A Trian to Potevka, by Mike Ramsdell. This is our book club book for November. The author lives in Layton and was truly a "spy" in the USSR when it collapsed. This is one experience he had while undercover. It isn't the best written book ever, but it is a fantastic story. Nice and faith building. I am so grateful I live in the USA! Russia has really suffered for years, heart breaking.

Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and husband Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale, of no relation. Delightful graphic novel. Shannon Hale always has such strong female characters. Rapunzel isn't always strong, she has her moments of self doubt and weariness, but then she always remembers what she is fighting for. Go Rapunzel. And who doesn't love a striking beauty with red hair and green eyes. Such a pretty girl. The illustrations are great! I kept finding myself wondering who did most of the work on the project, Nathan (illustrator)? Shannon? Dean, the husband, what exactly did he do in all of this? Hmmmm. My kids love the book as well. B read it and the girls like to look through it often. Fun!


Ever by Gail Carson Lavine. Interesting book, of course it was great. I like all of her books that I have read. There are quite a number of gods in the book and I found myself wondering about what I would like to be the god of... there were gods of wind, agriculture, destiny, pottery, dance, weaving... Think about it. Which would you choose? There were two cities in the book. One worshiped many gods and the other worshiped only one god. The God of All. I couldn't help but think that the author was or has been searching to find out if there really is one God, or if man just prey on the desire of others to believe. I wish I could help her out with that. There really is one God, but he is nothing like the god in her book. Heavenly Father is very loving, patient and kind. That should be a relief to her.

Gossamer by Lois Lowry. I like how this lady thinks, Lois Lowry that is. I was once again amazed by her, how she came up with this idea, who knows. Apparently there are little being that give us our dreams... and very bad beings who give us nightmares. This story is about a little dream giver learning the ins and outs of dream giving. It would be the perfect book for a child who had been abused because a little boy plays a role in the book who had a difficult childhood.

You know how some books (I've heard... because I won't read them) go into gory details about horrible things that happened in the life of someone who has been abused. Even hearing about books like that give me a uncomfortable, depressing feeling. This book makes mention of the little boys life, and it was very sad... but the author did it in a way that shows hope, victory and the joy of overcoming. It is all in the "feel" of the book for me, I guess.

Happy Reading!

Extras by Scott Westerfeld. A nice little twist in the series. We get to see Tally Youngblood from Aya's point of view. Aya is an Asian girl who was a littlie when the mind-rain happened. O sea, when people didn't have to become pretties and have their brains messed with. She lives in the craziest city where everything is based on popularity. Every one of the million citizens have a popularity rating and Aya's is in the 600,000's when the book starts. That means she has to work for everything she gets. When you get up into the thousands you get bigger houses and more clothes etc. Very interesting set-up. Once again, teens may learn a lot from this book about judging others and putting importance where it belongs. I, myself, couldn't learn a thing from it. Seeings as how I'm already so famous and live in such a big house with closets stuffed with the latest fashions and such.

I do hope he writes another book! Although I did see a picture of him, Scott Westerfeld, flipping somebody off and I am just not sure about what kind of cat he must be. Hmmm... I guess I can read what he writes anyway.

On another note, I made posters for the bookfair as a contest for the students. They had to match the picture of the author to a picture of one of their books. Well, I wanted to include Cameron Dokey, since I have been reading so many of her books lately... and there was not a picture to be found. I searched and searched on line, NOTHING! Shocking... now I am just dying to see what she looks like. Take the challenge and see if you can find a picture of her. Maybe she has a horribly scarred face, or maybe she is a MAN! Think about it. :D

Washington Avalanche 1910 by Cameron Dokey. A little piece of historical fiction. It was a fine book. A little slow at times but not slow enough to make you put it down. A girl runs away from her wicked step-brother, catches the train, then gets stuck in the mountains because of an avalanche. The avalanche really happened in 1910 and trapped the trains for days, gotta love historical fiction!

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. Wow. Loved this book. It is set in Denmark and I felt such a conection with the characters from Denmark because so many of my ancestors came from Denmark. I loved learning a little more about the character of the country. The main character is a young girl whose friend is a Jew, the story takes place after Germany had taken over Denmark. Sad times. Anywho, the book was fabulous! I like to think that I would have been a part of the Resistance fighters.


Specials by Scott Westerfeld. The Tally Youngblood saga continues. I didn't like this one as much as the others. I think the problem was that I kept thinking of a student in BC, Tim, that was into hurting himself. He eventually committed suicide, very sad. So, with that memory it was hard to separate myself from the story and I just kept hoping that the book wouldn't influence teens to be dumb. Rather the story should empower people to know that no matter what happens in their lives the ultimate control of who you are lies within. We control our own destiny. By the by, I didn't really like the ending either. But it is still a definite must read.

Golden by Cameron Dokey. I have been reading a number of books by Cameron Dokey lately. She writes a book that twists a fairy tale a little. This book is about Rapunzel, turns out that Rapunzel is really bald, true story. The characters are fun in this book and it, of course, ends happily ever after.




Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. This princess has a wide girth and loves food. She gets in trouble for eating all of the time. I like her. She has a hard life, that only gets worse. Wicked aunt and all. There is a little Cinderella meets Sleeping Beauty and some magic as well. Everything needed to make a great story.



A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson. Wow... do I love this author. She is way more "classy" than me, always talking about paintings and opera and ballet that I do not know a lot about. (Thankfully I recently checked out some Baby Einstein board books that showed most of the art she mentioned, so I was right there with her on that part.) She also uses words I am not familiar with like "epergne" (something on the table) and "shantung" (describing a suit) and plenty of words in French, Italian, Latin and who knows what else. I guess it is good for my brain to read things that stretch me a little. I do know much more about ballet than ever before. Anywho, loved this book!!

I had to wait a long while to get these books. I put them on hold at the library but I was at least 16th in line. So, finally, after a couple of months I got the first two books. Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld is super-dee-duper. After Breaking Dawn I took a long break from reading. Almost an entire month! OK... not really, but the other books I read were not gobbled, they were read just every now and then. However this delightful book broke right through my reading blues. I gobbled them right up. Tally Youngblood is an almost unwilling heroine. Stumbling into doing great things. I think he chose such a great name for her, especially her last name. Youngblood. Most of all the other characters are known by only their first names: David, Shay, Av, Croy... but Tally Youngblood, she deserves such a strong name.

Any who, the books are about a time in the future when they have taken away the issues of looks. At sixteen everyone is given an operation to become a pretty. The uglies go to school until they turn sixteen, then they can be turned into pretties. Young pretties party all the time and just have fun. Middle pretties choose careers and work. Crumblies just hang around till death. Tally's best friend turns sixteen before her and she is left alone with all the younger uglies at school. She makes a new friend, Shay, who changes her path forever. Pretties is the second book in the series. You can imagine what happens.... Better read them!

I am breathlessly waiting for the next two books, Specials and Extras. Coming soon, only one person is in front of me on the list. May I just say that I wish I had a hoverboard!

I Walked to Zion, True Stories of Young Pioneers on the Mormon Trail, by Susan Arrington Madsen. This was our book club book for July, but I just barely finished it. I thoroughly enjoyed it! The book shares about 30 accounts of children coming across the plains. It was fun to read their experiences from a younger point of view. I cried many times thinking of how grateful I am that I don't have to try and make my kids walk across the plains and only eat some flour today. Most of the kids were super positive and many of them enjoyed the journey, just walking and playing. There was so much suffering, however. I am eternally grateful for the efforts of the pioneers and I am grateful for this great state we live in!

This book was one of Stephenie Meyer's favorites listed on her Myspace. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman was an interesting read. It turns out that Anansi the spider really does exist and he can come live in our world as a human whenever he likes. Who knew?

It is set in England with touches in Florida. A young man with a semi-miserable life gets to know his real family and his real self. The book is almost a thriller, not too scary, but with a little action. There is a little love... but I have found that when men write about love it lacks a little spark. It was a good book and I am glad I read it.

So... of course I re-read New Moon and Eclipse again before I got Breaking Dawn. I enjoyed them so very much... Then, I went to a release party at Hastings with Bonnie and her sister Sunnie. We also met up with my newly found cousin Mandy there. It was fun to look at the decorations and take fake prom pictures. They also had a dance floor sectioned off and I watched teens having a great time there. It is so surreal to be old, I tell you what.

I won a button in a trivia contest for knowing how old Carlisle was, 362 years old if I remember correctly. That was a bennefit of re-reading the books the week before. We bought specialty drinks named after the characters of the books (Italian sodas).
Great fun. But the best part of the evening was getting right at the front of the line. Even though a teenage girl butt right in front of us because she thought it supposed to be in alphabetical order. The register was for those whose last names started with A-G. She asked me what my last name started with and stood right in front of me because her last name started wtih "B." Silly girl.

Turns out that there were two registers for our line and I bought the first book of the night in that register. Winner! We were out of there so quickly it was amazing. But, then I had to read the book.

Breaking Dawn was a disappointment, but I am not really sure why. Ticee didn't like it because Edward seemed to disappear, there wasn't enough dialoge or character development, it was anti-climatic and the characters we had grown to love seemed to no longer exist. Maybe that was it, I'm not quite sure. But I can't say I didn't like it, I just didn't love it. Bummer. I will have to read it again later and see what I think next time. Oh yeah, and Stephenie, the easiest and fastest way to get more blood in our bodies is an IV. Just FYI...

Twilight, Stephenie Meyer. Wow! What a great book. Love, adventure, thrills and chills, scary bad guys, blood, hot guys, overcoming self doubt, a beautiful setting... Why haven't I read this before?! Oh, wait, I have... a couple of times.

Warning... Sad Post!

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part -Time Indian, Sherman Alexie. This is one of the novels I found on Stephenie Meyers MySpace, listed under books that she loves. I normally wouldn't have ever read a book like this... it swears way too much and it talks about teenage boy issues that I would rather not know about. However, it grabbed my heart right from the first pages and wouldn't let go... even now that I've finished it. It reminded me too much of my time on the rez. The book is about a boy who realizes, with the help of a teacher and a thirty year old Geometry book, that he has to leave the rez if he wants to survive.

Someone who isn't familiar with rez living might think the book goes a little over the top... but it doesn't exaggerate at all. It brought back all of the pain and the joy of my three years on the rez. The smell of fry bread, the excitement of a pow-wow or the Bluff fair, going to sleep to the sound of drums from a ceremony going on in a teepee across the street from the school. I really lived in a "compound" made just for teachers, and I loved the people.

The book talks about the alcohol and death. Just like Steward Sam who died in a car accident on his way home from the Gathering of Nations Pow-Wow in Alberqueque. They had stayed up all night at the '49er drinking and singing and they crashed on the way home. JR Joe survived High School only to get killed in a car wreck a few years later. Jerri Billie was one of the few who went away for college. She came home on a break and went to a party. Although she didn't drink she got in with a drunk driver and was the only one to die in that accident. Shilo and Shauna who had a baby as teenagers... Shauna was at a laundromat and her two year old ran out the door and got hit by a car and died. Roy Whitehorse who died over Christmas break when the hogan exploded. Apparently the propane tank had a leak and when Roy tried to light it, the whole hogan exploded. Those are a few of my students who died, too many to believe, I know.

I also must mention Norm and Shirley Begay from White Mesa. They were killed in a head on collision on Hwy. 666. Then there is Hutch Johnson, who I just adored as a student and a neighbor. When I came home from my mission I asked him why he hadn't written and his answer was that he knew I wouldn't want to hear that he was just getting drunk every weekend. He was right. One night on the ambulance we took a kid in who told us he cut his arm on the window. The next morning an FBI agent was knocking on my door to ask about the wound... he said it had been a stabbing. I was so innocent back then.

Happy times from the rez: Jimmie Claw was the basketball hero, he was tall and talented. I got to coach Jr. High basketball... I loved hearing Ophelia Joe call me coach. We were beating the tar out of Blanding's team and we just kept feeding the ball to a little girl on our team who hardly ever played and scored her only basket during that game in Blanding. Our team and fans just erupted when she finally made a basket. I was invited to a traditional wedding or two. Maurie Yazzie was such a sweet girl and I was thrilled to hear that while I was on my mission she got baptized. I became an EMT! I ate achi' (sheep intestines), learned a lot of Navajo words, took a Navajo class from Clayton Long, can now recognize every pow-wow dance, bought beaded barrets, sand paintings and jewelry at bargain prices, learned I Am a Child of God in Navajo and made many friends. I miss the Rez.

Beloved Bridegroom, Donna Nielson. This book was recommended for book club and rejected for lack of interest. Wanda, the lady who recommended it, wanted me to read it... she kept offering it to me and I finally relented. It only took me about five months to read it... but it was worth it. I learned a lot about Jewish marriage customs and it is always nice to remember that everything points to the Savior. The thing that annoyed me about the book is that at times she quoted from other versions of the Bible, trying to put the Bible in modern language. That always bugs. I am also grateful that the friend of the groom was not waiting outside of the room while my marriage was consummated so he could announce it to the group of people gathered for the celebration.

A Countess Below Stairs, Eva Ibbotson.
I just finished this delicious book. It started out rather droll (who knows if it was funny ... it kept using words I didn't really understand, like droll and there weren't enough context clues that I could grasp to really "get it"). The author knows way more than I do about music, art, jewels, history, you name it. I was also having a difficult time remembering the names and keeping people straight. However, I stuck with it and was greatly rewarded. What a fun story! The book is about Anna, a countess in Russia. Her family looses everything during the Bolshevick revolution and she becomes a maid. She is someone I would like to be more like, humble, hard working, kind, fun and full of light. Oh, and the best part of all... Love, love, love conquers all.

Funny story. I just found out that a couple from the Spanish Branch are moving to Turkey. True story, he is going to teach school there. I had already picked up this book from the library. I chose it because of the cool cover. It turns out that the book it about the Ottoman Empire and refers to Turks and Turkey often. Wow, what a horrible warring history in that part of the world. Parade of Shadows, by Gloria Whelan was a fun and interesting book. Full of intrigue and adventure. Give it a try.




The Frog Princess, E.D. Baker.... this would be a good book for a younger reader. I kept thinking there was going to be some sort of twist or something. But no... the characters were just what they said they were. The snake was just a snake, a bat just a bat, the dog a .... the otter a ... a frog a frog... or was it a prince... or a princess? So, I must say it was a little disappointing in its depth or lack thereof.


Carousel, Richard Paul Evans. This was our book for the book club this month. I had to read it in a day because it took me too long to finish Parade of Shadows. I'm glad I got it all over with in a day. Talk about a hard year, incarceration, death, disappointment, sexual harassment, broken hearts, tragedy, fights, moving, a new school...etc. I liked the book OK, I guess, but I'm glad I didn't invest a lot of time or effort in it. Let's look on the bright side of life, shall we?

Sunlight and Shadow, Cameon Dokey. A fun book about true love, love at first sight, growing into love etc. It is a twist on the magic flute story. I am finding that Cameron Dokey uses fairy tales often.





Pirates! Celia Rees wrote a very fun book about a free spirited girl who refused to just give in to all of the men in her life who were trying to marry her off and silence her. First her father, then her brothers and finally a scary fiance. Girl Power! I was so nervous about the book because I grabbed it from the adult side of the library. I kept waiting for something "adult" to be in the book. But to my pleasant surprise it was squeaky clean. Aarg!




The Storyteller's Daughter, Cameron Dokey. A twist on The Arabian Nights. Thank goodness that true love can conquer all. A very nice book about a very brave girl.

Sharon Creech is such a great author! In Ruby Holler she really developed her characters well and I could see depth in each one. The story is about a couple of twins, Dallas and Florida, that are shifted around in foster care. It makes a soul want to save every child they can. But, instead, I made a goal to start with my own kids and try to be more patient. I also wish I could live in Ruby Holler. It sounds so beautiful! You will also love the older couple, and identify with each of them. I know I did. A great book!

Oh, Wow! This book was amazing. Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis. I already knew that I would enjoy the book because he is such a great author, but I wasn't prepared for how much I would love it! I would take it with me to the gym each morning... and there are a few unspoken rules at the gym... like you should show no emotion and not make noise. Everyone has their headphones on in their own little world. The I-pod and I love being in our own little world on the island of the elliptical machine. But, while reading this book I kept laughing right out loud... and even more embarrassing, often tears were rolling down my cheeks. The book talks about Elijah who was the first free born in Buxton, Canada, a small community of free or escaped slaves. Here is a quote from the book, just to wet your appetite...

"Mr. Leroy said, 'No, Spencer, me and 'Lijah's working partners. The boy handles hisself like he's gowned so I hope you don't mind if he stay.'
If I lived to be fifty I was gonna remember this, the first time I got called growned! I waren't expecting this to happen for six or seven months yet!"

Then later: "I left the room and stayed outta sight, but I was still close enough for listening. After all, Mr. Leroy did say I handle myself like I was growned, and I know growned folks don't like nothing better than doing a little eavesdropping."

I think now that I am done with the book, I'd better do a little research on the real settlement of Buxton. I am so glad that the civil war is over and that slavery is outlawed!

So, Susan's blog of books she has read made me a little jealous with the cover and all... so I decided to copy her. To start off with I am just throwing these on... I may need to practice a little to make it more presentable.

Queste, Angie Sage is the only book I read during the month of April. Can you believe it? It is the fourth book in the series about Septimus Heap. Love them all. Number three left me uneasy but all is well now, the fourth ended happily ever after. Good ol' Septimus. These are a must read.

May 6th was the release date of Stephenie Meyer's new book, The Host. It is a big fat book but I was still able to read it in three days and not ignore my children too much. It was a fantastic book but definitely science fiction. I am not sure if the crazy "Rides the Beast" story will sit well with Edward lovers... but I have long been a lover of science fiction so I am fine with bears that have sharp knife hands on one side and soft paws on the other. Anywho, that really doesn't have much to do with the story. It is full of relationships and all types of love. It is really fantastic.

Stephenie Meyer here we come! See you on Friday. : )

I am also proud to announce that I have finished The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin & Selections from His Other Writings. I have learned much about Benjamin Franklin and about the US... but I am left wanting more. I will need to read some more books about him and his roll in the establishment of the Union. It seems to me he was a good man, very determined to become better and improve things around him. He started the first library here, a fire department, a way to keep the streets clean... he helped in the establishment of the Post Office and ran a printing press. Not to mention his work with electricity. But to read about it in his own words, I think he was also humble. He had no idea how much he would bless not only his town but the entire nation... forever! We may be doing important things right this minute without even realizing their results. Better be careful, eh. Think twice and all that.


OK...I checked out Replay, Sharon Creech and as I started reading it, I realized I had already read it. But it is a great book about family dynamics. Then I read Heartbeat, Sharon Creech. It is all written as a poem, a great book about old age, new babies and running just because you love to run.

A Little Maid of Mohawk Valley, Alice Turner Curtis. This is the cutest thing. It was published in 1924 and it is from a series "A Little Maid of... (fill in the blank)." The story is about a little girl who is brave and courageous... she gets to save Mohawk Valley during the Revolutionary War. I enjoyed the good values.


Beauty Sleep, Cameron Dokey. This was a fun spin on Sleeping Beauty. It keeps you wondering what will happen in the end the entire book. Read it, you'll like it.

Book of a Thousand Days,Shannon Hale. I recommended this for book club so of course I had to re-read it. I may have even liked it better the second time. Set in a setting not unlike Mongolia a young girl struggles defying her class. She is caught so many times in between gentry (the higher class) and serving them, without misbehaving herself. I have been pondering on social classes... at first I asked myself if there is any where in the world where they still raise people to believe they are lower than another human being. I have thought of the Middle East and Africa and the role of women. Polygamy, the role of women, children and the "Lost Boys." Any abusive relationship can do that to a person, make them lose their confidence and their knowledge of their divine worth. Once again I am so grateful for my upbringing, for the gospel and for this country!

Book club is on Wednesday and I think it will be really fun. Many people have loved the book. All hail to Shannon Hale!

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho. I am glad I read this book. I recommended it for our book club for the month of May, so I thought I'd better read it. It has lots of great advice for one and all. Most of all it made me grateful for the gospel and the Spirit. We are so lucky to already know that we need only to listen to the promptings of the Spirit to find our way. . . and the more we listen, the more we can hear.

I must also share with you the miracle of the emu feathers. Susan loaned me the book, The Alchemist as I was leaving Orderville. Isaac also came up and gifted me some emu feathers. Apparently they come in twos, like the Ponderosa Pine needles that come in threes. Isaac gave me one set of perfect feathers and another feather that was all alone, its partner feather had broken off. So, as I left, I stuck them into the book. Well, later in the week I took the book to the gym to read. As I was cruising along on the elliptical machine I noticed a feather falling out. I quickly saved it and searched for the other pair of feathers. They had already fallen out. I almost fell off the machine looking for them, of course I couldn't stop the machine altogether. The handle also almost gave me a concussion while I was searching, but to no avail. When I finished my "workout" I searched again but found nothing. What a bummer to lose the pair!

Then next day I was back at the gym and after my workout I went to get a drink. There lying on the ground, close to the drinking fountain, I found my pair of emu feathers. What a miracle! I scooped them up as quick as I could. Who knows who might be around with the intent of stealing away my feathers. So, thank you Isaac, I love the feathers.


A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray. The jury is still out on this one. It was OK dawg, a little pitchy in the middle... (In case you don't watch American Idol, that is what Randy Jackson says when the performance wasn't that great.) So, the book was a little too adult for me, doesn't take much. I can't decide whether to read the other two books. I don't love the heroine, she's OK dawg, but I don't think she's great or anything. Anyone who has read them, tell me if I should read on or not.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick. I have been waiting for months for the book fair to come to B's school so I could buy this book (BOGO... buy one get one free). So I bought it and read it. What fun! So many great pictures/drawings that help tell the story. The book is fat and a little intimidating, but most of it is pictures. Many of the pages with words don't even use half of the page... so it is really much shorter than it weighs. I read it today. It really is a work of art. The font, the black and white pages, the drawings, the fun story... loved it.

Confessions of an Unbalanced Woman, Emily Watts. A teeny tiny book that DiAnn gave me. She read it again on the plane ride out to come to Grandpa Jack's funeral. I've read it only once, but I need a repeat. It is fantastic and helped me refocus. Here is an exerpt: "I don't know how it is that I can spend hours laboring over a stack of men's socks, laying them out on the bed to make it easier to compare them with each other, holding them up to the light, even carrying them over to the window to ensure that I am matching black with black and navy blue with navy blue... but the instant my husband sits down in sacrament meeting, I can tell that he's wearing one of each. Maybe there's just something about the lighting in the chapel. maybe I should be taking his socks over to the church to sort them." It is a really fun book that helps put thing into perspective.

The Princess and the Hound, Mette Ivie Harrison. What a great book. I had to finish it today! And the author lives in Utah. We are really getting some great local authors. The book is about a Prince and a Princess, courage, self worth, coming of age and "animal magic." Very fun read.

Trespass, living at the edge of the promised land, Amy Irvine. This is not a book I would recommend to anyone. Bleh. I couldn't even finish it... I just skipped ahead to find out if this poor girl ever found any happiness or peace. But, no... she is never really happy or at peace. She only sees the very worst in everyone and everything around her. It is extremely anti-Mormon and anti-San Juan County, two things that I love. I kept wondering if she was telling the truth about people until I read her explanation of the Book of Mormon as rowdy people getting kicked out of Jerusalem and being sent away on boats. OK... she is probably just telling half truths throughout. Horrid, hateful book. It leaves one the opposite of uplifted. I feel so sorry for this sad, sad girl.

Mormon Scientist, Henry J. Eyring. Wow, I loved this book. I have always wanted to know more about the famous scientist Henry Eyring, and now I do! His ancestory, his family, his education and teaching, his scientific findings and best of all his testimony. He had no problem at all disagreeing with President Joseph Fielding Smith about the age of the earth and evolution. Henry Eyring said many times that we just don't know everything yet. However the Lord created our earth was fine with him, if the Lord didn't have a problem with science and religion than he didn't either. What a fun book!

The Wish, Gail Carson Levine. A fun Jr. High book about a girl who wishes for popularity, and gets it. Important lessons to be learned about being a good friend. I liked it.

Two Princesses of Bamarre, Gail Carson Levine. Two sisters, one is a coward and the other is an adventurer. They take care of each other, save their kingdom and fall in love. A lot of fun.

When Calls the Heart, Janette Oke. A gift from Ana (thank you!). I loved it. It is set in the old west around Calgary. It reminded me of books I used to check out from the Blanding City Library. True love, adventure, real values, good men and women. It was really fun. Thank you, thank you, thank you Ana!

New Moon and Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer... again. Wow, I love these books! I laughed (again), I cried (again), I fell in love... I call my husband my Jacob. It was fun being able to notice her great writing style. The first time through I was in such a hurry to see what happened. Now I noticed things like... the rain was like freshwater tears on her face. Love that!

May I say again how much I love Jacob. I love how he doesn't baby Bella. He is brown and warm. He lives on the rez. He is funny and likes to laugh. He is humble. I love Jacob!