Where to start? I guess we'll start with Christmas! Our camera died at about this time, so I'm sorry to say that I have no pictures for this year. You'll just have to use your imagination. Christmas was glorious, as always! This was the first Christmas in two years that my brother Sam has been home to celebrate with The Fam seeing as he was in Spain serving his mission last year. We were afraid that Ky wouldn't be able to make it from Boise with all the snow, but he came the day before Christmas, and that made the holidays great already! As usual, it was an adventure with lots of interesting TV shows playing (curtesy of Ky-D) and happy-making conversation. It was so good to be all together for Christmas! We only missed Anton, Syd, and Isabelle who didn't come to our house until later on Christmas day. It was a great Christmas, and I've really enjoyed everything I got; even thought I didn't feel like I deserve it.
So what has the rest of my break consisted of? Haha... take a wild guess. Wow. You're good. I've read a plethora of different books this break, and of course, I have to comment a little bit on at least each of them. I'll try to remember the order I read them in.
First, I read a Robin McKinley book. I've always enjoyed McKinley's work, but after
reading her book Sunshine, I wasn't sure I wanted to read this Chalice. I am vastly grateful that I did! It was... beautiful. Amazing. I can't even explain it. It was strange, creative, and absolutely tremendous. I related really well to the two main characters, and loved what the book said about leadership and orginality. For my full, breathless review, go here.
After I read Chalice, I read the book I got for Christmas: The Princess and
the Hound which is by Mette Ivie Harrison, the other author who critiqued my writing when I went to that writing workshop this summer. I loved this book, too! It was refreshing to read a "romance" from a guy's point of view, adn I loved the main character. The story was original and unpredictable. There was this very large component of animal magic that created the whole setting and story that I absolutely adored. I would recommend this book to fantasy lovers and dog lovers!I've hearing a lot about a certain series lately, so I dicided to check it out of
the library. I read hte first book The Faerie Path, and let's just say I was not impressed. In fact, I can only describe it as absolutely horrific. It was like watching a bad movie with horrible acting and a scary script. Everything sounded so forced and immature. The story was not original. It was just all around a bad book. I wouldn't suggest it to anyone. I read the first one in three hours and was so disgusted that I decided not to make myself suffer through the other two books in the series.So, by this point I was depressed because I had run out of books to read. I've been
on a Joan Bauer fix lately, and all I wanted was to read her books. Joan Bauer is one of my favorite authors of all time. Her books are generally short and full of humor, but they always convey a deep meaning that usually deals with family. She is a master at writing comedy, and I admire her so mcuh. Anyway, so I reread the one book I have my her and ordered three more off of Amazon. The book I read is called Backwater. In all of Bauer's books, the main character has a very distinctive quality or talent that sets them apart. In Backwater, it's Ivy's love for history that sets her apart. She's working on putting together all of her family history, and it takes her on a journey into the mountains to find her hermit aunt. Hard to explain, but it is absolutely hilarious! One of my very favorites!After enjoying Backwater, I finally picked up a Mary Stewart book
my mom suggested to be nearly a year ago. I can't believe I was so dumb to wait to read Nine Coaches Waiting! This has quickly become one of my favorite books in the whole wide world! It has a very French feel to it seeing as it takes place in France, and ultimately, it is a supenseful mystery with a bit or romance etched in there naturally. I love old-fashioned writing, so I ate this book up quickly. Mary Stewart's rich descriptions and raw writing style fit so well with my inner reader. I suggest this book to any mystery lovers! It is truly amazing! Oh! But I do have to expound very quickly on my very favorite thing about the book. So, it's relationships that push a book forward, right? It's not conflict or plot: those all make up a story, but it's the relationships in a book that propel it and make people really want to read it. Of course, the main relationship in this book was between the main character and the rogue Raoul, but at the end of the book, that wasn't the relationship that mattered. In the end, the relationship that propelled the whole book was the one between the governness (the main character) and Philippe, the boy she was a governness for. It added endless depth to the story that I don't think could've been found anywhere else. As a write, I was very impressed!Well, I think that about sums up the books I read. I swear I missed a couple, but obviously they didn't compare with these! Now on to New Years Eve which I spent at the Tristake dance. That was fun enough.
Is it not so weird to think that it is now officially 2009? I can hardly fathom it! Although, maybe now I'll start putting the right date on all of my papers at school. I've been writing 2009 for almost three months now. On one very off day, I even put 2003 on one of them. :| Well, one of my resolutions for this year is to use my time more efficiently, so I'm going to wrap this blog up. Remember, if you have any book suggestions, be sure and tell me! I need some more to read!
No comments:
Post a Comment