The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Huh?

I have quickly realized that I do not care for early twentieth century American literature. I just don't see what makes these authors so famous. There's no plot, main characters that I can't stand, and paragraphs that drag on and on and on... Seriously, I just don't get it. But one of my BFF's (the same who was disappointed with Forest Born) highly recommended this book for my book club. She described it as 1920s Seinfeld. Who wouldn't want to read THAT? So we all voted for this one and I plowed my way through it. I just couldn't get into it! I realize that if I were more of a literature buff I could pick this book apart and decipher what the characters and story symbolize...but I'm a mother of 2 young kids! Who has time for that? I want a story I can lose myself in, even when I only have 5 minutes to read a few pages.

Jacob Barnes is an American expatriate living in post WWI Paris. He hangs out with the most despicable (and some annoying) friends. The only way he can stand to be with them is to get drunk. So that's what they do EVERY TIME THEY ARE TOGETHER. The characters spend more time drinking than they do in plot. I think drinking IS the plot as a matter of fact. Jake is in love with the worst possible woman - Lady Brett Ashley. She sleeps with every man she meets. I guess that's why every man she meets falls in love with her. Jake introduces her to one of his friends, Robert Cohn, who falls madly in love with her and wants to marry her and make her an honest woman. Never mind that she is engaged to someone else and (I think) still not divorced from her first husband. The whole gang of friends vacation in Spain to watch the bull fights (cementing my determination NEVER to see a bull fight). With all the Brett lovers together, you can imagine that things end up in a fight, especially after Brett leaves her fiance and friends for a bull fighter. That is the basic plot, I guess. There wasn't much room for a plot with all that drinking going on.

I will admit, there were a few humorous moments, but it obviously wasn't enough to make the book worthwhile to me.

Skip this one. Read some Dickens instead.

Forest Born by Shannon Hale

Imaginitive.

I'm sure you all know by now that I love Shannon Hale (at least her children's books). And Forest Born was no exception. This is number 4 in a series of books that have come to be known as "The Books of Bayern." The Goose Girl was the first (and one of my all time favorite books). Then there was Enna Burning and River Secrets. And I hope you've read all of these because they are definitely fun, compelling, and creative books, and also because I don't want to spend this entry writing about those books to catch you up with this one!

Forest Born follows the adventure of Isi, Enna, Dasha, and new character Rin (Razo's sister) and is told from Rin's point of view. Rin grew up in the forest of Bayern and has always tried to blend in and not be noticed. One day, she realizes she has the ability to persuade people to do what she wants (if you've read the other books I'm sure you're remembering Selia and her gift right now). She hates the way this makes her feel and hates even more how it disappoints her mother, so she decides to suppress this ability and spends much of her time imitating others in order to keep her own personality locked away. At this same time Rin develops a relationship with trees. Somehow she can feel their calming influence. One day Rin unleashes her persuasion on a neighbor and immediately hates herself. She also loses the ability to feel calm through the trees, feeling anger and self-loathing instead. When Razo comes to visit, she takes him up on his offer to escape the forest and work for the queen for a while.

Shortly after leaving the forest, the queen's (Isi's) toddler son is kidnapped and Rin, Isi, Enna, and Dasha must save him and the kingdom. Forest Born tells mostly of the girls' adventure, but it is also a "classic coming of age" story for Rin. Through the adventure she learns to accept her abilities and herself and even learn to use her gifts to help others. All in all, Forest Born was a fun and feel good book.

So I am definitely not a fan of fantasy books, just not my thing. But these "Books of Bayern" are easily some of my favorite books. I love the idea of gifts of speaking...fire speaking, water speaking, tree speaking...so clever. And I like the exciting stories. I always read these books quickly because I don't want to put them down. But more than anything, I love Shannon Hale's words. The way she writes is so clean and fluid. And by clean I don't mean not smutty (although her books aren't), I mean not flowery. Geez, I am really struggling to explain this! Hale has a serious talent for writing young fiction. If you compare her writing to Stephenie Meyer, you too will wonder how Meyer ever got published. (And I get REALLY angry every time I see a Stephenie Meyer review on Hale's books.) Anyway, I loved Forest Born (but not as much as Goose Girl and River Secrets, but definitely more than Enna Burning). I love how I get lost in the story and almost feel like I am Rin, and it's not often that one finds a book like that.

I have a really good friend whose taste in books is very similar to mine. She loves Hale as much as I do! But she didn't like Forest Born as much. My mom (who got me started on Hale's books) didn't either. My mom thought Rin's character wasn't developed enough. And my friend thought there was too much internal dialogue. I agree with both. The internal dialogue (Rin's thoughts) got really lengthy and took up way too many pages. I was kind of annoyed with it by the end. And as far as an underdeveloped character, I thought this really worked for Rin. Her character was underdeveloped because she was still deciding who she was.

So even with my annoyance, I still really enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it. But if you haven't read any of the other "Books of Bayern," read those first. You'll be lost without them. But mostly you'll just be glad you read them!

The Manny Files by Christian Burch

Original.

There are varying degrees of funny books. Some are just a little funny and one corner of your mouth curls up once in a while. Some books are moderately funny and you find yourself snickering once in a while - mostly with a hard breath out your nose. Some books you actually chuckle at. And very rarely do you find a book where you actually laugh out loud. The Manny Files was one of those books. I actually laughed out loud, like, 2 times! The rest of the time I was definitely chuckling. Funny stuff...

Keats Dalinger is a completely forgettable third-grader (according to himself). His oldest sister, Lulu, is great at everything. Keats' teacher even keeps a closet full of her projects to use as examples. His second sister India, is a young fashionista. Everyone loves her sense of style. And his baby sister Belly (full name Mirabelle) is crazy, in the cute way. Keats isn't good at anything, is the shortest in his class, and gets teased by the popular boy in his class. The bright spot in Keats' life is the manny (the male nanny). The manny does fun and exciting things and wears cashmere socks! When Keats' parents go to Mexico for their anniversary the manny hangs pinatas from each kids' ceiling and wears a sombrero. When Keats' Grandmother breaks her hip and comes to stay with the family, she quickly befriends the Manny. Every day when Grandma watches her soap operas, the Manny dresses her up as a different character and they reenact the plots. The conflict comes when Lulu decides she hates the manny and keeps a notebook called "The Manny Files" to write down all the crazy things he does. Keats has to learn to stick up for himself and the manny to save him. Although, I wouldn't call that the main plot. I think this book is mainly about Keats learning to find himself.

One of my favorite parts of this story happens after Keats' class goes on a field trip to the local swimming pool. While Keats is swimming the kid that bullies him steals his Scooby Doo underwear. On their way back to school, the bully wears the underpants on his head - and of course Keats' mother has written him name on them in big black letters so everyone can see whose they are. (Of course I thought this was disgusting. Doesn't that kid realize those are DIRTY underpants? Gross!) That night Keats tells the manny everything that happened and of course the manny makes everything better:

"When I walked through the living room, Grandma's bed was empty and her wheelchair was gone. She was in the dining room with everyone else. They screamed, "Surprise!!!" when I walked in. Everybody was sitting around the dining-room table. Grandma was wheeled up next to Lulu.

They all had underwear on their heads.

Even Lulu, who hates the word underwear.

Mom had on a pair of Dad's boxers.

Dad had one of Mom's bras.

Lulu had a pair of India's flowered panties.

India had Lulu's Tuesday underwear.

Belly had DecapiTina's little white ones hanging off one ear.

Grandma had on one of Belly's nighttime pull-up diapers.

The manny had a pair of boxer briefs.

And Uncle Max was wearing a pair of Grandma's big lacy ones, the ones that my sisters had held up and laughed at when they unpacked Grandma's suitcase.

The manny handed me a pair of my own Scooby Doo underwear to wear on my head.

We ate the entire dinner that way. Dad even answered the door with Mom's bra on his head. It was Lucy, our next-door neighbor, selling Girl Scout Cookies.

He bought four boxes of Thin Mints."

I love it! And there are lots more laughable moments.

But even though it was funny, in the end, I'm not sure I can say I loved this book. There is suspicion through the whole book (for the reader, not Keats) that the manny is gay. Which - fine, whatever, but for a conservative like me, it almost seemed like the point of the book was to say that it's okay to be gay - gay people are more interesting. And I almost think the author was trying to show Keats as a little homosexual. I am not going to go into a discussion about it being okay to be gay, I just didn't like the attempt to persuade young readers. That is mom and dad's job, right?

So I would say, if you're looking for a good laugh, read The Manny Files. Just don't let your kids read it until you're ready for a conversation on homosexuality. :)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Classic.

I assume you all know the story. Mary is a 9 year old girl who grew up in India. Her parents didn't care for her so she was given everything she wanted by her ayah to keep her quiet. So she grew up a strong willed and sour child. At the beginning of the story Mary's parents die of Cholera and she is sent to Yorkshire, England to live with her uncle. In her new home, Mary learns of a garden that has been walled up and locked. She makes it her goal to find the garden and bring it back to life, which she does with the help of Dickon (her first friend ever). Mary makes another discovery in her melancholy house - Colin, her cousin, who is sick and bed-ridden and just as sour and strong willed as Mary. This story is about how the garden changes Mary and Colin both physically and mentally.

I remember when I was young watching a movie of The Secret Garden. It's the one done by Hallmark with Colin Firth playing the grown up Colin. It always kind of creeped me out. Especially the scene when Mary discovers her dead parents in her house. And then the creepy crying she hears in Misselthwaite Manor. The book isn't nearly as creepy, which I was glad of. But then again, I don't think it was as compelling either.

Reading this book made me so excited for spring. I want to plant a flower garden myself! I loved reading about all the flowers the children plant and how they took care of them. Just one question: how did these two recluse children ever know how to take care of a garden? I know they had Dickon, but before Dickon comes along, Mary somehow knows what to do. I dunno...But I loved the characters. I loved reading about Mary changing and growing - becoming more kind and understanding. And Dickon is the kind of boy we'd all like to know. I have to admit, I did get annoyed with Colin, but I could look past that because the other characters were so good. Martha, Mrs. Medlock, Ben Wetherstaff...all so real.

Because this is a children's book, it was a quick and easy read. I don't know how many out there enjoy reading children's literature as much as I do, but I would recommend this one anyway because it's a classic! How can you consider yourself well read and not have read this one!

Interesting note: I always thought that The Secret Garden and The Little Princess were very similar, but I didn't realize that Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote them both. So there you go. I guess I'll have to read The Little Princess next.

Bottom line: read it. Enjoy it. Dream about a flower garden in this dreary January weather.

The Princess Diaries, by Meg Cabot

Does 3 weeks count as soon?

Cute.

You've seen the movie right? The Disney one with Anne Hathaway? Well even if you've seen the movie, this book is worth reading. There are some key differences between the two. You know how sometimes you read a book then see the movie and are ALWAYS disappointed? Or maybe you'll see the movie first and then read the book and are once again disappointed? Well I must say that this was the first time that I wasn't disappointed. I saw both movies years ago when they were first released and they're cute and fun. The book is cute and fun too, but a little more edgy (a really little because after all, the book was written for young girls.)

Mia Thermopolis is a high school freshman that just wants to blend in. She doesn't want to be really popular, or really dorky, just somewhere in the middle. Her parents have long been divorced, her father living in Europe. So when she finds out her father is actually a prince, and she a princess and heir to the throne of Genovia, she's embarrassed. At first she hides this from everyone but later learns to embrace it and find herself in the process. A slightly more glamorous than usual coming of age story. The book I read was a collection of the first three books - I think there are like 9 or something...and ends with Mia on her way to Genovia for the first time as princess.

In the book, Mia's father is still alive. He has just survived testicular cancer and cannot have any more children, so Mia officially becomes the heir. Also, the book takes place in New York City, which I think adds a fun element. One other major difference, Mia's mother is dating Mia's algebra teacher and quickly becomes pregnant, so there's that horror for Mia to deal with too. Also, I thought the grandmother in the book was much more of a horror than Julie Andrews was in the movie, but seriously, how can Julie help but be anything but charming? And remember that part in the movie where Mia forgets to show up for her best friend Lily's cable show? Well that doesn't happen in the books. At least not in the first three books. The conflict comes in when Lily finds out through other sources that Mia is a princess. Mia never can bring herself to tell Lily.

My favorite thing about this book was how frank Mia's character is (at least in her diary) which makes the book really funny. I found myself chuckling out loud a number of times. If Mia were a teenager in 2010 she'd have a princess blog and be the toast of blog town with at least 50 followers! :)

All in all, I'd say this was a fun, easy read. I would definitely recommend this one - although not to anyone under 11 or so (Mia talks a bit about making out and sex), but it was still pretty clean. Just not as squeaky as the Disney movie. If you do decide to read this one, make sure you have at least all three to begin with. I was totally shocked when the first book ended, it just didn't feel like an ending. I would have been TOTALLY disappointed if it had ended there.

So, if you're looking for a good, clean, easy and humorous read check this one out!