Shannon

The first time I read the first book, I was pretty disappointed. I read it for a children's lit class my second semester in college(spring 2002), I really wanted to like it but I just didn't think it was that good. I think part of the problem was that I was trying to compare it to the fantasy that I grow up with which was mostly Narnia. I eventually heard from people whose book taste I trusted that the third and fourth books were the best ones, so I changed my expectations a bit and tried again, and by the fourth book I was really loving the characters and Goblet of Fire became my favorite. After that I reread the series from the beginning and really began to enjoy them. Order of the Phoenix was easily the weakest book in the series, I honestly think it needed some editing, but I was very happy with Half-Blood Prince. I had mixed feelings about the ending of the final book, Deathly Hallows, at first but I liked the way it turned out after I had thought about it and discussed it a bit. Another thing that I think really made this series good for me is the audiobooks read by Jim Dale. They were all so well performed that it really helped me get into the series more. By the time Deathly Hallows was being released, I was genuinely excited.

I don't know why, but I've generally shied away from books about different kinds of vampires. I read their descriptions, I think maybe I'll try it, but I never do.

This book has a movie coming out soon, and I haven't started a new series in a while. In my defense, I have a two year old.

So finally, I decided to start this book. The world has everything. Vampires! Magic! Boarding school! church, and they still have technology and seem to live in the modern world as well as their unique one.

This book was exciting and interesting. I've read a few reviews that indicate that the series improves as you go along too.

I'll read the next one.

There was a big gap between when I actually started this book and finishing it. I kind of abandoned it over the holidays. By the time I had recovered from said holidays and realized I haven't finished this book I was pretty close to the end. The end definitely grabbed me though and things were clicking into place about the story even though it had been over a month since I had read most of it. If you liked the Percy Jackson series, this is worth reading.

With all that's going on this time of year it seemed to take a while to finish this book. I liked it alot, it's a fun series with good characters and I'm looking forward to it continuing.

SpoilerThe only thing about this book that bothered me, and it bothered me through at least half of the second book was why Erec didn't think that King Piter was his father and the royal triplets were not dead. I realize with what happened after he found out that was why it was held back in the story, but it seemed like a bit of a stretch that he couldn't have guessed long before then. I had kind of assumed that he was a missing triplet at the end of the first book, but that may just be me thinking that “destined to be king” was equal to “heir to the throne” or “long lost prince”. That's the only reason this book got three stars instead of four.

Even with that factor, I really enjoyed this book. It was full of adventure, magic, friendship, etc. All the good stuff. I haven't looked to see how many more books are expected in this series, but I'm assuming there's at least one more based on how it ended and especially now that that whole question of Erec being the prince is worked out I'm really looking forward to the next volume.

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery is one of those backlist classic books I've meant to read for years. I've loved the Anne of Green Gables book series since I was a young girl, but I haven't read many of her other books. I read this mostly from an actual paperback book.

I think The Blue Castle is as good a classic romance as a Jane Austen book, though it takes place about a hundred years later.  It's one of the few adult novels that L.M. Montgomery wrote.

This book has social commentary, humor, tears, romance, and a wonderfully written cast of characters. Plus cats! This is a cat-friendly book. The chapters are short. There are 45 chapters in this book that's about 250 pages long. If you're looking for short chapters, this book has them.

 “Fear is the original sin,” wrote John Foster. “Almost all the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something. It is a cold, slimy serpent coiling about you. It is horrible to live with fear; and it is of all things degrading.”

I thought that the rose bush Valancy “attacked” at the beginning of the book would be blooming at the end, and it was.

I cried big tears at Cissy Gay's story of her baby's death, then for her own death a few pages later. 

The only problem with this romance is that Barney Snaith is perhaps the worst name for a romantic lead I've ever heard. 

I'm interested in how much detail is on the page compared to what we're supposed to understand is going on off-page. In my experience, intimacy is rarely mentioned in a book like this. A “respectable” book published in 1926. 

To “make love” means romantic speech or “sweet nothings” and seems to have no “bedroom” implications. I've read this in “older” books before, but it was especially noticeable here that this was still accurate. On the drive home after they get married, Valancy says she doesn't “want him to make love” to her, and suggests that she just wants him to talk to her like usual. 

But I wanted you to talk. I don't want you to make love to me, but I want you to act like an ordinary human being.

Then as soon as they get to the island, they have their first kiss. I think we are to understand from this first kiss, that they have an intimate physical relationship. 

Barney lifted Valancy out of the canoe and swung her to a lichen-covered rock under a young pine-tree. His arms were about her and suddenly his lips were on hers. Valancy found herself shivering with the rapture of her first kiss. “Welcome home, dear,” Barney was saying.

And a bit later, this line.
And that little kissable dent just between your collar bones.

That sounds quite intimate to me. Interestingly, none of the “marriage of convenience” style tropes such as sleeping apart happened. That's not where the romance is. A sweet and wonderful relationship is described for them, from companionship to implied physical intimacy. The conflict comes from the unknowns in his past as well as her assumed quickly approaching death. 

All this, and still Valancy does not believe he loves her. She truly thinks he's just been pitying and humoring her. This is frustrating to the reader but is not unbelievable given her emotionally abusive upbringing.

Thankfully, they sort it all out in the end.

The hypocrisy of her family! Ugh!

Reading this book was like hanging out with a group of friends and exploring New York with them for the summer.    Seasonal Vibe: Summer  Starts with a high school graduation and takes place during the summer after graduation.  Travel Location: New York City    There is a romance, but mostly this is a story about a group of friends figuring out what they love and what they want to do next. There's also a really nice theme about books and writing, with the main two characters having bonded over a beloved(fictional) children's fantasy series as kids. This is realistic YA fiction that touches on how people can use fantasy stories to navigate the real world and their relationships. There was also a theme about coding and app development that I was surprised to discover.    I started reading The Getaway List on the perfect day for me. I had just been to my youngest daughter's preschool graduation and it was the last day of school for my older two kids, with my oldest daughter singing in the choir at the promotion for her middle school's 8th graders. It had a perfect vibe for the end of the school year and looking forward to summer, and was a nice easy read for my tired mom brain. 

Rewitched was a perfect October book. It literally took place in October, and had a wonderful combination of cozy magic with darker mysterious elements. There was a small amount of romance as well, but most of it was about personal development, family, and friendship. 

Seasonal Vibe: Fall (October specifically)
Travel Location: London
Historical Time: It doesn't specify this, but I feel like this book takes place in the 1990's because pagers are mentioned.

I saw the Rewitched special edition on the Waterstones website and was so taken with the cover and adorable cat on the edges. I preordered it along with the upcoming Percy Jackson book. This edition of Rewitched is so adorable, and it was fun to track my reading progress by how far into the edge cat I was. (I'm past the ears! Now I'm at the tail!)

Rewitched Features
Witches
A Bookstore
A Cat
Lots of coffee
A Magical Mystery
Family Secrets
Best Friends
London in the Fall
A bit of romance

I think this really was the last book in the series, this time. It's funny reviewing it. When I read the first books in this series, I was 19 or 20. Now, by the magic of book time, I think I'm older than Becky. When I read Mini Shopaholic, I was pregnant with my daughter. Now she's four, but Minnie is still two years old. Funny how things work out.

The previous book wasn't my favorite, but it ended on quite a cliffhanger. Even then, it took me a while to feel “in the mood” to read this book. I think it's the fall release. Shopaholic books just don't seem like fall reading to me, I guess.

I do hope this is the finish of the series. It had better pacing than the previous book. It solved the mystery, had nice character moments, and even some actual character growth from Becky. It really seemed like the book gave closure for the series.

While reading the History Smashers book about The Mayflower, I remembered this Baby-Sitters Club book that I read as a kid. In Claudia and the First Thanksgiving, they put on a Thanksgiving play at the elementary school. They do lots of research to make it more historically accurate, but then parents get mad and make them change it to a “traditional” Thanksgiving story. They stealthily write “Censored” on all the posters.

That's what I remembered from my childhood reading of this book. But I couldn't remember what they did in the play that made people mad. I didn't have my childhood copy, so I looked up the book and downloaded the Kindle edition.

Claudia and the First Thanksgiving felt surprisingly relevant to 2021. When I was a kid, I remember wondering why adults would censor and protest a Thanksgiving play with more historical accuracy. I'm now an adult with kids, and I definitely recognized those parents who are protesting more historically accurate critiques of those who came before us. 25 years later, we're still having the same problems.

As far as what enraged parents and some faculty about their Thanksgiving play? They brought up women's rights. They also stated that not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving and Native Americans observe a day of mourning. They pointed out differences between then and now. They got to keep the more accurate costumes and foods. I guess those didn't anger the parents.

I'm actually looking at the book cover right now, and wondering if the cover artist read it. Lol.

I hadn't read a Baby-sitters Club book since middle school, and didn't have super high expectations for Claudia and the First Thanksgiving to hold up for an adult, but this book was kind of amazing. I remembered a surprising amount of weird details, like when Claudia decides to stir marmalade into her oatmeal, but also considers the option of grape jelly.

One thing that surprised me a little bit was the release date. Claudia and the First Thanksgiving was published in November of 1995, when I would have been in 7th grade. I'm guessing that I must have read this book very soon after its release. I think I started reading BSC books in 4th grade and kept reading them through 8th grade, so this was relatively late in my Baby-sitters Club reading era. I had definitely read at least one hundred Baby-sitters Club books in my life by age 14. I definitely learned about lots of things from BSC books, including diabetes and autism. Re-reading this book reminded me of the idea that maybe we could understand each other better if only everyone read more books.

This is the second graphic novel memoir that I've read. The other was George Takei's They Called Us Enemy.    Some thoughts about Persepolis  • A story of something in the historically recent past that I knew very little about  • Told from a unique perspective  • The graphic novel format is interesting and tells the story at a fast pace  • A sad, difficult story with violence discussed  • A cautionary tale about fundamentalism  • Builds empathy for the people inside countries with oppressive governments who are engagedin war    I started reading Persepolis when there was a discussion about it among our district's school board. The book had been approved by our literature review committee and gone to a test class. The last step was for the board to give final approval, but some school board members expressed concern about derogatory language toward women. In the end, they approved the book.  I'm glad that this book will be part of core curriculum for 11th grade students.    The derogatory language? This happened maybe three times and always from the “bad guys”.