Six Sentence Saturday - Take Two

Welcome to Six Sentence Saturday.

Where I try to express my thoughts on recent reads using only 6 sentences!!!!.
At the end of each review I will post a
rating scale of 1-5 using the cute and original (lol) Playing Cards.
Rating scale will be as follows:

5 of Hearts- You must read this book NOW!!
4 of Hearts- A great read, put it on your TBR list.
3 of Hearts- Glad I read but no big deal
2 of Hearts- Why did I finish this?
Joker Card - Don't bother (why did I?)

Staci does this cool feature that I am borrowing. I have the worst time keeping up on my reviews, so I figure if I do this mostly every Saturday than I will review books I probably won't review otherwise. It will likely just be books that I consider okay, so expect detailed reviews (hopefully) about books that I love.

Emma - Volume 8 by Kaoru Mori
I reviewed the first seven volumes of this in one post, but find it hard to talk about one random volume all alone without spoiling the series. Mangas are not the easiest to review to begin with. This is probably my favourite manga read of the year, so I strongly recommend it to anyone that is looking for a good series to start with. It is historical fiction and this volume is a collection of short stories that are related to stories began in the other seven volumes. The artwork in this series is fantastic! I hope that others take a chance on this series because you won't be disappointed!


Stop Pretending: What happened when my sister went crazy by Sonya Sones
I have to admit that I read this so long ago I hardly remember it, so this is probably the perfect review to limit to six sentences. Written in verse, this is a very quick read and would be perfect for the 24-Hour Read-a-thon that will happening before we know it. The book addresses what a sister goes through as her sister suffers from a mental illness. It is based on the authors own experiences, so it is handled very well and very believable. When you are young and something like this is going on around you, you find that you have a lot of worries about what it means for yourself. I recommend this book and will eventually read something else by the author!


Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past by Erich Von Daniken
I actually read this book because the charming comedian couldn't believe I hadn't before. I will admit that it was a bit dated, but I actually found it pretty fascinating. Sometimes I think the world is just a bit too black and white and that it takes a few books like this to shake things up a bit. It makes you think about the whole idea of existence and how the things that we are unable to explain were accomplished. There were a few sections of the book that were just way too dated and I ended up skipping through, but for the most part this book stands up to today rather well. I am glad that the charming comedian got me to read this and I can understand why the book was so popular for its time.




The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
This book was just a little bit too cutesy, perfect for me, but I think it would work really well for the age range it is marketed for. I just have liked other DiCamillo books better for my age. Edward Tulane is a bunny that has a very amazing journey and tells his story. It does go to show how the impossible can all work out in the end and Tulane is a good narrator of the story. The pictures are really good, too. This is a perfect gift for those young folk in your life during this up-coming holiday season.

Emma by Kaoru Mori - Volumes 1-7

Completion Date: March, 2009

Reason for Reading: Manga Challenge, New Author Challenge.

In Victorian-era England, a young girl, Emma, who is rescued from a life of destitution and raised to become a proper British maid, falls in love with William, the eldest son of a wealthy family, but the strict rules of their society force them to keep their romance a secret.

It seems like forever ago that I read this series! When you hear the title, I am sure that most people automatically think of Jane Austen's Emma, but that is not the case at all! The series is a romance-type manga set in Victorian England. I have read manga off and on throughout the years, and I do enjoy it, but this was actually more my type of read than some of my other attempts with the genre. I was not entirely sure about the romance angle of the story, but the history side of it worked really well at catching my attention. I have to say that I am very glad that I gave the series a try because it was a good story, it had accurate history (complete with historical notes), and the artwork was fantastic!

I really liked the characters in this story. We have Emma, the title character, who has a rather difficult life. By a stroke of good fortune, though, she finds herself in the employ of Lady Kelly. Lady Kelly is a widow who sees something in Emma that she can use, so she takes her on from a young age as her maid. Lady Kelly has been basically alone since she was 20 and her husband died. She made her living as a governess. Even though she is retired, the young people from her past still come to visit her. It is one such visit that is the basis of the romance story in this series.

Enter William. William is the heir to a substantial fortune. He comes from a very good family who wants him to marry a woman from an equal, or better, family. He has spent some time with Emma, though, and he has found that he is in love with her. Emma has had offers from many men, but turned them down. William is different. The problem is that he is from a good family while she is just a maid. His family will never allow it. This means that they have to keep everything a secret, which leads to a bit of drama down the road. For manga, though, this was very quiet. Usually the female characters in this series are loud and vibrant. Emma is very quiet, and even though her relationship with William is scandalous for the times, it is a rather quiet series as a whole.

One thing about manga series are they are so long! Many look really good, but it gets costly if you have to buy them all. This series has seven books right now, but will be completed when there are ten. For a manga series that is a very manageble number. This is also a good series for people that like Jane Austen, romance novels, Victorian England, etc. It is a chance to try the manga world without going too far out of your comfort zone. The characters come alive on the page. Emma may be a bit of a quiet character, but we really get to know her as the series progresses. I really enjoyed learning about all of the characters in the book and look forward to further character development when the last three books are released.

Nymeth has also reviewed the seven volumes. Her review was soon after she read them all, too, so it is a lot better review! She also has tanabata reading them, so you can read her review of the first one here. It really is a great series! I hope other people will take a chance on them.