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Shannon Hale

I have just loved Shannon Hale's books! I read Enna Burning and River Secrets. They were both excellent! These were were sequels to Goose Girl.

Princess Academy

I just finished this book by Shannon Hale. I loved it! As you can see I've been reading lots of fairy tales lately, and this one is great! I love Shannon Hale.. I also just finished Goose Girl which was very cute. She's also written Austenland which lots of people love, but I wasn't that crazy about it. It was good, worth reading, but not fantastic. I've requested Enna Burning from the library and am anxiously awaiting it!

Fairest

I just read Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. (Author of Ella Enchanted) I liked Ella Enchanted better, but I still enjoyed this one. I have really been drawn to fairy tale/magic stories lately. We just watched Stardust last night and I loved it. So overall, a fun read. I really enjoy her style and spin on the classic stories. This one was a spin on Snow White, but it doesn't really resemble the disney version at all. I had to think at the end which fairy tale it really was.

Lots of Books!

While I was in Boise I got to read a lot! Here are the titles I read:

Sarah's Quilt-- Sequel to These Is My Words. Loved every minute of it. A great story about a woman in southern Arizona in the 1800's. If you haven't read These Is My Words .. you're missing out!

Mrs. McGinty's Dead-- Another Agatha Christie. I hadn't read it for a long time and forgot who the killer was.. I love her books!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan-by Lisa See Very interesting. It was about a chinese woman in the 1700's. I liked the story, but it talks a lot about foot binding, which was so sad.. I had to skip over a few parts because I kept imagining it in my head.

Peony in Love- also by Lisa See. I think I liked this one better than Snow Flower, although you'd probably want to read Snow Flower first. It is an unusual story about a young Chinese girl during the same time period. Both of these books talked about sex quite a bit, although it was in context.. for baby making!

Mrs. Mike- I can't remember the author.. but I loved this one. Its about a young girl in the early 1900's who marries a Canadian mountie and their life in the wilderness. I was sad it ended. It was an easy read with fun and sad stories.

Once Upon a Marigold- by Jean Ferris. I just finished this last night and I loved it! It is a young adult book, so its an easy read. Its a fairy tale, about falling in love with a princess..and it was very clever and pretty funny! I'll be looking for more books by this author!

When We Were Grown Ups

I recently read this novel by Anne Tyler. She's been around for awhile and this is the first I've heard of her. It was an interesting book. A women reflects on what would have been if she married a different man. It was thought provoking. I liked her reasoning at the end. I'm reading another of hers right now called Dinner at the Homesick Resteraunt. I don't know that I'll keep reading more because most of the summaries of her titles talk about sad family lives. We'll see!

Oh.. and I'm reading another book by the Chinese author that my last post was about. The book is about the life of Mao. We'll see if I can get through it. It reads more like a text book then the last one. Maybe after Christmas!

Wild Swans

I just finished reading Wild Swans by Jung Chang. This book was recommended at our Relief Society book social. The book was so amazing! The author wrote the story of her family in China, beginning a short time before Communism took over, until Mao died. I learned so much about China, and what Mao really did to that country. It was such an interesting read, I couldn't put it down. I finished it last night, and I was so sad that it was over. I highly recommend this book!