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.