Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

After reading the last book I needed something a bit lighter. I found this book in the stack my son said I have to read because it was so good. Well, it turned out to be short and light yet intense in it's own basic way. It didn't have the happiest ending either.

A little boy's grandfather gets sick and he needs to earn money so they don't loose the farm. He does everything he can and eventually enters a dog sled race. He races against an Indian that has never been beat before. THEN right before he crosses the finish line....ha ha I'm not going to tell you.

Good Whole Book

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

This was a very disturbing book. I was also educational and well written. I am so glad I live in America with the freedoms that I take for granted and enjoy every day. I would not survive very long in Afghanistan and especially not in an arranged marriage or with an abusive husband.

The book is about two women. They begin there lives in very different ways and the story is in two different separate parts but they eventually come together in a most amazing friendship. They endure more then any human being should endure in life. They are abused and scared and pushed to the limits and over.

The History of this country is interwoven in the story. Luckily unlike the kite runner it ends happily ever after and I think I literally gave a sigh of relief. It was that intense to read this book.

Broken/Bent/Healing

Crime Files: for-Minute Forensic Mysteries by Jeremy Brown

I used to be a CSI TV series gunky...way back when we actually had TV. Well, the shows have progressively become worse and more graphic I hear. I'm glad I am not watching them anymore. I did like the mystery and suspense and of course the unique cases they came across.
This book was like CSI but for kids. It is a collection of short stories with a silly quirky kid humor twist to them. Easy to read, sometimes a bit gross but most of them are based on true crimes solved by crime investigators. Kept me on my toes but I don't think I will have nightmares like some of the shows gave me!

Healing book

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

Wow, this book was actually pretty good. I couldn't put it down. It was written in such a style that you couldn't wait to see what would happen next in the little girls life. Her family was poor, starving and surviving. They were so dysfunctional they are off the charts. It is an amazing story from the little girls perspective.

Her mom was a bit loony and tried to be an artist. Her dad turned out to be an alcoholic, brilliant but always going on a binge. I guess the best way to describe their lives would be eccentric.

This autobiographical account made you think her life was hard yet easy. She usually described tragic events that would have been huge stumbling blocks in most peoples lives as humorous and not a big deal.

Her first memory was from three years old having an accident with boiling water, hot dogs and her tutu catching fire. She was in the hospital for a very long time. The book starts out with her wondering if she is over dressed driving down the street in a Taxi then she looks up and her mother is scrounging through a dumpster. Her mother thinks being homeless is such an adventure. Her parents even after having four children didn't become conventional. They were a matched pair even to the end.

The little girl was starving and smelly yet she survived the hardest life and even turned it around to become a very successful writer in a big city. You would have thought they all would have perished long ago but all the kids keep on trying and pulling together despite their parents and situation.

Broken and Healing book - not recommended for children

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater and Florence Atwater

Have you been day dreaming lately? Do you want to be somewhere else? Have you seen all the places you wanted to before you got married, had children and went to work everyday? If you answered yes to any of those questions then this is the book you can relate too.
I read this book to my second child and the 1st child took it and finished it way before us. It is a very silly book about a man that wants to explore the poles. He gets a penguin and the next thing you know he has 12! They have some adventures and travel all over the USA. In the end this ordinary guy, Mr. Popper, has his wishes come true. Almost made me cry...just kidding the book is too funny for tears!

Great read out loud...Whole BOOK.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

This is a book about a crazy women that hates the wallpaper in the room she is "forced" to stay in. Okay it is about a bit more then that but not that she actually leaves the room...but the wallpaper is like an allegory of her life. She is feeling coddled and belittled by her husband and other Doctors and professionals. She feels caged in as her life gets so boring she starts hallucinating. She goes completely crazy in the end. The wallpaper peels and fades and gets ripped...

It takes place in the 19Th century when women were just supposed to fit stereo types of the good housekeeper, wife and mother and do WHATEVER their husbands want them to do without question. The lady in the book couldn't even be herself around the person that was supposed to be her best friend, her husband. She got tired of always faking the happy face when she wasn't really happy. I thought it was a pretty weird book but I am glad I read it despite the unhappy ending...actually the ending leaves you a bit hanging...I hate that. Gilman is a total feminist...I might read more of her short stories sometime, I hear they are interesting too.
The Afterward was also stimulating reading as it explained a bit more about the author and her mind. The afterward was almost longer then the actual story.
VERY BROKEN BOOK I think on the border of HEALING if you add the afterward which was by Elaine Hedges.

a Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

This was a nice short read, okay so I skimmed the first three chapters but I read the rest of the book. It isn't very long, in fact it is an essay. Virginia Woolf wrote this book in 1929. She analysis women in fiction or women writing fiction. Did you ever wonder why there wasn't any great writers from Shakespeare's area that were female? I didn't but it was interesting to find out through the eyes of Virginia what she thought.

The thing I mostly gained from this book was that if a woman had a room of her own she could write great things, lots of great things. Throughout history she rarely had time to take a bath let alone write something down and she hardly ever had money for paper too. And it is all the fault of oppressive male dominance or something. Read the book and see what she means. She also discuses Jane Austin and the Bronte sister's works. It was quite humorous and a nice walk through history looking at women in writing.

Whole Book

Book 51 and it is only Oct.

Well, I did it... met the goal to read 50 books this year. Now the quality might not be as good as last year but it has been fun and entertaining.

My new years resolution for this year was to read 50 books. The goal is actually there in the first place "to inspire not require". My kids have improved with their reading too.

My son has read well over 200 chapter books this year and kept track of all of them. He got a few more classics in this year then last year so I think the theory that says let them read whatever they want and they will eventually read it all, seems to be true. He will decide for himself what is worth reading without me breathing over his back telling him what he can and can't read. I still try to leave a few books out that I want him to read and sometimes he picks them up and reads.

My daughter is also well on her way to reading. At the beginning of the year she couldn't read a verse in the scriptures without getting so frustrated and crying. Now she is eager to read and try. She is getting better and there is a significantly fewer tears shed. She also got glasses which has helped.

Hooray for reading.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Afghanistan is a country so far away yet still part of our little world. I really hated this book. I wish wars and brutality and inhumanity didn't exist. I am glad I read the book but sad I read it too because I like living in my little bubble. This book was BROKEN and tried to be healing.

I need to read something a bit more happy now. The Reader's Digest just came!

The 13th Tale by Diane Sutterfield

OH where do I start with this book. It was bad.
I have to admit though, I could not put it down because I had to find out what happened. The mystery needed to be solved or my nightmares would not stop. Or so I thought. I still have nightmares about this book!
I read it for a book group. I guess they picked it because it is the month of Halloween and a good ghost story would go well with the season. It is a New York Times bestseller and was just released on paperback last week. I got the first copy out of the box in our little Barnes and Noble store.
As I read I wondered what made it a best seller? It was very clever. It had suspense, wit, intelligence....why was it bad?
The story even starts with some down right bad things, to name a few without giving anything away, incest, rape, torture, abandonment, psycho/crazy people and without this there wouldn't be a story woven with lies and deceit. In fact it would just be a story about a girl and her sisters. I did like the Jane Eyre foreshadowing through out the book, that was clever. It was far from the Bronte sister type story though.
I should have stopped while I could but after the first chapter you can't wait to find out whats next. Evil. I was sucked in.

Anyway I started pondering why I can read a book like this and others with horrible topics that people used to never talk about or write about. Are we so desensitized that it takes topics like this to make it a bestseller? What happened to the classics? OR maybe I am just living in a Jane Austin world type bubble. They don't even hold hands in most of her books. This was so past that. At least the book didn't go into play by play gory detail, just insinuated most sin and left it to your imagination, which sadly turns out to be right in the end.

I am going to call it what it is and confess I have read not a Broken Book but a BENT book. I hope to pass on a book like this next time before I get past the 1st chapter. BUT then the next book I read was Kite Runner? What makes this one okay and the 13th tale not okay? hmmmm

The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier

This was very good autobiography written by a Hollywood movie star. I didn't know who this guy was until I started reading it and realized he had made quite a few movies. I checked a few out from the library. He was sure a lot younger then he is now and looks very different, of course. He never plays the bad guy always the hero.
The Book started from his childhood and the hard times he had growing up poor (but didn't know he was poor) and living on an island somewhere near Jamaica. It was a relatively fast read and full of insightful ideas about life and hard work. But the last 3 chapters ruined it. I guess he made friends with Carl Sagan. Golly, I feel sorry for him not believing in a Christian God. He has had so many blessings in his life but doesn't know who to give credit to. He also pretty much tells everyone how a person should be if they are good and do good things. YET he is such a hypocrite in so many ways. Of course no one is perfect and he tries but by the time you get to the end of the book you feel really sorry for him and his messed up marriages. He is really full of himself. He does try to only star in good movies and he has been through a lot of hard times. So I can give him credit for that but he really needs some enlightenment in so many ways and he doesn't even know it.

HEALING BOOK

Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey

I loved this book! It is the 2nd book in the Harper Hall series for the dragon riders of pern. She is such an engaging writer. I couldn't put the book down and I didn't know what to expect next.
Meloney was constantly being tested and sized up for her ability to play instruments, make instruments and sing. She luckily had her fire lizards as allies and she made a little friend. Of course being a girl also came with some drawbacks but she overcame all obstacles and won the hearts the whole Hold. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book! I recommend this series - WHOLE BOOK.

Eight Cousins by Alcott

Oh what a happy book about a rich spoiled girl with 7 boy cousins. She wasn't really spoiled rotten but stepping back and putting it in perspective she didn't have a care in the world so maybe she was just rich and content.
She has a really cool uncle and he teaches her all kinds of new things and gets her to think for herself instead of just following the latest trend or image other girls her age are living like. She learns to sail and ride a horse. She also loves to study. She isn't really the kind of spoiled that puts it in your face and is mean but she really doesn't need to do anything for herself if she didn't want to. She has maids and cooks and a huge house with rich aunts. Luckily her uncle makes sure she learns to share and have compassion. She also learns to bake bread and clean.
I thought it was cute and well written book for girls. Whole Book...

Gap Creek The Story of a Marriage by Robert Morgan

I just realized it was written by a guy...the whole time I was reading it I thought the author was a woman. Anyway, this was a yucky book. Don't read it.
Broken and Healing...
It is about a woman living in Gap Creek. Her name is Julie Harmon. She works hard. She has to be a strong person to live where she does and her life sucks. She got married young to escape her family. She works hard and tries to do what is right but that isn't always obvious and her husband is stressed out and they are really poor. Anyway, in a way the book was good but in other ways it was really weird.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Rk Rowling

Whew, read it and liked it and that is that. I still consider it a Broken and Healing book. Anyone want to debate that one?

Harry Potter?

Which Hogwarts House Would You Be In?
	The Sorting Hat would put you in Hufflepuff. You are reserved, rational, and down-to-earth. You work well with others, are a great team player, and you always take a stand against injustice.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Mansfield Park by Jane Austin

I had to finish this book before I went and saw Becoming Jane the movie. (Finally figured out the babysitting and my two sister in laws and I went to a matinee) I loved this book. I liked the movie but wasn't too impressed with the PG-13 places in the movie. Way too much buns for me. AND the movie focused on Pride and Prejudice not her other writings. The movie also focused on only one part of her life. She did quite a few more interesting things even though she didn't get married.

Back to the book: Mansfield Park was really long. She took over 200 pages just setting up the characters. There is a lot of stuff about manners, what is proper and improper. A bunch about money and marriage. At first you think the heroine is a rich girl but it turns out to be the quiet unlikely to ever get married or fall in love poor girl.

My favorite character was Edward. He is kind to everyone and tries to do the right thing no matter what. I don't want to give away the ending but it sure ended different then I thought. The main characters were very happily married for ever after like all her books but it still had a few surprising twists to get there.

She focused most of the book on moral choices and their emotional consequences. After seeing the movie I understood a bit more about why she had so many people eloping. Great book, complex and classic! WHOLE BOOK

Dragonsong by Anne McCafferey

This is volume one of the Harper Hall Trilogy. I love these books! My grandfather used to read them and actually got me hooked on the dragon books at an early age of 11. I haven't read them in so long this book was brand new to me.

Dragonsong is about a world called Pern. There is a whole society there with customs and creatures...also humans live there. A planet or star orbits close to Pern and drops dangerous silver Thread, a micro-organism of some sort that eats everything it touches. There are also large Dragons on the land that humans can impress to be kind of like soul mates with, or best friends, they can talk to each other through thoughts...anyway the Dragons can burn up the Thread with their firey breath. They fight it off so it doesn't fall on the people below and ruin everything.

A girl lives in one of the Halls and she loves music. Unfortunately traditionally only boys can be good at music. Her family is embarrassed that she is so musically talented...anyway without giving it all away she ends up making friends with smaller dragons called fire lizards and she teaches them to sing. She has such an intriguing story it was hard to put this book down. Plus if you have ever read any of the Pern books they are so addictive you can't get enough of it's fascinating dragon lore. I love science fantasy books!

Whole book

Under the Same Stars by Dean Hughes

What would it have been like to have lived during the early days of the Mormon church? This book is about a boy named Joseph Williams. He is about 9 yrs. old. His family moves to Jackson County Missouri in 1832. They followed the prophet's counsel and set up homesteads, started plowing and planting the land. Joseph W. learns about differences and loyalty. He also learns the hard way about violence and hatred. Through the trials he faces and his family faces he learns how to rely on the Lord when you have done your best and all you can do. The mobs come and run his family and the Mormon's our of Missouri. They had to leave everything behind. Joseph W. has to be strong and help his brother to safety after he is shot in the leg. His father is beaten and his mom has to give birth in a makeshift shelter in the pouring rain. The shelter also leaked. But they persevere and their faith is strengthened.
This was a historical novel and I think it was lacking a bit in something. It was interesting but also not quite , I don't know...anyway I probably won't encourage my son to read it. I found it at DI while in Utah and it looked like a good book about a Mormon boy for a Mormon boy to read. oh well.