Old Friends and New Fancies: An Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen by Sybil Brinton. This book was written in 1913, the first fan-fiction book written as a sequel to all of Jane Austen's novels. Ana sent me this book quite awhile ago, before I read it I wanted to make sure I knew all of the characters well so I read or re-read all of Jane Austen's novels. It was so much fun! Then I read this great sequel that uses the main characters from every book. I saw it laying by my bed and decided that I needed to read it again. It was even more fun the second time, especially since with my memory everything is new to me. : )

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!