eschulenburg

I enjoyed this one a few months ago - it was actually one of my first Keyes. Which of her other novels would you recommend?

HAH! I love it when you can hear someone's voice talking at you while you are reading.

I REALLY hated the ending of Breaking Dawn - hated, hated, hated it! Thinking about it, I didn't really like the ending of The Host either - I think Stephenie Meyer and I just have some sort of fundamentally different belief about how novels should end. Also, I kinda think Midnight Sun won't ever get published - someone managed to leak a bunch of it online, and Meyer says she is so upset about is she doesn't know if she will ever finish.

I actually thought The Host was a much better story than the Twilight series - hope you make it to the end.

Have you read The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy? (not sure I spelled the last name quite right.) I love it, and managed to talk a whole bunch of my friends into reading it, as well!

I had a really hard time with this book - actually stopped reading about 1/4 of the way in. But I keep hearing so much good stuff about it that it makes me think I should try again!

Synopsis from the publisher: A devastating portrait of war in all its horror, brutality, and mindlessness, this extraordinary novel is written in beautifully cadenced prose. A combat medic in Vietnam faces the chaos of war, set against the tranquil scenes of family life back home in small-town America. This young man

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words about my reviews. I always worry that I ramble too much.

What did you think about Mr. Whicher? I really expected to enjoy it, but didn't.

I know exactly what you mean - sometimes its the hardest to write a review about the books you loved the most. And this would certainly be one of them.

Synopsis from B&N: Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires... The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning...along with the houses in which they were hidden. Guy Montag enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames...never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then he met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think...and Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do! My thoughts: I can't believe I'd never read this novel before. It's odd to think of all the English classes I've taken, and realize that no professor ever thought this would be worthwhile to teach. I'm sure lots of them assumed it had been read before - but that certainly didn't stop them from making me read Huckleberry Finn 5 times! (But that's another story...) There is so much to consider in this short little novel - Bradbury really packed a lot into a small package. His writing style is full of simile and metaphor, which sometimes seem a little over-the-top, but they give the narrative a feeling almost like a dream. It is very visual, giving the reader detail after minute detail in which to see the drama unfolding. When Montag goes to a house to burn books one night, "Books bombarded his shoulders, his arms, his upturned face. A book lit, almost obediently, like a white pigeon, in his hands, wings fluttering. In the dim, wavering light, a page hung open and it was like a snowy feather, the words delicately painted thereon." Guy Montag is the focus of the book, and as such the only character who really gets a chance to develop. Mildred, Guy's wife; Clarisse, Guy's neighbor; Faber, the professor - we meet each of these people, but never get the opportunity to find out much about them. They are merely catalysts, propelling Guy forward on his journey. Each has their small part to play, and then they are gone, because the author is mostly only interested in Guy. It is fascinating to read Bradbury's vision of a world gone mad, written in the 1950s, and realize how similar it is to the world we live in today. In his world, people don't want to read books, or be challenged by new ideas - they would rather sit in front of their gigantic television sets and be entertained. In his world, no one wants to stand out or be different, but would rather conform to the image that the majority has decided is ideal. In his world, people don't connect with each other, but spend their time blocking out the world with the earphones in their ears. Does this sound familiar to anyone else? I have to wonder if Bradbury ever feels chilled by his prophetic vision. Of course, what resonates most clearly with me is the few people in the novel who are trying to save the books. When Montag decides, for the first time, to sit down and read one of the books he has been secretly stashing away, his life is forever changed, and that is truly the moment of triumph in the novel. When he finds Professor Faber, and later the band of men in the forest (Bradbury has referred to them as the Book People), and decides he wants to do something - anything - to keep the books from being lost, it is the flash of hope that lifts the novel from despair. And Bradbury knows it is not the books themselves that are important. Books are little more than ink and paper, which don't add up to very much. "It's not the books you need, it's some of the things that once were in books...Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us." The only part of the novel that really disappointed me was Montag's meeting with the Book People. They are a group, scattered throughout the land, that are trying to keep the ideas of books alive. Instead of trying to save the books themselves, however - which would be really dangerous - they choose to "become" a book. They memorize the book, word by word, and tell each other the stories. Eventually, they will pass their knowledge on to the next generation. Their great hope is that one day, they will once again be able to commit what they remember to paper, and the books will be born again. I just wanted MORE of this section - I was fascinated by it, and wish his time with the Book People would have lasted longer.Fahrenheit 451 is quite a magnificent novel. I have no doubt it is one I will be reading again and again. Finished: 2/27/09 Source: Franklin Avenue Library Rating: 8/10

Thanks for the kind words. Don't let the comparisons to Jungle Book keep you from reading it - I may not have noticed if I hadn't really been looking for them.

Synopsis from B&N: Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack

Synopsis from the publisher: Abel Haggard is an elderly hunchback who haunts the remnants of his familys farm in the encroaching shadow of the Dallas suburbs, adrift in recollections of those he loved and lost long ago. As a young man, he believed himself to be "the one person too many"; now he is all that remains. Hundreds of miles to the south, in Austin, Seth Waller is a teenage "Master of Nothingness" - a prime specimen of that gangly, pimple-rashed, too-smart breed of adolescent that vanishes in a puff of sarcasm at the slightest threat of human contact. When his mother is diagnosed with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimers, Seth sets out on a quest to find her lost relatives and to conduct an "empirical investigation" that will uncover the truth of her genetic history. Though neither knows of the other's existence, Abel and Seth are linked by a dual legacy: the disease that destroys the memories of those they love, and the story of Isidora - an edenic fantasy world free from the sorrows of remembrance, a land without memory where nothing is ever possessed, so nothing can be lost. Through the fusion of myth, science, and storytelling, this novel offers a dazzling illumination of the hard-learned truth that only through the loss of what we consider precious can we understand the value of what remains. My thoughts: This was quite a remarkable debut novel. I'm not sure why I picked it up - probably something about the title struck my fancy - but once I started reading I could barely put it down. There are actually four intersecting narratives in the novel - Seth's story, Abel's story, the story of Isidora, and the story of Seth's mother's genetic history. I realize it sounds complicated, but the pieces fit together beautifully. It was really Seth's story that resonated with me so deeply. A young boy, just trying to figure himself out, suddenly has to deal with a mother who is disappearing. He loves her, and doesn't want her to leave, and yet feels guilty because he hates visiting her in the assisted living home, where she sometimes knows who he is, and sometimes can't even remember her own name. Block captures this young man's struggle perfectly, and I was captivated by his story. Block also illustrates the devastation of life with early-onset Alzheimers very well. I feel like I am painting this novel as fairly bleak, and while really, really sad things happen, it doesn't feel like a sad novel. It was quite funny in parts, and lovely in others. Mostly just a great read - I recommend it! Finished: 2/15/09 Source: Franklin Avenue library Rating: 8/10

Synposis from B&N: Gold fever swept the world in 1897. The chance for untold riches sent thousands of dreamers on a perilous trek toward their fortunes, failures, or deaths. Follow four English aristocrats and their Irish servant as they misguidedly haul their dreams across cruel Canadian terrain toward the Klondike gold fields. My thoughts: Journey actually started out as a section of Alaska, and was eventually cut and made into its own novel, so it made sense to me to read them together. This was another completely engrossing novel, and I am happy I read these two back to back. At the end of Journey, Michener discusses why he ultimately decided to take this story out of its original place in the novel Alaska, and it makes sense. However, I found it a very compelling read, having so recently finished the first novel. Because Journey is so much shorter (just over 300 pages), I found it much more difficult to put down. This is not a feel-good novel, as much of what happens to the main characters is quite tragic. I will admit that I am not a fan of Lord Lutton, who would probably be considered the novel's lead - he was extremely pompous an arrogant, and much of the tragedy is a direct result of his inability to admit he made bad decisions. The other characters were much more sympathetic, which made the events even more sad. This novel would be a great introduction to Michener for someone who has considered reading his work, but is intimidated by the length of his other stories. It gives a good example of the writing style, but won't break your shoulder being lugged around in a bag. (Or am I the only one that does that?) At the end of Journey, Michener talks about his three goals in writing these two novels: "I wanted to help the American public to think intelligently about the arctic, where large portions of future international history might well focus; I wanted to remind my readers that Russia had held Alaska for a longer period, 127 years (1741 through 1867 inclusive), than the United States had held it, 122 years (1867 through 1988); and I particularly desired to acquaint Americans with the role that neighboring Canada had played and still does play in Alaskan history." I feel like he accomplished each one of those goals in the two books, and I absolutely have been converted to a Michener lover! I will certainly be reading more of his novels in the future. Finished: 2/14/08 Source: Grandpa W. Rating: 8/10 Reviewed by: Elizabeth

Synopsis from B&N: In this sweeping epic of the northernmost American frontier, James A. Michener guides us across Alaska

By the Shore by Galazy Craze B&N Synopsis: Published to great international acclaim, Galaxy Craze's best-selling debut, By the Shore, launched a young actress into literary fame. In clear and sparkling prose, her novel evokes a fragile, bittersweet world of youth on the cusp of adulthood and "captures perfectly the hopes and hurts of childhood" (The New York Times Book Review). Twelve-year-old May lives in a less than thriving oceanfront bed-and-breakfast run by her single mother. Her life is filled with the frustrations and promise of youth, complicated by a loving if distracted young mother who strives to care for her two children without forfeiting fun and passion. May puts her faith in the things that elude her - her absent father, the London city life left behind, the acceptance of the popular girls who have boyfriends -- and wonders if her life will ever change. When a kindly writer and his glamorous editor come to lodge in the weeks before Christmas, opportunities are in the air. But then May's playboy father, estranged from the family for years, drops in and threatens to freeze the delicate new possibilities stirring in all their lives. My thoughts: I initially picked up this novel because I am slated to review its successor, Tiger Tiger, for CurledUp.com, and I really, really hate to read the second book before the first. (I know, I'm a little anal about that.) I'd read some pretty wildly disparate reviews of the two books, so I didn't quite know what to expect - I was very pleasantly surprised. By the Shore captures perfectly the voice of its 12-year-old narrator, May. The prose itself is quiet, almost tentative, much like a young girl taking her first steps into adulthood. May is sweet, lovable, funny, wise, bratty - very much what you would expect of a young girl. She is smart beyond her years, due to her mother's somewhat haphazard care, and yet still clings naively to the hope that her father will return and create one big, happy family. Eden, her brother, and Lucy, her mother, are both compelling, and the three characters form the strong backbone of the novel. I was captivated from the first paragraph: "It can be dangerous to live by the shore. In the winter, after a storm, things wash up on it: rusty pieces of sharp metal, glass, jellyfish. You must be careful where you tread. Sometimes I see a lone fish that has suffocated on the shore and think for days that there are fish in the water waiting for it to return. Then I think, There is nowhere to be safe." Something about this earnest, sweet young girl just grabbed me, and I read her story with fascination. Oh, how I wanted her to be happy, and not to learn the hard lessons I could sense would be coming her way. "When they had gone into the house I pushed myself up off the ground and walked over to the tree where Eden had been playing. There were some acorns, leaves in piles, small stones and twigs: a whole world of something I couldn't see anymore. When you are six years old you can sit at the bottom of a tree and everything becomes alive around you. The moss is a soft green carpet, the stone a sofa, the hollows of a tree a house. The wind was a low voice around me. It was getting darker out. The kitchen light was on and I could see the yellow walls and the long shadows made when someone walked past the light. I stared down at the base of the tree, but all I could see was a pile of twigs and leaves, and a few stones. This is how I know I'm getting older: a stick is just a stick." It certainly has is weaknesses - the romance between Lucy and the visiting writer is predictable, May's father is, of course, a huge jerk - but the bond between the three main characters, and the voice of May, made me overlook the problems and fall in love with this novel. I'm so happy I decided to read it, and now can't wait to start the next one! Finished: 1/23/09 Rating: 8/10

I know, the challenges are a little out of control, but luckily a lot of them will overlap!

You've got some great challenges going - good luck with them! I'm always too scared to actually make a list of my TBR pile - it would just be depressing.

Smart idea - I fell in love with the TV show, then went to read the books and was a little disappointed. I had the characters so set in my head from the show that the differences in the book seemed jarring. I think you are doing it in the better order!

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on The House at Riverton - I liked it, but was in the minority among my local reading friends.