The Story Girl by L. M. Montgomery

My family read this (my sister and mom and I) for our family book club that we decided to start. We loved it! It is a fun, delightful world you get to enter when you read this book. We all three loved it.

Lately I have read a few books where I feel sad for the characters because of the hard things going on in their lives. I always think how wonderful my life is compared to the lives of the characters in books. This was the only possible exception to that. The kids in this book have it great!

There is also a sequel that Large Marge has read, but I haven't. It's called The Golden Road. She said it's great too; I think in some ways she liked it more than The Story Girl. It's going on my list.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Just curious. Who has read it yet? How do you like it?

I read it. I like it. Don't love it. I still need a little more convincing than most people to become a huge Stephenie Meyer fan. I really loved Eclipse when I finished it, but my excitement has worn off some now. Just wondered what everyone else thinks.

Leven Thumps 1-3

I've been reading the Leven Thumps(LT) series and have finished the third book. (As yet, I don't think the fourth book is out, unless you count the "Guide for Well-Mannered Sycophants" or whatever that's called.)

At first I thought this would be a Harry Potter(HP) spin off and I guess it could be argued as one, but I find it enjoyable in its own right. Hmmm, how do I analyze this series, probably book by book.

Book one is good. I don't really know what more to say about it. I liked it. It was a nice intro into the story line. It is completely different than books two and three. Completely.

Some things I should say about books two and three collectively. They are very busy. There are about 6 or 7 story lines to follow (that reduces down to about 4 or 5 in book 3). Every story has crazy stuff going on and, because we are dealing essentially with dream-land, outrageousness abounds. It's almost like being in the mind of a child who's playing make believe; it's fun, but it's too random and feels overly fake. Not that you believe fantasy-type books anyway, but it makes it harder to really feel a part of what's going on in the books.

Book two surprised me when I realized how extremely busy it was from beginning to end. Intensity becomes normality which takes away from the build-up and thrill, at least for me. It's all one big climax, but nonetheless I liked it well enough and looked forward to reading the third.

Book three is similar to book two in that it is busy, but this book won me over in the end and tied me into the story. As an aside, HP book 3 did this same thing to me. The first two HP books were self-contained stories and were enjoyable enough, but book 3 tied me into the greater story. LT book 3 also tied me in, but in a different way. LT books are anything but self-contained stories, and the way book 3 wraps up (or rather, doesn't) committed me to the rest of the series, however long it may be. I'm antsy to read book 4!

Whew, that was a bit long. I hope I was coherent through all that! =)