So Many Books...

So I haven't been keeping up on posting about the books I've been reading. I'll just briefly catch up.

I really enjoyed Enna Burning and River Secrets, which are both sequels to the Goose Girl, which was probably my favorite of the three. They were all very excellent though, and fast reads because they are written for teenagers. :)

Man's Search for Meaning I enjoyed immensely, but it was rougher to get through, much more to chew than teenage fantasy novels :) Some of the stuff he talks about is just dead on with what I believe and it was nice to reaffirm how grateful I am that I know at least part of what my purpose in life is.

Bridge to Terabithia was not at all what I thought it was going to be... I saw the previews for the movie and was thinking it was going to be magical fantasy land like Chronicle of Narnia... it wasn't. However, I did really enjoy the book, I just wasn't expecting to cry, and I did... really, you can't avoid crying if you read it.

A Different Kind of Book Review

Real Life Financial Planning by some people:

This is not my typical kind of book. I read novels and Steve reads factual boring books. So we decided to switch it up a bit. Steve read Twilight (I know you are all wondering if he liked it, but you'll have to ask him) and so I read a book that our financial planners gave us to read. It even looks boring from the cover!!! So it was a rougher read than I am used to, I don't know a lot about investing and insurances and retirement plans so it was tricky to figure out what they were talking about, but it was a very useful read. I have felt like whatever the financial direction that we go and whatever the financial escapades we undertake, I would like to be able to make informed decisions and I feel like this was a good step towards understanding. It was also kind of an overwhelming feeling, there is so much that we have to do and none of it is done! So many aspects to think about that I hadn't thought about! Anyway, that is WAY too much babbling about financial plans. I will say that it was particularly helpful because these people specialize in helping medical professionals, and they understand what needs to be done to set up your own practice. It really was helpful, but very slow going. I think Steve read Twilight (at least 500 pages) in the time I read this one (100 pages).

Geisha, A Life

Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki:

Well, after taking time out from my avid reading schedule to participate in life a little bit :) I have finally finished the book! I really do enjoy a good biography every now and again, but this one does not top my favorite biography which was about Maria VonTrapp. It was an OK book, the really interesting parts were realizing how much Memoirs got their culture wrong. It is especially interesting because Arthur Golden used and cited Mineko as a resource, so presumably he knew all the things she mentioned in her book and just decided to ignore certain bits. For example... in Memoirs you get the impression that Geisha only entertain men, not so! Also he makes a big deal about the Mizuage, which is apparently something completely different if you are a Geisha (he uses the term with the meaning that the prostitues use). I'm sure this all makes complete sense to those of you who have never read either book! But if it comes down to giving it thumbs up... it really only gets one. The stories were interesting, but the plot of Memoirs was far more readable.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden:
I watched the movie when it came out because I never thought I would read the book, but I have and I think because I saw the movie first it seemed the same as the movie to me. Normally I read the book first and then I hate the movie because it is nothing like the book. I enjoyed reading the book, although it contained a few "skip these pages" areas. It was a beautiful story about a girl trying to find her place in the world, and I thought it was written very well. I am interested to know what the other book club ladies thought about it and am excited to hear their input. I don't know that I would highly recommend it, but I probably wouldn't discourage you from reading it if you wanted to. Next I am reading the biography of the woman who this story was loosely based on (also for book club). I'll let you know which version I liked better.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith:

I read this book because I have known a couple of people who have said it was their favorite book ever. One was a friend from high school named Leah, and also Steve's cousin Julie. So Julie lent me the book and I've had it for about a decade, so I thought I should read it and get it back to her. Turns out that I loved it too! It is a story about a girl named Francie Nolan and how she grows up in Brooklyn. It talks about her life, and the life of her family from the time she is born until she is seventeen or so. She first aspires to be an actress, and then a organ-playing-dancing lady, and then a writer. I especially liked her take on writing. She got "A"s on her compositions when they were about what her teacher thought was beautiful. But when she wrote about the truth of her life, her teacher told her it was ugly and she should stick to writing about beautiful things. She burned up all of her "beautiful" compositions and kept all of the ugly ones, because she wanted to keep with the truth. Which kind of sums up this novel, which was about the truth of what it was like to live in the poor neighbor hoods, the ugliness of them, but also the beauty of them. Anyway, I give it a two thumbs up. I wouldn't ever call it my favorite book, but it has made it into the top twenty, which is pretty good :)

The Road

The Road by Cormac McCarthy:
I thought that this was a super interesting book... I didn't love it like Julie does, but I thought it was a good read. Sometimes it was super cryptic, half the time it didn't use complete sentences, but it was a... I don't know, sort-of-touching-lots-disturbing story about a father and a son trying to survive in a devastated land. I would definitely recommend reading this one, but be prepared to wonder what happened to the world, because they don't ever tell you. Also be prepared to wonder what happened to some of the characters, because he does like to leave things vague.

The Portrait of a Lady

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

There is no nice way to say this... NEVER EVER EVER read this book. It will be the biggest waste of your life, and you'll never be able to get it back! I trudged through the first half, when the plot got minimally interesting, so I decided to finish just to find out what happens to the main character, Isabel Archer... bad decision. Nothing happens. You just keep trudging and trudging and when the book ends you wonder if Henry got as bored writing as you were reading and just decided to stop. If you do decide to read this book and want to know if Isabel ends up with Lord Warburton, give me a call and I'll tell you what happens (which is pretty much nothing). Trust me when I say that I usually like books where not a lot happens, I have read my fair share of them because I studied English in college... this is not one of those books where nothing happens and it was enjoyable, this is one of those books where nothing happens and you want to fall over dead. Just don't read it unless you have to :)

Follow the River

I thought I would start letting you all know about what I read. If you don't care a fig about books, just skip these posts, if you like books, are looking for something else to read, or just want to read the posts... then my heck, just read them already. :) I will label them Books, so you can bring up anything with that label and see what I've read. I know you want to.

Follow the River by James Alexander Thom

I really enjoyed this book about a woman named Mary Ingles, who is captured by Indians and escapes. It is about her journey back to her husband and all of the hardships that she endures. It was so inspiring how strong and determined she was. It was also a little bit gruesome because it describes the Indian attack on the settlement, burning buildings, killing people, etc. But it was such a great read, if you can manage to get through the gruesome beginning without crying so hard that you can't see through the tears!