My Left Foot

I found an old Reader's Digest book here in Australia with a couple of great stories. I am hoping they are still around. The first one is by Christy Brown and is a true story of his own life. He was born with cerebral palsy. He had been unable to walk, speak, feed or dress himself-until, helped by his devoted mother (a mother of 13). He ends up being a writer as well as an artist.

The other book is also a true story about M. Phyllis Lose, VMD. called "No Job 4 a Lady" She was one of the first women vets to work with horses and she was one of the best and sought out vets in the states. Wish I had read this book before we had horses.

The Boxmaker's Son by Donald S. Smurthwaite

Read it for book club. Really liked it. LDS, not cheesy. Makes you feel like you remember the good ole days even though I wasn't even alive in the decades it illuminates. But I practically wish I was from reading this book. This book made me feel good. It was one of those people-who-do-small, seemingly insignificant-things-can-really-make-a-difference-in-the-world books. Makes you want to be a better person. I am looking forward to book club to discuss with others and hear what they have to say. Let me know if any of you read it. I want to hear what you think.

The Princess Tales--Gail Carson Levine

A good, quick read. I read about half of it out loud to Rachel and found it much more entertaining that way. It's a set of three short stories written for children ages 7-12 and I imagine that I would have enjoyed it a lot more had I been 8 or 9 when I read it. As it were, it was still a fun read. Cute mix-uped fairy tales. It's just cute. It's not a thrilling plot--just a cute story. Think eight years old.

The reason I have this, personalized autographed, copy of the book is because Gail Carson Levine spoke at BYU on Friday. I missed it. And I was sad because she wrote one of my favorite books, Ella Enchanted, another little retelling of a fairy tale. I guess I can't really say that she's one of my favorite authors because Princess Tales (volume 2--did I mention that? I haven't read the first one) is only the second book of hers that I've read. However, since she penned one of my favorites, she gets the title of favorite author.

Anyway, my mom went to listen to her speak and then bought me Princess Tales (volume 2) and got Levine's autograph for me. What a sweet mommy I have! She bought my little sister the first volume so we'll have to trade this weekend (she'll probably be sleeping over at my house, anyway).

Now that I've read this book I think I'll have to break out Ella Enchanted again. I love that story. If you've seen the movie and haven't read the book, be warned that the book is MUCH better than the movie. That said, the movie was cute enough. Although people who read the book before watching the movie weren't the biggest fans, the movie rocketed book sales...anyway...I recommend Ella Enchanted. It's written for an older audience and isn't "dumbed down" as much as Princess Tales is.

The Twilight Series

No one is saying anything here for a long time, so I'll just say that I'm back on a huge Twilight kick, or should I say "Edward kick." My sister-in-law just calls the books "Edward."

I got into Twilight early, within a few weeks of publication, then waited impatiently for each book to come out. Stephenie Meyer's greatest strength as an author is that she's compulsively readable. Her books are so hard to put down. Recently I figured out how to download audiobooks for free from my library onto my phone, so I've been listening to all three. I finished Eclipse last week, but realized that I was still in the mood for the Twilight books, so I just started over. I'm nearly done listening to Twilight again. I turn it on while I'm driving or washing dishes or folding laundry. It's great company.

So what do you like or dislike about these books? Most people I know get obsessed as easily as I did.

And have you been following the movie news? Cedric Diggory from Harry Potter will be playing Edward! They've cast Bella also, and now her friends Jessica and Eric. I actually like their choices for leads.

And I have two theories that I've already emailed to Bonnie. Tell me what you think:

1 - Do you think Edward would have fallen in love with Bella if he had been able to hear her thoughts? He was utterly bored with the pettiness and mundaneness of every thought he heard from the people in the high school. I didn't see anything to suggest that her thoughts were less petty than anyone else's. She was just given the benefit of a filter, getting to decide what came out her mouth instead of Edward instantly knowing everything she thought. I think that the combination of her irresistible scent and her unreadable thoughts made her fascinating where every other human had been boring. Because of his fascination, he took the time to get to know her, then fell in love with her. I think he would never have put himself into a position to fall in love with her if he could have read her mind. Remember the several-day period where he quizzed her about everything in her life, down to her favorite color? I think that it was a direct result of her mental privacy.

2 - In Eclipse, during the vampire battle, I really thought Edward would succeed in persuading Riley that Victoria had been lying to him, and that the Cullens' way was a better way of life. I thought that Riley was going to join the Cullens, throwing a new person into the mix and upsetting the balance. Then he died. But then, when Edward and Bella were reunited with the Cullens, there was another newborn vampire (Bree). At that point, I became really convinced that Bree would be talked into joining the Cullens, and would maybe even fall for Edward, which would have made a fascinating complication in my opinion. But then she died. As I type this, I'm realizing that these two newborns were included in the story to show Bella a worst case scenario of what awaits her when she becomes a vampire. Knowing how bad it could get (she could get) makes her decision to still be changed a more informed one.

Anyway, that should be enough to get us all talking about books again.

Minding Mama by Marilyn Arnold

Last week I read this book and enjoyed it. It is the one our ward is doing for book club in March which is at my house. It is about a woman who needs to bring her mother from Georgia back to her home to Utah to be buried. (I promise, I am not giving anything away.) She has some fun and funny adventures and meets different people along the way. I like the things she comes to realize through the book. It has aspects of book that are related to the church but isn't a cheesy mormon book. (I hope that doesn't offend anyone; there are just some cheesy ones out there.) So if you are concerned about that, don't be. It's cute and funny and a feel-good book all at the same time.