Enders Game by Orson Scott Card

Recommendation: Yes. I liked this book.

I went to a literary conference in college to hear Orson Scott Card speak. I don't remember much except the question answer period during lunch, and a lot of people trying to impress him. BUT I do remember how smart he sounded, but not snooty, just bright and interesting. So I don't know WHY it has taken me so many years to read one of his books. Many people in my family are big fans. I also saw him waiting to be seated at Brick Oven once. Famous.

So, I actually decided to read this, his first book, to see if it would be a good read for my son. I think he needs to wait a couple more years.

What I liked: I just have say it again, but OSC writes smart. I don't know how else to describe it. But I liked his style right off. I can count the number of science fiction books I've read on one hand, but this one was really easy to read.

I liked the character. It is easy to think of Ender as being about 5 years older than he is, but I think that's the point. In his intro, which I only read part of before the book, OSC says, "I forced the audience to experience the lives of these children from...the perspective in which their feelings and decision are just as real and important as any adult's." He also talks about the "personhood of children."

Something else cool is how the desks the boys use are so similar to laptops. Very insightful for 30 years ago. Also the "nets." Cool.

I really liked the end. The last chapter was good for me. I like the whole Speaker for the Dead, which pretty much means I'll read the next book. I liked that things didn't finish up the way I predicted. I don't know if you can call it a happy ending, but it was happy compared to the majority of the book.

What I didn't like:

I got a little bogged down with the descriptions of the futuristic governments, and the details of the battles. I read them, but didn't fully process them. This didn't affect the story.

It was also a little more violent that I like to read. Which is why Griff will be waiting a couple more years. Some of the characters are just so MEAN. I guess that's real life. But it was troubling.

Some of the boys slang is a little annoying, or offensive. I did see that the original copyright was 1977, which explains a little.

Cool Quotes:

"There's only one thing that wil make them stop hating you. And that's being so good at what you do that they can't ignore you."

"So everything depend on how you push off, the course you set when you start."

"It was better in the morning. Home was merely a dull ache in the back of his memory. A tiredness in his eyes."

Million Dollar Mermaid by Esther Williams

Recommendation: Yes. I think this book was entertaining and interesting.

What I liked:

Esther Williams was a champion swimmer when there were not a lot of women in the sport. She qualified for the Olympics, then WWII broke out. She is a great example of someone who made something out of themselves.

The details she includes about how she got into swimming, the behind-the-scenes dramatics, and what little pieces of advice helped her along the way are fascinating to me.

I like that Esther did not sleep her way to the top. She did not use men, and she did not allow herself to be used. I admire how spunky she was in deflecting the passes of the creepy men in her story.

I like the way her voice shows through with old fashioned phrases, and views of what was going on. She has a good sense of humor. I also enjoyed all her cracks about the short men. Very funny.

I loved the pictures in the middle. It took me a while before I noticed them, and I think they really add to the narrative! She was so amazingly beautiful! So classic.

Having grown up in a pool, and always surrounded by swimmers, it was fun to read her perspective on swimming and those around her in the movie business that didn't get it. I swam with a couple of girls who competed in synchro, and it was cool to see how Esther Williams was so instrumental in developing it, and furthering it as a real sport. In fact she mentions at the end how it was made an official sport in the 1984 Olympics in LA and the winners were Tracie Ruiz-Conforto and Candy Costie. They were from Bothell and they even named the pool we swam in Highschool after them, so how's that for 6 degrees of seperation.

What I didn't like:

Be forwarned that some really terrible things happen to Esther. She has some horrible things happen to her when she was young, and some more when she's older. Obviously they need to be in the book, but I still didn't like reading about them. So sad.

It bugged me that she admitted and was frusterated that her movies were all fluff and basically the stame story line, yet she was huffy and offended if someone else said the same thing.

I also started feeling a little skeptical about Esther's opinions. I think in its own right, this is a bit of a "tell-all" book. She mainly focuses on herself and the details of her life, but she does name names. There are all kinds of little stories of big stars in not-so-flattering light. I'm sure they are true, but I just wonder why she felt like she had to report the dirt on others. ALSO, as she gets older, she makes several choices that I think are hard to justify, yet she does. She is honest about her motivations at times, but other times she seems to miss the irony that she was acting like those she earlier condemned. It kind of made me trust her less.



Suggestions: Amy told me that our library had collections of Esther William's films. I checked one out that had 6 DVDs. I admit I didn't watch all of them, the stories are sweet, but a little silly. I did a lot of fast forwarding of scenes she wasn't in, but it was so cool to see the scenes and actors that she talked about in the book. I LOVED IT! I think it would have been cool to watch them intermittently as I was reading the book.

BBC Pride and Prejudice

I LOVED IT!

First of all, the scenery is AMAZING. So beautiful. I watched most of the series in the first night, but had to crawl up to bed at 2. I finished it the next night, and it was so great.

I realized when Elizabeth arrived at Pemberley that I had read the book. Sometimes I get the Austen books mixed up. I really enjoy this story, but of course it drives me crazy that she doesn't tell everyone that Mr. Darcy saved Lydia. But these old fashioned books never do.

I enjoyed all the characters, the men were so handsome, and so were the women.

Definetly worth the 5 hours!

Thanks to all of you who have recommended it over the years, I wasn't disappointed!

Favorite quote: "There are few people whom I really love, and even fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more I am dissatisfied of it."

I also loved when Elizabeth is telling her Dad that she does love Darcy and that she's never known a better man. He replies something like, "Good, because I could never have parted with you otherwise." So great.

I also watched Mansfield Park last week. I liked it. It was on TV, and not a book I had read. But I recommend it.

If you're looking for kids books.....

Check out these cuties!

http://grinolasbooks.blogspot.com

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

Recommendation: If you read the others, you probably will read this one.

I would not recommend reading it if you haven't read the others, or if you didn't like her first books.

What I think is cool about Stephanie Meyer: I think it is really impressive to come up with this kind of complicated story. To create characters, organizations, supernatural beings. I couldn't do it.

I think she writes true to herself and her beliefs. She keeps her books PG, which I think is cool especially given her topic and the desire to sell books to more than just young adults. I think she has proven a point. And that is great!

I also give her a lot of credit for knowing her audience. Introducing a child in this book was genius considering how many mothers are reading her books. I think she said some sweet things about the way we feel about our children instantly.

What bugged me about this book: I really stuggled with the dialouge between characters. Things like, "S'Okay," and "Er, thanks," drive me crazy. There is also a lot of painfully lame phrases and exchanges between her main characters. Trite, over used expressions, and just stupid words. If you've ever watched a movie or TV show with me, you know this kind of stuff drives me CRAZY. Zero tolerance.

One thing I liked about Twilight were the magical scenes. The scene with Edward and Bella in the meadow and the scene where Bella is so happy to see the sun and she falls asleep in the warmth were pretty, and I remembered them. I didn't remember anything in the same way in this book.

Also the way that Bella just believed that they were all going to die, when obviously they stood a chance. Her continual comments about it being about to be over weren't believable to me.

What I liked about this book:

It was a good story. It picked up well where the other one left off. It isn't predictable, and I did really want to see what was going to happen. Lots of interesting twists and turns.

It made me think about how my life would be easier if I was a vampire. Never needing sleep! Especially if your child did sleep. Fascinating possibility. Never having to cook food!

I did think about what the vampires would do when the socialized. Food is such a big part of our social gatherings.

I liked that Bella was happy. I liked that their "coven" was able to be a good example and be closely bonded and everything.

I always love a happy ending!

One last thing:

She called Lake Union, "Union Lake."

I'm also critical of overlooked research or poor editing whichever it was.

So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger

I have been waiting and hoping for Mr. Enger to produce another novel after LOVING Peace Like a River so much. Here it is.

Recommendation: Yes, I liked this book. I think if you liked his first, you will like his second. I did not enjoy it as much, but I think its a good story. I like the feel of the book.

What I liked: As in his first novel, I really liked the characters. They are well-formed and illustrated without too much distracting description.

This is an interesting story. It involves another cross country trip, another saintly outlaw, and bad law man. It is not a copy-cat of his first, but has a similar feeling. It is written to be romantic, but I don't think it is a romance. The draw of the West, making resolutions, changing your life, are all themes that flow through it.

There is a cool metaphor when Monte see's his reflection in the barbershop window, and Siringo talks about his wife not being able to see him, and Monte talks about his "hazy outline." I liked it.

Also there's a cool metaphor about Siringo's grasp.

I also liked this part. " 'She's so pretty, I just forgot how to talk,' Hood told me. I loved him for that. What man has not stood in lumpen torment before the face of beauty?"

Also, "violent and doomed as this world might be, a romance it certainly is." In response to, "this world ain't no romance, in case you didn't notice."

I didn't find this book predictable, and I was happy with the ending.

What I didn't like: I liked a lot of this book, but there wasn't a lot that I loved. I'm glad I read it, I hope it is successful, and I hope Leif Enger keeps writing. I think two of the things I liked the most in Peace Like a River were the family, and the power of healing. There is a family in this book, but its more of a supporting cast. Religion is mentioned in a positive light, but it isn't as magical. Also there are murders, and some bad beating-ups.

Over all I didn't like it as much as his first novel, but I think it is a worthy read.

I can't wait to hear what everyone else thinks about it.

Founding Brothers by, Joseph J. Ellis

Recommendation: YES! This is another great US history book.

This book won the Pulitzer Prize, and is only 248 pages long. Don't be fooled! It is well-written, but really made me concentrate to understand what was being said. Here's an example I've been showing people of how wordy Ellis can be, "...the very presumptiveness of the revolutionary rhetoric served to obfuscate the quite palpable reality that slavery, no mantter how anomalous in purely ideological terms, was still deeply imbedded in the very structure of American society at multiple levels or layers that remained impervious to wishful thinking and revolutionary expectations." WHEW! I ended up holding a bookmark underlining the words as I read to help me focus. But it is completly readable. I didn't even pull out my dictionary, although I probably should have. I don't want to turn you away from the book, just warn you.

What I loved:

Joseph Ellis took a specific event or theme for each chapter. Because of the way it is organized, I think it flows really well. Each chapter could stand alone, but they do overlap and intertwine with each other. One cool theme that he referred back to several times is how hindsight affects history and how we read and write it. How events or famous quotes are only poignant because of what we know happened next. It was a very interesting concept, and one that made alot of sense in the context of these stories.

Another thing that the characters mention more than once that is so fascinating to me, is that it was really a miracle that our nation stayed together in the early years. There were so many times that even the men fighting (figuratively and literally) to keep the United States together, really didn't think it would make it.

"If hindsight enhances our appreciation for the solidity and stability of the republican legacy, it also blinds us to the truly stunning improbability of the achievement itself."

"Though there have been many successful colonial rebellions against imperial domination since the American Revolution, none had occured before."

Reading this again puts me in awe of these men (and their wives) that made it happen.

My favorite sections:

I got a little bogged down in the chapters The Dinner and The Silence. But even those were interesting! I ended up writing down some reminders to myself of who was with the Federalists and who was with the Republicans. That helped some.

The Collaborators and The Friendship were my favorites. It's so sad to me that John Adams was right that he would not be credited nearly as much as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington for his role in founding the nation. I really am drawn to him and will HAVE to read to read his bio now. One thing that Ellis mentioned was that he told Abagail to save all his letters. He knew that they would provide history. In fact it seems obvious that his last few years of letters to Jefferson were part of his attempt to write history as he had experienced it.

The Silence deals with how slavery was treated politically in the 1790's. I had no idea how long the debates were going. At first I thought it was very irresponsible for congress to have a "no talking" policy about it. But I guess that we often avoid things that we know are wrong, but are too embarrassed or dependant upon to change. Reading the different arguments that were circulating was very interesting.

When John Adams was vice-president, he describes the job as "the most insignificant office that ever the Invention of Man contrived or his Imagination conceived." To make matters worse, after his first debate, the Senate decided that the vice president was not permitted to speak. Can you imagine the torture of listening to these political debates and being able to participate? Sounds like torture to me!

Things I didn't know about before reading this:

Jay's Treaty, Consumption, Capitol on the Potomac, the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. A lot more. But to my history teachers' credit, I have forgotten most of what I once learned.

Some great quotes/concepts from the book:

"...slavery was a cancer on the body politic of America that could not at present be removed without killing the patient."

"The Adams style was to confront, shout, rant and then to embrace. The Jefferson style was to evade, maintain pretenses, then convince himself that all was well."

"No one present at the start knew how it would turn out in the end."

"The basic framework for all these institutions and traditions was built in a sudden spasm of enforced inspiration and makeshift construction during the final decades of the eighteenth century."

"...the office would routinely outlive the occupant, that the American presidency was fundamentally different from a European monarchy, that presidents, no matter how indispensable, were inherently disposable."

On page 209, a letter from Jefferson to Abagail Adams is quoted, and Ellis inserts parenthetical comments that are very funny to me.

And lastly, in a letter to Benjamin Rush, John Adams says he knew a French barber in Boston who used the phrase "a little crack," meaning slightly crazy. He uses it to describe some philosophers, then says, "I must tell you that my wife, who took a fancy to read this letter upon my table, bids me tell you that she 'thinks my head, too, a little crack,' and I am half of that mind myself." HILARIOUS!!! I think that might be my new catchphrase. And again, how can you not love John and Abagail Adams.

Now, please read this book and comment in the space provided.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

Recommendation: YES! I enjoyed this book. I recommend it.

What I liked: I couldn't put this down! Really, it isn't a fast read, so I had to stop reading two nights, acknowledging that I couldn't finish it even if I stayed up later.

I was totally drawn into this story. I think something that I liked was that even the characters you are rooting for have faults. I think they are realistic heroes. I liked that maybe Helen's aunt was right. So often in books and movies the adults, well-meaning or not, are wrong. I liked when Helen was giving advice to Esther, she is talking about not marrying for money, a title, etc, but then she says something like love isn't enough either. I don't think the mistakes made in the book were entirely the fault of the characters. It's probably pretty realistic.

I don't think the book is too predictable. Some little parts you can figure out but in a nice way. Like--oh of course they will get married. I always like those tidy endings anyway. Even more I like when they actually happen in real life! SO rare.

What I didn't like: Well, it was hard for me to get into this bookat the start. I think the descriptions are a little much, but very typical of the time period. I felt like skimming parts, but tried hard to actually read it all. Once I was into the story, probably 6 or 7 chapters, then I was totally hooked.

A funny quote:

Talking about who to marry, Gilbert is saying "I shall expect to find more pleasure in making my wife happy and comfortable, than in being made so by her." His mom, (whose advice to Helen is horrible!) responds with this:

"You'll do your business, and she, if she's worthy of you, will do her's but it's your business to please yourself, and her's to please you." Then talking about her own husband, "he was steady and punctual, seldom found fault without a reason, always did justice to my good dinners, and hardly ever spoiled my cookery by delay--and that's as much as any woman can expect of any man."

Hilarious.

In Gilbert's defence, his reaction to his friend is, "Is it so, Halford? Is that the extent of your domestic virtues; and does your happy wife exact nor more?"
Thoughts:
I think an obvious theme in the book is how boys were raised at the time. Gilbert's mom says really stupid things to Helen about raising her son. It is so obvious to the reader even before her journal, as to why she would raise him that way. But Gilbert himself is so spoiled by his mom. As is Mr. Hargrave.

I probably should try to read Wuthering Heights--I haven't ever, and Jane Eyre--its been years, but I'll probably take a break first! It would be good to compare the sister's writings.

I do recommend this book, especially if you like this time period and style. And if not, give it a try anyway! If you do, PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF IT!!!

Room With A View--Film

So I got the Merchant Ivory version from Netflix. It was every bit as good as I remembered. I love it! I'm not sure why. The only thing that kind of bugs me is George. I like the actor enough, but I just don't think he's exactly right like the other ones.

**To skip the nudity, when Freddy and Mr. Beebe invite George for a bathe, watch them walk to the lake, then hit skip. You'll go right to the "troublesome boiler" chapter.

Some things I love about this movie. The story, see book review for details. I think Mrs. Honeychurch and the Miss Alans are even more charming than their characters come off in the book. After Charlotte goes inside to get change, Mrs. Honeychurch laughs and it is so great!

I loved the way George kind of scissor jumps over the tennis net and then lays next to Cecil and Lucy. I LOVE the scene where Charlotte is sitting on the ground, then clears her throat and says, "Oh I've had this cough for weeks, it has nothing to do with sitting on the ground."

I guess since its been at least 10 years and probably more like 15 since I've watched the movie, Lucy would seem really young to me. She seemed like a teenager almost. Her posture was so great, and her little pouts. Helena Bonham Carter does a great job. I think all the actors and actresses are so good in this movie. Daniel Day-Lewis~hilarious!!

Austenland by Shannon Hale

I enjoyed reading this book! I recommend it if you are looking for something light and fast.

I think this book is pretty predictable, but it was still fun to read. I couldn't put it down once I started, and it is short.

I'm not the hugest Austen buff, but I've read enough and seen enough movies to follow along. I need to watch that BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, so I can really be cool. Reading this you feel like it was written by someone you know. That's how I felt. It almost seemed like she could have said, I had this funny idea the other day....But it was a creative frame for a romantic comedy.

I think the type of place was believable considering the disposable income and fantasys of certain middle aged women. Plus SO many people are obsessed with Jane Austen.

I love that the great-aunt gave her the trip, and the whole opening scene with her mom and aunt was a great nod to Austen, Forester, all those British authors.

Some lines I liked:

"Like drinking a cold glass of water after too much sugary punch."

"He was so cute and funny and so-not-Mr. Darcy....and so-not-typical-Jane."

BUT the best one was,

"Why was the judgement of the disapproving so valuable?"