Reading Now, Going to Read Later

For anyone who enjoyed Shannon Hale's books, I've recently read some new books that I'm thoroughly enjoying. I started with The Safe-Keeper's Secret and now I'm reading Truth-Teller's Tale. Her world is so believable and interesting, and I like getting to know her characters.

And up next, I'm starting A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini. Just as soon as I get it from the library. It comes highly recommended, and it's different than my typical sci-fi / fantasy fare - sounds like fun! I hope some other people read it too (I know at least one person is already) so we can all have things to talk about.

Click here for more on Sharon Shinn's books.

Sharon Shinn has three series (that I can find) and they're all pretty different. In one series, people have colonized space after horrible conflicts and wars - but that's not entirely obvious at the start of the book. I think part of why the Samaria series is so fun is because of how Biblical names are changed into the actual names of people and places on this totally different planet. So far I've only read the first of this series, and the first of the Twelve Houses series as well.

The Twelve Houses is not set in a futuristic space colony - it is a completely imaginary fantasy world where people have magic, and the kingdom is threatened by internal conflicts regarding both an attempted power grab and religious fanatacism.

The Safe-Keeper's books are still completely fantasy, but instead of having a big kingdom-wide conflict, the stories are about individuals. There is a kind of magic, but it's not the fire-burning, levitating, or mind-reading kind. It's much more subtle - shown in the Safe-Keepers, Truth-Tellers, and Dream-Makers. Safe-Keepers keep everyone's secrets, Truth-Tellers only speak the truth and can tell what is truth and what is lies, and the Dream-Maker has a tragic life but wherever they go people's wishes come true.

With all of the differences in the types of stories and worlds, all of these books have some major things in common. The biggest one (to me) is that the characters are the focus of the stories - how they grow up, find what to do with their lives, and find love. These stories are written so I feel like I get to know the characters, and I start to care about what is happening to them. Also, the plots don't race along, but they move well in all the books I've read. I never got bored or lost track of what was happening.

I really hope the rest of the books in all three series hold on to the good qualities shown in the first books.

A lot of books

Although I have read a ton of books this month (>50), I haven't been discovering new books. Actually, I've been retreating into my book "comfort zone" and re-reading books I've read before. Like Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic books, and Anne McCaffrey's Dragon books, and Mercedes Lackey Arrows of the Queen trilogy, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, and many sci-fi favorites.

Luckily for me, my sister-in-law shares her new finds with me, so I get new things to read anyway! So the following will not be everything that I remember reading in the past month - just the ones that were new discoveries or old favorites. Click here for the rest of the post.

In no particular order, just as I remember or find their names:

Rowan Hood (series) by Nancy Springer - these are fairly short kids books, but I like them anyway. When her mother dies, Rowan searches for her father, Robin Hood, in Sherwood Forest.

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale - I loved it. A servant girl ends up locked in a tower with her mistress, who goes a little bit crazy.

Changelings and Maelstrom by AnneMcCaffrey - set in the Petaybee universe, these are books about selkie twins, a living planet, and others in the universe who don't like them.

Heris Serrano (series) by Elizabeth Moon - really, the end books of the series are stretching things a lot, but I enjoy them anyways. This series is for when I want a little space opera.

Austenland by Shannon Hale - AWESOME. Especially for anyone who has spent as much time watching Pride & Prejudice (the long version) as myself (and all of my college roommates). Of course this one deserves its own post, and hopefully it will happen.

Princess Nevermore by Dian Regan - cute. A princess from the other side of the wishing well ends up on earth, possible forever. Not the greatest book ever written, but still good.

The Dark is Rising (series) by Susan Cooper - Even though I've read them over and over, I still love these books. Fantasy, set on Earth amid reality, with a clash of Dark and Light and legends of Arthur. One of my favorite things is that people choose their own destiny - whether Dark or Light wins really depends on individual, everyday people.

Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver - Good book. the story of a boy losing his father, finding out that there are secrets he didn't know about himself, and undertaking a journey to save the world.

The Hollow Kingdom - Clare B. Dunkle - Good book. The goblin king really wants Kate to be his bride, but who would go live underground forever willingly? I like how this one ends up, but of course I won't write that here.

The Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett - I love this book, no matter how many times I read it. When Sara's father leaves her at a boarding school, it is the first time they are separated. I like Sara as a heroine, and I like how everything works out.

Pagan by Catherine Jinks - This book was really fun to read. An world-wise Arab boy becomes a squire to the perfect Templar Knight, Lord Roland Roucy de Bram, serving in Jerusalem as the Arab cities are being taken back from the English conquerors. The story doesn't focus on the big movers and shakers or the politics (yawn) or even too much on the battle scenes - it focuses on the relationship between the street rat of Jerusalem and the knight while everything happens around them.

Ember by Jeanne DuPrau - Ember is fun, mostly because of its interesting basis - it's something that really could happen (but is really not very likely).

Easier than I thought

Ok, so I think I've never uploaded a picture to blogger before. I know this has nothing to do with books, except that this is the kind of day you want to stay inside by the fire and read. Now my only problem is - which one do I like better?

Alyss in Wonderland

When her Aunt Redd rebels from out beyond the checkerboard, Princess Alyss and Hatter Madigan (the head of the Wonderland Milinery which is approximately equal to the secret service) escape to our world through the Pool of Tears. In the series by Frank Beddor, you find out what happens next.

I've only finished the first book The Looking Glass Wars, and Seeing Redd is waiting for me to pick it up at the library. Definitely recommended - it's only distantly related to the original "Alice", and it's a good story.

Shannon Hale

Exciting News - I am 4 away from the front of the hold line for the audiobook of Austenland, and then today I saw another new book by Shannon Hale - Look Here!

Lately

Okay, just because I haven't posted in, well, forever - it doesn't mean I'm not still reading. I read as I walk from my car to work, I read at lunchtime, I read before bed, and I read whenever I go on a walk by myself.

Lately I've even been "reading" books on CD. The book purist in me rebels at the thought - I love holding a book, re-reading the lines that were confusing or touching, and turning those paper pages over one at a time. But with an hour-long commute, I was getting desparate. So I started - and now I really enjoy my driving time. I even catch myself turning off the engine but leaving the key just partially turned so that I can finish the chapter or hear the rest of the conversation.

Click here for the rest of the post.
Which books have I read/listened to this way? Since each book takes anywhere from 6-13 hours I've only read a few:

I can't even remember the title of the first one - it was a murder mystery where this English chap goes looking for his friend and ends up uncovering all sorts of secrets and meeting Kennedy's assassin. Totally enjoyable, and I think the British accent of the reader was my favorite to date.

Then I found Tamora Pierce's book Terrier and, although I didn't like the reader, I love the story.

Third, I started one of Kathy Reichs' books, I think Dying to Tell. I had picked Dan up from work that day and was about 2 chapters into the story when my car stereo did something it had never done before. It yelled out Christ's name and startled me. It took me about 1.5 seconds to get the disc ejected. I think from now on I am sticking to children's books. It seems that he words I may be able to skim over in my head when reading are a lot harder to miss when screamed at you. I don't think that book would have made me relax while stuck in traffic anyway.

Fourth, I am listening to Circle of Magic: Briar's Book by Tamora Pierce. I have read all of her stuff that I have ever found, and the library has a lot of them on CD, so I think I am set until maybe next May. :)

Other books I have read lately, and thoughts on them...

David Weber's Honor Harrington series - I love watching Honor make the best choices and overcome incredible obstacles to do what is right for her, her queen, and her country. The only downside is that, as she overcomes each obstacle, worse ones are thrown at her, so by the end of the series events are a little depressing.

Morgan Howell's Queen of the Orcs: King's Property - A story of a girl whose family happily sends her into slavery in the king's army...where she meets the orcs. Great book, first in a trilogy, and I will be reading the rest of them. (In fact I just took time out from writing this to put them on hold.)

Marion Zimmer Bradley's Witchlight - It was fantasy, and pretty good. I think it was actually not the first in its series, but it stands alone just fine. I will probably read the prevoius books if I have the chance.

Steve Perry's The Musashi Flex - Story of a fighter who is near the top of the galaxy in the Flex. To be honest, this is the second time I've read it in the last few years.

Caroline Stevermer's A College of Magics - Enjoyable, fantasy, a bit confusing and low on actual plot.

Michael Crichton's Airframe - Great book. A plane crashes, and then comes the story of the investigation into what caused the crash. I've read it 2-3 times and love it.

Mary Higgins Clark Two Little Girls in Blue - Okay, so I bought it for my mom, but she already had it. Instead of returning it, I kept it and read it. I've read so many of Mary Higgins Clark's books that they seem cookie-cutter to me. A girl has some incident in her past, there are two men involved (one good and one bad), and the bad guy is doing bad stuff/stalking the girl or something like that ... this book was different. Same way of telling the story, but the actual story was different. Two little twin girls were kidnapped, and one is returned alive with a note saying the second girl is dead. But they are identical twins, and their parents come to realize the girl they have is still communicating in "twin talk" with her sister.

That's all the ones I can think of right now. I hope someone else is having as much fun reading as I am!

Austenland

This is such a great book. All of the books that I have read by Shannon Hale are spectacular and this one definitely qualifies. If you love Shannon Hale and/or Pride and Prejudice, you'll love this book! If you haven't read anything by Shannon Hale yet, you should start! Happy reading!

Elm Creek Quilts series

Winter weather got you down? Snuggle up with a warm quilt, a cup of hot chocolate, and this great series!
full post
I discovered it by happy coincidence in my local library. After I started the first novel in the series, The Quilter's Apprentice, I couldn't put it down, and I just finished the fifth installment. I just started quilting this year, so I'm really enjoying the imaginitive stories about different women who are all brought together by a shared love of quilting. The books have no language, no inappropriate situations, so I can just relax and enjoy them without worrying about having to skim.

P.S. Julie, I tried to use the template but the link to the rest of my post is dead--Help!

unofficially

I'm reading the vampire books now. I'm supposed to be in a meeting - but I'm being very sneaky and typing this. Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer. Good books. Gotta go.

Magic

I preface my remarks here by stating that I don't like books that are just about people's lives. I just don't. I don't say this from lack of experience, but rather from too much experience. I have read a bunch of them, and I just prefer fantasy, science-fiction, mystery, space opera, and even some historical fiction.

For example, when I turn to the bookshelf that is to my right while I'm sitting here, I see Tom Clancy x2, Michael Crichton, Douglas Adams, Huebner, Anne McCaffery x5, Orson Scott Card x3, The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, a Sherlock Holmes collection, Mercedes Lackey, a history of Kane County UT (family history), and 4 books of coins from my childhood collection.

See any "people" stories there? My mom loves them. My sister likes them too, I think. But I tried Cold Sassy Tree, Homeland, Like Water for Chocolate, and many others. People live. They die. They have children. They don't have children. Life is depressing. Life is normal. Life is happy. People just seem to exist in these books without there being any point.

Full post - you probably want to wait until you've read the book

So now you know the prejudices with which I started Magic. I was prepared to suffer through it for the good of the group, since other people seem to like that sort of book. I thought I'd be able to post a little rant about how boring it was, and what I could have done with the hours I wasted reading it, etc.

But.

Yes there is a but. I'm not afraid to admit that I was wrong. Oh, not completely wrong - there are far too many books without interesting plots that I just don't want to read, even if many many people find them fantastic. But Magic was just fine.

I think the biggest things that kept the book interesting to me were (a) the mystery - not knowing the story of how Livvy ended up pregnant; (b) Livvy's first person voice; and (c) the book actually went somewhere and did something.

And maybe it's a sign of growing up a bit that Livvy's story was interesting to me because it resonated with challenges I've had in recent years. No, I haven't been practically cast out of my family after falling in love with a soldier who abandoned me, leaving me stuck out on a farm which feels practically like another planet. But life just has a way of not following the course I plot for it. I think I see a future, I plan and plan for it - thinking of all the ways to make everything turn out the way I want, and it just falls apart. Nothing goes as planned. And then the future changes from a bright, happy place I've built in my imagination into a dark, uncertain place where anything can happen and there are no guarantees that I'll like what happens. And yet, as we do something new, it becomes more normal, more a part of us, and I find that maybe I would miss it if I hadn't had the chance.

By the way, I think this is called "growth" and "stretching" and "growing up" and probably other uncomfortable-sounding terms. Yes, life is uncomfortable. But it keeps us looking in new directions and hopefully becoming better people. I'm still trying to convince my self of that. Oops - enough personal philosophy there. :)

So Magic is okay - not fantastic - but it was a short and engaging story. I didn't really like Ray's almost slavish devotion to his new wife - there wasn't really a reason for him to even like her, much less fall in love with her. He just seemed too ... perfect? And I wanted to kick Livvy a few times and tell her to get her head back together because she kept trying to think of a way back to the life she had left. But really, she actually came around a lot faster than I ever have in real life. Months? That's pretty quick to redirect everything, from losing a mother and virtually losing a father, and losing your "chance" and your dreams - months was pretty fast to figure out that maybe life wasn't bad - just different.

As for Rose & Lorelei - I guess maybe their parallel story was kind of interesting, and it provided some plot or actions when nothing was really happening between Livvy & Ray. So, while some reviews that I read thought they were pointless, the story would either have been a lot shorter or pretty boring without them.

Will I read it again? Probably not. Do I regret reading it? No. Would I recommend it? Sure.

Anyone else ready to watch the movie soon?

Well, I must say that I think that I'm going to have to read Harry Potter again, just to digest it all the second time around. So much HAPPENED!

First of all, I heard J.K. say in an interview that she always thought that Snape would be a hero...I don't really think that I would have called Snape a "hero". I think that is too generous a word for him. I think that he is afterall a decent guy, but still I think that I need to read the book again. :)

Plus, I am so very excited that we are reading "Magic..." It is such a good book.....enjoy it on your vacation Julie C.

The movie is almost as good as the book.

Reading Something New

I think our next suggestion was The Magic of Ordinary Days, by Ann Howard Creel. It just came in on hold at the library for me. Since it is also a movie, maybe we could have a movie night at the end of August or early September? I'm taking the book on vacation with me next week, so I should have something to say about it afterwards.

Now, as for Harry Potter :)
Yes, this contains SPOILERS. If you haven't read it by now, it's your own fault if you go reading about it on the internet, isn't it?

Harry Potter part of this post.

So much to say ... how do I even begin.

I liked it. Why did I like it? I think that most of all I like good to triumph over evil, and I didn't want Harry to have to die. But I was enjoying the book even before the ending - I could empathize with Harry better in this book, now that he was less of a volatile brat; I felt that the characters showed a lot of growing up; I liked the little mysteries within the book (Aberforth, for example); I liked how the plot didn't try to follow every group of characters but instead stayed with Harry and yet still kept you aware enough of what else was going on that you could interpolate the rest; there was a really cool fight scene; and I really really liked that Snape was on Harry's side...

I think I better stop there. It was well written. It hung together. It pulled together the people and plots of the previous books to make a cohesive and interesting ending. And that was remarkable.

A few things still stuck out as a little odd - like Kreacher's easy conversion to loving Harry, for example. And while I'm glad that Harry could see Dumbledore again, I'm also glad that Rowling didn't try to explain more about where they were. And why was there a mewling ugly baby-ish thing there with them? Was that the part of Voldemort that had been in Harry? If so, once it was out of him, why didn't it go on and die? Why was Dumbledore there anyway? And why was it important for Dumbledore to have a "past"? It didn't really add anything for me to know that - but it could have been way more forced and stilted of an "explanation section".

Did I mention (yes, I know I did) that I'm glad Snape was on the right side? It just wouldn't have been right otherwise.

And the epilogue - that was cool. Especially the Malfoys being there and still being distant - it just made it seem more real. Well, as real as a book.

Although this may have been slightly rambling, it's really only a small portion of the thoughts rambling through my head. Anyone else have a favorite part? Things they didn't like?

HP Party

It's been a long time since I've gotten through a weekend with that little sleep! Friday night was the Harry Potter Release Party - the secondary highlight was watching my little bro get sorted into Slytherin. There were tons of activities, although a bunch of them ended before we even got there. There was Quidditch, played in the gym with hula hoops suspended under the basketball hoops; there was a band - I think - they didn't play much and they talked a lot; there was Platform 9&3/4; there were picture frames you could put on and be a moving picture; there was a sorting hat; there was Diagon Alley - with all sorts of shops in it that had food and arts & crafts & wands.

And for the last 10 minutes, everyone crowded into the gym and waited - at least 500+ people. They got the first 100 people lined up to go out the doors to the room with the books, and then we counted down the last 10 seconds. Everybody screamed! Except the baby - she stayed asleep. It was more exciting than New Years. We filed out the door in our turn, got our copies of the book, and sat down in the hallway to start reading them right away.

I was all ready to go home and stay up late getting a good start on the book - but there was construction on the freeway, narrowing it down to 1 lane, so I got home close to 2:00 in the morning. So I only read the first 50 pages, and then I slept for 6 hours before getting up for a full day of parties! Between a baby shower and a company picnic ... when was I supposed to read my book? I snuck in another 100 pages by the evening, and then Saturday night I had another 2-3 hours to read while "babysitting" sleeping kids, but I still wasn't that far - when I'm tired I read a lot slower I guess. And I actually fell asleep again.

So Sunday was IT - after church I just picked up the book and refused to put it down. Until it was finished. I think I liked it. But that is ALL I will say. No one ruined it for me, and I won't ruin it for anyone else.

Countdown

Wowsers! I haven't written anything for a long time ... by now I may just be writing to myself anyway. Oh well - for a little while my life has been most interesting, what with packing and moving and familiy visiting and working lots of overtime to pay for that new house! But no excuses - I have still been reading - just not writing about it.

So it seems it's time to join the rest of the world and countdown to Harry Potter. I read the first 3 in 3 days, but now everybody has checked them all out of the library; I will finish - I will just have to borrow #4 from my brother.

So the official countdown is ... 16 days, 8 hours, and 37 minutes.


Click here for the rest of the post.

So as I was reading the first 3 books, I experienced some nostalgia for the week that my apartment found Harry Potter in college. We had 6 girls, and probably only 2 copies of the book - good thing the first book was such a quick read. We had a lot of debate - was Harry Potter really the next big thing? Why was it so great? Why was it so popular?

I still think Harry Potter had some great advertising, especially as the news networks picked it up as the next big thing...but I also think it wouldn't have spread to fast if it wasn't a well-written story. One interesting theory that we read online was that girls can relate to a boy main character better than the other way around, so books written with a boy as the main character have a bigger audience. Interesting if I ever turn into an author.

What do I think of the books themselves? They're good. They're fun. They're not the best thing I've ever read, but I like them a lot and it's really fun to read something that everyone else reads too because you can talk about it more. My favorite book was probably number 4 - I think that I liked the fact that the book lasted longer, but it still was full of action. Harry hadn't turned into a teenage jerk yet, and You-Know-Who was actually able to come back - which of course leads to the bigger and better conflicts in the books that come later.

Sadly, I didn't like Harry as much in #5 and #6, but they have their moments too, and the final book will really determine if I LOVE the series or just like the first 4 books. It's kind of like Star Wars - the original 3 - the 2nd movie maybe wasn't quite what you expected and it didn't leave you with that good feeling, but when you add the 3rd movie then all 3 are awesome.

So I have my book on order, and I'll be partying with anyone else who's at Island Books. I wonder if any of us will sleep at all that night.

Harry Potter?

Where are we now - is it time to read all the Harry Potter books again? I think I might start them anyways, since I want to read them all before July 21!

So Slow

Well, it hasn't taken me that long to read a book since ... I don't remember when. I mean, in a typical week, I read 5-10 books; but Jane Eyre, like so many classics, defies my quick-reading skills and pulls me down into the bog of slow, one-word-at-a-time slogging through the morass. Although, in all honesty, I still read 3-4 other books each week while I was reading our book club pick.

Click here for the rest of the post.

Okay, so I just wanted to use the word "morass". Maybe it's the vocabulary of the classics that make them harder for me to read. Which seems odd, since I read the scriptures a lot faster than I read Jane Eyre. I often pass the classics shelf at the library, giving it no more than a cursory glance, but every once in a while I am tempted enough to pick up a book and try it out. Tarzan was a reasonably fast read, Pride and Prejudice was in the middle, Les Miserables was the slowest book I ever finished, and Jane Eyre was about two steps away from Les Mis.

I often won't even attempt the hard reads. Why? Because I don't like getting a headache from trying to pay attention while the author wanders through various descriptive phrases that do absolutely nothing to advance the plot. But some authors, in spite of all their literary exploration of how each ray of sunlight is reflected from each dewdrop on each daffodil in each clearing that the book happens to pass through, ... what I was saying before that sentence got way to long is: some authors make their plots and characters interesting enough that I am willing to slog away, making my way slowly through the less interesting parts of the book in order to catch another glimpse into the "real story". Sometimes I think "classics" are judged on how much fanciful descriptiveness is contained in their pages.

I'm not trying to insult literary descriptiveness - it just doesn't do anything for me. Walden Pond, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, I've read a bunch of books for fun and for school. I just know what I like, and 90% of Jane Eyre was not it.

But for all that, the underlying story of Jane Eyre is awesome. Does that surprise you that I think that? I love her teacher at the school - it can be difficult to disallow others' opinions about someone and trust the person themself, but "by their fruits ye shall know them" and she trusts Jane to reveal her own character. How much effect would malicious gossip or even incorrect assumptions have on us if people trusted us based on how we acted instead of what was said about us. I used to have a MormonAd poster that said "Gossip - Don't Pass It On" and showed a bunch of hands passing along this black glop. The gossip stuck to everyone who touched it, making them dirty too.

The Aunt made me sad - living your life blind to reality, with such prejudices that make you miss out on valuable relationships and love ... it made me feel that much of her life was wasted. I wonder if it was bitterness at her husband's death? Being raised with strong prejudices?

Sadly, I didn't love Mr. Rochester. He did some interesting things - dressing up as a gypsy, keeping secrets, etc. But while Jane may forgive him, I didn't. His attempt to justify his lies and deceit just fell flat with me. And who knows - maybe his wife would have had better care if he had not kept her locked up in the attic.

But the St. John cousins were dear - it seemed to me that this was Charlotte Bronte's ideal family. Although the brother was a little fanatical, at least he behaved with enough propriety. It did make me laugh a little at how he expected his fanatacism to rub off on Jane. The sisters were just dears. Educated, loving, charitable, willing to accept their situations in life even when it meant working, accepting of a stranger into their hearts without judgement. I like them.

So, the funny thing to me was that I kept expecting this scene on the roof of Rochester's house - where his wife goes mad, attacks him with sewing shears, and is subdued but manages to start the house on fire still in her wildness. Why? Well, because I read a really funny book called The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. It's a lot wierd, and is beyond normal sci-fi and fantasy in some respects, but the heroine of that book manages to travel within Jany Eyre and interact with the book's characters too. So I guess that rooftop scene was only in Fforde's book, and not in the original.

Am I glad I read it? I guess - hopefully I'll have the chance to see the movie too. Will I read it again? Not for a long, long, long, long time.

jane eyre movie

great movie! i think i'll have to watch it on a quiet sunday afternoon to get the full effect. i loved the casting (except mr. r's size) and scenery. i think it would have been better if they were more strict about sticking to the story but the definately got the feel of the book without making it creepy like the black and white version. very good book- but i could have done with a little less nature description. i felt like i was reading walden. big daddy just checked out a silly book summary haiku book from the library and here's what it had to say:

O woe! His mad wife-
in the attic! Had they but
lived together first.

hmmm... nevermind. what's the line-up for may?

Jane Eyre Movie Night

I am getting the Jane Eyre movie from the library next Wednesday and will have it for a week, so let's try put together a ladies night viewing for Tuesday the 24th of April. Time? Place? Can we all get it read before then?

Jane Eyre Online

FYI - Jane Eyre (by CHARLOTTE Bronte) is also available to read online:

http://www.literature.org/authors/bronte-charlotte/jane-eyre/

or as an ebook from www.kcls.org if you're in the King County Library System

O.K. So I know that I have never posted on here before, so just so you all know, I am Aubrey's sister in Colorado. I didn't quite get to "Brdige..." this month. But devoured all of Shannon Hale's books. I've got an idea for a new book, if no one has one yet. It is called "The Magic of Ordinary Days". It was made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie a little over a year ago and I gotthe book after watching the movie, and it is fabulous! Plus the author is a Coloradan!

Tuesday

So there I was, outside the doctor's office, ready to go back to work. No more appointments, no more prescriptions, I was on my own now and ready to face the world. At least that's what the good doctor said. I had more than a few doubts myself. I mean, the world is kind of big, and there's a lot of stuff to deal with - buying a house, raising children, church, work, family, friends, baby showers, bridal showers, weddings - there is always a lot going on.
Click here for the rest of the post.

So there I was, outside the doctor's office, ready to go back to work. No more appointments, no more prescriptions, I was on my own now and ready to face the world. At least that's what the good doctor said. I had more than a few doubts myself. I mean, the world is kind of big, and there's a lot of stuff to deal with - buying a house, raising children, church, work, family, friends, baby showers, bridal showers, weddings - there is always a lot going on.

I digress. So there I was, leaving the Cabrini Tower for what I really hope was the last time, and I remembered the sign I had seen as I drove up Madison to my appointment (which I made by one minute, thank you!). The sign said "Puget Sound Blood Center" in large, all-capital grey block letters, hung on a concrete overhang above tinted glass doors framed with standard issue black metal. My guilt twanged as I remembered at least three phone calls in the last month asking for me to donate because my blood type was in short supply.

Why not? I've given blood three times successfully - by which I mean I never actually fainted or chickened out at the last minute. It was better than waiting around at work for my mom to call from the airport. She was coming back from a long trip and I was picking her up because I work near the airport. Everything was ready - her house was cleaned up, the dishes were done, the garbage taken out, and I even put a cute Easter lily on her kitchen table, with an adorable purple polka-dotted round placemat trimmed in yellow, and a gift bag with the latest Mary Higgins Clark book. All I had to do was go sit at my desk for another two hours.

So I jaywalked across the alley and entered the glass doors. The receptionist barely glanced up as I oriented myself by following the signs to "Donor Registration" down the hall. A sweet little grey-haired lady looked me up in their database, gave me the questionnaire to fill out, and pointed me to the waiting area. I read and x-ed and signed the forms, and after about 2 minutes a cute little girl (seriously I'm getting older every day) came up to prick my finger and check my blood pressure, pulse, and respiration rate (116/80, 64, and I don't know). My blood sank in the test tube - evidently I had a high enough blood iron content to be allowed to donate.

Their chairs were more just like the dentist chairs - blue faux-leather semi-reclining chairs with arms that swing out to allow you to sit down easily. Much nicer than the portable tables used when the blood center makes its monthly rounds to my work. I made myself comfortable and chatted with the technician as she scrubbed my elbow with iodine for 30 seconds. Then she cut off my circulation and had me squeeze a star-shaped piece of foam while she tried to stick a pointy object in my poor little veins. She found a vein, although I think she wiggled the needle around just to freak me out first. It hurt a little more than usual too. Oh well. I started to watch the clock on the wall while squeezing the blue foam star every 3 seconds.

The clock said 5:01.

See? This isn't so bad. I told myself. I could pretty much just zone out and relax, squeeze, relax, squeeze, relax, squeeze.

"Wow - you're already halfway done. You're really fast today."

Those were probably the words that started it. I'm sure my sister remembers how easily I get grossed out by just mentioning needles, veins, etc. I usually psyche myself up for giving blood by just not thinking about it until it's all over. By then you're enjoying the juice and cookies and thinking it wasn't really so bad.

"Is that bad?" My first thoughts came out of my mouth.

"No, you just have a lot of good pressure in that vein, so the blood is coming out nice and fast."

"Is that normal? Usually I take about 12 minutes or something like that."

"Sometimes it slows down a bit."

At this point, my memory gets a little fuzzy. The last thing I remember is that I was conscious of getting dizzy.

"I feel faint. Really, really faint."

"Try to keep your eyes open. We'll lower your head ..."

The clock said 5:05.

.....................................................................................








.....................................................................................

whzzz, beep, cold, white, blue, clear, noise, voices

The clock said 5:08 or 5:09, I think - for a while my brain didn't have any words - I can't explain the empty feeling, like something is missing but you don't even realize it until it comes back.

"I'm awake." Four heads turned towards my face. Hands that I didn't realize were even there relaxed their grip on my arms and torso.

"Can you tell me your name?"

I gave the correct response.

"What did you have to drink today?"

A liter and a half of water at work.

"What did you have to eat today?"

I listed off the cereal for breakfast, potatos and salad (topped with grated cheese, mushrooms, kidney beans, and cottage cheese) for lunch, and cheese and crackers for an afternoon snack. Somehow I forgot to mention the slice of lemon merengue pie.

"Ooh - you're making me hungry. Do you still feel dizzy?"

I was feeling much better, although I didn't want to move anytime soon.

"Would you like something to drink?"

I accepted a glass of cranberry-apple juice they mixed up especially for me.

A gentle hand mopped the beads of sweat off my brow, and I gradually realized my neck and chest and forehead were all covered in wonderful ice packs. It felt so good.

I didn't even notice when they removed the needle from my arm and bandaged it up.

"You had a mild siezure."

What? I passed out. Fainted. I've done it lots of times - well, more than ten times and less than thirty. You get dizzy, pass out, and wake up feeling better. No one here had stuck a rope between my teeth to keep me from biting my tongue in half, or laid on top of me to keep me from jumping out of the bed/chair.

"What?" The question finally came out.

"You passed out, and had a siezure. You kicked off your shoe, and you were bending your arm. We had to hold your arm straight because, you know, if you woke up after bending it with a needle still in place it would really hurt."

Oh. Me? I started to freak out. They repeated the details in calm voices, as if this happened every day. Not to me it doesn't!

"Can someone put my shoe back on? My foot's getting cold." I-wish-I-knew-her-name picked up my shoe with a smile that didn't even looked strained, and she slipped it back over my toes and heel. How could she not be freaking out? Goodness, those ice packs felt wonderful.

For the next 25 minutes, I remained laying down. The nurse on duty kept an eye on me, and she kept coming over to check my blood pressure every 10 minutes. She told me that the next time I donated blood, I should tell them about this experience and they would lay me down with ice packs ahead of time. As if I'm ever doing this again, I thought. Gradually my bed was raised back into a chair. Finally, when my blood pressure reached 110/68, and my pulse dropped to 76, they let me try standing.

"Just stand for three minutes, and we'll see if you can go over to the refreshment area."

Sure - I was getting bored, and my book was in my jacket pocket on the shelf, out of reach. I passed the three minute test, and walked carefully over to the mini-cafeteria, where I was offered juice, hot! chocolate, water, crackers, cookies, and pretzels. Of course I had some of everything.

While I was sitting there, the lady who served the juice asked me,

"Is that a CTR ring?"

"How do you know about CTR rings?" I had to make sure - don't want to just assume she goes to the same church.

"I'm in Seattle ___ ward." Yes, I really forget which ward, I'm not just trying to change names to protect the innocent.

We chatted for a while, then she served another man when he was finished donating. She talked about her grandkids, I talked about my niece; she talked about blood donation, I said I didn't think I'd be back for a while. She was very sympathetic and didn't try any guilt trips to change my mind. When I finally left, it was an hour after I woke up.

I walked back across the alley to my car, paid the parking attendant, and drove straight to the airport, where I arrived with perfect timing; about one minute after my mom called to tell me she had her bags and she was ready, I was pulling up in front of her. I had her drive me to work to pick up my things, and then home, where we had food from Teriyaki Bowl for dinner (she has the chicken with steamed broccoli every time, I currently like the Kung Pao shrimp). And when I finally went home, my husband gave me all the hugs I could want as I finally melted down in the safety of his arms and told him about my day.

.....................................................................................

Update - I felt well enough to play volleyball Wednesday night - my right arm was pretty sore, and my heart rate went up pretty fast, but it was worth it (I LOVE VOLLEYBALL). Today (Thursday) my right arm is starting to show some bruising, and it is so sore I can't raise my elbow away from my body. Sounds like a good reason to work from home!

great book!

the last time i read that was in elementary school. what a nice story. i love how she shows what the characters are thinking but she doesn't hit you over the head with it. the vocabulary and word choice was refreshing after reading the gail series which was geared more for children. this almost seemed like a children's book written for adults. it's very touching- i had to cry at the end as jess is grieving. the interesting thing is that it seems like it holds universial appeal. while jules reflected on grieving over her father (thank you for sharing that!) i was there grieving with jess feeling that the story was real and i was actually there. nice choice aubrey! see you on saturday for the movie!

Movie Time

I'm done. Aubrey's done. Anyone else wanna see a movie soon? When would be good? Beware - the rest of my post totally talks about the ending of the book.

Click here for the rest of the post.

I should probably start out by apologizing for teasing someone about crying over Charlotte's Web. Sorry. I didn't quite cry over Terabithia, but that's cuz I finished it at work on my lunch break. Before I even started I remembered that the book was sad, but I was surprised by it anyway.

I don't really love the first couple chapters, then I really get into it. Even though it makes me cry. Although part of the crying was because I really empathized with Jess after Leslie died.

"It came into his mind that someone had told him that Leslie was dead. But he knew now that that had been part of the dreadful dream. Leslie could not die any more than he himself could die."

I don't think I ever went through violent denial of losing my dad, but I definitely couldn't believe it was happening. And the regrets - the ones that didn't even make sense - like how I wished I had visited home while he was sick, or how I wished that I had planned to be home for Thanksgiving even though he was dead by then. And how people react at different speeds - Leslie's parents seemed to need Jess to be something he wasn't, to feel something he didn't - and it just doesn't happen that way. I was mad at my mom sometimes cuz she wanted me to come home a lot and "mourn" with my family, but I reacted differently than she thought. I had a lot of grief, but I also was at school, which I know my Dad loved and was proud of. Anyways, don't worry - she and I are pretty good now - it was just hard for her to accept that I could grieve and not be home, and I was really pushing for distance because it helped me to be busy while I missed him so much, so I wasn't there for my family. (If you read this mom - I love you and none of that was meant to be negative.)

But my absolute favorite part of the book is when Jess shared Terabithia with May Belle. I spent so many hours playing with my little brother, even though we were farther apart in age than my sister and I, and we imagined like crazy. Our backyard was the world, the big toy was the pirate ship, we traveled, adventured, fought, and ran around probably looking crazy to anyone who couldn't see our invisible foes. So for me the end of the book is also the beginning of something so wonderful.

Not only that, but the idea of learning the best that someone has to share with you and then passing it on. And learning it from anywhere, even if you had to be friends with a giirrl.

So I pose a question to think about - what kind of people would we be if we could choose the best parts of all the people we know and make them part of ourselves?

Calling All Hairy Shoe Fairies

I think I remembered that right - I can't even think it without starting to laugh. :) If you want an invite, send me you email - I'm xxxxxxxxx. I'm gonna leave this post up for a few days, and then remove my email. Hope to hear from you!

I finally did it - the invitation is sent.

Terabithia Online

Here's an online (html) copy of the book: http://www.ulster.net/~petersne/bridge1_3.html

good friends

so i'm in the middle of the goose girl. sorry, book clubbers, i am just not very quick on the reading these days. i've been a month behind for a while.

these are enna's words after isi confides all of her secrets,

"...when you get tired of worrying and mourning...and trying not to be afraid, tell me and i'll do it for you a while so you can shut your eyes and sleep peaceful."

these words touched my heart and made me cry. sometimes we carry burdens and those feelings weigh us down so heavily and there are people who are there who want to and are willing to carry that burden for us. who love us so much that they will do that. if only for a little bit, so we can rest without those thoughts in our mind. i am grateful for those few people in my life.

Better Late Than Never?

I'm always late - when I tutor, I run into the library at 4:33 and hope that no one is annoyed that I'm late; coming to Church I might be on time if the lights are good; and the only way I keep any long-distance friends is because they forgive me for being a space-cadet and not calling back or writing sooner. But eventually, I try to get to everything I've been meaning to do, including writing about the Shannon Hale books.
Click here for the rest of the post.

Goose Girl is tremendous, but River Secrets may be my favorite. Enna Burning was okay, but just not as interesting to me. I guess I like the plotting and spying and scheming better.

After I listened to parts of Goose Girl on my computer (downloadable from the library), I think I started to dream about it. Luckily, no nightmares. I mean, for a children's book, there is a reasonable amount of gore - like the horse's head. I don't think it would freak out any kids old enough to actually be reading the book - I just mention it because sometimes when I read a really good description (like the scene of talking to a dead horse) I like to try it out in real life. Imagine what happened as a kid when I really thought I could fly if I jumped off the stump in the middle of our backyard!

So anyways, what dead things would I talk to. People seemed a little too morbid - besides, I do that for reals. I had a rabbit once, but I don't even remember its name. We had a dog, but we gave it away so I can pretend that he's still alive. Oh well - I just had to talk to the spiders after I squished them, and then I gave it up.

I absolutely love love love! how Isi loses everything she thought she was and would be, and remakes herself into herself. I think she would've been a fine queen if her mother hadn't deliberately kept her from it at home, but she made herself into a queen Isi, not a copy of her mother the queen. Anyways, I just totally relate - it seems like every time I have an idea of where my life is going, things just fall apart and change. I hate change! But Isi keeps going and finds her new life is more real and more herself instead of what was expected of her. Sometimes I think I'm finding that too. One way I'm not the same though, is that Isi doesn't seem to have any problems believing that her life married to the prince will be good. I always have that problem. Oops! Not about Dan! I have a problem with believing that changes are going to be good, and I also am very pessimistic about the future sometimes. Bad Julie! But I try to avoid negative thoughts, and maybe Isi could've had some doubts too and just kept going.

All right, so I'm taking a fictional character as a role model - nothing wrong with that. :)

Why do I love Rivers Secrets? I just love the adventurousness of it all - and the total surprise of discovering that instead of being pitied by his commander, Razo (?) has overlooked talents that make him vital! I think this is more like our lives here - I mean, most of us have sometime compared ourselves unfavorable to others instead of seeing how great we really are. I do this all the time - I grew up thinking my older sister was perfect, and that my parents thought she was perfect. When we finally compared notes, I discovered that she was just as secure (or not) as the rest of us. Even when I find or meet people whose lives I think I just want - whether they have that high metabolism I lack, or whether they can make up an answering message on the spot without babbling - everyone has something I admire and wish was part of myself. But like Razo, sometimes someone tells us that WE are wonderful at something, and we see ourselves in a whole new beautiful light. To me, that's what the scriptures do. How incredible to know that there is someone who is always there, who has prepared ahead of time the words to tell us that our worth is more than we can ever imagine. My mom always tells me that she loves me more than I will ever understand until I have children of my own. And Heavenly Father has a similar, but even more perfect, love for me. How can I think badly of myself when He tells me otherwise? Why should I compare myself to others when He has told me that we all are blessed with different talents?

I think that went a lot more spiritual than I intended when I started this post, but it looks like a good thought to end with - so I can go have family prayer and say thanks.

ideas for what's next

i am interested in either of these two options for march:

reading jane eyre and then watching the fabulous 4 hour bbc version of it

or

reading bridge to terabithia and going to see the movie in the theater.

what's next?

sorry
i didn't make it with enna burning- i'll have to try again after the goose girl. i'm enjoying "fairest" and am almost finished with it. what's on the table for march?

oh, also

my friend started an online blogspot after she saw ours- "mommieswhoread.blogspot.com" (that's mommies who read, not mommies whore ad). check it out if you're interested and, like jules (can i call you jules), read lots and lots of books.

blogger is smart

i didn't need another invite to come to new blogger, it just switched me over by itself. go smart blogger, go. so, i'm trying to read enna burning but can't get into it. is it a sequel? do i need to read the other one first? any other suggestions?

fantasy

i just read the two princess of bamarre. i know, i know. we're supposed to be reading shannon hale this month, but gail carson levine has SO many good books and i want to read them all before moving on to river secrets which is the only shannon hale i haven't read yet. i LOVED the two princesses of bamarre.

Click here for the rest of the post.

i am not a fantasy fan. or at least i thought i wasn't. but this book is very...fantastical...fantasy-filled. (what is that word?) so, fantasy or not, i love books with strong female characters and even though the book is all about one of the sisters/princesses supposedly NOT being strong, she is. she's my kind of strong. quietly strong. so, it struck a chord deep inside of me. but back to the fantasy aspect. normally when i'm reading fantasy, my eyes just glaze over during all the funky hybrid animal descriptions and dramatic battles, but i actually hung onto the whole plot for the entire book. which probably isn't hard for the normal avid reader, but it is usually hard for me and...let's just say that i am proud of myself, alright. i loved this book.

new blogger

Well, blogger will no longer let me log into the old blogger anymore - it dragged me, kicking and screaming, into the new blogger. I hope this doesn't mess anybody up. On another note, I think we're reading books by Shannon Hale this month (she wrote Goose Girl, Enna Burning, Princess Academy, and River Secrets). I don't have any of them yet - but sooner or later I will. The only one I've read is Goose Girl, so I'm looking forward to some new stories. Also, we've had some suggestions to meet - maybe towards the latter half of the months, when we've actually had a chance to read something? What do you think?

Questions

I tried to think of what "real" book clubs do ... read the same book and discuss it, sure, but also I think they try to discuss questions or topics. So, I'm making up a list - feel free to respond and/or make up your own questions. Click here for the rest of the post.

1. How many Cinderella stories have you read or watched or heard?

2. Why do fairytales make good people beautiful and bad people ugly?

3. What other awful fairy gifts could Lucinda have given? Why would they be awful?

4. Were your favorite fairy creatures in the story?

5. Why would Ella's mother ever take the unicorn hair out of her soup if she knew Mandy was a fairy?

6. What parts of Ella do you most empathize with?

7. What would you pack for a trip to giant country?

Well, that's all I can think of for now.

Enchanted by Ella

Ok, so if you haven't read the book yet, stop now - I'm not gonna leave out the ending or the good parts from this post. Click here for the rest of the post.

OK, well, I hope I figured the whole linking thing out right - I haven't written a long enough post for a while to even need it.

I love this book. I know, that's not really an inventive way to respond, but I just love it - and all of her princess tales too. But I'm saving those for a later post. It's just that I read this book and I feel like I can understand Ella. Not that I have an evil stepmother or a curse, but her character is written so that she is easy to sympathize with.

I think my all-time favorite part of the book is when Ella discovers that Prince Char loves her. Her reaction is beautiful - the relief of finally realizing that he loves her too, the excitement and giddiness and planning their lives together... And then she wakes up, and realizes that instead of being the best thing that could happen, this was the worst. Well, barring beheading, poison, slavery, etc. But it's such a dramatic swing, and really really sets up the secondary conflict of the plotline.

What? Julie talking about plotlines? Sure - I took an English class now and then. The primary plotline is Ella vs. her curse, and the secondary one is the love story (falling in love, forbidden love, and the triumph of how love makes her strong). And amazingly enough, they are resolved almost simultaneously, which makes for a strong climax at the point where she breaks her curse and then asks Char to marry her (go strong female characters!).

Least favorite part of the book? When I realize it's over? But the ending is also enchanting, so I can't even feel bad about that.

Fairytales are a classis type of story, and I love the modern authors that keep writing fairy tales - Mercedes Lackey has also written some which I love, about the Five Hundred Kingdoms and the Tradition - which is a force, like gravity, that acts on people to keep their lives in line with the traditional fairy tales. And the heroines have to be pretty smart to figure out how to work with the Tradition to get the desired results. But that's a whole other series. They are slightly more adult than Gail Carson Levine, but it probably depends on how liberal you are in your reading. And the idea is sooo cool!

I just think good fairytale is good for the soul - I cheer on the characters, and I dream happy dreams when I read them. Hooray for Ella!

PS Oh - I thought of one thing about the book I don't really like - the movie. It's cute on its own, but I don't really like it in relation to the book. Mostly because it's more blatant and booming and less delicate in telling the story, but also because it truly didn't have the "fairytale" effect on me - I laughed at some parts, but I winced at more, and I didn't feel any magical happily-ever-after-ness. It was like a sideways view into the story, where the story was just the excuse for the jokes and dancing scenes, etc. If it was based on a book I didn't love, then maybe, but I'll stick to the original, thanks.

What to read next...

I'm kind of in the mood for fairy tales this month - what do you guys think about reading anything by Gail Carson Levine? Just read as many of them as you want - I have some, and the library has lots more! Here's a website that lists all her books: Gail Carson Levine Books I'm starting with Ella Enchanted, which is my all-time favorite and much better than the movie...but I'll save that for when I write about it this weekend!

what next???

Hurray!! I finally signed up. It took long enough, huh?! Anyway, I haven't read any of the books yet and I think I am FINALLY ready to get started. So, what's next???? Let's read and blog!!

hello!

i finally was able to get author status
and am no longer stuck leaving comments to you all everybody.
also- i think i can finish the book
way to go slow reader mom of three me!

Why Not

Since I already read A Christmas carol, I figures why not read a few more books this month. So I did. I finished a scary mystery (wouldn't recommend it), and then I read a book called Jael's Story by Ann Burton. I think she's also written a book about Deborah. It was an interesting fictionaly story based on Jael having killed someone in the Bible. It set up realistic motives and characters, and I was so into it I read it in 24 hours (with work & sleep in the middle too). I really enjoyed the story - not quite as much as the Orson Scott Card books about biblical women - but enough that I'll read Deborah. Anyways, that's what I just finished. I'll let you all know about the next good book I read.

Past, Present, and Future

I just had a random thought - the transformation of scrooge is remarkable, but so is any repentance process. I was thinking (in preparation for my talk on Sunday (can't you tell I'm so excited)) ... anyways, I was thinking about how Nephi taught his brothers from the scriptures and brought things to remembrance so that they could better come to Christ. In fact, how many times in the scriptures does a prophet say to remember how the Lord led their ancestors out of Egypt, and it's supposed to remind them to worship Him. So isn't it kind of cool that we have our own knowledge of the past, present, and future through the scriptures? And doesn't it often have the same effect of changing us that Scrooge experienced? And aren't we incredibly blessed to be able to have that knowledge not just for one night, or three, but every day and every night that we look for it?

awaking in the middle of a prodigiously tough snore

well i am smack in the middle of The Christmas Carol and even though i am ashamed to say that i've never read it, i am LOVING it! i am feeling the Christmas spirit like never before! okay, that might be stretching the truth but there is nothing like the transformation of crotchety old scrooge to make me appreciate this special season. whoops...ava just woke up from her nap, so i have to run but i will continue this excitement later!

December: A Christmas Carol?

It's a new month, and so we get to do something new - hooray! Of course, I'm still reading more Tarzan books, but I'm ready for something new too. We've had a couple suggestions - to read Dickens in December, and to try reading the same book this month. Combining those, I am suggesting that we can all read A Christmas Carol - I have a copy I already finished today if anyone wants to borrow it! And if we want to go to the play for a Ladies Night, that would be cool too.

same book?

what do you think of all of us reading the same book for december? i think it would be good for discussion-sake on our blog. what do you all think?

the smell of africa

most of you know that paul's parents are on a mission in ghana, so i am very much enjoying this idea to read about africa. i love smells and am very attentive to all kinds and so i've been wanting to know what africa smells like. i googled it and found this romantic quote from a book called, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexander Fuller. she says africa smells like, "black tea, cut tobacco, fresh fire, old sweat, young grass."

but then oddly enough, paul's mom wrote about her opinion of the smell in her most recent letter in response to paul's sister's question:

"I guess you just get use to all the smells that kind of blend in together and the smell of animals or burning grass is the least of them. They catch lots of fish but they are little tiny fish. They are cleaning them all through the market and then they smoke them and sell them. They carry lots of them stacked up on their head. They smell strong and fishy. Then there are the gutters full of garbage or stacks of garbage all around smelling. The heat and humidity makes for a humid damp smell. When we walk in the house there is kind of a humid, musty, insecticide smell. The bedroom and bathroom smell good from our shampoo and soap. Anyway it really isn't that bad after awhile..."

goodness

i am finally feeling up to reading so i started in on The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency again. my favorite quote for today that i had to share with you all is from the main character's father, speaking of jerky guys,

"...there was any number of men like that, waiting for an attractive girl that they could latch on to and whose life they could slowly destroy. These men were like leeches; they sucked away at the goodness of a woman's heart until it was dry and all her love had been used up. That took a long time, he knew, because women seemed to have vast reservoirs of goodness in them."

i love the whole paragraph but especially how we have vast reservoirs of goodness inside of us.

The Return of Tarzan

I finished Tarzan! It was a really fun book to read. Of course, once I got to the end, I realized that Edgar Rice Burroughs had many more Tarzan books - there's a whole series! I already put the next book on hold (after Tarzan of the Apes comes The Return of Tarzan). read more I wonder if Tarzan was so popular as a movie because the story of Tarzan already had a big fan base. Have you all noticed how toys that were popular when we were kids are back again - just like fashion? Some things, like Legos, have remained constant; others, like My Little Ponies, Strawberry Shortcake, and (my favorite) the Care Bears, have been coming back with a vengeance with new toys, new movies, and new stories.

As I read the book, I realized that the Disney movie does use a lot of the original plot, but the book has a lot more explanation. For example, there is some background on Tarzan's parents, and the fact that he is really English nobility. His father was on a diplomatic assignment when there was a mutiny on the ship, and they were left on the coast of Africa to fend for themselves. Tantor is an elephant, and Kerchak is the head ape. And, of course, Tarzan rescues Jane, and they fall in love.

But there were some surprising differences too - more fighting, cannibalism (not by Tarzan), and a big emphasis on British superiority. The book makes it clear that Burroughs is an evolutionist, and Tarzan experiences his own mini-evolution in the book. Raised by apes, he grows slowly, but learns quickly and continues learning as he gets older. He even teaches himself to read and write.

It's kind of funny, because the book is rather racist - Tarzan can do all these wonderful things because of his noble heritage, even though he was raised by apes. He is brilliant, incredibly strong, and handsome, as opposed to the dirty cannibals with yellow teeth filed to points that beat their prisoners before eating them. The superiority of the white man is sometimes even more directly emphasized. White men suffer without making a sound and use their superior intelligence to trick the blacks. The cannibals are extremely superstitious, and Jane's black servant Esmerelda refers to the animals as "gorilephants" and "ripotamuses" and a "hipponocerous".

I really liked how Tarzan has to make some tough choices - choosing to act as a man instead of a beast. I also like Burroughs' choice to have many protagonists. It's hard to pick who you want to come out on top sometimes.

But most of all, I liked the book - I enjoyed reading it, and it kept me interested in both the characters and the plot. It moves at a reasonably quick pace, and it is something I would read just for fun!

PS I also thought it was great that the only swearing in the book was written as "_____" instead of putting any words there.

Tarzan of the Apes

Just an update on Tarzan - it will be waiting for me tomorrow at the Library so I can finally start reading it. Is anyone else reading Tarzan? read more I just love getting those phone calls that let you know that "an item" is waiting for you. Of course, I usually have 10-20 items on hold at any one time, so I have to turn on the computer and log in to the library system to find out which one has come in. Currently I'm waiting for the first season on CSI, and two new books by Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey. Plus a book by Dorothy Gilman, two books by Dawn Cook, and a few more I can't remember right now.

I have a confession to make - I went to the library, looking for Tarzan of the Apes, and I saw a small little paperback called The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. I thought "hmmm... small... Jungle ?= Africa... sure... good movie..." and I picked the book up and took it home.

Unfortunately for me, The Jungle Book is placed in INDIA. Oops. Of course, I still like it, but now I have to go back to the library for a book to fit the AFRICA theme. Silly Julie! Something cool though, is that Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is part of The Jungle Book - it's actually a collection of stories, with stories about Mowgli, poetry, and other stories.

November Theme: AFRICA

While everyone is thinking of what topics we want for future months, I thought we could start off with a theme I know at least one of us will really like. read more Our very own Sarah McPhie loves reading about Africa, so why don't we all join in and make our November theme AFRICA! Anything relating to Africa is fair game, from children's books to travel guides.

Here are a few ideas:
Alexander McCall Smith - The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Barbara Kingsolver - The Poisonwood Bible
Edgar Rice Burroughs - Tarzan of the Apes
Don McCullin - Don McCullin in Africa
John Steptoe - Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters : An African Tale
Chris Van Allsburg - Jumanji

Welcome

Hi everybody! Welcome to the new Bellevue Book Blog! The basic idea is to read a good book, share a good book, and find out about a lot of other good books. For now, we're going to pick a monthly theme, and everyone can post about any books related to that theme. Please use this posting to suggest themes for future months - I look forward to seeing what you're all interested in! read more

The two main purposes of this blog are (1) for us to write about the books we have read, and (2) for us to find new books to read. The discussions can be humorous, philosophical, general, detailed - whatever you feel like writing.

I will try to invite everyone I can think of, but I'm sure my list will be far from complete, so please let me know who I have missed.

Please help me think of future themes - my ideas so far include:
Africa
American Poetry
Science Fiction
Harry Potter
Presidents of the Church
A famous person - Lincoln, for example
Mysteries
Favorite books from our childhood
Favorite books assigned in school
WWII
Lewis & Clark
How To Books - home decoration, baking, juggling