Twilight

Twilight is the first in a series about vampires. These vampires are peculiar due to the fact that they are "vegetarians"; they do not drink human blood, only that of animals. Twilight is the story of their daily life... except for one. This one is a human, named Bella. She's in love with Edward, one of the "younger" vampires, and he loves her as well. Later on in the book, another coven crosses their path, one that does drink human blood. When they see Bella in the midst of a coven of vampires, they assume she's a snack. They make for her, but Edward moves to protect her. Unfortunately, this sets James, the hunter of the group, after her. In the end, they end up in Phoenix, where James almost kills her. Edward saves Bella before James begins to drink her blood, bu he does manage to bite her. The venom from his bite would have changed her, had Edward also not sucked the venom out of her (like with a rattlesnake bite), and excercised control over his thirst. So, yay. It all ends happily, besides Bella having a few broken ribs and a broken arm, and Edward acting rather... morose.

Mystery on Echo Ridge, by Mary C. Jane

I just finished reading Mystery on Echo Ridge by Mary C. Jane. It is a loan from Hannah, given to her by some relation of hers i think, and apparently a DISCARD of the Adler Elementary School Library.

There are many things going for this book. It's a mystery story for children (fourth or fifth graders i suppose?) starring a boy, his best friend, and his sister. It's copyright 1959; there is a spooky old mansion that was empty for a long time; and it takes place in November. The plot: the boys are determined to solve the mystery of who stole the money from the rich man when he died, in order to clear the best friend's father so that he won't be shamed into moving his family to another town.

My main complaint is that i prefer girls' mysteries. There's a sister but she's a tomboy. But it was fun to read and it only took me an hour anyway.

Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery

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Anne of Green Gables in the heart-warming story of a young orphan who is adopted by a brother and sister who live on Prince Edward Island (Canada). Although they originally wanted a boy, when Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert met Anne, "spelt with an 'E' ", she became an irreplacable part of their lives. Anne Shirley is a red-headed, gray-eyed dreamer, whose greastest woe is her hair, as well as her freckles. In this first book of an 8-book series about Anne's life, she is introduced to life on P.E.I. As well as attending school, Anne gets herself into various "scrapes", including a scene where she is forced to accept rescue from her arch-rival, Gilbert Blythe, who earned her eternal enmity by calling her "Carrots" on account of her red hair. Another one of Anne's "scrapes" occurs when she, longing for hair "as black as a raven's wing", buys some hair dye from an Italian peddler. Unfortunately, this dye, which was "guaranteed" to turn her hair balck, actually turns it a hideous shade of green. Anne is forced to let Marilla chop off all of the now-green hair, leaving her shorn and unhappy. One more dilemma that Anne gets herself into

happens when she invites her "bosom friend", Diana Barry, over for an elegant tea. Sadly, Anne, not knowing the difference, gives Dianna currant wine instead of raspberry cordial. Diana becomes drunk, stumbles home, and proceeds to be sick in the Barry garden. Her mother, convinced that Anne have her alcohol purposely, forbids Diana to be friends with Anne. Later, this harsh sentence is retracted when Anne saves Minnie May, Diana's younger sister, from dying of croup. All in all, this book is chock-full of good old-fashioned values. It's a very comfortable story, and one that you will want to read again and again. I highly recommend this book!

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

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After reading various excerpts from The Joy Luck Club in English classes, i finally got around to reading the entire thing. This well-known bestseller is centered on four Chinese mothers and their American daughters, and the ways in which they finally learn to understand each other. June, who begins and ends the book, must grow to understand her recently deceased mother as she prepares to go to China to meet her long-lost twin sisters in place of their mother, who had spent her life searching for them.

As the mothers recall their youth in China, their mothers, the ways they found strength, and the hope they had, the daughters recall their own sorrows and pressures as children in California. The daughters grow up to face unhappy marriages, divorce, and introducing a fiance to a mother for whom no one could ever be good enough, they struggle against their mothers reactions and manipulations. Meanwhile, the mothers marvel over and ache from how little their daughters understand them, and how awkwardly their hopes for their daughters translated into their lives as adults. By the end of the book, each daughter finally begins to understand her mother, sometimes in very subtle ways; but their new insight into who their mother is gives them each new insight into who they themselves are. The book begins with an expression of enormous hope; life is difficult, but the telling of each family's tale ends with hope, too.

I had a slightly hard time sorting out who was whose daughter and who is she married to, and had to check the little mother-daughter chart at the beginning of the book quite often. But even so, each tale is fascinating and powerful; i especially enjoyed the mothers' stories of their lives in China. I recommend it.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

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Ella Enchanted is your basic twisted story of Cinderella, but definitely my favorite so far. The story takes place in the imaginary land of Frell, ruled by King Jerrold and Queen Daria. This book starts off with Ella being given a gift of obedience by the fairy Lucinda. Lucinda does not realize what a curse this truly was,("That fool of a fairy did not intend to lay a curse on me. She meant to bestow a gift.")and when Ella's mother and cook Mandy beg her to take it back she simply laughs at them, thinking she's given a wonderful gift.

Ella, for having to be obidient, is a rather stubborn girl. She tries to see how far she can get before having to comply with the curse many times.

Sadly Ella's mother dies when she is 15. Her father remarries, and her step-mother brings along with her two obnoxious daughters. Ella meets the prince Char and befriends him and a unspoken romance begins to kindle between the two. Then Ella is sent off with her step sisters-Hattie and Olive-to finishing school. Ella becomes friends an Aythorian, Areida, but Hattie figures out Ella's secret and forbids her to talk to Areida again. Ella is devastated and runs away to try to find the fairy Lucinda. She battles ogres and goes to a giant's wedding and finally does find Lucinda, but to no avail.

Her father is there and brings her back home and tries to marry her off. He is unsuccessful and goes on a long business trip. The evil stepmother of course treats Ella like a servant now that her husband is gone. Ella and Char begin to exchange letters, but she hides the fact that she is now a servant in her own household. They fall in love of course but Ella realizes what a threat she would be to the kingdom with her curse so she sends a letter to Char saying that she is married. He returns to Frell from an extended trip, and 3 masked balls are thrown in his honor. Mandy, who we discover is a fairy herself, helps Ella go to the balls. She goes under the name of Lela, and the prince is quite taken with her. As all the Cinderella stories go, on the third night she wears a glass slipper and loses it while running home. Char chases after her and the normal scene plays out and he asks her to marry him. The curse of obedience battles her good sense, and she ends up defeating the curse and saying no. Rid of the curse, she marries Char, and they of course live happily ever after.

I do recommend this book, for I've read it many times and never grown tired of it. I do not however recommend the movie because it was poorly done, and the only things that hadn't changed were the names.

Bloody Jack: Being An Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, by L.A. Meyer

Bloody Jack, by L.A. Meyer

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Bloody Jack is a rip-roaring tale of adventure, intrigue, and survival of the fittest. Mary, or little Mary as she is known to her gang, is an orphan in one of the street-urchin gangs of 18th century London. Her family is killed by the plague, and their bodies are carted away by Muck, the "ghoul", who brings bodies to scientists for study. All the poor of London know that their bodies will eventually belong to "science", and will be carted off in the same way. Mary is determined that this will not be so. When the leader of their gang, Rooster Charlie, is murdered by Muck, Mary strips him of his clothes (an urchin tradition which shows some form of respect), and passes herself off for a boy. Eventually, she winds up at the docks, where a Royal Navy ship is preparing to sail. Mary, or Jack as she has named herself, decides that she wishes to be on that ship. Whilst a large group of boys are clamoring for passage, she calls out that she can read. This allows her to become a ship's boy, along with 4 others. They become good friends, for 3 out of the 4 are street urchins like Jacky. The 4th, James, whose name is shortened to Jaimy. is from a noble family that has hit hard times. The 5 of them perform duties as ship's boys, enjoying their work. They are all taught by "sea dads", sailors who show them the ropes of a Royal Navy ship. Not long after Jacky boards, they come across their first pirate ship. The crew, including the ship's boys, board. A pirate is about to run Jaimy through and make off with the treasure, but Jacky shoots him, and is drenched in the resulting blood, thus earning "him" the nickname, "Bloody Jack." Later, she is accosted by a vile sodomist named Sloat. In self-defense, she sticks her shiv into him, to "give him a little poke, get him off me." This "little poke" is actually a fatal wound, and Sloat goes over the side. Eventually, Jacky is cleared of guilt and is not sentenced to death by hanging, which is her greatest fear. Eventually, Jaimy is told, by Jacky, that she is, in fact, female. A budding romance results, and Jaimy promises to marry Jacky later on. When the Dolphin, their ship, fights the Pirate LeFavre and is damaged, Jacky is hoisted up, as the smallest crew member, on a kite. Before Jacky goes up, the captain tells her, "When your feet next touch land, it will be as Midshipman Jack Faber!" This is an honor that Jacky has been longing for: unfortunately, her kite's anchorage system is faulty. The purpose was merely scientific, but Jacky ends up without an anchor and stranded on an island. Eventually, both the Dolphin and LeFavre meet at this island. LeFavre takes Jacky hostage, and soon everyone knows she is a girl. She is hung almost to death by the pirates, and Jaimy is barely able to revive her. She is then put in the brig, nad it is decided that she will be sent to the Lawson Peabody School for Young Ladies in Boston. Jaimy promises to come get her soon, and the story ends with Jacky leaving the ship to cheers and applause for the "most beautiful middy (midshipman) to ever grace the decks of His Majesty's Navy!"

Eeeee!

Ah, yokatta, Mishka-chan! I just read your reading list, and Oliver Twist is on it! :D Hurray!

By the way, I've read about 1/2 the books on there. -_-'

*The Time Traveler's Wife* by Audrey Niffenegger

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I read The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger during my flight to Japan. It's an interesting premise: the main character involuntarily time-travels, causing him many related difficulties; but the main theme of the book is the love story between the time traveler and his wife, Clare. The book kept my interest on the long flight and the love story aspect brought forth all of the emotions that love stories do. However, some things didn't sit right with me.

The book is written in first person, alternating point of view between the two main characters. It's written well, in a literary style, with the characters making many literary references, and probably artistic and musical ones too; they often went over my head. However, certain um... encounters between the two main characters were written in such an indelicate, boring way that they didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the narrative very well at all. It's almost as if the author handed her manuscript to an uncouth high school boy to write those scenes. Would the characters really describe these things in that way?

I obviously didn't expect them to, but i don't know. I would have thought they'd be slightly more creative, but i also feel that my impression of these characters was not as clear as it should have been. And actually, i didn't grow to like them all that much. Some of the minor characters intrigued me. And i related with Henry and Clare in their love and felt for them in their tragedies (except i did find that baby part a bit annoying), but after thinking on the book a while i came away mostly indifferent to them.

And finally, the time travel. It's a curious concept, and i suppose the author handled it fairly well. But all the self-fulfilling circles are hard to live with -- Henry does something because he saw himself doing it -- and reminded me often of a certain Star Wars and Sailor Moon crossover fan-fiction group i happen to be fond of, which for some reason also happens to be fond of time travel.

Would i recommend it? Not particularly. Certainly not to you lollipop girls. But it is interesting, and if you happen to be stuck on a plane to Asia, it's not a bad read.

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
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Pride and Prejudice has a well thought-out title, which sums up the essence of this classic novel. The story is of one Elizabeth Bennet, or Lizzy. Her story takes place in 18th century England, a time of balls, gowns, and gossip. Elizabeth has 4 other sisters: Jane, the eldest, Mary, the 3rd eldest, Lydia, the second youngest, and Katharine (or Kitty, as she is most often referred to), the youngest. Mr. Bennet is a man who enjoys his own wit, and takes pleasure in teasing Mrs. Bennet about her ever-fluttering nerves. Mrs. Bennet's life ambition is to marry her daughters well. So, when Mr. Bingley lets Netherfield ("Netherfield is let at last!"), she is in raptures over the prospective match for one of her daughters. To make a long review short, Mr. Bingley falls in love with Jane, but is pulled away from the "unwise" match by his two sisters and his friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy. The irony is that Darcy originally dubbed Elizabeth as "not handsome enough to tempt me", but she seemed to grow on him. Of course, his comment made her loathe him, and assume that he felt that same as he had at their first meeting. Another reason Lizzy has to hate Darcy is one Mr. Wickham. Wickham, who has supposedly been wronged by Darcy by having "the living that I should have had" taken aaway, inveigles his way into Lizzy's good graces. Anyways, Bingley leaves, along with Darcy, and one ammumes that we will see neither hide not hair of them again, although there is a powerful "feeling in Darcy's breast towards her." Lizzy decided to visit Charlotte Collins, her odious cousin's wife. (Said cousin originally proposed to Lizzy, and switched to Charlotte when rejected.) Lizzy travels to Huntsford, where she encounters the formidable Lady Catharine, and *gasp* Darcy, as well as his cousin, Col. Fitzwilliam. Darcy, after attempting to keep his rising passion at bay, proposes to Elizabeth, who is floored by the unexpected question. While he is proposing, he mentions how mortifying it may have been to have "questionable connextions" such as the Bennets, were it not for his love. Lizzy, indignant and understandably furious, delivers a scathing rejection, partially based on the grounds of his arrogance, pride, and the detestable way he treated Wickham. Angered and motified, Darcy storms out, but later delivers a letter, explaining his "dealings with Mr. Wickham." The letter explains that they were childhood friends, and Wickham requested the sum of £7,000 instead of Kympton, the living set aside for him. Later, he attemps to convince Darcy's younger sister, Georgiana, to elope with him, aiming for her £35,000 inheritance. Darcy finds out in time, and dismisses Wickham. When Elizabeth reads the letter and comes to grips with it, she sees how blind and prejudiced she has been. Over time, her esteem for Darcy rises. Later that year, she goes touring the counties with her aunt and uncle, and happens upon Pemberly, the Darcy home. After being told Mr. Darcy is away for the summer, she agrees to go and see the beautiful home. When exploring, and viewing Mr. Darcy's portrait, she idly thinks to herself, "Of all this I could have been mistress." She comes across Mr. Darcy unexpectedly. His demeanor is much different than when last she saw him, and her feelings are rather different. Unfortunately, she is pulled away from her newly discovered feelings by horrible news: her yougest sister, Lydia, has eloped from Brighton with the darstardly Wickham! As she rushes home, Lizzy agonizes over the fact that she did not expose Wickham. "I, who knew what he was!" Unbeknownst to her, Darcy has set off for London, where the unmarried couple are hiding out. He forces them to marry, and then returns, with Bingley, to Netherfield. Bingley proposes to Jane after a few short days, and Darcy renews his appeal to Elizabeth for her hand in marriage. Realizing how good Darcy really is, and in love with him herself, she happily accepts. The story closes with Mrs. Bennet in joyful tears over 3 of her daughters happily married. "Oh, Mr. Bennet, God has been good to us!"

I highly recommend this book! Go read it! One of the sad things is, I wrote this review without even going to look at the book. Quotes included. -_-

Oh, by the way, if anyone is insane enough to watch the 6-hour, word-for-word, wonderfully scripted A&E Pride and Prejudice... I have it.

there's more to life than books you know

the list i'm working on, originally titled "recommended reading for the educated adult."

"books! they're calling to me..."

I'm not sure how much reading most gangs do, but the members of the Lollipop Gang tend to be avid readers. So i thought i would enjoy reading reviews and thoughts on the books my fellow gang members read, and whether or not they recommend them. Although of course, you're still welcome to just hand me sacks of books on Sunday morning that you think i ought to read. Anyway, posting guidelines to keep things organized?

♥ if you're reviewing a book, please put the title and author in the "Title" line of the blog entry.

♥ random thoughts on reading and books are okay too. title those however you'd like.

♥ all genres are welcome! if you review manga, do the entire series in one entry, though you can note in your review if #3 was awesome but #7 was the worst thing you've ever read.

♥ let's try a 5-star kind of system? how about ♥♥♥♥♥ is like the best book ever and ♥ is a total waste of time. other people who have read the book before can add their ♥s in the comments. put your ♥s at the top of the review.

♥ if you decide to review a book someone else has reviewed here before, try and add a link to their review too.

♥ at the end of your review, please say whether or not you recommend others to read this book.

That should do it. Any other thoughts?