The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl - Virginia Hamilton (January/06)

I had to read this novel for the fantasy class that I am taking in university. It is the most interesting book because at first, I could not handle it. It is such a horrible reason why, but I thought it was because the people spoke what we today would call "slang" English. So, reading like this it took me a while to get away from the western views on English and start reading the book like it was meant to be read. It took me about a 100 pages to get into it, but once I did I finished the rest at a very good chunk.

The book is about a little god child by the name of Pretty Pearl. She had been living on a mountaintop in Africa but with her abilities was able to see the going ons of the black people that surrounded the mountain. One day when she has nothing better to do she asks her brother, the best God, John de Conquer for something to do and so begins her adventures. She comes down the mountain with her brother and by way of a slave ship she comes to America to witness the suffering of the black people. She felt for these people, and so when her brother believed her ready he gave her a magical necklace which figured into many aspects of the story, some "spirits" that reside in the necklace until she needs their help (one of which becomes one of the main characters in the novel), a set of rules to follow, and a warning to be careful.

It is with her brothers guidance, even if Pearl does not listen to her brother all the time, that she sets out to help the people that she relates to so well. On her journey we meet a whole string of new characters, some that are god-like creatures like her and others that are just regular freed slaves trying to make a place for themselves in the world. She has many adventures a long the way and there are many unexpected twists to her story, but in the end we see a culture that was forced to hide in order to be free lose their land all over again with the guidance of the spirit world surrounding them. Hamilton makes the book seem like even in their darkest hour their is a god near to help them. They are not perfect gods, though, Pearl is quite attracted to her looks and many times in the story she is called Pretty not Pearl. And she has many things to come that show that gods can be like humans too.

With this novel Hamilton brings the spiritual world to the suffering blacks in a time where they found it hard to leave on their own and do things for themselves. Seeing the story through a childs eye means that you see the innocence of a people, but just when that starts to get tiring other narrators take the stage. A very redeemable novel about the love and friendship that comes out of a community that is joined together by struggle and need.

I give this book a 3/5.

Night - Elie Wiesel (January/06)

*Note: My reviews are going to be bit a sporadic until I catch up, but this book was good and I did a review on it for another site, so I am posting it before all the other books I have read.*

In 1933 in Germany a man by the name of Hitler was the leader of a whole country. In this year, one of the most horrific acts in history began, as this was the year that the first concentration camp opened in Germanay. This was before the large scale war that would become known as World War II, before Pearl Harbour, and before thousands of lives were given for the defense of their homes. At the time that Hitler came into power there were thousands of Jewish people living in his country, but by the end that number would have decreased drastically because of the inhumane treatment the Jewish citizens would receive from the opening of the first Concentration Camp in 1933 to the liberation 1945. This period and the treatment the Jewish, as well as other minorities received became known as the Holocaust.

Thinking back on the events of the Holocaust, most people know that people were burned alive, beaten, starved, and forced to receive every brutality known to man. Most people learn the events of the Holocaust by sitting in a classroom, as this horrible period is part of the world’s history because it went on for 12 years before anyone stopped it. Some countries will never forgive themselves for doing nothing while a race was decisively being erradicated. While you know these things, I do not believe that anyone can truly understand what it was like without actually being there or hearing the account of someone that suffered in those camps. That is what Elie Wiesel’s true tale Night does for me.

As the New York Times portrays on the front, this is “a slim volume of terrifying power.” And, it is only small, only about 122 pages depending on whether you count his speech when he won the Noble Peace Prize. I was amazed that such a little book could pack such a punch, but it did, and I think anyone that reads it will live with the events described in the book for the rest of their life. Night is about a boy, now a man, recollecting his time in one of Germany’s famous Concentration Camps. There are no secrets in the book, you know the minute you pick it up that people are going to die, that you are going to be sickened by the treatment the Jews received, and that you would never look at a chimney the same way again. Even so, knowing the outcome and what was to come I still find that this book touches the heartstrings and illuminates a dark period in history.

The Jewish troubles started off almost minor when you look at the big picture. They slowly lost their rights, had to wear a yellow star to be always recognized, and were put all together in squared off sections of the town. When you are reading about this in the book you think how horrible this must be, but it is nothing compared to the events that are about to transpire. You go with Elie from this discomforting part of his life to the concentration camps where they did not know where their next meal would come from and had to do everything in their power to stay alive until the next day. To always have the hope that the Red Army (Russians) were coming to their rescue. This hope was for many of them the only way that they managed to survive. That, and making sure that you never showed weakness and were spared from the flames that left the smell of burnt flesh in the air and a slow and painful death for those chosen.

Night is an amazing piece of work. I think for me one of the saddest things was watching people lose hope because without hope you were dead. The main character, Elie, lost faith in God throughout the book because how can you have faith in someone that lets you live like this. One of the things that he said that stuck with me came from the introduction where he said that it was not a miracle that he lived, it was little more than chance. If it was not for that chance, though, I would not have read one of the best non-fiction stories I have ever encountered and with these simple pages the memory of Elie and all the Jews that suffered for many years in Concentration Camps will never be forgotten.

This book was so profound to me I cannot give it anything other than a 5/5

Book Lists

Books Read 2006

Books Read in 2006
1.Good Harbour by Anita Diamant
2.The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson
3.The Light Princess by George MacDonald
4.The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory
5.Wicked by Gregory Maguire
6.Rare Birds by Edward Riche
7.Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
8.The Princess Bride by William Goldman
9.Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
10.The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
11.Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
12.Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
13.The Giver by Lois Lowry
14.Uncommon Women by Wendy Wassterstein
15.Night by Elie Wiesel
16.The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl by Virginia Hamilton
17.Emily of New Moon by Lucy Maud Montgomery
18.Firebirds Edited by Sharyn November
19.Cloud Nine by Caryl Churchill
20.Last Summer at Bluefish Cove by Jane Chambers
21.True Believer
22.The Birth of Venus by Sara Dunant
23.Sandstorm
24.The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
25.Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
26.Rockabound by Frank Parker Day
27.The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kalogridis
28.Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton
29.Ember from the Sun by Mark Canter
30.Jane and the Wandering Eye by Stephanie Barron
31.Thieves and Kings by Mark Oakley
32.Angels in America by Tony Kushner
33.Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing
34.Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton
35.The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
36.True Believer
37.Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
38.Fires in the Mirror
39.Spindle's End by Robin McKinley
40.Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue
41.The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
42.Atlantica Edited by Lesley Choyce
43.The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
44.Three Weeks with my Brother by Nicholas Sparks
45.Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
46.Bread and Chocolate by Philippa Gregory
47.England, England by Julian Barnes
48.Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
49.Marrying Mozart by Stephanie Cowell
50.Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin
51.The Gathering Place by Thomas Kinkade
52.Angels and Demons
53.Girl in Hyanciah Blue by Susan Vreeland
54.Phantom by Susan Kay
55.Death in Seduction by J.D. Robb
56.Phantom of Manhattan by Fredrick Forsyth
57.The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
58.Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
59.The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle
60.The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton
61.The Spanish Bride by Laurien Gardner
62.Percival's Angel by Anne Eliot Crompton
63.Naked in Death by J.D. Robb
64.The Forever King by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy
65.Sandstorm by James Rollins
66.The Sky is Falling by Kit Pearson
67.Excavation by James Rollins
68.Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
69.Looking at the Moon by Kit Pearson
70.The Girl with Pearl Earrings by Tracy Chevalier
71.The Lake House by James Patterson
72.When the Wind Blows by James Patterson
73.Dawn on a Distant Shore by Sara Donati
74.Glory in Death by J.D. Robb
75.Mercy by Jodi Picoult
76.Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
77.Once Upon a Summer's Dream by Dennis L. McKiernan
78.The Birth House by Ami McKay
79.Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
80.Immortal in Death by J.D. Robb
81.The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey
82.One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
83.Strange Heaven by Lynn Coady
84.Life After God by Douglas Coupland
85.The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks
86.Rhapsody by Elizabeth Haydon
87.The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
88.Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier
89.His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
90.Once Upon a Winter's Night by Dennis L. McKiernan
91.The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks
92.Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland
93.The Memory Man by Lisa Appignanesi
94.Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison
95.The Dark Queen by Susan Carroll
96.Undead and Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson
97.A Rose for the Crown by Anne Easter Smith
98.Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
99.Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson
100.Rapture in Death by J.D. Robb
101.The Girls by Lori Lansens
102.The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
103.Death of a Darklord by Laurell K. Hamilton
104.The Courtesan by Susan Carroll
105.The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
106.Throne of Jades by Naomi Novik
107.The Singing Sword by Jack Whyte
108.Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell
109.Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
110.Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi
111.The Green Knight by Vera Chapman
112.Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
113.West Side Story
114.Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
115.A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
116.World Without End by Sean Russell
117.The Hawk's Grey Feather by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison
118.Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
119.A Very Long Engagement by Sebastian Japrisot
120.Something Blue by Emily Griffin
121.The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
122.Firefly Cloak by Sheri Reynolds
123.Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
124.Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
125.The Memory-Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
126.Marley and Me by Josh Grogan
127.The Troll's Grindstone by Elizabeth H. Boyer
128.Ceremony in Death by J.D. Robb
129.Archangel by Sharon Shinn
130.Ghost King by David Gemmell
131.Sabriel by Garth Nix
132.The Ring of Allaire by Susan Dexter
133.Stardust by Neil Gaiman
134.The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
135.Jovah's Angel by Sharon Shinn
136.Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
137.My Life as a Furry Red Monster by Kevin Clash
138.Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
139.Tithe by Holly Black
140.The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson
141.Chicken With Plums by Marjane Satrapi
142.A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
143.The Owl and Moon Cafe by Jo-Ann Mapson
144.The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snickett
145.Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs
146.Never After by Rebecca Lickiss
147.The Safe-Keeper's Secret by Sharon Shinn
148.The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
149.Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo
150.Preludes and Nocturnals by Neil Gaiman
151.This is my Country, What's Yours: A Literary Atlas of Canada by Noah Richler
152.The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits
153.The Woman Who Did by Grant Allen
154.The Keep by Jennifer Egan
155.The Hunter's Moon by O.R. Melling
156.The Truth-Teller's Tale by Sharon Shinn
157.The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel
158.Under the Eagle by Simon Scarrow
159.The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
160.The Skystone by Jack Whyte
161.An Audience of Chairs by Joan Clark
162.Heat by George Monbiot
163.The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
164.Vengeance in Death by J.D. Robb
165.Poison Study by Maria Snyder
165.Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb
166.The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
167.The Secret Garden Frances Burnett Hodgson
168.Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
169.Magic Study by Maria Snyder
170.Midnight in Death by J.D. Robb
171.Hard Times by Charles Dickens
173.Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam
174.The Christmas Promise by Thomas Kinkade
175.The Christmas Shoes by Donna VanLiere
176.Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti

Books Read 2005

Books Read in 2005
1.The Forest House – Marion Zimmer Bradley
2.Shopaholic Takes Manhattan – Sophie Kinsella
3.Tears of the Giraffe – Alexander McCall Smith
4.Wild Geese – Martha Ostenso
5.Barometer Rising – Hugh MacLennan
6.The Double Hook – Sheila Watson
7.The Captive – Mary Rowlandson
8.The Scarlet Letter – Nathanial Hawthorne
9.The Cat Who Went up the Creek – Lilian Jackson Braun
10.His Bright Light – Danielle Steel
11.The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz – Mordecai Richler
12.Little Altars Everywhere – Rebecca Wells
13.Princess in the Spotlight – Meg Cabot
14.A Home at the End of the World – Michael Cunningham
15.My Invented Country – Isabel Allende
16.Message in a Bottle – Nicholas Sparks
17.Shopaholic Ties the Knot – Sophie Kinsella
18.The Kiss – Kathryn Harrison
19.The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
20.Green Grass, Running Water – Thomas King
21.Icefields – Thomas Wharton
22.A Bend in the Road – Nicholas Sparks
23.Weird Sister – Kate Pullinger
24.Shampoo Planet – Douglas Coupland
25.The Rock Orchard – Paula Wall
26.The Hippopotamus Marsh – Pauline Gedge
27.The Cat Who Smelled a Rat – Lilian Jackson Braun
28.Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe
29.Rip Van Winkle – Washington Irving
30.Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas – James Patterson
31.The Cat Who Sang for the Birds – Lilian Jackson Braun
32.The White Bone – Barbara Gowdy
33.The Love of a Good Woman – Alice Munro
34.Sam's Letters to Jennifer – James Patterson
35.Vinegar Hill – A. Manette Ansay
36.Crow Lake – Mary Lawson
37.Ya Yas in Bloom – Rebecca Wells
38.Here on Earth – Alice Hoffman
39.Jewel – Bret Lott
40.Delusions of Grandma – Carrie Fisher
41.The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
42.After Leaving Mr. McKenzie – Jean Rhys
43.Sons and Lovers – D.H. Lawrence
44.Nights in Rodanthe – Nicholas Sparks
45.Bringing out the Dead – Joe Connelly
46.Midwives – Chris Bohjalian
47.While I was Gone – Sue Miller
48.Paradise – Toni Morrison
49.The Five People you Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
50.Because of Winn-Dixie – Kate DiCamillo
51.The Ice Queen – Alice Hoffman
52.Letters to my Husband – Fern Field Brooks
53.Practical Magic – Alice Hoffman
54.The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
55.The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts – Lilian Jackson Braun
56.Baker Towers – Jennifer Haigh
57.On Green Dolphin Street – Sebastian Faulks
58.Angela's Ashes – Frank McCourt
59.From Bruised Fell – Jane Finlay-Young
60.City of Masks – Mary Hoffman
61.Princess in Love – Meg Cabot
62.The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – Ann Brashares
63.City of Stars – Mary Hoffman
64.The Cat and the Curmudgeon – Cleveland Amory
65.East of the Mountains – David Guterson
66.Illumination Night – Alice Hoffman
67.The Honk and Holler Opening Soon – Billie Letts
68.Cinderella Man – Marc Cerasini
69.The Second Summer of the Sisterhood – Ann Brashares
70.The Sparrow - Mary Doria Rusell
71.In the Skin of a Lion – Michael Ondaatje
72.July Issue of O! Magazine
73.Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton
74.River Angel – A. Manette Ansay
75.The Swallows of Kabul – Yasmina Khadra
76.A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L'Engle
77.A Wind in the Door – Madeleine L'Engle
78.A Swiftly Tilting Planet – Madeleine L'Engle
79.Many Waters – Madeleine L'Engle
80.As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner
81.One Thousand White Women – The Journals of Mary Dodd – Jim Fergus
82.My Century – Gunter Grass
83.The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen
84.The Bright Forever – Lee Martin
85.Heave – Christy Anne Conlin
86.Flesh and Blood – Michael Cunningham
87.Jack, the Giant Killer – Charles de Lint
88.Gap Creek – Robert Morgan
89.River, Cross my Heart – Breena Clarke
90.The Pilot's Wife – Anita Shreve
91.The Same River Twice – Alice Walker
92.O! Magazine – August
93.The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
94.For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down – David Adams Richards
95.The Color Purple – Alice Walker
96.A Fairly Conventional Woman – Carol Shields
97.The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
98.Fortune's Rocks – Anita Shreve
99.Shopaholic and Sister – Sophie Kinsella
100.Crazy Ladies – Michael Lee West
101.Lucid Stars – Andrea Barrett
102.Girlfriend in a Coma – Douglas Coupland
103.Black and Blue – Anna Quindlan
104.River of the Broken-Hearted – David Adams Richards
105.Cape Light – Thomas Kinkade
106.Wifey – Judy Blume
107.All he Really Wanted – Anita Shreve
108.Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels
109.Short and Tall Tales – Lilian Jackson Braun
110.Seventh Heaven – Alice Hoffman
111.Witch Hill – Marion Zimmer Bradley
112.Sea Glass – Anita Shreve
113.Mister Sandman – Barbara Gowdy
114.Beach Girls – Luanne Rice
115.Resistance – Anita Shreve
116.Subterranean – James Rollins
117.Master and Commander – Patrick O'Brien
118.Lady of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley
119.The Bear Went Over the Mountain – William Kotzwinkle
120.Home Song – Thomas Kinkade
121.Cutting Through – Joan Hohl
122.Amazonia – James Rollins
123.Inge and Mira – Marianne Fredricksson
124.Bridget Jone's Diary – Helen Fielding
125.Summer's Child – Luanne Rice
126.The Frog King – Adam Davies
127.Cabbagetown – Hugh Garner
128.True to Form – Elizabeth Berg
129.Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister – Gregory Maguire
130.Zel – Donna Jo Napoli
131.A Million Little Pieces – James Frey
132.King's Test – Margaret Weis
133.Amsterdam – Ian McEwan
134.A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder – James De Mille
135.Guinevere – Sharan Newman
136.Fire and Hemlock – Diana Wynne Jones
137.Where or When – Anita Shreve
138.The Dogs of Babel – Carolyn Parkhurst
139.The Lover – Marguerite Duras
140.Sunshine Sketches of a Spotless Town – Stephen Leacock
141.The Romantic – Barbara Gowdy
142.Sylvanus Now – Donna Morrissey
143.Silver Bells – Luanne Rice
144.Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
145.Left Behind – Tim LaHaye
146.The Bean Trees – Barbara Kingsolver
147.A Complicated Kindness – Miriam Toews
148.Amy and Isabelle – Elizabeth Strout
149.Light on Snow – Anita Shreve
150.October Oprah Magazine
151.A Little Stranger – Kate Pullinger
152.A Redbird Christmas – Fannie Flagg
153.Saints of Big Harbour – Lynn Coady
154.The Red Tent – Anita Diamant
155.Lucky – Alice Sebold
156.The Constant Princess – Philippa Gregory
157.Eragon – Christopher Paolini
158.My Sister's Keeper – Jodi Picoult
159.The Other Boelyn Girl – Philippa Gregory
160.A Short History of Indians in Canada – Thomas King

Books Read 2004

Books Read in 2004
1.The Metamorphosis – Frank Kafka
2.Flowers for Algernon -
3.Ghostlight – Marion Zimmer Bradley
4.Othello – Shakespeare
5.River Thiefs – Michael Crummey
6.One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
7.Atonement – Ian McEwan
8.The Wheel of Time – Robert Jordan
9.Sea of Tranquility – Lesley Choyce
10.Cold Clear Morning – Lesley Choyce
11.World Enough – Lesley Choyce
12.Snow Falling on Cedars – David Guterson
13.Swann – Carol Shields
14.Small Ceremonies – Carol Shields
15.Summer Sisters – Judy Blume
16.Exploitation Now – Michael Poe
17.Megatokyo Vol 1 – Fred Gallagher
18.Megatokyo Vol 2 – Fred Gallagher
19.You Shall Know Our Velocity! - David Eggers
20.Priestess of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley
21.I Know this Much is True – Wally Lamb
22.Mercy Among the Children – David Adams Richards
23.Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
24.The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursual K. Le Guin
25.The Notebook – Nicholas Sparks
26.Cane River – Lalita Tademy
27.The Wedding – Nicholas Sparks
28.Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
29.Happenstance – Carol Shields
30.Witchlight – Marion Zimmer Bradley
31.Cold Sassy Tree – Olive Ann Burns
32.Love Invents Us – Amy Bloom
33.Dropped Threads: What we Weren't Told – Carol Shields and Marjorie
Anderson
34.The Lost King – Margaret Weis
35.The Princess Bride – William Goldman
36.The Princess Diaries – Meg Cabot
37.Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
38.A Virtuous Woman – Kaye Gibbons
39.Oroonoko – Aphra Behn
40.Rape of the Lock -
41.Swift Poetry -
42.Robinson Crusoe
43.Malory -
44.The Christmas Box -
45.Timepiece -
46.The Letter -
47.Catcher in the Rye -
48.Clockwork Orange -
49.Secrets in the Sand -

Books Read 2003

1.White Oleander – Janet Fitch
2.The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood – Rebecca Wells
3.The Magician's Nephew – C.S. Lewis
4.The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
5.The Divine Ryan's – Wayne Johnston
6.All Families are Psychotic – Douglas Coupland
7.Thirty Acres – Ringuet
8.Salem Witch Trials – Kathryn Wesley
9.Paula – Isabel Allende
10.Dressing up for the Carnival – Carol Shields
11.A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder -
12.Modern Women – Ruth Harris
13.Girl in Hyacinth Blue – Susan Vreeland
14.Icy Sparks – Gwyn Hyman Rubio
15.The Long Halloween – Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
16.Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley
17.Generation X – Douglas Coupland
18.The Hours – Michael Cunningham
19.A Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Women's Soul -
20.Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood
21.Miss Wyoming – Douglas Coupland
22.She's Come Undone – Wally Lamb
23.Clara Callan – Richard Wright
24.Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
25.The Republic of Love – Carol Shields
26.How to be Canadian – Will and Ian Ferguson
27.Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
28.The Restaurant at the End of the Universe – Douglas Adams
29.Dropped Threads 2 – Carol Shields and Marjorie Anderson
30.Downhill Chance – Donna Morrissey
31.Various Miracles – Carol Shields

Ahem...

I am a bit behind in writing reviews, not sure when it is that I will catch up, so I will just list the books I have read since last I posted on here and hopefully sometime this week I will get the chance to write my thoughts:
Rare Birds - Edward Riche
Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
The Princess Bride - William Goldman
Tales from Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling
The Giver - Lois Lowry

See, that's more like a lot behind...

Wicked - Gregory Maguire (January/06)

I am so sad about my reaction to this book. It is supposed to be such a good book, and I did not like it at all! It just did not attact me to it. If anything, I found it really boring. There was not a lot of action in it. Yes, it was interesting to see how the characters we know from The Wizard of Oz developed, but other than that I find it a terrible book. I am trying to find something good to say about it, and I suppose he writes good descriptions, the book just seemed to be all about description. I have read other Maguire books and enjoyed them, just for some reason I could not get into this one. It's a sad thing to happen, but just goes to show you the greatest books in the world can be the worst to some people. I just thought I would say a bit, it is hard for me to write a review on a bad book short of saying that I found that nothing was happening, I was forever bored and one page seemed to take a year to read. I tried and tried to get into it, hoping that each new chapter would bring something to get me interested, and it did not. I hate starting out the new year with two lousy books. I am usually good at picking books I will like.

2/5

The Queen's Fool - Philippa Gregory (January/06)

I was so disappointed with this novel. I had read two of Gregory's novels all ready and really enjoyed them, so I thought that this would just be the next enjoyable read and a good way to start the new year. I did not like it. It started off really interesting, with the main character being a member of the poorer class, and not a royalty member like the main character was in The Other Boelyn Girl and The Constant Princess, but that quickly lost its appeal to me. I think the best way that I can describe my disappointment was I wanted to know more about the royal court, I was not interested in someone that was not even connected to it at all times. It is a hard book for me to digest because one minute you think that you are supposed to concentrating on Hannah Green, the main character, and then the next minute all the focus is on the royal court and you wonder what is happening to Hannah. I can see how some people would like this method of telling the story, but it just annoyed me.

When the novel opens we find out that Hannah is a Jew on the run. The Jewish religion has been banned from most of the countries of the world and Hannah is constantly looking for a place where she can be save. This takes her to England and through a series of events into the English court where she serves both Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth I while she is still just a princess waiting for her sister to step aside. Hannah is very much an early feminist, her father has led her to believe that she can do whatever she wants as he dressed her up as his apprentice, so she has always known mens clothing. This leads her to some interesting scenerios because she is betrothed to a Jewish male, and she has a hard time getting around to marrying him. At first, the male, Daniel, annoyed me because he seemed really pushy and she just wanted to be herself, but by the end of the novel she was too feminist for me and he was just a typical male. Do not get me wrong, feminism is good, but she was annoying about it, I just have to say it. You spend the whole book waiting for them to get together and then when they finally do, she rejects him again. It is almost comical, but annoying at the same time.

The backdrop to what could be called a romance story, is the British court and Hannah's role as the Queen's fool. She is not your typical fool, though, because in some things she is actually quite smart and has the ability to forsee the future. She has visions, and one of her chief purposes in the novel is to advise the queen, princess, and other allies that she has collected along the way. Her father is a book seller, who finds that his books are always breaking one rule or another depending on who is in power. It has all the makings of an interesting novel, it just did not interest me. I still think that if the last hundred pages or so were not there I would like it a lot more. The ending is particualarly bad because a lot of things happen and she gets seperated from Daniel once again, and when she finally gets back with him... the novel just ends. I wanted to know what happened with them, were they happy, did she leave again. It just seems that in the end all that mattered was the happenings at court and not Hannah afterall. That bothered me. A lot of things bothered me. Still, I can't give it a terrible grade because there were some good parts.

I give it a 3/5

The Light Princess - George MacDonald (January/06)

I had to read this short novel for one of my classes at school, it only took like an hour. That's the good thing about teen fiction, it can be short. The thing I particularly like about this novel is that while it was short and meant for a young audience, it had many aspects to it that were appealing to the older readers as when you are older and spent most of your life having to analyse books for school, you notice things that a young reader would not. The book reads like a fairy tale, and actually takes in aspects of the fairy tale genre like "Sleeping Beauty", which is one of the main ones. My professor, though, considers it a fantasy novel as well. Really, who can say that some fantasy novels are not closely related to fairy tales, anyways. They have the unreal aspect to them, at least by today's standards.

It is very hard to talk about this book without ruining it, as when you see the word "light" it can have many connontations to it, and it is part of the delight of the book to figure out what "light" means in this case, so I will not ruin it for anyone. Never know when the book will come their way and then they will know what happens and it will not be the same experience if you know what is going to happen. I will just summarize very briefly. As in fairy tales, there is a king and a queen. Like in "Sleeping Beauty" they are without a child and greatly desire one. When the child, a girl, is finally born there is much rejoicing. Also, like in "Sleeping Beauty", there is an evil and scorned woman that recks havoc on the royal family. The sister to the King, who everytime you think is gone from the story, she is back to create even more despair for the family. One of ploys of destruction brings a prince into the story, can't have a fairy tale with a young maiden without the hero, now can we. He rides in to save the day, but not in the ways that we have come to expect from other fairy tales. It is not as simple as kissing the girl and all his problems are solved, there actually is a near-death experience that he has to get through or not get through, I will not reveal if this story has a happy ending or not.

An enjoyable read.

4/5

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - Ursula K. Le. Guin (January/06)

Sometimes when I read a short story or an article for school that I enjoy, I include it in my reading numbers. It only happens from time to time, but there was something in this short piece by Ursula K. Le Guin that caught my eye. It is called "The Ones that Walk Away from Omelas". A very short little story, I believe it is part of a larger collection, but I am reading it online. I had to read for my fantasy English class, and I am glad that I did.

It is about a town called Omelas, a what would appear to be Utopian town. The people are always merry, they do not have any of what people in our society call "sins", and generally live in harmony with one another. The horses were happy to race, the race is one of the scenes that the author uses to show the tranquility of the people. There is no King, it seems to be a town of such perfection that the people are able to get by without leadership. They have no need to rebell. They do not have slaves and they are not barbaric, they are also not simple people. They have the things that they need to get by.

Le Guin has the narrator compare this society to ours, saying that we can not understand it because we look on happiness as stupid. There is one good quote in this piece that I feel I must point out. At one point the narrator says "... to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else." Isn't that just so true, though? Especially in this society where wars are fight, people are killed, lives are destroyed. We truly do not know what it is to be happy.

Even in this perfect society, though, there is still what we would deem inperfection. In order for this society to stay as it is a six-year-old child is treated cruelly. In return for the perservation of many, one child is forced to live without a cruel word. Even the most perfect has its secrets.

The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette - Carolly Erickson (January/06)

I am off to a slow start this month, this is only the second book I have read. My friends were home from university, so I was there a lot, and then I had to work and stuff. I used to be able to read at work, but it has been going badly lately. I did read this book in one day, though. I had a bad night the night before and decided I deserved to spend the day reading. It is a book of the month for a book forum I go to.

I really enjoy books that are written in journal-style for some reason, so this book looked promising to me. It is a new release, only came out in 2005. I did some looking on the author, Carolly Erickson, and found that she generally a non-fiction author of books about different famous people from many royal courts. This novel, then, is one of her few (if only) fiction novel. To read it you are supposed to pretend that Marie Antoinette had a hidden diary leading from just before her marriage to her ultimate execution. You would think that this book would be uninteresting because most people know that Antoinette would end up being beheaded, but the little details that Erickson adds in make the book enjoyable.

There are many characters covered in this novel. There is her first love, Eric, who is a servant in the horse barn at her family home. He makes appearances throughout her entries, and while they never go farther than a few kisses, he is dedicated to her. The next male she encounters is her husband, Louis XVI. He is a strange character in the book. He does not handle groups or people very well, and would prefer to spemd time on his own documenting the plant life around the castle. He is an unlikely king, but in the end he gains a dedication to the throne that will be the end of him and his family. The last male character is Marie's lover, called Axel. He is a representative of Sweden at the court and the most beautiful person Marie has ever seen. He is dedicated to her, and risks everything in an attempt to save her.

The novel starts when Antoinette is 13 and carries on well into her 30's when France is in unrest and decides that they do not need a king anymore. Her and Louis have two children together that live - a girl and a boy. With the long time frame, many characters come and go, leaving you with many different views of the court life and the people that make it up. You feel sorry for the end, but you also know that things could have been avoided. Louis was stubborn and Marie most of the time lived in a dream world. They both did not seem to think that anything would happen to them until the end.

I enjoyed learning a bit more about Marie Antoinette and her family. I know the basics, but this filled in some details. It does not matter if it is a work of fiction, you still get the idea of what it was like to be Marie Antoinette all through her adult years. It is a wonderful book.

I give the book a 4.5 out 5.

Good Harbor - Anita Diamant (January/06)

This novel was the first book that I read in 2006. I read it the day I bought it, actually. It was an easy read and very different from the other novel I had read by Diamant, The Red Tent. Diamant appears to make religion an important aspect of her literature, even going so far as writing non-fiction books about different aspects of Jewish culture. This book, though, is fiction. It is about the power of friendship in women's lives. Men think that all women do together is gossip, and maybe that is all they do, but there is a closeness to women that men lack and will never understand.

The novel has two main characters: Kathleen Levine and Joyce Tebachnik. Each new chapter is told by one of these two women, so the other characters that enter into the story are only those that these women meet. Kathleen Levine is the older of the two women. She has no grandchildren, but there is something grandmotherly about the way that she interacts with people. Until meeting Joyce, she never even used to swear. She had always lived a simple life as a school librarian, wife, and mother. She never needed to go out of these spheres. And then, she was told she had cancer. Her life changed drastically at that point because with her own diagnosis, other pains resurfaced and presented themselves to be finally dealt with. Through her friendship with Joyce, she finally can move on with her life and forget things that are long since passed.

Joyce Tebachnik is quite opposite from Kathleen, or so you think for most of the novel. She just recently got a summer house in Good Harbor. She is young enough to still have her child home and her husband is a working man, not nearly as devoted as Kathleen's husband can be. Her plans for Good Harbor are to start work on another novel. She has all ready wrote a romance novel, which she is embarrassed by, so hopes to write a serious piece of work. In the end, though, she finds plenty of ways to distract herself from writing. She paints every inch of her new house, she meets new people, she walks with Kathleen - anything to take her away from thinking about her family or her work. In essence, she spends the summer in hiding and has to slowly find her way to the surface in order to live the life that she is meant for. This is where her friendship with Kathleen comes in. Their simple talks lead to a once in-a-lifetime friendship and the ability to overcome the pains of their lives.

Good Harbor is a very simple novel, but it covers many things in a very short time. You feel when you end the book that you have an understanding of these two women and have gone through their journeys to self-discovery with them. It is not the best book I have ever read, but it is story of the friendship of women.

I give this book a 4/5.

A Short History of Indians in Canada - Thomas King (December/05)

This was the last book I read in 2005. I have been sorting of slow with the blog updating, so I am of course behind. I need to have the book in front of me for inspiration and I left some of them at my boyfriends. So, this is a very exciting short story collection. I read it the day I bought it because, it is THOMAS KING. He is my favourite Canadian author, as he wrote Green Grass, Running Water, a book I believe to be a masterpiece in humour and symbolism. He is really hard to find, though, so when I saw this book, I grabbed.

First off, I did put the words "Indian" in the title, that is the name he chose for his book. Do not send me hate mail because it is political incorrect. He is a Native, he teaches Native studies, he call his people what he likes. Now that I have that out of the way, I find it very hard to talk about a short story collection as a whole because the stories in it are all different. The theme is, of course, Natives in Canada. He is looking at their trials and tribulations in his short stories in a sort of humourous way. Some of the things he touches on are how the Native race is dying out, how the Whites look to the Natives, how the Natives people are misunderstood by White people, etc. He does not shove these issues in your face, though, he just puts scenerios out there that in the end leaving you thinking about Native issues.

I just wanted to mention my two favourite short stories from the collection. The first one is the title of the book, "A Short History of Indians in Canada". This is the story that really caught my eye because of the quote: "A flock of Indians has just flown smack into the side of a Bay Street Skyscraper again" found on the sleeve of the book. It talks a lot, to me, about how the natives used to be about nature (hence the birds) and then one day there natural land was turned into a site of development (skyscrapers). I like the way he puts it across, when you read it in the sleeve you are like: huh?, but if you read the story it makes sense and is presented well.

My other favourite short story in the collection is called: "Where the Borgs are". The title had me curious, the story had me laughing. To describe it in a nutshell, a little boy writes an essay about the Indian Act, (which everyone tells him is an unimportant period in history because there is no holiday for it), and compares the Europeans to the Borg from Star Trek. The borg, for those that do not know, assimilate other cultures and make them part of their own. Exactly like the Europeans did with the Natives. His teacher tells him he is wrong, and by the end of the short story he can find traits in the Europeans from all the villains from Star Trek. To name a couple, Europeans like money like the Ferangis, go to war like the Klingons, and even when you get down to it they are connected to the 'good' Federation.

It is an interesting collection of short stories, I was very glad to have read it. His books always leave me thinking. I do not know many Natives, but I know of their issues, and I hope that one day we will not be the Borg or the Klingons, or the Ferangi, but will leave in a world where many different cultures can lead the life they want and still be respected by others.

I give this collection a 4.5 out of 5.

The Other Boelyn Girl - Philippa Gregory (December/05)

I liked The Constant Princess so much that I decided it was time to read another novel by Gregory. The Other Boelyn Girl is technically the first novel in the Tudor series, but the events in The Constant Princess happen first, so I read it first. I find that new readers would likely enjoy it in that order as well. If you have all ready started the series, you would not have that luxury.

The Other Boelyn Girl is my favourite Philippa Gregory novel so far. There is more happening in it than in The Constant Princess. The essence of the novel is "Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: the love of a king." Henry VIII is a womanizer who is getting bored with his current wife and starts pursuing other women in the court. Two of these women are the sisters Mary and Anne Boelyn. The king gains an interest in Mary first, and they have two children together, and then along comes Anne who is more conniving than her younger sister and changes the game to include herself as chief player.

The two sisters are just pawns in their families need to rise to power. There is no love, it is all about duty. There is so much going on in this novel. It is told from the view of Mary Boelyn, so it is only the activities that she witnesses happening. She, in the end, turns out to be the braver of the two sisters when she defies her families plans and makes a new life for herself.

When I read the book I was very engrossed in it, this is one of those books where I found myself staring at the page and having a hard time putting it down to do things like go to sleep. I found myself hating Anne, and there were a couple moments where I hoped for her demise. She was very selfish, and you really feel bad for her younger sister Mary and older brother George. They are living their life to satisfy their sisters needs. It is a terrible way to live. I especially felt bad for George, his dream lifestyle was something that would be the end of him.

A must read for all historical fiction fans.

5/5

My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult (December/05)

I am attempting to catch up on the books that I have read, so be patient.

I got this book for Christmas from my boyfriends parents. I had bought it for a friend for Christmas and found it sounded good, so I was happy when I received it. It is a fitting title for this novel, as the main character is in essence "her sisters keeper". I particularly like the question found on the back of the book: "Can a parent love too much? Or is too much never enough?" I find that is sums up the actions of the book quite well.

You see, Anna, the main character, was conceived to save her older sister who developed leukemia when she was little. Anna was given specific genes so that she would be a perfect match for her sister when she was born, and thus began her life of surgeries and procedures to extend her sisters life. When she is thirteen years old, though, she finally challenges her mother over the constant hospital stays. She has always been defined by her sister, and it seems that she wishes this to end at this period in her life. Her decision is a brave one because it has the potential to tear her family apart and destroy her sisters chances to live, but it also has more to it than it seems and has some surprising endings in store.

This novel is one of the saddest novels I have ever read. I like how it is told from everyones perspective but Kate, the sick sister. She has always been the centre of attention in the family, and now we are seeing what the other members of the family are thinking. The mother, Sarah, takes the novel back to when Kate was just born. The father uses firefighting and astronomy to explain the events in their house. In the end, though, it is what Anna thinks that is important.

I give this book a 4.5 out 5. I have some issues with the ending, and I can't give a perfect grade to something I question.