The Blue Castle

This is a book that I wouldn't normally pick up to read but I am glad I did. The author L.M. Montgomery wrote the Anne of Green Gables series and I remember being a fan of those books as a girl. FYI: This book is geared definitely to an adult audience. No giving it to your nine-year-old.

This is a story about a 29-year-old woman named Valancy. She is not the classic heroine of a novel. Valancy is not liked by her family, she talks very little and is considered plain (and told so to her face). Because reality is so painful and unhappy for Valancy, she creates an imaginary world for herself which she calls The Blue Castle. When she is told that she is dying, she decides to live in a way that would make her happy without reference to her disapproving family.

I thought it was an excellent story. There are some wonderful moments in this book as Valancy tries to create a happy life for herself in her last year of life. It is also a quick read at 218 pages!

The Walking Drum

Ok, so I read this book last year, but so I often think about it that I just have to mention it. I finished this book and thought: "This is everything a novel should be!" It is thought-provoking, action-packed, and full of interesting historical references. Oh yea, and The Walking Drum is by Louis L'Amour! Louis L'Amour the author of all the book about the old west... but this novel is nothing like his other books (except for the insights, perhaps).

The story takes place all over Europe, Russia, and Asia in the 12th century. The hero, Kerbouchard, is driven to find his father's kidnappers and it leads him on a decade long search through many cultures and different streaks of fortune for our hero. It was nice to read about a hero that was continually seeking to be educated because, he knew, that knowledge was the only possession would ever remain his. He had many reversals in fortune, but because of his knowledge he could always better his circumstances. I don't always agree with L'Amour or his hero, but it is definitely an interesting ride.

Favorite quotes (there are a lot of them:

"The wider my knowledge became the more I realized my ignorance. It is only the ignorant who can be positive (certain), only the ignorant who can become fanatics, for the more I learned the more I became aware that there are shadings and relationships in all things..."

"In knowledge lay not only power but freedom from fear, for generally speaking one only fears what one does not understand." p.85

"What kind of scholar was I? Or was I a scholar at all? My ignorance was enormous. Beside it my knowledge was nothing. My hunger for learning, not so much to improve my lot as to understand my world, had led me to study and to thought. Reading without thinking is as nothing, for a book is less important for what it says than for what it makes you think." p.201-202

"Civilization was born of curiosity, and can be kept alive in no other way." p.251

"To die for what one believes is all very well for those so inclined, but it has always seemed to me the most vain of solutions. There is no cause worth dying for that is not better served by living." p.254

"Evil comes often to a man with money; tyranny comes surely to him without it." p.346

"The goods of this world... are soon lost. Fire, storm, thieves, and war are ever with us, but what is stored in the mind is ours forever. I have lost my sword. All that remains is what I have learned and some discretion in how it is to be used." p.362

"Up to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him; then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, this I am today, that I shall be tomorrow. The wish, however, must be implemented by deeds." p.373

"To survive? What is that? A mouse lives, a fly lives; one flees in terror, another lives in filth. They exist, they are, but do they live?
To challenge the fates, that is living! To ride the storm, to live daringly, to live nobly, not wasting one's life in foolish, silly risks..." p.419

And so many more quotes, I can't count....

The Girl Who Could Fly

This book is geared to a younger audience, but I heard such good reviews that I was intrigued. The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester was her first book and I am definitely putting her on my "authors to watch" list. The story is about a plain girl who grew up in a small farming community with little exposure to life outside her farm. As the book obviously gives away, she finds that she can fly and this sets off a series of events that take her far from her farm. That is where I am going to leave it since I was surprised, especially given the cover, where this book leads. Usually a reader can predict the twists and turns of the book but I'll admit I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't always know where it was going to lead. That alone made it worth the read, but I also like the heroine of the novel. She is a honest and courageous character that doesn't give in to the cynicism of those who surrounded her. She really transcended her environment and circumstances. This book is a definite keeper for when my daughter is old enough to read it.

The Measure of a Man

I read The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier despite it being an Oprah Book Club pick. (She is taking over the world!) Sidney Poitier has always had such a presence and a peace about him that I was intrigued what he would have to say.

I really enjoyed the first half, which described how Mr. Poitier grew up. It was incredibly interesting since he grew up on Cat Island in the Bahamas. There was no electricity or any modern conveniences and he did not leave the island until he was 15 years old. How many of us grow up like this in modern times?! Due to his unusual youth, he has a unique perspective, insights and reactions to our modern lives. It made me take a second look at what I expose my children to and what my children need from me.

The second half of the book was a little slower for me since he was writing about him breaking into the film industry, which didn't interest me much. He also frankly discussed how he cheated on his first wife and how his children felt completely betrayed. While I do admire his forthrightness, I can't help but get turned off by that part of the story.

All in all, I thought it was an insightful and honest autobiography that didn't shy away from the blemishes that inevitably occur in life.

Some of my favorite quotes:

"Poverty notwithstanding, I was lucky... I wasn't bombarded with contravening images and influences that really didn't have any direst connection to my nurturing. I didn't have to digest television..." p.5

"These kind of simulations come at today's American kids on a daily basis, but the mental and emotional apparatus for sifting through them, for processing them, for dealing with them in some meaningful way, simply isn't there."

"But children still have to try to make some sense of everything they're bombarded with. They have to assume something, correctly or incorrectly, factual of otherwise. They have to encode all these distractions into the self that they're slowly, day by day, building." p.6

"We put our kids through fifteen years of quick-cut advertising, passive television watching, and sadistic video games, and we expect to see emerge a new generation of calm, compassionate, and engaged human beings?" p.6-7

"We're going to have to decide for ourselves what we are and what we're not. Create our own image of ourselves. And nurture it and feed it till it can stand on its own." p.78

My First Review!

Oh, I feel so official! I can just put up my own blog and pretend that I am a legit critic with something to say! No wonder there is so much misinformation out there!


My first review is of William J. Bennett's The American Patriot's Almanac: Daily Readings on America. This book is one I will be reading all throughout the year since it is arranged to have interesting stories of happenings in American history on each day of the year, so I read a page and day and I already love it! In the first four or five pages, William Bennett writes about what it means to be a patriot and a citizen. Those first pages alone make the book worth the purchase and the read. It is something every citizen of the USA needs to read. I LOVE this book and look forward everyday to read the page for that day. I have a feeling that I will finish the book before the end of the year because the stories are so compelling that I often read ahead.