fritz

I finished this last night.  It's autobiographical juvenile fiction about an American girl growing up in China as the communist movement takes hold.  And don't worry.  It ends happy.  I liked the story and the level it was written at--the age when you start to lose your childish innocence, but it's not gone yet.

Peter and the Starcatchers

Do you want to know how Peter Pan go the magical power to fly? Or where the mermaids or the Lost Boys originated from? This is a children's novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson written as a prequel to the original Peter Pan story by J.M. Barrie. It is well written and I really enjoyed it.

Dave Barry is a humor columnist for the Miami Herald and writes articles that are hillarious! If you want a good laugh, I'd recommend reading some of his material. This book, however, departs from his outrageously crazy stuff and actually presents a great children's story. There are two others so far in the series, but I haven't finished them. I'll keep you posted on how I liked them too.

Graceling

I purchased this book while I was in Utah and finished it a couple of days ago. It is the debut novel of Kristin Cashore and it is very very good.  Definitely fantasy (but no goblins or unicorns, Nanette) and it is a YA novel. 

Now available for the borrowing. (or, if you have the money to spend and want to support the author on her way to stardom, click HERE to buy)  :)

I just finished reading this YA book which was recommended to me by the elementary school librarian. She bought it on the sale rack of our Book Fair last year for only $5.00.
Now its being made into a movie.
As it says inside, this is a book about a nine year old boy, but it is not a book for nine year olds. (I would say Jr. high age at the very least).
It is not a happy book, but it is excellent.
I love that it is full of symbolism like the different "costumes" people wear, and the fences, real and imaginary.
Very powerful.
You should read it.
Be sure to have tissue nearby.

Fablehaven

Craig and I have just finished the third installment of the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. We both enjoyed it immensely.  So far I have enjoyed each book more than the last one, and cannot wait for March when #4 comes out. (just in time for me to read in the hospital, i guess!)

also, the rights have been optioned for a movie, and already a script has been written which Mr. Mull is reviewing currently.  He has another series, "The Candy Shop Wars", in case you want to check it out. 

Book Club Finally!

I'm finally going to do Book club! It sounds like it will have to be on a Thursday around 8.
If you haven't read the book, who cares!
Just come!

Enchantment

Though this novel was written in 1999, I only recently came across it. I had only read one of OSCard's books, and was not convinced I would like his fairy tale style. 

However, the book is extremely well written, the story is compelling and intelligent, and I enjoyed it very much.  It is a re-telling of Sleeping Beauty with actually very little in common with the original fairy tale. Besides the sleeping part. 

I highly recommend it. 

Rachel's Recommendations

I never could figure out how to make a permanent link to another part of the blog for our book recommendations. I got ones from Rachel and Angela months/years ago and I've decided to just go ahead and start posting them here.  There has not been a plethora of great books to read and I'm interested in some new/old stuff myself: 

(fantasy)

Dealing with Dragons - Patricia Wrede G

Sorcery and Cecilia - Patricia Wrede PG

Once Upon Stilettos - Shanna Swendson PG

The Princess Academy - Shannon Hale G

The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley PG

The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett PG

(juvenile sci-fi)

The Rolling Stones - Robert Heinlein G

(western/mountain)

The Warrior's Path - Louis L'amour PG

That's all for today. I'll post her other recommendations later, and then get on to others' lists. Happy hunting. And please post books that you have read/discovered recently that you enjoyed!

picture from here

Midnight Sun

Many of you have already heard the news but:  Stephenie Meyer has posted the rough partial copy of Midnight Sun on her webpage. It includes about 260 pages, and is certainly worth reading. 

I am sad about the circumstances that led to this great boon for us, but I really enjoyed getting a chance to read what she posted. 

Warning! It stops before the meadow scene - so don't get your hopes up! 

Cute New Series

Hey Gals,

Picked up this book:

on a whim from the library. Didn't know until after I read it through that it is a series, with the 4th book coming out this December. Anyway, it is totally "G" rated, squeaky clean (not even kissing... although lots of wanting to be kissed). There are also geeky Star Wars references as early as the first chapter :). A couple parts moved a little slow, and some of the story is predictable, but overall a nice light and fun summer read.

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

Here is good book that Jenny Croft recommended it and I thought it was great. Jessica Day George is a Mormon author and her style in this book is quite similar to Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest series (Dealing with Dragons, etc). You get a spunky, fun heroine and dragons that collect unusual things.

Book club

So, I've finally decided what to do for Book Club! How 'bout, when we've all finished reading the host, we can get together and talk about it at my place!
Sound good?

A New Robin McKinley Novel!

Here is a photo of the cover of RM's new novel, Chalice which comes out in September.*  If you follow the link on the right to her blog, you can see pictures of the title page, and also read the first page of the book (you just click on the photo and it enlarges). 

Robin McKinley has been one of my favorite authors to date, and I am excited to get something new to read from her!  

*photo courtesy of Amazon.com 

Kitty Kitty

Just found out from Meg Cabot's blog that the sequel to Michelle Jaffe's much Loved Bad Kitty is going to be out tomorrow, July 1!

Kitty Kitty will be on shelves tomorrow, and if you haven't read the first one, I highly recommend getting it from the library. I used to have a copy, but I sent it to my little sisters. (my sincere apologies)

Enjoy!

The Naming & The Riddle - Alison Croggon

Hey Ladies,
I've found a couple books that I've really enjoyed so far. Good solid fantasy that is well written and not annoying. Not much romance in there though (Sorry!).

Alison Croggon is an author from Australia. I'm halfway through The Riddle (2nd book) and I like the character development so far.

Hope you like them!

BD Tour Continued...

So I couldn't edit the last post, so I am just starting a new one. New information is linked on Stephenie's site, but in brief, it looks like tickets go on sale on Saturday, June 21st at 10:00am. We can purchase tickets online and the concert / booksigning is on Thursday August 8th at 8:00pm. Are we going?

BD tour Dates

check out this link to see Breaking Dawn tour dates. It's one of those times when I'm happy to be living in Los Angeles.

I think i might actually try to go to this one...

Breaking Dawn

In order to get a cover photo of Breaking Dawn, I typed the words into Google. Now, I know what the cover looks like, so I was surprised to see this page pop up. I don't know if they are discarded cover ideas or if they are all just fan art, but good grief, Blood Spatter? ew, people.

thank you, Amazon.com, for always having the real thing:



now here's my theory, about the cover. Because it obviously means something. I mean, hello. Chess?

okay. So I told Craig about the cover and he said that in chess the pawn can become the queen. (he said this in that "of course you know this, right?" way, which, of course I did NOT) I mean hello! Chess? honestly.

anyway. my theory is this: we have gotten rid of our "bad guys" from books 1-3 (those naughty vampires) but were introduced to an ever-more-scary-and-sinister group in book 2, The Volturi. I think it is likely/natural that they will be the bad guys of #4.

And that they will want Bella for their pawn.

Have you guessed yet what it is that I am thinking? I bet you have, you smart and awesome people. I am thinking that Bella will end up being, "da dum!", the Queen of the Vampires.

now, i realize that so far SM's work tends toward the human - meaning that from the way she has written so far, one does not tend to expect her to go all vampy and especially queen-of-the-vampy allofasudden. However, I really don't see another possible "happy" ending for all of you Edward fans. Also, I love a good queen-vamp novel (that is also clean) (which means i haven't actually read... any... yet... *sigh*) so I'm hoping that my guess is right.

July book club

So, I guess since we've all had a turn hosting book club, it's my turn again. Should we do The Host? Does anybody have any suggestions? I'm going to have to think about what to do.
So, stay tuned. . .

June book group

Unless anyone has any great objections, our next book group will be Thursday, June 5 at 8 or 8:30. (Enrichment in our ward and Hannah's birthday is on Wednesday.) We will be discussing Fablehaven. I don't know yet about place. I'm guessing it will be at my place, but if things get crazy during the next few days I may change that. I'll update this once I'm sure about details (after we recover from Andrew's surgery tomorrow), but this way you can at least plan for which day.

Update: We will have it at my place at 8 pm. See you there!

I liked it!

Here's a fun book that was at our Elementary school Book Fair. I kept snitching other people's copies they had in their "I'm-going-to-buy-this-stack-of-books-eventually-but-I'm-not-done browsing-yet" piles and reading them. I finally had to check it out of the library so I could finish it.
I think it's charming.

May/June Bookgroup

Right now I'm thinking about having bookgroup on the first Wednesday or Thursday of June. If we have to, we might be able to do it the week before, but I'd really rather not because Andrew will be having surgery on his eyes that Wednesday. I'm not quite sure how crazy that will be. What do all of you think?

The Host

i've got this one, and i'll probably have it available for borrowing by the end of the week. i believe nanette has claimed 1st rights though - you can duke it out with her. :) Stephenie Meyer has put up the playlist for the book here. Looks like i'll have to make a mix CD...

i've spoken to two people who have finished the book. they both loved it.

Lots of Good News

i'm trying hard, as i know you all are, to be okay with the casting choices for the Twilight movie. There is a trailer for the movie here so you can have some help deciding if you want to actually go see it or not.



in other crazy and exciting news, LOOK WHAT JUST CAME OUT!

a new novel by beloved Gail Carson Levine, which you can buy here if you want to read it right away. She is the one who wrote Ella Enchanted, among other wonderful things.

also, i've finished Fablehaven, and I really really enjoyed it. Hope you all do, too! Do we have an official date for Bookclub, Rachel?

Airhead

this book isn't supposed to come out until the 13th but amazon sent them early so i already finished it and handed it off to Hannah.

1)It was way better than Jinx.

2)It's a fun premise, and one that made me think a lot.

3)I hate that she's doing sequels instead of making one long book, because JUST when it was getting really good, it ended.

and now we have to wait a year before we get any more. NOOOOO!

enjoy!

Suite Scarlett

i keep meaning to read "13 Little Blue Envelopes" but every time I read the back, i become very bored. And "Girl At Sea" was alright, but nothing to gush about.

this one is much better, in my opinion, and Maureen Johnson really developed some great characters here. Here is a family who loves eachother (almost all the time) for a change, and siblings who treat eachother well (almost all the time). There is a romantic story but it is not the main story, and there is very little kissing, and nothing more than kissing, for those who need to know.

I enjoyed every single character, hated noone, got properly stressed out at the proper moments, and laughed quite a few times. Her main character is relatable and normal, and it's fun to read about living in New York from a native's POV.

So, I have Suite Scarlett here, at home, if anyone needs to borrow it, and there's a link above if you want to get your own copy from Amazon.

More Twilight Goodies

There is a TON, (a TON, people) of goodies up on Stephenie Meyer's website about the Twilight movie, including more cast photos, funny stories, and behind the scenes clips.

Go. Enjoy.

The Thief

For those who were interested, the book we didn't choose for next month is The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. I just found out it is a Newberry Honor book. It's the beginning of a trilogy. (I've read the first two.) It's a fantasy book set in kind of an ancient Greece kind of country. It's has a quest and politics. I think the romance (such as it is) doesn't begin until the second book, The Queen of Attolia.

Fablehaven

Rachel picked a great book for next month, "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull . It is technically juvenile fantasy, which we haven't delved into for awhile. I am quite excited. Possibly this is because the cover art totally rocks.



Oh, yes. I judge them by their covers. I can't help it.

Airhead

Meg Cabot has the first two chapters of Airhead, her YA novel coming out on May 13, here. I think this will actually be a very interesting read after "Uglies", because it deals with much the same issues.

enjoy the excerpt!

K

Uglies

So on Thursday April 17 we are having bookclub at Betsey's house, at 8 pm. The book is Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld:


oh shoot! sorry, THAT'S not the cover! what was i thinking? there's a picture of the book a couple of posts below this one. ;) We haven't posted to the blog for a long time. We need to rectify that.

I just ordered 10 - no wait, 11 - books from amazon and barnes and noble and I'm very excited, and if they are any good I will certainly pass them on. Athough 5 of them won't be mailed until May 6 when The Host comes out.

which, YAY!

Looking forward to seeing you ladies there.

Stephanie Meyer has a link to an excerpt from her adult novel "The Host" on her website
Fun.

Book club worthy series

The Uglies series is SO good! I'm currently on Pretties. Then comes Specials. I'd love to have this entire series for book club sometime. I love the social commentary of it. You can read more on Scott Westerfeld's site.

great books!

I loved these books! Star Girl is first, then Love, Star Girl. Star girl is zany and fun! They are very quick reads and Love, Star Girl is in short sections like a journal, so it's a great one for those of you who don't have time to read a book in one sitting.

His Majesty's Dragon

Just finished this book, recommended by Rachel several months ago. I devoured it. Loved it. The language is just beautiful and the story is fun. And there isn't even any kissing! (well, okay, no. There IS one kiss, but it is pathetically glossed over) And I still loved it! The best part is, there are like 4 out already. Thank you Naomi Novik!

It's a new leaf, ladies. I'm back in my fantasy groove. :)

In Book News: Meg Cabot's Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls is out now, in hardback. It's for ages 8-12. Looks cute. Her new teen mystery thriller series comes out May 1. First book is called Airhead. See her website for more info.

Don't forget Stephanie Meyer's new adult sci-fi also comes out in May. AND, it was just announced that Breaking Dawn comes out on August 2. Let's hear it --

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

I've been thinking and thinking of how to link to a page with all of our book recommendations, and it comes down to the fact that I simply don't have the know-how to do it. So, I'm just going to post a post with all of our recommendations, which we can all add to and edit as time goes by, and I'll have a side-bar link to that particular post, so when we want to go see it we don't have to do a blog search for the entry.

Looking forward to book club!

Struggling Through Winter Reading

So I'm trying to get through my Winter Reading Challenge book list.
Okay, that's a lie.
I WAS trying to get through it. Then I threw up my hands and went back to reading the stuff I like.

Don't get me wrong, some of those books are really good - Like the series by Libba Bray, which starts with "A Great and Terrible Beauty", which I read early in December. It's good. It's well written. Funny, even.
But those books are LONG! And then the love story started developing, but slowly, and so of course I skipped ahead to see what was up with that -
Long story short: I ended up skimming thru most of the second two books, and then I was horrified by the sad ending of the third.
SAD!
I do not read sad books! And given, there was still some happiness and hope going on, and it wasn't like, sad for all time, like some sad books, but still. I was not in the right mindset to be reading these things.
I loved Elantris. It's really good. I'm glad we're reading it for bookclub and I'm looking forward to getting someone's copy (because where mine is, I do not know. naturally) to re-read it.
Plum Lucky was hilarious, of course, and not long enough, of course.

The Other Boleyn Girl.....
Okay here's the thing with that. I really prefer to live my life ignoring the horrible and unimaginable plights of others. I don't want to live in a cloud of depression for the other people in this world whose lives are not as easy as my own.
The Boleyn girls did NOT have easy lives.
But it was well written, and it was good. (warning though; it's PG-13, if you were interested)

The past two weeks I've deviated from my list and read 3 Chick-lit books; two Pride & Prejudice inspired, and also "Confessions of a Shopaholic" which was awesome. (warning, bad language)

Darcy's Story I didn't really love, but Me and Mr. Darcy, I totally loved. (there's some language in that one too)

And isn't that a pretty painting? It's in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Lady reading in a Landscape" or something like that.

Elantris Book Club Meeting

Hi Everyone!

Some people have expressed an interest in having more time to read Elantris since it is a longer, more involved book. So, we'd like to move book group to Thursday, February 21, if that is alright with you. Please post a comment if this day works or doesn't work for you. I'm picking the 21st since the week before is Valentines Day.