The Gift - Richard Paul Evans

Title: The Gift
Author: Richard Paul Evans
Pages: 335
Published: 2007
Genre: Christmas
Rating: 4/5

Nathan Hurst hated Christmas.  For the rest of the world it was a day of joy and celebration; for Nathan it was simply a reminder of the event that destroyed his childhood until a snowstorm, a cancelled flight, and an unexpected meeting with a young mother and her very special son would show him that Christmas is indeed the season of miracles.

Reason that I read this book: For the 2010 Holiday Reading Challenge and the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge. 


Thoughts: It was a nice diversion from the heavier material that I had been reading and took me a couple of days to finish.  I really enjoyed the book and was one of the better ones of his that I have read this Christmas season.  It was an interesting premise and I quite liked it.

Bottom line: Not disappointed by the book, in fact I was impressed more than I expected.  A lovely book.

A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth - Charles Dickens

Title: A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth
Author: Charles Dickens
Pages: 304 pages
Published: 2004
Genre: Classic, Christmas
Rating: 4/5

Generations of readers have been enchanted by Dickens’s A Christmas Carol—the most cheerful ghost story ever written, and the unforgettable tale of Ebenezer Scrooge’s moral regeneration. Written in just a few weeks, A Christmas Carol famously recounts the plight of Bob Cratchit, whose family finds joy even in poverty, and the transformation of his miserly boss Scrooge as he is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future.

From Scrooge’s “Bah!” and “Humbug!” to Tiny Tim’s “God bless us every one!” A Christmas Carol shines with warmth, decency, kindness, humility, and the value of the holidays. But beneath its sentimental surface, A Christmas Carol offers another of Dickens’s sharply critical portraits of a brutal society, and an inspiring celebration of the possibility of spiritual, psychological, and social change.

This new volume collects Dickens’s three most renowned “Christmas Books,” including The Chimes, a New Year’s tale, and The Cricket on the Hearth, whose eponymous creature remains silent during sorrow and chirps amid happiness.

Reason that I read this book: I read it for a couple of Christmas reading challenges and for a reading challenge on Goodreads.  I also read it because it was the Christmas season and I wanted to read something with a Christmas theme.

Thoughts:  Overall, it is a very good collection of three of the five Christmas stories that Dickens wrote over a 5 or 6 year period in the 1840s.  I really enjoyed the first and the final stories, but for some reason the middle story didn't really capture my imagination.  Not that it is a wonderful story, but I just felt that The Chimes dragged a little bit and didn't seem to have the same sort of vibe that A Christmas Carol had.  I suppose it doesn't help that The Chimes isn't as well known as A Christmas Carol and the expectations were probably higher than I had for The Cricket on the Hearth.


Bottom Line: Overall, it is a good overview of 3 of the 5 Christmas stories and while it does include A Christmas Carol, which is important, I just felt that the expectations of the final stories were probably a little too high and that the writing for the second Christmas story wasn't exactly what I was expecting and the final story was nice and light and shorter than the previous two stories.

The Kitchen House - Kathleen Grissom

Title: The Kitchen House
Author: Kathleen Grissom
Published: 2010
Pages: 384
Genre: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5

Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin.
Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk.

Reason that I read this book:  I read it for a challenge on Goodreads.  I had intended to read it in November, but got around to it this past month.

Thoughts:  The storyline and the writing are wonderful for most of the book and then for the last 30 pages, it seems to drop off.  Maybe I was expecting too much due to the amazing reviews that I have read about the book, but I honestly didn't like the ending of the book; felt that it was too rushed and there really was no closure as to what happened to the characters that I had spent almost 400 pages learning about.  Almost seemed as though Ms. Grissom was forced to end the book with the ending that the book had.  I was just a bit disappointed and had really hoped that the book had ended better than it had.  I suppose it didn't help that I needed to get the book done and return it to the library.

Bottom line:  While the first 350 pages are wonderful and the storytelling is really great, I found the last 30 was a bit lacking.  I really wanted to like the book at the end as much as I had at the beginning, but whatever the reason, I found the ending to be a bit rushed and there not being a lot of closure for the main characters that I had become attached to, especially Lavinia. 

Maus 1 - Art Speigleman

Title: Maus 1: A Survivor's Tale: My father bleeds history
Author: Art Spiegleman
Published 1986
Pages: 159
Genre: Memoir, Non-fiction, Graphic Novels
Rating: 4/5

Maus is the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father, his father's terrifying story, and History itself. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiarity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive.

Reason I read this book: Read this book because I am doing it for a few challenges on Goodreads.


Thoughts: I really liked it.  I hadn't read the book in 9 years and forgot how powerful the book is.  While it is a lot like Holocaust survivor stories, it isn't a lot like them.  There is an uniqueness that the story is told and how it is expressed.  It is a brilliant book.  I probably should read the second part of the book, but I have other books that I need to read.


Bottom Line:  It is an excellent book and coupled with Maus II, it is a very powerful story that probably wouldn't have been as quite as powerful if it had been written in prose form.

Revolution - Jennifer Donnelly

Title: Revolution

Author: Jennifer Donnelly

Published: 2010

Pages: 472

Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult

Rating: 4/5

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She's angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she's about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights' most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn't want-and couldn't escape.

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine's diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There's comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal's antique pages-until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine's words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.

Reason that I read this book:  I read the the book because I had heard a lot of praise about this book and when I read the blurb about the book, I was intrigued.

Thoughts: It was a really good book.  I wouldn't say great book, but it is really well written.  I like how the author intertwined the two stories and how they paralled each other.  Unlike some books in which they go back and forth, this was really well done and it was really worth the effort.   While some can get you invested in one storyline, the author had the ability to hook you into both of the stories, which is difficult to do, even though while in the midst of one, you were curious as to what was happening in the other storyline.

Bottom line: This book was really good and one of the best of the year.  It also really highlights where Young Adult literature has come and how sophisticated the stories have become in recent years.  Recommended.

The Complete Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi

Title: The Complete Persepolis
Author: Marjane Satrapi
Published: 2007
Pages: 352
Genre: Graphic novels, memoir
Rating: 3/5

Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming--both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.


Reason that I read this book: I read this book because I had really enjoyed reading Blankets by Craig Thompson and also because I wanted to read another graphic novel (I am currently up to 4 with the completion of this book).


Thoughts: I felt that the first half was a little slow, as it dealt a lot with the political aspects of living in pre-revolutionary Iran and the war itself. The story from the time she left Iran for the first time till the end of the book had much more of a flow to it and was much better than the first half of the book.  It also helped that the second half of the story was more entertaining than the first half.

Bottom line: While it was an excellent book, I felt that the first half of the book was bogged down in the politics of pre-revolutionary and revolutionary Iran and not so much on the personal side of the story, like the second half of the book focused on.  If you are interested in graphic novels like Maus or Blankets, you should try the book out.

Grace - Richard Paul Evans

Title: Grace
Author: Richard Paul Evans
Published: 2008
Pages: 316
Genre: Christmas
Rating: 4/5

She was my first kiss. My first love. She was a little match girl who could see the future in the flame of a candle. She was a runaway who taught me more about life than anyone has before or since. And when she was gone my innocence left with her.

As I begin to write, a part of me feels as if I am awakening something best left dead and buried, or at least buried. We can bury the past, but it never really dies. The experience of that winter has grown on my soul like ivy climbing the outside of a home, growing until it begins to tear and tug at the brick and mortar.

I pray I can still get the story right. My memory, like my eyesight, has waned with age. Still, there are things that become clearer to me as I grow older. This much I know: too many things were kept secret in those days. Things that never should have been hidden. And things that should have.

Reason that I read this book: For the 2010 Holiday Reading Challenge and the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge. 

Thoughts:  I actually had started reading the book about a year ago and then quit.  I picked it up this Christmas and was floored by the powerfulness of the book.  Excellent read.

Bottom line: Probably one of the better books that I have read by Evans and only hope that I am not disappointed with my next read of his. 

Alice I Have Been - Melanie Benjamin

Title: Alice I Have Been
Author: Melanie Benjamin
Published: 2010
Pages: 345
Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5

Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. But as she nears her eighty-first birthday, she knows that, to the world around her, she is and will always be only “Alice.” Her life was permanently dog-eared at one fateful moment in her tenth year–the golden summer day she urged a grown-up friend to write down one of his fanciful stories.

That story, a wild tale of rabbits, queens, and a precocious young child, becomes a sensation the world over. Its author, a shy, stuttering Oxford professor, does more than immortalize Alice–he changes her life forever. But even he cannot stop time, as much as he might like to. And as Alice’s childhood slips away, a peacetime of glittering balls and royal romances gives way to the urgent tide of war.

For Alice, the stakes could not be higher, for she is the mother of three grown sons, soldiers all. Yet even as she stands to lose everything she treasures, one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey. 

Reason that I read this book:  I read it for a challenge through Goodreads and also cause I had heard through a podcast that it was something to read.

Thoughts:  It was certainly an interesting book.  I had never heard of Alice Liddell prior to reading this book nor had I heard that Lewis Carroll was the pen name for Charles Dodgson and that Dodgson had a thing for photographing little girls in very suggestive poses, poses that some have constituted to be child pornography.  I also didn't know that the story of Alice in Wonderland was based on her prior to reading the book.


But while that was very fascinating to read and to understand the nature of their relationship prior to the break that occurred when Alice was about 11 years old and how that affected Alice and her future relationships with Queen Victoria's youngest son, Prince Leopold and her eventual husband and three sons, two of whom were killed in WWI, I found that the middle section of the book, which focused on her relationship with Prince Leopold, was very dull.  It seemed  to drag at times and it felt like it was going to never end.  The first and last sections were wonderful, as they were quick and fairly easy to get through and they weren't exactly pulling any punches as to where they were headed, but the middle section just seemed to drag in the finer details, especially since much of what supposedly happened between Alice and Rev. Dodgson is very much speculative, as any evidence of the nature of their relationship has basically been destroyed.


Bottom Line: A solid book and an interesting read, especially if one doesn't know the history between the two of them.

Finding Noel - Richard Paul Evans

Title: Finding Noel
Author: Richard Paul Evans
Published: 2006
Pages: 320 pages
Genre: Fiction, Christmas
Rating: 3/5

The Christmas season is supposed to be full of joy, but not for Mark Smart. Life had dealt him one blow after another until one snowy November night, when he finds a beautiful young woman who will change his life forever. Macy Wood has little memory of her birth parents, and memories she'd rather forget of her adopted home. A Christmas ornament inscribed with the word "Noel" is the only clue to the little sister she only vaguely remembers, a clue that will send her and Mark on a journey to reclaim her past, and her family.

Reason I read this book: For the 2010 Holiday Reading Challenge and the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge. 


Thoughts: I had read this book about 4 years ago and actually liked it.  Now, I don't know if I like it as much.  I still enjoyed the story and read things I hadn't realized had happened in the book.  Still was an enjoyable read.


Bottom Line:  A lot like what the previous two books that I have read within the last few weeks of Evans and even though I read it a few years ago, I still enjoyed the book.  Nice departure from my regular fare.

Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver

Title:  Before I Fall
Author: Lauren Oliver
Published: 2010
Pages: 372
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 4/5

What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: the world's most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High-from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life.

Instead, it turns out to be her last.

Then she gets a second chance. Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death-and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

Reason I read this book: For a reading challenge over on Goodreads, which I have subsequently gave up on.

Thoughts: It was definitely a book that needs to be read a chapter at a time, slowly going through the chapters, as the chapters each represent another time that Sam, as she is called by her friends and family, relives the day.

It does get a bit mind-numbing to relive the same day, but with the events happening differently than the next and by the end I couldn't even recall what actually had happened by the final chapter that it felt more like a dream than anything and that by the final pages of the book, I felt as though it was a surreal experience rather than what I would normally expect from a book.

Thoughts:  An interesting look at what it would be like to relive one day.  A really good read and one of the better YA books that I have read.

The Christmas List - Richard Paul Evans

Title: The Christmas List
Author: Richard Paul Evans
Published: 2009
Pages: 350
Genre: Fiction, Christmas
Rating: 3/5

Dear Reader,
When I was in seventh grade, my English teacher, Mrs. Johnson, gave our class the intriguing (if somewhat macabre) assignment of writing our own obituaries. Oddly, I don't remember much of what I wrote about my life, but I do remember how I died: in first place on the final lap of the Daytona 500. At the time, I hadn't considered writing as an occupation, a field with a remarkably low on-the-job casualty rate.

What intrigues me most about Mrs. Johnson's assignment is the opportunity she gave us to confront our own legacy. How do we want to be remembered? That question has motivated our species since the beginning of time: from building pyramids to putting our names on skyscrapers.
As I began to write this book, I had two objectives: First, I wanted to explore what could happen if someone read their obituary before they died and saw, firsthand, what the world really thought of them. Their legacy.

Second, I wanted to write a Christmas story of true redemption. One of my family's holiday traditions is to see a local production of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. I don't know how many times I've seen it (perhaps a dozen), but it still thrills me to see the change that comes over Ebenezer Scrooge as he transforms from a dull, tight-fisted miser into a penitent, "giddy-as-aschoolboy" man with love in his heart. I always leave the show with a smile on my face and a resolve to be a better person. That's what I wanted to share with you, my dear readers, this Christmas -- a holiday tale to warm your season, your homes, and your hearts.

Reason I read this book: Read this book for a Holiday Reading challenge.

Thoughts: Like the other Evans book I read a few days ago, a nice light, Christmas  read.  Especially helps when one is waiting for a Harry Potter film and when the power goes out.  While there is nothing revealing about the book other than a nice, light read, it is nice to read something like this when life gets a bit stressful and you feel like you are going crazy.

Bottom line: Just a nice read for when things are a little crazy.

Promise Me - Richard Paul Evans

Title: Promise Me
Author: Richard Paul Evans
Published: 2010
Pages: 352
Genre: Fiction, Christmas
Rating 3/5

Beth Cardall has a secret. For eighteen years, she has had no choice but to keep it to herself, but on Christmas Eve 2008, all that is about to change. For Beth, 1989 was a year marked by tragedy. Her life was falling apart: her six-year-old daughter, Charlotte, was suffering from an unidentifiable illness; her marriage transformed from a seemingly happy and loving relationship to one full of betrayal and pain; her job at the dry cleaners was increasingly at risk; and she had lost any ability to trust, to hope, or to believe in herself. Then, on Christmas Day, as she rushed through a blizzard to the nearest 7-Eleven, Beth encountered Matthew, a strikingly handsome, mysterious stranger, who would single-handedly change the course of her life. Who is this man, and how does he seem to know so much about her? He pursues her relentlessly, and only after she's fallen deeply in love with him does she learn his incredible secret, changing the world as she knows it, as well as her own destiny.

Reason I read this book:  I read this book for a Holiday Reading challenge.

Thoughts: I had read one of Evan's books a few years ago, so I knew what to expect: a light-hearted romance taking place during the Holiday season.  I honestly didn't have any sort of thoughts in regards to the book, except that it was nice to read something lighter than what I had been reading.


Bottom Line: It was nice light read after reading a couple of books that were weighing on me, both literally and figuratively.

At Home - Bill Bryson

Title: At Home: a short history of private life
Author: Bill Bryson
Published: 2010
Pages: 448
Genre: Non-fiction, History, Humor
Rating: 4/5

Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as found in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to "write a history of the world without leaving home." The bathroom provides the occasion for a history of hygiene; the bedroom, sex, death, and sleep; the kitchen, nutrition and the spice trade; and so on, as Bryson shows how each has figured in the evolution of private life. Whatever happens in the world, he demonstrates, ends up in our house, in the paint and the pipes and the pillows and every item of furniture.


Reason I read this book:  I read this book due to the fact that I had heard a podcast announcing the book back in March or April.  When I heard the description of the book, I went to my library's online catalogue and requested it.  I think I was one of the first people to get the book in their hands in my library system.


Thoughts:  The book initially appealed to me due to the fact that I am a history major and most things that have a historical bent on them I am attracted to read them.   It took me a little longer than I had really want to read the book, but other books made this a read that took a little longer than it probably would have taken me.


I quite enjoyed this book and found it a fascinating read and something that when I did get into it, I didn't want to put down.  But I also found it difficult to read it just for the sake of reading, as the information was quite dense and did require quite a bit of focus to understand where Bryson was taking us.  It was really packed with information, more than I expected, but it was an enjoyable read.  One of the things that I found the most interesting was that the manual can opener has only been in existence for 85 years and that the larder was where one stored food and that a scullery was meant for the cleaning of dishes, pots, and pans with the kitchen being the area that was done only for the cooking, at least in larger homes


It was also fascinating to find out that architecture is considered to be a relative new field and that it was only formalized in the last 150 or so years.  And that what we call a comfortable home is a relative modern concept and one that has evolved over time, especially since nobody seems to know why humans decided to set down roots and build homes as they do.


I also found it interesting that the phrase "sleep tight" came from the fact that beds used to have slats that often would need tightening from time to time and were often not the most comfortable thing in the world.  


I really quite enjoyed the book, not only because of the fact that one learned as to why we have certain things in our homes versus other items, but because one learns of the greater historical value of how things have evolved and have become commonplace.


Bottom Line:  I would recommend this book who has read a Bill Bryson book and also somebody who is curious as to why certain things are in a home and some aren't.  While he doesn't get into great detail as to why there is cupboards in your kitchen, he does give you a fascinating look into how homes have become the comfort zones that they have become.

Emma - Jane Austen

Title: Emma
Author: Jane Austen
Published: 1815
Pages: 512
Genre: Literature, Classic, English
Rating: 4/5

Beautiful, clever, rich - and single - Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protégée Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected. 

Reason I read this book:  I had initially read the book about 14 years ago when the Gwyneth Paltrow adaptation came out and really could not make sense of the book.  This time around I read it due to the fact that it was a selection that my book club had made for this latest reading.


Thoughts: The first time I had read the book, I read it when I was about 16 years old and for some reason I never really understood it.  Part of the fact was that I didn't really understand what was going on and that I didn't slow down enough to read the book with much purpose.  On this reading of Emma, I decided to take a bit more time and read and listen to a free download of the book, even though I had only a month to read the book (normally I would have at least 2 months to read the book for my bookclub).  It really helped to slow me down and actually understand what was going on in the book, especially when it came to events between characters and to understand their motivation later on.


I suppose it also helped that I had seen at least 3 different adaptations of the book, so I was able to a greater understanding of the action of the novel and also to have an understanding of what the rooms, homes, etc may look like visually as I read the book.  I sometimes find that having a visual cue for what characters, settings, etc may look like allow me to greater understand the text.  While some people can't stand watching an adaptation before reading the actual book as they sometimes feel that the way they imagined characters are ruined.  But I find an adaptation helps in understanding the book a little better, as I can better imagine what the character may sound and look like and what a particular setting may look like, especially if one can find a faithful adaptation of the novel.


While some may find Emma to be one of Austen's lesser works, due to the fact that there is not really any sort of conflict with the main female character that is found in most of Austen's other works, I found it to be one of Austen's more complicated works, as the main conflict in the novel is found in one of the background stories and could quite easily have been the basis for the novel.   Quite honestly, Emma Woodhouse is quite a dull character, as there is nothing really that complicates her life, other than trying to meddle in the lives of those around her.


At the same time, it is book that really doesn't have strong main characters, other than Mr. Knightly, who seems to be able to stand his ground more than Emma, who seems to be slightly bored and can only amuse herself by meddling in the lives of those around her.  It almost seems as though she doesn't want to put her mind to something productive and doesn't have the aptitude of having a conversation that has any sort of consequence.  Unlike Elizabeth Bennett and Elinor Dashwood, Emma Woodhouse is shallow and so is her father, whose chief concern seems to make sure that everybody lives their life like his and that there are no drafts of any sort. 


It is not only Emma that don't really have any sort of depth to their character wise, but rather a number of them, including Mrs. Elton, who seems more concerned about letting everybody know about the connections that she has in Bristol, who have a lack of depth of character, unlike some of Austen's books, where a number of characters seem to have a bit of depth to their characters.  What I would have more liked would have been the Jane Fairfax/Frank Churchill storyline and how did they meet.  I know that they met while they were at Weymouth, but the circumstances concerning their meeting is curious.


Bottom Line:   While I enjoyed Emma, it is a book that does need a second read, as there is much that can be missed, especially in regards to the storyline regarding Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax.  It is also a book that when reread, one can find different things that one missed the last time it was read.  And unlike Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility, it isn't exactly a light read, as there is much important information that can be glossed over when read.

5 - The church of Facebook; Jesse Rice

With hundreds of millions of users, social networks are changing how we form relationships, perceive others, and shape our identity. Yet at its core, this movement reflects our need for community. Our longing for intimacy, connection, and a place to belong has never been a secret, but social networking offers us a new perspective on the way we engage our community. How do these networks impact our relationships? In what ways are they shaping the way we think of ourselves? And how might this phenomenon subtly reflect a God who longs to connect with each one of us?

My opinion: It was a really good book in highlighting the positives and negatives of a social network like that of Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. It also explains why the site, Facebook, was intially created and how it evolved from there. It also gives tips as to how to manage using the site and to really think about why they are on there in the first place. While I understand the point of the book was to a Christian one, there is a lot in the book that could apply to non-Christians as well. Rating 4/5 stars

4 - Of Mice and Men; John Steinbeck

Description: An intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal; a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful.

My opinion: This was my first time reading the book and so some of the nuances of the book were lost on me, but other than that, I really liked the storyline of two men who are brought together through difficult circumstances and learn to lean on each other. It also is a tender story between two men who care about each other.

Rating 3/5 stars

3 - Sense and Sensibility; Jane Austen

Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through their parallel experience of love-and its threatened loss-the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.

My opinion: While I wouldn't consider it to be one of my favourites, it does seem to delve more deeply into the nature of human relationships and how people react to romantic relationships, whether through concealment or through experiencing them so that everybody knows them. While it had been 14 years since I had last read the book, I did find the book more enjoyable in light of seeing the BBC version that came out within the last few years. I did find that book did drag at times and that I found myself re-reading portions of the book due to the fact that I stopped and started the book too many times to count, but when I did get into a chapter that was interesting and had some flow to it, I did manage to read the book at a good clip. Overall, it was not as good as P&P or Emma, but was still pretty good.

Rating 4/5 stars

2 - Not My Daughter ; Barbara Delinsky

Three high school seniors make a pregnancy pact. Heightening the stakes, these aren’t just any seniors--these are three popular, college-bound girls from good families. Set in an insular, tightly knit community in Maine, Not My Daughter explores the consequences of pact behavior on a small town, as well as the strain placed on mothers and daughters who find themselves in unfamiliar terrain. One of the pregnant teens is the daughter of the high school principal--a former teen mother herself--and the local school board is quick to assign blame. When the national media gets wind of the story, the principal’s job is put in jeopardy, as is her standing in the community.

My opinion: It was a great break from reading another book, which was bogging me down at the time. It was interesting to see how a community deals with such an issue and what the implications can be among a group of friends that are closely tied to the pregnancy pact and what it does to those relationships. I had read an earlier book of Ms. Delinsky's and while I wasn't impressed as I was when I had read the earlier book, I still enjoyed the book and would probably read another book of hers.

Rating 3.5/5 stars.

All about the Brontes challenge: Wuthering Heights

I finished the PBS version of Wuthering Heights tonight and really enjoyed it. One reason that I enjoyed the presentation was because I could finally understand the storyline, whereas when I was reading the book by Emily Bronte, I couldn't really follow the storyline. Another reason that I enjoyed it was because I got an idea of what the area of the moors was like. While I don't know how accurate the miniseries was to the book, I can gather that it was pretty close.

Overall, it was a pretty good adaptation of the book.

1 - True Light ; Terri Blackstock

True Light ; Terri Blackstock

Blackstock's third novel in the Restoration series is slow-moving in the first half, but the pace picks up considerably in the second. The Branning family and their neighbors are now eight months into a worldwide blackout, trying to make ends meet and survive one crisis after another as violence rips their community apart. With the sheriff and his deputies desperately overworked and earning only a tiny fraction of their former pay, they can no longer keep their overcrowded, disease-ridden county jail under control. That means that it's up to Deni Branning to help clear the name of boy-next-door love interest Mark Green when he's wrongly accused of attempted murder.

My thoughts: As the second last book in this particular series, I found it a little slow moving at times, but still interesting. There were points in the book in which the book was a little too predictable, but at the same time there were some great messages, particularly the ones about forgiveness and humility. I only read it for the fact that I had already read the first two books in the series and that it seemed to be interesting. It was interesting to see the character's true colours shine through a difficult time and hopefully the final book will be more than worth it. Rating 3/5 stars.