Hello

So I have been neglecting this journal. For a while I neglected the journaling and kept reading. Then I started to neglect both because I felt guilty. So here I am back again. But I am giving myself permission not to worry about making it perfect and that I don't have to go back and make it all up. I listed the books that I read so that I can remember. But I don't want to keep waiting until I have time to write about them all. So I am done waiting. Just know that I loved them all. Every single book that I have read this summer (this was done intentionally) has been excellent. They have been just the escape that I needed and have had that ability to suck me in to a new world and make me forget about the one that I am in. Keep throwing book suggestions my way, I need to keep reading!

Tear Soup

By Pat Schweibert & Chuck DeKlyenMy mom gave me this book. It is a quick read that you want to read alone and repeatedly. And I highly recommend it for anyone who is grieving (about anything) or someone who has a close friend who is grieving and doesn't know what to do. It said what I was feeling better than I could. You should read it. Call me if you want to make some tear soup.

Deception Point

By Dan BrownClick here for the wikipedia plot summary. I know that it is lame to use wikipedia as a plot summary. But I don't feel like explaining what the book was about it. It was complicated. And I liked the book. I couldn't put it down. My mom couldn't put it down. And my 13 year old brother couldn't put it down. That's a pretty good recommendation for just about anyone. Again, I feel like I learned a lot. I liked this book quite a bit better than Digital Fortress, the characters were better and I liked the topic that I was learning about. It was up there with Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons in my mind.

Digital Fortress

By Dan BrownWikipedia plot summary (slightly altered to be less cheesy): When the National Security Agency's code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious and ingeniously complex code called Digital Fortress that it cannot break, the agency calls in Susan Fletcher, a brilliant mathematician and their head cryptographer, to crack it. Fletcher discovers that the code, which is written in Japanese, is a viral program designed to break down the NSA's firewall and encryption systems, allowing anyone anywhere to access all of the NSA's files. She also discovers that it was written by Ensei Tankado, a former NSA employee who became displeased with the NSA's intrusion into people's private lives. Tankado, essentially holding the NDS hostage, intends to auction the code's algorithm on his website, and release it for free if he dies, threatening to cripple U.S. intelligence. Fletcher, along with her fiancé, David Becker, a skilled linguist, are thrust into a global chase as they must find a way to stop the spread of the code.

I liked this book quite a bit. It moved fast, kept you on your toes, and it had that Dan Brown book feel where you feel like you might be learning something as you get sucked in. I thoroughly enjoyed it. My one complaint: I don't think that Dan Brown writes about a woman main character well. I didn't like her. Oh well. The book was still good.

The Firebrand

Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Little Prince

By Antoine De Saint-Exupery

The Fall of Atlantis

By Marion Zimmer Bradley

Brisingr

By Christopher Paolini

Eldest

By Christopher Paolini

Eragon

By Christopher Paolini

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive and The Miracle at Speedy Motors

By Alexander McCall Smith


Still good. If you have been convinced to read any of the other ones you won't read these either. But you really should.

Into the Wild

By Jon Krakauer
A couple of weekends ago, when we found ourselves driving from Seattle to Bellingham without an Ipod or any cds, Andrew and I stopped and picked up the soundtrack to the movie, Into the Wild. A family member had played it the previous weekend and Andrew remembered that he liked it. I don't remember hearing it all. We both loved the cd, I listened to it repeatedly on the drive home. Good music and by the lyrics of the songs, it sounded like we would enjoy the movie and the person that it was about. The cd reminded us of my brother Josh, probably because that is what we are thinking about a lot right now. But I think he would have liked it. About a week later, Andrew picked up the book. I read it first and I loved it. I didn't especially like the flow of the writing at first, but it gets a little more organized after the first few chapters. I also don't like that most of the story is based on picture journals, but that the pictures aren't included. But the story is interesting. And it is an easy quick read.

Here is the Wikipedia summary:
The book begins with the discovery of McCandless's body inside an abandoned bus in Alaska and retraces his travels during the two years he was missing. McCandless shed his real name early in his journey, adopting the moniker "Alexander Supertramp". He spent time in Carthage, South Dakota with a man named Wayne Westerberg. Krakauer interprets McCandless's intensely ascetic personality as possibly influenced by the writings of Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau, and perhaps McCandless's favorite writer, Jack London. He explores the similarities between McCandless's experiences and motivations and his own as a young man, recounting in detail his own attempt to climb Devil's Thumb in Alaska. He also relates the stories of some other young men who vanished into the wilderness, such as Everett Ruess, an artist and wanderer who went missing in the Utah Desert during 1934 at age 20. In addition, he describes at some length the grief and puzzlement of McCandless's family and friends.

Blue Shoes and Happiness

Alexander McCall SmithI read this one and liked it too. I really like these books because I feel like I can read little bits here and there and enjoy them. Or I can sit down and read the whole thing cover to cover. If you don't think that you have time for reading, but want to, pick one of these books up. You will enjoy it and it will make you feel good reading it. She is a very well-rounded, logical person. I like her.

Here is the Wikipedia summary:
Mma Ramotswe is asked to investigate a cook who is being blackmailed, and a doctor whose nurse believes he is doing something illegal. She discovers the identity of the blackmailer, who is a newspaper agony aunt abusing the confidences of her correspondents, and forces her to stop. The doctor is selling generic drugs at the full cost to his patients, and she causes him to be reported. During the investigation she becomes more aware of her excess weight and its health risks and even tries to diet, but decides the most important thing is to be herself and happy.

Mr Polopetsi, the new employee, is happy in his work but still struggles with poverty and hostility from relatives due to his spell in prison. He wants to help Mma Ramotswe, his mentor, with detective work, and when superstitious fears disturb staff at the Mokolodi Nature Reserve, it is he who discovers the cause: an injured ground-hornbill, believed to bring ill luck. He removes it, but it dies, and he fears he has lost Mma Ramotswe's trust, but is relieved and grateful when she shows faith in him after all.

Mma Makutsi fears her engagement to Phuti Radiphuti is over after a misunderstanding about feminism, but all is explained and, in the process, Mr J.L.B.Matekoni gains a comfortable new chair which will make him happy too. She begins to appreciate how her fortunes will change with her marriage, and indulges her passion for impractical shoes with a new blue pair, even though they do not fit very well.

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies

By Alexander McCall Smith Another one of these wonderful books! I am still loving each and everyone of them. Mma Ramotswe is starting to feel like an old friend. When I have a few minutes, I enjoy picking up the book and finding out how she is doing now. These books really are great to read when you are really busy, because you can pick them up for short periods of time and read a little bit here and little bit there.

Here is the plot summary from wikipedia, sorry I am too lazy to write my own!

Mma Ramotswe and her new husband settle down to married life with their foster-children, but problems are piling up. At Mr J.L.B. Matekoni's own house, the tenant is running an illegal drinking den. Then Charlie, the apprentice, gets entangled with a wealthy married woman and quits his job after a row with Mma Makutsi. Help arrives in the person of Mr Polopetsi, whom Mma Ramotswe accidentally knocks off his bicycle with her van. He has been unemployed following a spell in prison after what appears to have been a miscarriage of justice, and Mma Ramotswe persuades her husband to employ him out of guilt and sympathy, but he proves an asset to the garage. He has tracking skills too, and when Mma Ramotswe's van is stolen after a breakdown, he finds it for her.

Mma Ramotswe's violent ex-husband Note Mokote reappears. She is frightened, having never obtained a divorce from him before marrying again. Note tries to blackmail her, but Mma Ramotswe discovers that he actually married her bigamously, so their marriage was invalid and she is legally married to Mr J.L.B Matekoni after all. Surrounded by her husband and friends at the garage, she finds the courage to dismiss Note and forgive him.

Mma Makutsi's love prospects improve when she starts dancing lessons and is partnered with another student, Mr Radiphuti. At first she tries to avoid him, as he is awkward and stammers, but he turns out to be a kind and gentle man with a good job in his father's business, and a romance begins. She removes some of Mma Ramotswe's burden of worry by solving an important fraud investigation on her own, and manoeuvring Charlie back to work. Mr Radiphuti's father enlists the help of Mma Ramotswe to put a proposal of marriage from his shy son to Mma Makutsi, and the two become engaged.

The Full Cupboard of Life

By Alexander McCall SmithLife is a rich, full, and happy experience for Mma Ramotswe, who is still engaged to the good-hearted Mr. J.L.B. Matakone. Even though they have not yet set a date for a wedding, she helps him with his problems and cooks and cares for the two orphans he has taken into his home. Over the course of this book, Mma Ramotswe and her friends face several "difficult" problems. First, a woman who has made a fortune establishing hair-braiding salons hires Mma Ramotswe to find out whether her suitors want to marry her for her money. Then, Mr. J.L.B. Matakone finds himself tricked into "volunteering" to do a parachute jump. He is also disturbed to discover that First Class Motors, a rival garage, has sold improper parts and failed to service a classic old Range Rover correctly, and he has been procrastinating about reporting him to authorities. However, as always, these problems and more are all resolved through Mma Ramotswe's quick thinking and observation skills.

One more book down, still loving them. I am going to be sad when they are all over.

P.S. Don't you love the artwork on the cover?