The Last Lecture

I just finished reading The Last Lecture from Randy Pausch. If you haven't heard of this book I would wonder if you've been hibernating for the last 6 months. This book is written by a Computer Science professor from Carnegie Mellon who delivered his "last lecture" because he was dying of pancreatic cancer. (He has since passed away after giving the lecture and writing the book).

After hearing about the lecture, I went online and watched the entire thing. I'm sure if you google it, it wouldn't be hard to do. It's a really good lecture, but a lot of it is specific to his profession and industry (which it should be since that's who he was talking to). Anyway, the book describes parts of the lecture, but is more about what life's lessons Randy has learned. By the way, I love how he calls himself Randy Pausch instead of Dr. Randy Pausch. For some reason it just makes him that much more real and easy to relate to.

The book is very short and won't take long to read. I think it was really worthwhile. It just brought to focus the really important things in life and made me wonder what I would do with my time if I knew I had 6 months to live. He's very realistic about his prognosis, but also optimistic, which I just loved. Lately it seems I have really needed help focusing my attention on the things that really matter. This book helped me do just that.

I highly recommend it! And for those of you who have read it, what did you like the most?

One of my favorites was when he talked about painting on the walls of his room as a teenager. I think it is so cool that his mom didn't care and Randy was so proud of his work. It reminded me of my cousin Ben's room in Boston. My sister and I went and visited and stayed in his room and it was COVERED with black and white drawings, writings and miscellaneous things from he and his friends. I love the fact that his parents let him be creative and artistic on his own terms.

That's all I'm going to say because I'm trying to shorten my posts! Merry Christmas!

Keeping The Moon

This book is a young adult fiction by Sarah Dessen. It was our book club book for the month and I have to say I wasn't sure about it. I LOVE young adult books (ask Rusty, he's always bugging me to read more "adult" books), so it wasn't that that I was worried about. I'm just not one for realistic fiction.


Anyway, this story is a kind of coming of age story; growing into your own self kind of story. I think I probably would have really liked it when I was 16, but I'm passed that stage now and have no desire to go back. I was talking to my mom about it and saying "I just couldn't relate to Collie (main character). She was always worried about what people thought of her and I was never like that." My mom corrected me and reminded me that I did care what people thought of me when I was a teenager. I then corrected her and said, "Yeah, maybe, but I was never willing to change myself to fit their expectations". I've always kind of had this attitude of "take me as I am, if you don't like it, that's your problem, not mine." Not exactly conducive to adolescence. It definitely didn't work for flirting with the boys.


I remember once when I was about 14 going into my parent's room. I was depressed, feeling like no guys liked me. (Typical feeling for that age group, especially since all my friends seemed to have boyfriends). Anyway, my dad, of all people, asked me if I flirted with the guys. I didn't know what he really meant by that. He asked, "When they talk to you, do you act interested?" And my reply was, "Only if what they're saying is interesting!". He then said, "Well, that's your problem. You have to act interested, even when your not." That just seemed like the stupidest thing to me.


So yeah, I never had what it took to be a good flirt, or to impress other people. Luckily, I think I turned out ok. I found a guy that wasn't really interested in flirting either! I wouldn't really recommend this book unless you're a teenager feeling like no one understands you or you don't understand yourself.

HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY

With the recent election, and today being Veteran's Day, I wanted to say something about how awesome it is to live in this country. I have to be honest and say I was one of those that was just glad that the election was finally over. I was so sick of the debates, ads, signs, campaigning, etc. I hope the leaders of the country will finally get to work and try to fix some of the messes our country is in right now.

That being said, yesterday the Chorus Club at our school did an assembly for the 3-6th graders. (I'm in charge of it). We sang patriotic songs and had a Veteran from the local VFW come and speak. I hope the kids understood why they had today off and appreciated more than just because they didn't go to school.

Because I've been planning that assembly, it got me thinking about the Veterans I know. I really don't know that many. But every year at Veteran's Day, I think about one in particular that has been a great example to me. Brother Lulloff (I just can't bring myself to call him Earl, even though I'm an adult now) is the father of some friends of mine from childhood. They live down the street from my parents. He was shot and paralyzed in Vietnam. Jel and I went and visited him today to say thanks for your service, but also just to see him. He has colon and liver cancer (I think) and isn't expected to live much longer. He looked great, but I'm sure he's on a lot of pain medication. He has always been so positive about his circumstances. When we were kids and he was in a wheelchair, I never heard him or his kids complain about his situation. His wife has taken care of him all these years with nothing but a smile on her face. I was still a child when he had to have his legs amputated. At first it was a little weird, but he never let it phase him. Over the years he's had many health problems and probably should have died on a number of occasions. He has been spared each time and continues to live as an example to all of us.

I just wanted to write and say thanks to all the Veterans who have served our country. I'm proud to have known one who has been such a pillar of strength to those around him. It would be nice if he could live through yet another trial. But if not, I will have been glad to know him and his family.

So next time you get one of those annoying address labels in the mail, think twice about chucking it in the trash. Just a small donation to the Veterans can go a long way, if not only to show your appreciation for what they've done. (We also get the yellow bags to donate to the Vietnam Vets of America every month and I always find something I need to get rid of. I don't even have to take it down to the charity--they pick it up!)

Our First B&B Experience

Last weekend was October Break and we had Thursday and Friday off. Rusty and I decided to take a quick trip to southern Arizona before I got too big and didn't want to travel anywhere. We vascillated between staying at a resort we like in Tucson, or trying out a bed and breakfast somewhere. Rusty's always wanted to check out some abandoned mining towns down south, and we knew if we stayed at the resort we'd never leave. So the B&B it was.

We researched a few in the area we wanted to go and decided on one called the Dusquesne House. It was a gamble because it didn't have a website and only a couple of pictures. But it turned out to be a great pick. Found in Patagonia, Arizona, this adobe house was built in 1898 by the founder of the town. It was built as a bording house, so it was nice because we had our own suite. There was a front room with 2 day beds that we did our reading in, connected to the bedroom with a private bathroom off the back. It was only $125 a night and included a full gourmet breakfast in the morning.

The B&B was also only a couple blocks away from the main street, so we just walked to the restaurants and arts festival that was going on that weekend. It was really relaxing, and we did spend a day driving around checking out the old mining towns.

There's a couple reasons I'm putting this on my "Reading" blog. First, we met some really neat people over breakfast in the morning. Friday morning we met the owners of Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe. They were there for a relaxing few days as well. We started talking to them because their license plate said "BOOKS", so Rusty thought one of them was a librarian. Turns out they own one of the last privately owned bookstores in the valley. We learned a lot about the publishing industry and Rusty came away with 2 books that Gayle gave him. She insisted he take them because of some of the things we talked about that morning. Anyway, that was really neat. I think staying at a B&B is so much better than a resort because you actually meet people in an intimate setting.

Second, for book club this month we are reading "These is my words", set in southern Arizona from 1881 to 1910 or something like that. Driving around these old mining towns and reading about the people who lived there really gave me a feel for the setting of this book. I have read the book before, but it's nice to read it again with a fresh perspective on it!

If you're ever looking for a relaxing weekend getaway, let me know and I'll give you the info for this B&B--I highly recommend it!

Galileo's Daughter

For book club this month, we are reading Galileo's Daughter. It's a very good book, but I'm only about 1/2 way done and the meeting is a week from today. I'm in here blogging because the Presidential Debate is on right now and I get too emotional and charged about it, so I needed a break.

But I do have some comments I'd like to post about the book, even though I haven't finished it. For those of you who really know me and Rusty, you know that the only TV we watch is pretty much on Channel 8 (PBS). We actually became "Friends of 8" just to support the only quality TV left. Anyway, on Tuesday nights at 8 (most of the time) is a show called Nova. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out. This last Tuesday night it was a fascinating show about how there is a black hole in the center of our galaxy and they have found a black hole at the center of about every major galaxy known. I may have heard this before, but didn't really know what a black hole was or why it was significant that it was at the center of the galaxy.

Anyway, it got me thinking about Galileo. First of all, I think he was a brilliant man, but he was also a very faithful man. His discoveries in science did not negate his belief in God. He could reconcile the two very easily. In fact, he worried that there would be a division between science and religion that didn't need to occur (which in fact, for the most part, has). But I can't imagine how amazed Galileo would be to look through the telescopes and other technologies we have today. Isn't it amazing that we can see GALAXIES? I really can't wrap my brain around it, any more than I can wrap my brain around black holes. And to think, sometimes we think we know it all!

There is so much out there we are unaware of or don't understand. I do believe in God and it amazes me that He understands everything. I suppose it takes an eternity to do, but still it's amazing. And when I think of the infiniteness (is that a word?) of the cosmos, to imagine that God actually cares about me, it's pretty amazing. Not only does God care about me, but I believe He cares about all his creations, which are innumerable!

I don't feel like my feelings are being articulated very well in this blog, but I am enjoying the book and it is causing me to look at the broader picture of life and the world. So yeah, I may get upset at the current politics of our country, but it sure is amazing just to be alive, isn't it!?

UPDATES ON THE BABY

Ok, so I'm really not going to put much about the baby on this blog, I promise. But Friday I went and got an ultrasound (12 weeks). It was so cool and there were some really cute pictures, so I thought I'd post them for your enjoyment.

On the first one you can kind of see the baby with his hands up by his face. (I'm saying "his" but we still don't know what it is yet).

This one is a shot of the legs. Can you see that the feet are crossed?

Here's a close up of the feet crossed.

Here's baby Pitney! It was crazy to see him/her moving around, kicking, etc. It was like a real humanoid! The ultrasound at 8 weeks just looked like a peanut. For all of you who have done this before, I know it's old hat! But it was pretty exciting for Rusty and me, being the first time around!

Empress Orchid

I actually started reading this book before I read Water for Elephants, but I stopped in the middle of it. I finished it a couple weeks ago, but just haven't gotten around to writing about it.

It's a historical fiction set in China around 1860. Empress Orchid's father is a governor of a part of China, but his title is stripped and he eventually dies leaving her family homeless and poor. They carry his body in a coffin to Peking (now Beijing) to bury him. While in Peking, she gets chosen to be a concubine for the Emperor, who is in his early twenties. She moves to the Forbidden City and settles in living there. Life in the Forbidden City is not all it's cracked up to be. She definitely has more than she would of had she not, but she's lonely and spends most of the time by herself with her eunich (servant). Eventually, she woos the Emporer into her bed, which is what all the concubines want and fight over each other for. She does get pregnant and bears him his only son. She also gets involved in the politics of the country, which is totally taboo for the women to do, but is instrumental in helping the Emperor.

There are a lot more details, but what I found was interesting was the history of China during this time. I know I learned some history of China in school, but I really had no idea how it worked. This was after the Opium Wars and European forces were trying to open trade with China, especially for Opium. They fought for ports on the seaside and essentially got them because the Emperor was so out of touch in the Forbidden City. He really had no idea how the common people (peasants) lived or how to have foreign relations. China's dynasties had existed for thousands of years under the same system, that they just couldn't change with the times. Eventually, the Forbidden City fell to the occupiers and the Emperor fled and died.

Like I said, the story was interesting, but it took me a long time to get through. I just felt like it wasn't very gripping. I think it lacked a serious conflict. I have the sequel, and really wanted to read it when I got it, but I think it'll be a while before I pick it up. I guess I'm just lazy and want a quick, easy read most of the time!

Water for Elephants

I just finished reading the first book club book of this year, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I thought it was an excellent book. I couldn't put it down. I was trying to read it during the commercial breaks of the Olympics. It was that good! And it was a pretty quick read too, which is always nice.

It's a historical fiction set in the time of the Great Depression. Because the setting is a train circus, they go from place to place. The story begins with the main character, Jacob, when he's 93 living in a nursing home. He has flashbacks to the days when he worked in the circus. He was at Cornell studying to become a veteranarian when his parents both die in a car accident and leave him penniless (remember, it was The Depression). He doesn't know what to do with himself and hops onto a train in the middle of the night. Unbeknownst to him, it's a circus train and the wheels of fate begin turning.

There's so much of the plot to tell, that I won't bore you here. I will tell you I loved the fact that Gruen goes back and forth between the old Jacob and the young Jacob. The old Jacob is just crochety and stubborn, but he's sweet at the same time. I have spent some time with older people in nursing homes and assisted living places (mostly on my mission), but I really came to love talking to them. I think they're really special. And the young Jacob is also sweet, but in a different way. I picture him looking somewhat like Rusty, because he's described as a red head!

Anyway, to those of you already not reading this book for book club, I highly recommend it. It was a great story and had a good twist at the end! Thanks Erin for the recommendation!

The Twilight Saga Ends: Breaking Dawn

So I finally finished Breaking Dawn last night, the last of 4 books in the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. If you haven't heard of these books before, I would question where you've been in the last couple years! I read the first 3 thinking that it was a trilogy and couldn't believe she ended it the way she did, until I found out it wasn't the end! This book has been much anticipated by Meyer's fans and I was frustrated it got released the week I went back to work!

If you have not read this series before, I highly recommend it. It's really a romance novel, but not the trashy kind. She is a fantastic author--very quick reading and she gives the characters such personalities that make them so believable. If you have not read Breaking Dawn yet, I would stop reading right now, because I will be giving some things away and you don't want to spoil it!

I don't know if it's just because I'm in a different place now, hormonal or feeling like throwing up every 5 minutes, but I don't think I liked this book as much as the others. There were a couple things I just couldn't get past, and so it bugged me the whole time. First of all, I just couldn't help but think "Is there really such love out there? Can anyone really love another as unconditionally as Bella and Edward?" I mean, I love my husband, but would I really go through all of that for him? Not sure. Maybe it just shows you how unloving I am. The first three books had gooshy romance in them too, and for some reason I bought it--so I think it's just me right now!

Second, I just could not believe Edward could get Bella pregnant. If you don't have blood pumping in your body, or oxygen, how can you have living sperm? It just didn't make sense to me. I know it's not supposed to be realistic, but come on. I just couldn't get past it!

And last, if they knew they had a month before the Volturi came to them, why didn't they go to the Volturi? I understand that the month gave them time to prepare, but it just seemed like they could have taken a flight and been there in a day, trying to clear everything up. Why did they stay and wait for the Volturi?

That being said, I really did like the conclusion of the saga. Everyone ends up being happy in the end. I love that Bella was suited to be a vampire and that her relationship with Jacob is resolved because of Renesmee. (By the way, any ideas on how to actually say that?) It doesn't make you feel so bad that she lost her "normal" human life because she was supposed to be a vampire all along.

Oh, and one last thing--reading how Bella's pregnancy went makes me feel not so bad about mine. At least the baby inside of me isn't inadvertantly trying to kill me! (Morning sickness still sucks though--I just threw up again about 5 minutes ago).

So those of you who have read it, I want to hear your comments! What did you think?

BOOK CLUB BOOKS FOR THE YEAR

So the book club I'm in just met and decided on the books we're going to read for the year. I thought I'd post them here for the members as a quick reference, as well as for those of you who are looking for books to read. I'm sure I'll be posting comments on them as soon as I read them.

August: A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith
September: Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
October: These Is My Words by Nancy Turner
November: Under the Moon by ???
December: A Self Made Man by Norah Vincent
January: The Translator by Daoud Hari
February: The Way to Paradise by Mario Vargos Llosa
March: Sphere by Michael Crichton
April: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson
May: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

For book club members: These are the months we will read the books, but the discussion will take place the first Friday of the following month--not to be confused!

Enjoy!

My Excuses...

Ok, so it's been awhile since I posted about a book and I really don't have a good excuse, but here's a couple.

First, I've been trying to read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolfe. I got it at Borders and thought I'd try a classic. Not a good idea apparently! I just can't seem to get into it or through it and it's not a very long book. I think I'm just going to abandon it for the time being because I have only a few days left of my vacation. I really want to read more before I go back to work and am not able to.

The second excuse is because I found out I'm pregnant! It's been super exciting, but I just haven't been really motivated to do anything, except maybe clean my house, but even then... It's going to kill me to wait until 20 weeks to find out the sex. Oh well! The official due date is March 25th. Don't worry, I won't abandon my blog about books even after I have kids. Maybe I'll just have to do a different one!

So, when I actually do finish a book, I promise to put the post up ASAP. Thanks for your patience!

Feel Good Books by Mitch Albom

My sister, Jennifer, was over at my house with her kids (pictured in my profile picture) today. She asked me for a book to read. My favorite question to answer! I was asking her, what kind do you want? Inspirational? Easy Read? Fantasy? She decided on the inspirational, and I sent her home with 2 of Mitch Albom's books.

The first, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", we read in book club the first year it began. It was a great book for book club and we had a great discussion about it. To my knowledge, all of Mitch Albom's books are very short and easy to read. At book club we also watched the movie staring Jon Voight. I highly recommend watching it. If you're not a reader, you need to put this book in your Netflix queue! I felt like it was very inspirational, and I read it shortly after my niece London died. I just really put into perspective what our life is all about.

The other book I gave Jel was "For One More Day", Albom's latest book. This was the other book I read while in Cabo that I couldn't remember. Again, it's a quick read, but carries a very powerful message. These two books are fiction, but you really feel like the characters are real and what happened could happen. If you are needing a pick me up, check them out! WARNING: Unless you are very hard-hearted, you will cry!

I've also read "Tuesdays With Morrie", Albom's first book. This is a non-fiction, and describes the last days of one of Albom's college professors. Morrie got Lou Gehrig's disease, and Albom goes to visit him once a week as he's dying. I love Morrie's outlook on life and how he accepted his impending death. This book I definitely cried in more than the others, but is one that everyone should read about once a year, just to keep a perspective on things. One thing that I really liked that Morrie did was have his funeral BEFORE he died. It was a party, a celebration, that he actually got to hear all the nice things about himself! (Of course, I believe that our spirits can participate in the funeral anyway, but I suppose it's not the same!)

I'm trying to make these entries shorter, but it just doesn't seem to be happening! Those of you who know me are not surprised by this as I tend to be quite the talker! Sorry!

Children's Book--Chasing Vermeer

This kids book by Blue Balliett is a mystery story. It takes place in Chicago, at a University School. Two kids, Petra and Calder, get involved in trying to solve a mystery when a priceless Vermeer painting is stolen on it's way to a Chicago Gallery. They use all sorts of different methods to link incredible coincidences and come to a conclusion.

I was a little disappointed in this book. For one, I felt like the author was making too many connections between events and people in the book. It was just a little too far fetched for me. Kids, on the other hand, might really appreciate this, I'm not sure. The other thing that really bothered me was the classroom scenes. Blue Balliett herself was a teacher at a laboratory school in Chicago. I suppose a laboratory school means that they weren't directed by state standards, because the classroom in this book was so unrealistic to me. The teacher was the kind of teacher that didn't have a curriculum. She just would think of a topic of interest, ask the kids questions about it and let them research it. Call me cynical, but I just don't see this working in a typical classroom. Maybe it was a classroom of gifted kids, but in a normal classroom, not every student would be engaged and administrators would not be ok with nebulous ideas and no real structure.

I see this alot in children's books I read. I feel like writers think that this kind of classroom is ideal. Maybe for a writer it is, but it's not likely to work for everyone, and certainly not in our current system of No Child Left Behind, high stakes testing, merit pay, etc. Perhaps this method would be the best way of teaching, but they're certainly not teaching teachers to teach this way nor creating an environment where it is possible. I guess I just get frustrated when kids read stuff like this and think "How come my teacher isn't like this? or I wish my teacher did stuff like this." , when it's not something we have complete control over anymore.

The one thing that was nice with this book was the illustrations. Brett Helquist is an LDS illustrator, famous for his illustrations in the Lemony Snicket "Series of Unfortunate Events". They were a pleasure to look at and added a lot to the story.

There is a sequel to the book called The Wright 3, but I don't think I'm going to rush to read it anytime soon. I just wasn't that impressed.

BOOKS I READ IN CABO

In May, Rusty and I went to Cabo San Lucas for a week's vacation. It was much needed at the end of the year and enabled me tons of time to read! We spent most of the week sitting on the beach or by the pool just reading! I thought I'd share some of the books I read while I was down there.

Here we are on Lover's Beach at the tip of the Baja California.

Marley and Me

This book by John Grogan is a must read for dog lovers! Even if you aren't a dog lover, you will enjoy this book. It's the first one I read on my trip and it's a very quick read. Grogan puts together a collection of vignettes about his crazy dog Marley. The subtitle of the book is "life and love with the world's worst dog". I can totally relate to him, having many trials with our dog Sandy. She is definitely like Marley in many ways, mostly in the way she won our hearts. At the end of the book Grogan talks about Marley's health declining and all the money they spent on helping him. Although Sandy's not old, we just spent a good chunk of change having her knee rebuilt. The things we do for our dogs! Be prepared though, it's a tear jerker. I was sitting by the pool next to Rusty while reading the saddest part of the book. I kept trying to wipe my eyes behind my sunglasses in an inconspicuous way, as to not draw attention to the fact I was crying! And some of you may have heard, this book is being made into a movie with Owen Wilson as John and Jennifer Anniston as his wife. It should be pretty funny!

Our Marley, Sandy on Christmas of last year.

Neverwhere

I picked this book up at the public library for $.50--I love the "Friends of the Library" where you can get used books really cheap! Anyway, it looked interesting to me and I had heard of the author, Neil Gaiman, because he wrote a children's book a few years ago called Coraline. I started reading Coraline but never finished it for some reason. Anyway, he is a science fiction/fantasy writer (right up my alley!). He's also British and the story is set in the underground of London (another plus! I actually had been to some of the places he talks about in the book). This is a very strange book. I really enjoyed it, but if there were one word to describe it it would be "dark". The protagonist, Richard, is just a normal guy, engaged to be married. While going on a date with his fiancee, he runs into a girl who appears to be hurt on the sidewalk. He takes her home and cares for her. This random act of kindness connects him to a different world that exists in the underground passages of London. The girl ends up being from a kind of royal family in this world and there are people trying to kill her. There's a lot more to the story, but you'll have to read it to see if Richard stays living in this "otherworld" or comes back to his normal life above ground! I thought it was very interesting and unlike any fantasy I had read before.

The Lightning Thief

This is a kid's book (young adult, actually). Written by Rick Riordan, it is the first in a series called "Percy Jackson The Olympians" series. I had heard about it from a colleague of mine because it deals with Greek mythology and that's part of the sixth grade curriculum. It's a very good book, and I would recommend it to kids who like fantasy. Rusty hates it when I read kids books, but I'm sorry, I think they're just as good as adult books sometimes! Riordan does a great job building believable characters in a somewhat believable world. It was written in 2005, and I can't help but wonder if he was inspired by J.K. Rowling in that way. Percy Jackson is a half-god (his father was a Greek god--I won't tell you who and spoil it). He doesn't know he is until he's about 12. Then he goes to a camp for half-gods like himself. They're trained by Chiron (the guy who trained Hercules). There's a lot of adventure in the book, even getting him to the camp is an ordeal. Because the setting is contemporary, you almost think that Percy could be a real person and you might have half-gods and characters from Greek mythology around you and you just don't recognize them!

I haven't read the other books in the series because I bought the 3rd book at our school's book fair, but I don't have the 2nd one yet! (And I cannot read a series out of order!)

I read another book, but I can't remember which and I need to go, so maybe later!

Another Fantasy Series...

A couple weeks ago it was our anniversary. We went to Chipotle for dinner and then, of course, the bookstore afterwards! It was a used bookstore and I found lots of neat things there. One that really excited me was the last book in a series about King Arthur. I had read the first 3 books when I was either in high school or college. At the time, I had to go to used bookstores to find them because they were not easily found and as far as I knew there was no Amazon.com yet! I really enjoyed reading the first 3 and thought that there were only 3 books in the series. I never gave it another thought until I found this one.

The book is titled "The Wicked Day" by Mary Stewart. Mary Stewart is a Scottish author and wrote this book in 1983. The first book in the series "The Crystal Cave" was written in 1970. The second and third are "The Hollow Hills" and "The Last Enchantment". Not all of the books are about King Arthur. In fact, the first one is all about Merlin: how he was born, how he got his powers, etc. I really don't remember a lot of details about the first 3 books because I read them so long ago. I was tempted to read them over before reading the 4th, but decided I had too many other books I hadn't read yet this summer, so I didn't want to waste time reading ones I already had. It worked out ok--I don't think I needed to in order to understand the story.

This story (The Wicked Day) is mostly about King Arthur's illegitimate child, Mordred. He was conceived when Arthur's half sister Morgause tempted Arthur to sleep with her (he didn't know he was related to her at the time). The baby was raised by foster parents and doesn't come to Morgause's court until he's 10. The illegitimate kid wouldn't have been that big of a deal except that Guenivere, Arthur's wife, was barren and didn't give him any heirs. There's tons more to the story, but in the end Arthur and Mordred fight for the title of High King. I won't ruin the end for you.

Mary Stewart obviously used some factual information to give basis to her story, but most of it is literary license. It doesn't really matter to me because no one really knows much about King Arthur anyway. It's a typical medieval story: incest, adultery, murder, greed, magic, you know! This series is by far the best Arthur story I've read. There are lots out there, but these just have fantastic plots, great descriptive language and interesting characters. It's definitely no "Sword and the Stone" (one of my favorite Disney movies).

Unlike the Narnia series, this is not for kids! But if you're interested in fantasy and a little historical fiction, I highly recommend this series. If you don't want to read the entire 4 books, read the first one "The Crystal Cave". It's excellent. Thanks Mom for the suggestion so many years ago that is entertaining me still!

My Latest Read: The Chronicles of Narnia

A few weeks ago, I took my niece Hannah to see Prince Caspian. (Rusty didn't want to see it). It was a great movie and I thought they did an excellent job with it. I had seen the first one (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) when it came out with my class at the time. I had read the book to my students during school and then arranged to meet them at the movie theaters to see it together. Amazingly, before that year, I had never read any of the Narnia books. I know, who goes through childhood not having read them? Especially the kind of reader I was. I know we had the books at home, but for some reason they just didn't appeal to me.

So after seeing Prince Caspian with Hannah, I thought, "I should read the whole series". So I began! I read The Magician's Nephew, which describes how Narnia becomes connected with our world in the first place. (The magician's nephew is the Professor in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). The Professor actually brings the White Witch accidentally with him to Narnia. He, and the people traveling with him, witness the birth of Narnia.

This series was written by a Christian author who disguises Christian idealogy in his stories. The first book is about the Creation. The second is about Christ's sacrifice. The third book (The Horse and His Boy) is about a journey home, life I guess? The fourth, Prince Caspian, is another about good vs. evil. And the fifth, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is about finding where God lives. I haven't read the last two yet.

Ok, here's my opinion. I think they are great kids books. And the Christian ideology is not obvious. I had to point out the connection to Hannah because she didn't get it on her own. They're good stories with a good message in each of them. I don't know if it's because I'm reading them as an adult or what, but I found the language to be lacking. I don't think C.S. Lewis was all that great in his descriptions of characters, setting or plot. They're very simply written. For kids, this is a good thing! It's also a good thing for the movie makers, because they can imbellish the story and make it even better. (For example, I thought Prince Caspian the movie was better than the book. And I never think the movie is better than the book!)

All in all, I'd recommend the series as one kids should read, and maybe families should read together. There are a lot of discussion abilities in each book. For example, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a character gets turned into a dragon by mistake. The dragon has to shed his skin, and Eustace doesn't know how to do it, so he gently takes off a layer. Aslan (God) tells him to do it again. He does it about 5 times before Aslan finally goes to Eustace and does it for him. He digs his lion claws deep into the skin and pulls it off. It's painful at first, but Eustace feels so much better afterwards. So, what do you think this is referring to? What was C.S. Lewis trying to share by this scene? I won't give it away, but I'll let you think about it!

Let me know if you've read these books and your thoughts! Thanks for reading!

Nancy