Harry Potter

We finally finished book 6.
(For those that don't know, Matt and I are reading/ listening to them together. I had read through 6 before, but I have been waiting to read 7 with Matt.)
I can't say my reaction on the blog, but I know Laurel for one will be talking about it with me.

The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey

As you can probably tell by the title it's a fantasy book that I found in the regular (not teen) section. It's the first in a series-that's-not-really-a-series called Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms. I haven't read any of the other ones yet, but from what I gather it's a same world different characters kind of series. Anyway...
This is a different take on the Cinderella story, but before you groan about the millions of them out there read on. The "Cinderella's" name is Elena and she has all the traditional problems at the beginning of the story. The only problem is that the prince she's supposed to marry is only 11 years old. In this world there's a thing called The Tradition, that magically forces you to fulfill a traditional story if your life fits one at all. But since she can't fulfill her traditional story the magic keeps gathering around her. That's when a godmother shows up and takes her on as an apprentice. The rest is all very fun, and a new view on godmothers and how "destiny" works.
I really enjoyed reading this. I couldn't put it down, and spent an entire night at work finishing it. The characters are good, the story is compelling, the writing is engaging. However there are two or three "scenes" in this. They are sexual in nature and made me slightly uncomfortable. One I just skipped entirely it was about half a page.
SO in short I recommend this book with a few reservations. (Bonnie I don't think you'd be able to get past the "scenes.")

Who's Shannon Hale?

In a comment to an earlier post, Emily asked, "Who's Shannon Hale?" That is a question worth answering. Shannon Hale is a relatively new author. Her first novel, The Goose , came out about 4 years ago. I love this book; it's in my top 5. It's the retelling of a Grimm fairy tale. There are two sort-of sequels, Enna Burning and River Secrets. These are all Young fiction (my favorite kind). She published a stand-alone original novel called Princess Academy, which is wonderful. She's also published a novel for s, called Austenland, about a woman obsessed with Jane Austen. And her most recent book is Book of a Thousand Days. Wow, she's been busy! She's a young LDS mom of two kids. I cannot imagine how she's had time to get this many books out this quickly. Impressive! Anyway, she's an imaginative, skillful, fun writer. Some of her books work better than others. My favorites are The Goose and Princess Academy. Enjoy!

1776; David McCullough

So I have finally slowed down in my reading. I think my day to day routine has been evolving since Amy was born. And I had that stage of ferocious reading late into the night. The last couple of weeks, I've read at a more casual pace. I have been listening to 1776 on CD for some time. It took quite a while because at first Matt and I were listening to it together just when we got the chance. But we were never going to finish in time if I waited for him. (It was due today!) I really enjoyed this book, obviously about the Revolutionary War. I recommend listening to it on CD rather than reading it because it starts a little slow in my opinion (and Matt's). But it is interesting and insightful. It shows a lot of what George Washington was like and what many others on both sides were like. I highly recommend it. And so does President Samuelson. At his beginning of Fall Semester Devotional this year he encouraged students to read a few books. This was one of them. Even though I am not a student any more, I figured that if President Samuelson thinks this is an important book. I want to read it too. So I did. The end.

Hello All

I'm Nancy and I'm finally posting my introduction. I'm in Bonnie's ward here in Orem. My little girl, Rachel, is exactly 6 weeks older than Amy, so they hang out a lot which means Bonnie and I often get to see each other as well.

I don't actually get a whole lot of reading done because Rachel is one of those very active children. But I have good intentions. I have some very interesting-sounding stories checked out of the library right now and my husband just finished another of his textbooks, No god but God, so that's all mine now!

Let's see...my husband is majoring in Arabic. I majored in Linguistics. We love languages, we love to travel. Our first 6 months of marriage we went to 4 different continents and a plethora of countries. So when I'm stuck at home in Utah, I like to read books that are set in foreign lands.

I grew up in Canada. I like mint white chocolate. I can often be found running around barefoot. My house is a mess.

I think that just about sums me up!