Thursday

This was an ok Catherine Storr young adult book. Bee is on the hunt for her missing friend Thursday. She finds out that he is in a place where his mental problems are being taken care of. There's also a subplot about faeries. The handling of the mental problems was ok. It wasn't an exaggerated portrayal. Marianne Dreams is still my favorite book from her though.

The Ivy Tree

This is the first book I've read from Mary Stewart. It was entertaining. A girl is approached by someone who says she's her cousin. Apparently she looks exactly like a girl back home. Would she pretend to be the girl for the slice of a dying man's inheritance? Or is she actually the girl herself? Secrets come forward. The truth has to be revealed because of the circumstances of the girl's past lover. This was written before The Crystal Cave which Mary Stewart is mostly known for.

The American Civil War

I read this book to remind myself of the history of the Civil War. I was surprised how much I remembered still from school. What surprised me about this book was how much it didn't progress the African American movement. After the Civil War African Americans still weren't able to serve on juries and people were finding loopholes to keep people in slavery. So there was still a long ways to go.

The Roaring Girl

This was an interesting play from the 1700s where a transvestite Moll is the hero. Sebastian can't marry the woman Mary of his choice so he asks Moll to help him out. Moll pretends to be his partner. At first the father is relieved just that it isn't Moll that Sebastian wants to marry. In the end the father respects both women. This was kind of groundbreaking but I just thought it was ok. There were bettter plays from the 1700s.

A GIrl in Winter

I've now read Philip Larkin's two novels. His work as a poet, which he is known for, is much better but still it was worth reading. I prefer his book Jill since it was more imaginative. In this book we meet Katherine. She spends time with her pen pal/boyfriend Robin and his sister. In the first part you see her job at a library and her boss who has a confrontation with her towards the end. There's also an eerie dentist scene. I felt it was a quiet pleasant read.

The Book of Mythical Beasts and Magical Creatures

I really liked this children's book that I got from the library. I enjoyed it so much I bought my whole copy. It's a beautifully illustrated book that goes over shape-shifters, tricksters, and other popular creatures. Werewolves, vampires, and the loch ness monster are discussed for example. I think it is a perfect book to give to a child with an eager imagination.

Dune

I watched the recent movie of this and found it to be a snooze fest, a nearly three hour long movie of desert shots. Then I read an internet review where they called the book unfilmable so I decided to give it a shot. I liked it. It's not one of my favorite books but it was good and it makes the list of one of the longest books I've read. It influenced Star Wars that much is clear. It's an epic about a boy named Paul, his family, and an addictive spice that rules their desert world. It took me a couple of months to read it and I had to throw it away since it was in way too poor condition to keep by the end. It was intriguiing enough to keep me interested throughout it's 700+ pages. I can see why it's one of the most popular science fiction books of all time. It is well thought out and imaginative. It's one of those science fiction books that will be labeled as literature an hundred years from now.