Actor and the Housewife, Shannon Hale. YYYY So, lucky me, I have a great friend in California who called to tell me that Shannon Hale was going to do a reading in SLC... and I was able to go! Thanks Ana!!! I have read all of Shannon Hale's books and absolutely love all of them: Goose Girl, Enna Burning, River Secrets, Princess Academy, Book of a Thousand Days, Rapunzel's Revenge, Austenland and now Actor and the Housewife.
This last book was very fun. The dialogue is so witty I often laughed right out loud. It is about a Utah Mormon housewife who makes friends with a hot Hollywood actor. They are both married and the book looks at all of the issues involved when a woman has a man friend.

I included the two different covers because I thought they were interesting. Mine is the brown hair one above. Why do you think they made one sans hair color? And where do you think they are marketing them? Also, the woman without hair showing is a little sexier, tighter shirt, shorter sleeves, brighter lipstick, maybe even better endowed. Hmmmm... Do you think they are selling the brown hair one only in Utah? Interesting...

Coraline, Neil Gaiman. YY This is the last of Ana's books she loaned me to read. I finally got through it after starting it three different times. I am such a wimp, the book was a little spooky for me... Just something about "other mothers" that freak me out, especially ones with button eyes! So, yes, you must read it... and I'm glad I did, but I didn't love it. Won't be seeing the movie anytime soon. By the by, yes, I know it is a "kid's" book, but I was still "creeped out."

The Lost Prince, Francis Hodgson Burnett. YY I liked this book, but is was just so wordy. From the title you can see that it is about a lost prince of Samavia. I loved the main character Marco and his qualities. He was very regal even though he was poor and never knew a home because they moved around so much. I have been trying to act a little more like him. The book mentions many times that he could hold still while he was waiting or listening without nervous twitching or wiggling. I'm sure that helped me during the interview I just had. : ) I only gave it two hearts because even though I loved the story it felt like a chore to read all the way to the end. I already "knew" what was going to happen and it felt like it took me ages to get to the end. Another important character, The Rat, also freaked me out a little... just a little too wierd.

Eva Ibbotson! I love this author. Just look at her picture, isn't it fascinating? (Her hair, the typewriter, pictures on the mantle, all of the books in the background, the telephone... love it.) Here is an interesting article from 2004 about her Jewish heritage and the Second World War. She said her grandmother's ancestors were "rearranged" so she could live out the war in Vienna. http://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/2004%20archive/090904/r090904_6.htm

Eva Ibbotson is now 84 years old. Out of all of her books I have only read Which Witch (which I really didn't like), A Company of Swans, A Countess Below Stairs and

Journey to the River Sea YYYY This last book I absolutely loved. Our heroine is an orphan, she ends up in a horrible situation yet remains "good." I like to imagine that I would hold up like that, but... This book is also fun because of the importance of naturalists in the story and all of the amazing plants and animals. FYI: Wikipedia said that Eva Ibbotson's husband was a naturalist (que en paz descansa). A must read.