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...