Lady of Avalon

By Marion Zimmer BradleySo this book is one of Avalon series, obviously, and historically it fits between The Forest House and Mists of Avalon. The Priestess of Avalon occurs at the same time as the middle part of this book but about different characters. This book has the same writing style and themes as the other books, so if you like those you will like this one and if you don't like those, you probably won't enjoy Lady of Avalon.

This book is broken up into three parts, each part following one High Priestess and her time ruling in Avalon. The book was interesting and enjoyable in itself, but I really liked how it ties together the storyline during the The Forest House to the storyline in Mists of Avalon. Marion Zimmer Bradley really worked out a whole history of Avalon that parallels written history perfectly. It is pretty amazing when you think about all of the research that must have gone into these. I loved it, these are some of my favorite books. Read Mists of Avalon and decide if you like that first before you get into the rest of the series.

P.S. I am all caught up on my book journaling. Now I can go read some more books.

Flying Changes

By Sara GruenSo I was reading Riding Lessons, and couldn't not go find the sequel and read that too. The books really go together as one complete story, I wouldn't recommend reading one without the other. This book picks up where Riding Lessons left off, with the wonderfully imperfect lives of Annemarie and her daughter Eva and and all of the problems that they make for themselves. While this book is still told from Annemarie's perspective, much of the drama comes from her trying to deal with Eva's riding dreams and Annemarie's fear of another horrible accident. There are some unexpected twists that I don't want to tell you about because it would ruin the first half of the book. But it makes the second half perfectly, and helps wrap the book up nicely. And by wrapped up nicely, I mean that they will still have many life problems, just like the rest of us, but that they might be able to handle them. Read it. After you read Riding Lessons.

Riding Lessons

By Sara GruenIn case you didn't catch it, this book is by the same author that wrote Water For Elephants, one of the books we read for our book club meeting. I saw this at Value Village for 2$ and thought it was worth trying to see if I liked it. And I really liked it. It wasn't as sensational as Water for Elephants, but her writing is just a good and the story she weaves is pretty compelling.

The story follows Annemarie who, after a divorce, moves her troubled teenage daughter back to her childhood home. Doesn't sound too noteworthy, but Annemarie was an Olympic Equestrian who suffered a freak accident that killed her horse and almost killed her. And she never got back on a horse. And her childhood home is a horse farm. And Annemarie's father is dying. Sounds rather depressing right? Amazingly, it is not. I think my favorite thing about this book is that it focuses on characters who are not perfect. They make a lot of dumb mistakes, just like the rest of us do. But they learn to come to grips with some of the drama/trauma in their lives and get back on a track. I also like that the story never aims to make the characters lives perfect, just normal and livable. If I had to pick a theme for this book I would say that it revolves around families (and all of the problems that come with family) and love, in all of its diffrenet forms. I would highly recommend this book, purely enjoyable.

Playing for Pizza

By John Grisham
My mom picked up this book at Costco a while back and wanted me to see if it was any good. I am always happy to be handed a book so I gave it a try. Playing for Pizza is about a professional football player who is terrible at football, but that is all that he knows how to do. He singlehandedly ruins a big game and no one will hire him, except for a small team in Italy. The other players on the team all play for pizza and love of football, he is the only paid player. As the book progresses he learns about loving football, being part of a team, and realizing that there is more to life than football.

John Grisham is a great writer, with an amazing ability to suck you into a plot. Because of that the book was enjoyable to read. It was fun, nothing bad about it. But there was way too much football talk for me. There was excellent descriptions of the plays they ran, things I didn't understand or care about, and injuries that people recieved. All of the parts that bore me about football. There were also great descriptions of Italian food, countryside, and people; but all of the football talk definitely turned me off from ever reading this book again. If you are at all interested in football you would enjoy this book, but I myself am not.

Lord of the Flies

By William Golding

So I've been a little behind with my book posting lately. As the rush before school started, I began cramming as much reading in as possible. Which left little room for posting about my reading. But I am going to try and get caught up.

We read Lord of the Flies for our book club this month, but then none of us could find a time to meet. I have read Lord of the Flies before but it had been a while. I can't say that I LIKE this book, but I definitely think it is worth reading. It is pretty short and it has an interesting plot so it is easy to get through. I just find the comment on society a little bit disturbing, not wrong, just not the part I like to think about. Excellent writing though, definitely a style that not many people use anymore. I recommend reading Lord of the Flies if you like books written with purpose and you are interested in reading a classic novel because it is a good one to start with.

Priestess of Avalon

By Marion Zimmer BradleySo after I read The Forest House I wanted to read more of the Avalon Series. I didn't have the next book, Lady of Avalon, but I did have Priestess of Avalon, so I read that. It was okay skipping around because this book seems to stand on its own a little more. At some point I would like to have all the books and read them in order, but it may take a while. This one follows a Druidic Priestess named Eilan (Helena to the Romans) from her birth, her training at Avalon, her meeting and romance with Constantius, her banishment from Avalon, her birth of a son (Constantine), and eventually her life as the Empress Mother. As Empress Mother she works to find understanding between the old religion of the Druids and the new religion of Christianity.

I really liked reading about this time period. It was a time when things were changing a lot and it was interesting to think about how people might deal with something that big. I also really liked getting attached to the one character and following her as she moves through the world, experiences many different positions in life, and seeing how her thinking and beliefs both change and stay constant.

All of my thoughts on Marion Zimmer Bradley's writing style from The Forest House apply here, it feels a lot the same even though this one was completed by her writing partner Diana L. Paxson when Marion Zimmer Bradley died. Again if you have read Mists of Avalon and loved it I totally recommend Priestess of Avalon but if you haven't, I would start with Mists of Avalon first.

The Forest House

By Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Forest House is prequel to the book Mists of Avalon, which I love. I have been looking for the rest of of the Avalon books at thrift stores when I go but so far I have only found one. My friend Vanessa loaned me this and I loved it. Not quite as epic as Mists of Avalon but still great. The story is set in the first century in Britain and follows a Druidic priestess and a Roman officer who fall in love, but aren't allowed to be together. Although they have to be apart, they both work at keeping the land safe and peaceful.

Marion Zimmer Bradley writes really well, she is very good at writing about history and emotions, she really makes you feel like you are learning something while you are reading a novel. Everything that I have read claims that she weaves the history seamlessly into the fiction so that any real historical characters are portrayed as accurately as possible. She does write from a very feminist prespective, something that usually bothers me. I really like her style though, she obviously believes in the power of women, but it is also obvious that she believes that men and women belong together and that they are at their best when they are together.

My favorite part of the books is reading about the Drudic priestesses and their way of life. They worship the Goddess and live in a sanctuary of sorts where they keep the ancient traditions of healing and worship. The sanctuary is in a somewhat troubled position during the time period of this book but I still love the way that live, very committed and focused, very accepting that everyone worships in their own way. I love the way that they are always looking for the power in the natural aspects of the world around them.

I totally recommend reading this book if you have already read Mists of Avalon and liked it, but if you haven't I would start there.

Hatchet

By Gary PaulsenSo we went to donate plasma again today and I felt like a light read, again. Hatchet isn't quite as good as I remembered it being when I was younger. Don't get me wrong, the story is still great and I get wrapped up in all of the little details the author includes. The main character in the book, Brian, is involved in a plane crash in the Canadian Wilderness and has to survive for 50 days by himself, with nothing but his hatchet. I love all the creative things that Brian does to survive, it caught my imagination as a kid and it still does. The writing style is just a bit more simplistic than I remember. There isn't much to the story but Brian figuring out how to catch food and make fire. I remember being totally mesmerized by this when I was younger. Now I was interested but not mesmerized. On that note, I totally recommend this book for a kid on any day or for an adult on a simple, easy read day.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

By Kate Douglas Wiggin(Sorry about the cover art, there isn't much out there and I'm too lazy to scan)

My book reading has taken a serious turn towards guilty pleasure. I think it could be attributed to the sense of impending doom that I have about school starting soon. Whatever the reason, a few days ago when we were heading out to donate plasma I needed a book and this is what sound good. And it was. This a really old (1903) children's classic book. The plot is kind of along the lines of Anne of Green Gables and Little Women, but the simpleness of writting is more towards 5 Little Peppers and How They Grew (which by the way I am looking for a copy of). Essentially, the book is about a young girl, Rebecca, whose family is very poor. She is sent to live with her aunts who are going to give her an education. The book follows her mishaps as she grows up and makes everyone around her love her and want to help her. This book is very easy to read, very simplistic, suitable for a child, and has lots of little morals worked in. But I Iike that sort of thing every once in a while. Sometimes it feels good to read about a time when life was simple, people learn and grow and try and be better, good people are rewarded, and everyone ends up happy (do you think it was really like that?)

Twilight Series

By Stephanie MeyersAndrew bought me the whole series for our anniversary, in hardback none the less, isn't he amazing? They sat on my shelf for almost a week before I gave in and read them all again. Needless to say, I was not great company for the next 48 hours. I loved them even more the second time around. Things worked together better, the author definitely planned the series out well. I can't decide for sure what my favorite book is, it kind of depends on the day. I also have a hard time thinking of series as individual books. But if you FORCED me to choose I would probably say the last one, I just like how much more grown up everyone is. Less teenage angsty. I love guilty pleasures.

P.S. I am little worried for the movie to come out, I hate being disappointed when they aren't as good as the book.

You Grow Girl

By Gayla TrailSo this is one of the books that Andrew gave me for our anniversary, and I love it! It is a funny, easy to read book with lots of ideas about unusual places and ways to garden. The book is aimed at city gardeners who don't have a lot of room or at beginning gardeners who don't know how to get started. I feel lucky enough to be both. There are lots of tips on starting plants from seeds, pruning and composting, harvesting seeds, what to do with herbs, getting rid of pests, and how to keep your garden healthy throughout the entire year. The book has complete directions for lots of fun and easy projects like herbal hair washes, teas, worm bins, and a gardening apron. I probably won't read this book from cover to cover again, but I wanted to do it at least once so that I would know what secrets it held inside. I think I know it well enough know that I can use it more as reference book. The author also runs a website called www.yougrowgirl.com that is an online gardening community. I have started looking around some and it looks pretty cool. If you like gardening and are not yet a master gardener, you would love this book!

A Town Like Alice

By Nevil ShuteThis is one of the books from the 100 books list that I hadn't read. My mother-in-law, Lynne, happened to own it and loaned it to me. I loved it! It was a fairly, easy read; nothing to convoluted about it. The book had a great mix of historical fiction, romance (in a completely non-tacky way), descriptions of places, and a little bit of humor.

The book is about a young girl Jean Paget, who is left a sum of money following the death of an uncle that she never knew. As the story unfolds we learn that she was held prisoner in Malaya during World War II. During the war, Jean was especially traumatized when an Australian prisoner was crucified for helping her and her friends. With the money that she inherits, Jean travels to Malaya to have a well dug for a small village that sheltered them during the last part of the war. While in Malaya on that mission, Jean finds out that her Australian benefactor is still alive. The rest of the book covers their meeting and relationship, and how Jean spends the rest of her money.

The book moves really fast, with lots of interesting things happening all of the time. It really made me wish that I had a rich uncle who was going to leave me some money. Honestly though, I love the characters in this book. There are no bad guys, which is kind of funny, because normally they are sort of necessary, but this book does fine without them. And the two main characters are just perfect, there is nothing not to like about them.

Read it, you will like it. Thanks for the good recommendation Lynne!