The Inheritance Cycle Begins

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Eragon reminds me of another of my favorite heroes in literature, Harry Potter. Neither character chose their path, but neither backed away from the destiny that was selected for them. Both of these characters are strong willed and have a great heroic personality. Eragon is one of those characters that you feel like you get to know them inside and out. He is adventurous, but he also wants to do the right thing. Some of his decisions are spontaneous and mislead by hatred or hurt, but as long as he has Saphira with him, she helps him with his decision making. Saphira is a great character as well. She is almost like a mother figure for Eragon, even though she is only months old, she has hundreds of years of wisdom to share with her young Rider.

I enjoyed this book. Even though it was written by a very young author, it was well done. He presented the story well and kept the plot stable. There are always things that I could point out that were not perfect, but I’m going to give Paolini a break since he was like 15 when he wrote Eragon. I’m leaving this blog sort of short, I have read a few books since I read this particular book and I can’t remember a lot of details to blog about. Below is a synopsis, although it is sloppily written I think you will get the point.

Synopsis:
Eragon is a fifteen-year-old farm boy, orphaned at birth, lives with his uncle Garrow and cousin Roran in Carvahall, a small village in Alagaesia. His uncle raised him to live independently; he hunts and helps around his uncles small farm. Eragon grows up with his cousin Roran and they are very close, as close as brothers.

In the first chapter Eragon finds a small oval stone, mystified by the stone, he sees the value in it and tries to sell it for money for food, but is unable to get rid of it because he found it in the Spine. The Spine was thought of as a place that thought of to be haunted. Low and behold, the stone hatches a small blue dragon, she names herself Saphira. Eragon hides the dragon from his uncle and cousin and he thinks of no trouble until one day, two strangers go to Garrow’s house looking for the stone, they kill Garrow and destroy the farm. Saphira takes Eragon away in order to save his life, when they come back they find Garrow and the farm. Eragon must leave Carvahall immediately, Brom, an old story teller takes Eragon away and the true journey begins. Brom teaches him some of the ancient language/ magic, and also teaches him to fight with a sword. Brom presents Eragon with Zar’roc, which was the sword that belonged to Morzan, the Forsworn. Morzan is known as the Forsworn because he was one of the last Riders, he gave the turned Rider’s over to Galbatorix, and Galbatorix destroyed and killed all of the Riders and Dragons. All the while, he has a recurring dream of a girl that is in trouble.

The Ra’zac , creatures that work for the King that do his evil bidding, who we find out are the two strangers that killed Garrow, find Eragon and his traveling partners. They kill Brom and try to capture Eragon and Saphira to take them to King Galbatorix. Luckily, they are saved by Murtagh a young man probably a year older than Eragon. Murtagh joins Eragon in his quest but informs Eragon that he will not be joining the Varden if that is Eragon’s choice.

Murtagh and Eragon travel to Gil’ead a large city controlled by the empire, they sneak in and are able to save Arya the woman that Eragon has been having dreams about. He finds that she is an elf. Eragon is able to get into the mind of the elf and she tells him that she must stay unconscious because she has been given a poison and without the antidote she will die. She instructs him to go to find the Varden (an anti-Empire movement that lives with the Dwarves). Farthen Dur is where the Varden hide, some are excited that there is a new Rider, and others are quite upset. Orik, a dwarf and is the nephew of the King of the Dwarves, Hrothgar, becomes one of Eragon’s greatest companions. At the end of the first book, Farthen Dur is attacked by Urgals because of the Varden’s disloyalty to the Empire and because the King wants Eragon as his Rider. Eragon finds that a Shade (demon/evil worker for the King) is in control of the Urgals, Eragon destroys him with help from Saphira and Arya’s distraction. Eragon wakes up after destroying the Shade, the Shade struck him with his sword and scared him from his shoulder to his hip.

Please leave me a message and let me know what you think about this book. Have you read it? Do you plan on reading it? Give me your opinion. Thanks!

“Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun…”

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


This book was Phenomenal. Once I started I couldn’t put it down. From beginning to end it was non-stop action. The story is so heart wrenching that I couldn’t wait to turn the page. Reading this book was easy, finding this book was a little harder. The way I found this book was through my online book reading community. The first time I heard about it, I saw it on Stephenie Meyer’s website about a year ago and I made a mental note to check it out. I even remember going to the library and searching for it, with no luck. For Christmas 2008, Simon and I received a gift card to Barnes and Noble, since we don’t have a B & N in our town, we had to spend it when we went to Little Rock a few months later. This was one of the books I decided to buy. Of course it has sat on my shelf for quite a while; until one not so special week I decided to pick it up. And I am so glad that I did. With the second installment coming out the following week, I thought what a perfect time to read it. Well, my reading went way too quickly, and then I got stuck with nothing to read for a couple of days.

The Hunger Games is set in the near/distant future, where 12 districts now live in a place called Panem that was once North America. The Capitol rules and no one dares to come up against them. Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen year old girl from the smallest most run down district, District 12, the coal district, doesn’t have a perfect life. Her life has not been easy, with her father’s death in the coal mines and her mother going through a deep depression, Katniss steps up to the plate to provide for her family. She manages to hunt outside the district illegally to provide for her mother and beloved little sister Prim. To keep the Districts in line, once a year, the Capitol hosts The Hunger Games. This event keeps peace in the Districts and keeps the civilians in their place. Every district has 2 Tributes drawn, a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18, and they will travel to the Capitol to compete in the Hunger Games where, one person will be the victor and the other 23 Tributes will be dead. Every year the Districts assemble together to see which family will lose their child and which families are safe for another year. This year will be change Katniss’s life forever.

This is a story of war where no one truly wins. Even when the victor goes home to fame and fortune with a new life, they never really come home. Every victor has to live with the fact that they are now a killer and the only reason they survived was because others died. They may be the only ones going home, but they will never be the same.


It also is a story of love. There is a very complicated love triangle in the story, which Katniss is totally unaware of until she is faced with certain death. When Peeta Mellark’s name is called Katniss automatically is pained. Peeta has already saved her life in a way she can never pay back. He gave her a will to live when no one else cared and now they are matched up as enemies. The other part of this triangle is Gale. Her best friend in the world and he is left behind while she goes to the games to fight for her life. During the training before the games and during the event itself, Katniss is faced with a hard reality and she is totally blindsided by several revelations. I won’t ruin it for you because it is amazing writing that gets you to the point of no return.

Praise for The Hunger Games:
I have to start with writing style, Suzanne Collins does an amazing job. She writes with such description that I can feel the fire or taste the water. Whatever Katniss is feeling you will feel it along with her. Another concept that I enjoyed was Katniss and her inability to decide what she wants. Because she didn’t know what she wanted, I couldn’t make up my mind what I wanted for her. She was a great character and I enjoyed learning about her as the book went on.

Complaints about The Hunger Games:
One warning that I must include, is that there is quite a bit of political propaganda. There is definitely a political background to the story that could be overlooked, but was definitely underlying throughout the story. I’m never too keen on books that try to push their political views on me, but I found it quite easy to ignore. Therefore I ignored it and enjoyed the book.

So, for those who have read it, which is your favorite? Gale or Peeta? What did you think about the book? Have you read book #2 Catching Fire? Leave me a comment about your thoughts on the series or about my blog!

"I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing, With a broken heart, That's still beating" Broken by Lifehouse

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Do you want to laugh, cry, and travel through time and space with a love story that will stick with you? Than look no further, this is the book for you. This story will melt your heart and give you some food for thought. The Time Traveler’s Wife raises so many questions about life. Questions like, Is the idea of fate real? Is there a God and what is His role in this life? Is there really just one person out there that is the exact fit for another person? I’m not sure if I’m the best person to answer these questions in detail, but to quickly answer the above questions in my own personal opinion… (Yes, Yes-to be glorified, No).

Clare was never an ordinary girl, she never had the chance to be normal. Because there was always Henry. Clare first met Henry when she was 6 years old and Henry was 36. Life after that moment was never the same, or was it never the same after they first met when she was 20 and Henry was 28? It is for the reader to decide. We follow this romance from beginning to end. It will make you laugh and cry and believe that love is out there waiting to find you.

My absolute favorite element of the book was the characters. Henry was my favorite. He is one of those characters that after the book is over you continue to think about him and the life he lived. He was a wonderful diverse character that was in a horrible predicament. You could only feel bad for him and love him with Clare. From the title a reader would assume that the book only would be from Clare’s perspective, or at least that is what I thought when I picked it up. Surprises of all surprises, on the first page we are seeing the story from Henry’s perspective. I personally enjoyed it because the audience would not know him half as well if we had not seen half the story from his point of view.

I did have a couple of gripes about the book that other people probably loved. I did not enjoy the multiple name dropping of authors, poets, musicians, and other famous people that I had never heard of. I feel that my liberal arts education prepared me well for the world and gave me some knowledge that I would not have normally picked up, but I looked up some of these people and knew that there was no way that I would have ever heard about them. Also, she changed languages throughout the book (French, Italian, & German) with little to no explanation of what the phrase, sentence and sometimes paragraph meant. Although the language changes were very real and natural, for any audience member who was not multilingual it caused confusion.

With fate in mind and in my own life, I can look back on my own story with Simon and see that if certain things did or did not happen then we would probably not be together (what if he would have accepted one of the many tennis scholarships, what if I wouldn’t have accepted the internship at my church, what if I would have gone to a different college, what if he never went to Brookhill?). Did we actually make those choices or were they made for us? Was it predestined from the beginning of time for us both to end up at Christian Ministries Church so that we would be together? Only God knows, but I do know that I’m incandescently happy that it did happen just the way it did. I wonder if Clare would say the same, or would she have liked to go back and change her decisions based on the outcome of her decisions.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is an excellent read. I would recommend it to all readers (some language and sexual content may not be suitable for younger readers). It was addicting from the very beginning and it only took me a week to read. The author’s style was perfect for the story line and theme. On the cover of the book, the short biography about the author stated that this was her first novel. BRAVO!!! For her first novel, she did outstanding, and I hope that her other books (if there are any) are just as great and just as addicting.

Well all of that to say, what did you think? Did you read the book? Do you agree? Is it a good read? Have you seen the movie? What did you think about the movie? Give me some feedback down below!

A kiss on the hand can be quite continental...

Kiss by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy

Shauna McAllister wakes up 6 weeks after a near fatal car accident with no memories from the past 6 months. She has woken up to an alleged drug charge, her family blames her for the wreck, and they are keeping her from seeing her brother and best friend, Rudy. With no where to go she moves into a guest house on her estranged father’s estate with her boyfriend Wayne Spade, who she doesn’t remember. When she starts receiving urgent text messages warning her to leave the past behind her, she starts to get worried about whether the car wreck was actually an accident or not. As her story starts to unravel, she learns more than she was looking for and it might just cost her life.

One of my friends sent me this book and I have had it in my position since March. Since I’ve been a little distracted with A Song of Ice and Fire, I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. Finally, my reading schedule opened up a little and I dug into this book. Kiss was well written and had a great story line. It was a perfect balance of suspense and drama that it kept you wanting to read while not keeping you up at night. One fun fact I didn’t know was that Dekker was a Christian author. The content of the book was so well written that the little spurts of Spiritual inner personal struggle didn’t seem to be a turn off. I enjoy a good book that any person from any religion can pick up and there’s enough Christianity in the book that could speak to someone’s heart, but that is not overbearing or repulsing.

What I liked about the book, was the story line. The way the book begins is practically the car accident itself, therefore we know nothing about Shauna and so we are unable to guess whether the charges that are being pressed against her are actually true or not. We have very little to base any sort of opinion on our main character and so we are left to the writer’s work to lead us through the story. Also, I enjoyed how the audience learns everything through Shauna asking questions. It reminded me of Potter, when Harry doesn’t know something, he just asks questions.

Something I did not like about that book is that there were no real surprises in the book. As long as you kept your eyes open and saw things that were going on in the background, you weren’t left to much guessing. On second though, I’m not sure that this is such a bad thing though, with more thought on the subject, I think that the authors led us to the answers. Another concept that I didn’t much care for was the title. I think that the authors wrote the ending of the book first, with the thought that whenever she kissed someone she could steal their memories; well that isn’t how the memories came to her at the beginning, so I’m not sure that Kiss is the best title for this particular novel.

Have you read this book? What did you think? What would you name this book, or did you think the title was perfect? Let me know what you think in the comment section below.

Back, Back Again, Elena's Back, Tell a Friend...

The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall by: L.J. Smith

(yawwwwwn) oh, I mean, hello… this is a blog about the above mentioned book. I decided to read the Vampire Diaries series because someone from a blog that I love to read had read them and had loved them. Also, from the same blog there was a clip of the new series coming out this fall and it looked intriguing. So, I decided to give them a try. From my previous blog about The Vampire Diaries you might have read that book 4 was the conclusion to the story. Well, little did I know that there was a book 5 recently written and this blog is about that very book.

Elena’s back, but she’s not herself lately, she’s a childlike spirit that can’t talk, walk, read, or anything else a normal 17 year old girl can do. She has Stephan, so things seem to be going good for her. Well on the other side of the story, Damon is getting into trouble again, this time with twin Japanese shape-shifting vampires that are wreaking havoc on Fell’s Church. Suddenly, Stephan leaves and the only thing left behind is an entry in Elena’s diary, stating that he can no longer be with her because he’s afraid of turning her into a vampire (again). Now, it’s up to Damon to set things right, can he do it? Will he be able to lay his dark-side to rest while he saves the woman he loves and her friends? You’ll have to pick this new installment up to find out!

Sadly, I did not enjoy this book. I was about 300 pages into it and almost decided to quit (out of 586). I complained the entire time while reading it. I complained about how boring it was and I was advised many times by multiple people to just stop reading it. I didn’t stop though and I’m glad I didn’t because now I can write this great blog! I can’t seem to put my finger on exactly what I didn’t like about it, but if I was forced to hash it out, I would say that I’m just not that interested in the characters. When Stephan left, I was like, ok, whatever, I don’t even care… Unlike other stories that I’ve read when main characters leave and they rip my beating heart out and take it with them just to put me through more agony (Edward in New Moon).

One compliment that I would like to pay to Smith is that I can’t imagine putting a story to rest for over 10 years, picking it back up and keeping the characters the same. I would have messed that up, but I couldn’t tell there had been a gap, it felt as if days had truly gone by. I think that with time I would have changed so much that the characters would have changed with me. Kudos to you Smith on a job well done, with character simulation, that is.

One lasts item of discussion is, no matter how much I didn’t like this book, and no matter how much I would like nothing more than to forget that I ever picked it up in the first place, the end was a fantastic cliff hanger. I really would like to go on the next journey with Elena, Damon, and Matt. I want to see what crazy adventure lies before them and hopefully it won’t be so boring when it happens. I have a feeling that this will not be the last we will hear from Elena and the Fell’s Church crew.

So, what do you think? Do you think I’m crazy for not liking this book? Have you read any of this series? Should I try a different series by Smith, or are they all kind of the same? Let me know what you think and give me your insights to this series!

The path of faith was a crooked one, Brienne could not help but note.

A Feast For Crows by George R.R. Martin

When I think about this book, I can’t help but to think about the time it took to finish it. The book was great, but because of the timing of what was going on in my life and the length of the book, it took me a while to get through it. It took me so long that I took a 4 book break in the middle of it. I usually don’t do that, but I needed a break from the seriousness. This blog is about the 4th book of The Song of Ice and Fire series and it was the same style and continued the plotline immaculately. While reading it, a person couldn’t help but notice a few things were missing. But you’ll have to read it to find out what those were.

A pretty usual theme to the series is death. There is war throughout the entire series and therefore characters die often. Many main characters have died, including what to me would be main characters that helped the plot become more diverse. In A Feast for Crows, there were not as many people killed. There was still the war, which was sort of fizzling out with the characters displayed, but the characters that were not present I can feel the build up from the other characters.

I feel like there is something brewing in the background of this story. I could feel it trying to bubble up to the surface. I could feel it coming on, almost like the warning signs before volcano erupts. I just feel like some really big things are going to happen in the next book. I wonder if Martin is going to use any of the major character plots from A Feast for Crows going or if it is only going to be the side we didn’t see in this book. A Dance with Dragons is next and I can’t wait to see what is going to happen.

There were a few new people in this story, it showed what was going on with the Iron Fleet, which before had been a very minute sub-plot and it has become a major part of the series. I believe that the book title could have been a double meaning. The new king of the Iron Fleet is also called “Crow’s Eye” and this book showed how all of the other kings were just preparing the way for these sub-characters to come in and surprise the Iron Throne because they are so focused on the war in front of their faces. Another new person was the Princess Arianne of Dorne. During the book, I couldn’t understand why we were reading about Dorne, then the last chapter happened and it blew me away. I just love it when new sides of the story unfold.

What am I looking forward to? What’s going to happen to Cersei? What’s going to happen with Dorne now that Arianne isn’t going to marry Dany’s brother? What was the last word that Brienne yelled, and did it save her life? Sansa is going to be married to someone else and she will have Winterfell and the Eyrie?

Since we saw one side of the story, the people I missed in this book were: Brann, Jon, Dany. But the next book, I’m going to miss Arya and Sansa. Have you read this series? What are you looking forward to? If you have not read it, do you want to? Comment below and let me know what you think!

The tale of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them…

The Awakening, The Struggle, The Fury, and Dark Reunion by: L.J. Smith


As my avid followers know, I’ve been reading a specific series since January. The Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin. And don’t get me wrong, it is a great series, probably one of the best I’ve ever read. The only problem I’m having is that it’s super intense and detailed. Usually I’m all over that, but life has thrown me a few curve-balls which makes hard reading a little less fun. So, with that in mind, I picked up The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith in the middle of A Feast for Crows (book 4 of the series). An older vampire young adult series, the Vampire Diaries were first published in the early 90’s and with the recent “Vampire Mania” have been reprinted.

I’ll start off with my opinion and then end with what each book is about. I will give some spoilers in the explanation, so feel free to read some or all of the blog, but if you plan on reading it, I’ll warn you when there are spoilers ahead. First of all, I have mixed emotions on whether I should tell you to read this book because it’s pretty good, or should I advise you to run away screaming because, daaaaaaang! So, let’s talk about what I didn’t like about it. The writing style. Of course I keep in mind that it’s YA Lit, but still you can write a little more realistically. Mainly I noticed it when the characters interacted, the conversations were very unrealistic and fake. Smith’s writing style was just okay. The second thing that I didn’t like was the story line. When I finished the series I couldn’t look back and say, “Oh, that’s where these books where going.” The author didn’t seem to have a plan when she began and she just went with it as she went. That can spell disaster and chaos. The final and worst part of the books was the witchcraft that was sewn into the framework of the books. I didn’t notice it at the beginning because the Awakening was mainly about the love story, but as the books continued the witchcraft continued to become more of what the book was about instead of a love story between a teenage girl and a vampire. Or is the story about the City of Fell’s Church, or is the story about a love triangle? Or… Well you see my point, I’m not sure what the story was actually about. Oh, one more thing that I forgot was that I would have liked to see a difference in is the amount of details. She sees Stephen and wants him… ok, why does she want him? I do have to say that by the last book the details started coming, but I wish it would have been from the beginning. I know all of this seems a little harsh, but I wanted to be honest.

Now for what I liked, because yes I did like some aspects of the book. I enjoyed Elena. Her strong willed character was fun, empowered, and not perfect. Her friends knew she wasn’t perfect, but loved her regardless. Smith may have not given us details, but she did build the characters and their relationships with each other. She could also create a moment. There were several times while I was reading that the moment got to me and there were definitely some tears. My favorite scene in all of the books is the dream sequence in book 4, when Elena and Stephen have a moment. I think that it was so sweet. So, on a whole, I’ll let you make up your mind on if you like it or not. Let me know what you think and leave me a comment at the end. Thanks for reading!

Sold in pairs, The Awakening and The Struggle are the first book and The Fury and Dark Reunion being the conclusion. The Awakening introduces us to the major characters of the series. There is Elena the queen of Robert E. Lee High. She runs the school and everyone in it loves her for it. Then there’s her faithful companions Meredith and Bonnie, her two best friends in the world. Matt, her ex-boyfriend who was always more of a friend to her than a boyfriend. Then there’s Stephan, the new mysterious boy in town who doesn’t want to have anything to do with her.

SPOILERS AHEAD—I’m just going to recap the 4 books, so please be prepared that I ruin EVERYTHING!!! So, if you are going to read these books, wait and come back after you are finished. If you don’t want to read them, continue and enjoy!

In the first book we meet the characters and the relationship between Elena and Stephan is established. Elena, our heroine decides right away that she not only wants Stephen for herself, she can’t live without him. Actually she states that she will have him even if it kills them both. This statement is a little dramatic to say the least, but you know, whatever works. She knows there is something different about Stephen, but little does she know that he is a 500 year old vampire. Stephen can’t seem to stay away from Elena, the reason; she looks like an old girlfriend. Katherine was the love of Stephen’s life, she was the vampire that made him what he is. Here’s a spoiler for you, but after our couple gets together, here comes Damon, Stephen’s older brother, who is also a vampire. Damon pledges that he will conquer Elena and pluck her from Stephen’s grasp. The first book The Awakening is the fight between Stephen and Damon’s for Elena’s heart.

The Struggle begins where The Awakening left off with Elena searching for Damon to confront him about hurting Stephan. The second book is the love triangle. Who does Elena want? Does she want who her heart is automatically drawn to or to the bad boy? There is a force bigger than all of them and it seems to be Damon. He is taking blood from Elena and giving her his own. Which apparently makes a vampire, who knew? So, at the end of the book when Elena has just drowned, it’s hard to believe that with two books left that she’s dead…

Well, ok, so she’s not dead, but she was dead and now she’s a vampire. The Fury had a huge change in the story that I did not expect. Elena dies… Really?!?! I mean for real this time, you know, as a vampire she dies at the end of the book. Are you kidding me? During The Fury there is a Power that none of them can contain that seems to be moving things in the wrong direction. I won’t ruin it and tell you who the Other Power is, but I knew exactly who it was when the idea was presented that there was an Other Power. Here’s a question for you, as an author, how do you give hints without giving everything away? If you know, you might need to help Miss Smith because every hint she gave I knew exactly what was going to happen. There was not one single surprise in this series. Well, I take that back. When Elena died at the end of this book, I was pretty surprised. Who writes a 4 book series and kills off the heroine in the 3rd book? L.J. Smith, that’s who.

After Elena’s death, Bonnie takes over writing in the diary and so we are pretty much seeing the story through her eyes. Dark Reunion is the conclusion to the series. This was my least favorite book out of all of the books. The witchcraft was overbearing and ridiculous. It was in all four books, but it was just getting stupid at the end. I honestly thought about 5 chapters left that the book could end at any minute and I wouldn’t even care. I mean that it could have ended in the middle of the sentence and I wouldn’t have been disappointed. The ending was actually ridiculous and the fakest thing I’ve ever seen. You just have to read it to let me know what you thought about it.

All of that to say, I am looking forward to the new show this fall on the CW. I think it looks great! Well let me know what you think, have you read the series? Did you like it?

"Wars and weddings have kept us well occupied." Tyrion Lannister

A Storm of Swords by: George R. R. Martin

I’m behind on blogging. I have not completed a blog or thought about blogging in so long that something that had become second nature to me (reading and writing) is not so easy. Since I finished this book a couple of nights ago I have pondered what I should write about in this blog. Since this book took me entirely way too long to finish (somewhere around 12 weeks) I can’t remember what happened within the 1200 page novel. I know what has happened in the series up to this point, but what specific things took place in A Storm of Swords? Well that is a great question.

One word comes to mind when I think about this book and my life for the last 12 weeks. Disarray. Disarray is defined as “a disorganized and confused state.” Me first… in the last 12 weeks I have switched jobs or maybe I should say professions, which brought about a new boss, a new building, new office, new staff, new responsibilities, in short, everything changed. Not to mention that this new change moved my husband to a new location. When you read this, please know that I’m not complaining, my life is good, just a little crazy. Change is hard and for anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not a huge fan of change. All that to say, my life has been in a state of disarray. Now, to the book. This book is in a constant state of confusion. Now, hear me in this, I am not saying that the book is confusing, but what I’m saying is that the book’s story line is constant craziness. I would finish a chapter and have to put the book down and say to myself “did that just happen?!?!?” How about an example? Tyrion Lannister (the Lannister family in my opinion are the bad guys) and Sansa Stark get married. Well this is a shock for one, Sansa was promised to Tyrion’s nephew, Joffrey Baratheon who just happens to be the King (well one of them right?), well since her father was dead, mother suspected to have killed a self proclaimed king-Renly Baratheon, brother has declared himself King of the north, which is treason in the Lannister’s eyes. The Queen Regent Cersei decided that she was not worthy of her son or to be queen so therefore she decides that her son will marry the widowed Margaery Tyrell and pushes Sansa aside. Before the royal wedding (Just FYI, weddings turn out very bad in this book), Margaery’s family has figured out a plan to marry Sansa off to Margery’s older brother the future Lord of Highgarden. Well in a turn of events, Cersei tricks Sansa into thinking she was being fitted for a gown for the royal wedding and instead she was taken to the Sept and married to Tyrion the dwarf. I hope that you can read the craziness and confusion in just that one example of my “Oh my gosh, did that just happen?” moments.

When I’m playing around on Facebook, I like to look at flair. I will just search for whatever interests me at the moment. Of course on my list is always Twilight and Harry Potter. Not long ago I decided to search for “A Song of Ice and Fire” just to see what came up. I was surprised to find quite a few buttons. The one that sticks out in my mind said “Every time a fan asks GRRM when the next book will be out, another Stark dies.” I was upset when I read it (The Stark family is who the books revolve around. Most of them have had their own chapters in the books and most of the Stark children are my favorite characters). I knew that something was going down. Throughout the last two books (A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords) most of the Starks have had a moment when they believe they are the only Stark left. Luckily, that has not been true.

Surprise and Intrigue are my favorite concepts of Martin’s books. As I’ve come to expect, there were some very shocking moments in this book. Something that I have enjoyed about this series is that no one is too big a character to die. As I continue on with this series, I have a feeling that more main characters are going to die. The author is such an outstanding writer that whenever I least expect something horrible, that is when, BOOM, he turns the story upside down.

My favorite characters are changing a little. I found that I enjoyed Sansa’s story more in this book than I have in the past. Tyrion’s character has always left an impression on me. His wit and intellect make me smile. Jon’s story just gets better and better. The end of this book on the Wall was fantastic. Sorry if you haven’t read it, you are lost, but for my friends that have read the book, I was so excited when he made his decision not to leave the wall to go back to Winterfell, but instead became Lord Commander. Awesome! A new character that I enjoyed very much was Jaime Lannister. Of course with a name like Lannister you know he’s going to be bad, or is he? Jaime’s chapters were enjoyable and you could see small changes in him as the story progressed that were quite exciting.

I’m not sure what to think about R’hllor the god of Fire and Light. I guess because the Starks worship the “Old Gods” and Catelyn Tully Stark worships the new gods I’ve always thought that the Polytheistic beliefs were the right ones (in the book, people, not in real life). So when this one and only god comes into the picture, I’m not sure what to make of that part of the story. Well hopefully it becomes clearer as the series continues which religion is correct and which is false. Here is a quote from Melisandre the Priestess of R’hllor. “The war has been waged since time began, and before it is done, all men must choose where they will stand. On one side is R’hllor, the Lord of Light, the Heart of Fire, the God o Flame and Shadow. Against him stand the Great Other whose name may not be spoken, the Lord of Darkness, the Soul of Ice, the God of Night and Terror. Ours is not a choice between Baratheon and Lannister, between Greyjoy and Stark. It is death we choose, or life. Darkness, or light.” The reason I share that quote is because of the parallelism between the fight between religion and politics. I love how he throws in the Ice and Fire too.

To sum up another blog on the chronicle A Song of Ice and Fire, disarray is the word of the day. I have one more book in the series and then I’ll take a break from this author until he releases his next book sometime in the fall. I hope that by that time I can read and blog each Harry Potter book and I have a shelf full of books that I’ve been waiting to sink my teeth into.

I know this blog is a little crazy and disorganized, as is life, so I’ll end with this: Keep reading! Let me know what you think. Did you like the blog? Have you read the book or are you thinking about trying it? Comment below!

The More is NOT the Merrier...

A Clash of Kings by: George R. R. Martin

Have you ever wondered what would happen if there was a kingdom with multiple Kings??? Yeah, me either, but apparently there are some people who think about this very subject and write books about it. The second book in the Song of Ice and Fire chronicle is about that very subject. There are six fractions of the Seven Kingdoms that are going to war to battle for the Iron Throne which the product of Incest sits.
This book is full of magic, battles, love, and of course I have some theories of what is to come. With this only being book two, it is hard for the audience not to wonder, what’s to come. Now, just a warning, I can’t talk about this book without ruining the outcome of what happened in the first book of the series A Game of Thrones, so if you are somewhat interested in reading this chronicle, then please don’t read this entire post. Know that I highly recommend it and I have been borrowing the books from the local library so you wouldn’t even have to buy it if you didn’t want to. There is your spoiler alert, read on by your own discretion.

This book was a great sequel to A Game of Thrones and continued the story as if no break had taken place. There were a few added characters that we could see what was going on around them. The first one was Davos “the onion knight.” I enjoyed his character because he was a realist. He knew what was going on around him and had common sense about his next moves. He was a knight under Stannis Baratheon, the eldest brother of Robert Baratheon, therefore he is the rightful king since Robert did not have an heir to the throne. Ser Davos was once a smuggler that spent most of his life on a ship making his living by being a pirate, and that is actually how he earned his Knighthood, by smuggling food into Stannis’ castle when they were going to starve to death. I believe that this is why Davos is a great character because he wasn’t high born and therefore learned a lot of great life lessons by living an adventurous life. To bring this to life for me, I bring this point back to my own life. I’ve always said that everyone should work in a restaurant. I’m not kidding, you see people how they really are when you work for a restaurant, they come in hungry, which usually makes people more irritable and therefore they blow up on you for no good reason, just because an eighteen year old said your wait was going to be 20 minutes and you’ve been waiting for 25 minutes doesn’t give you the right to thrash the poor child until she cries. I learned more life lessons from working at Applebee’s in Hot Springs Arkansas than I have anywhere else in my life. All of my children will work in restaurants so they can learn the same great lessons that I did. All of that to say, that is why Davos has great advice, and great thoughts, is because he has been through life circumstances and is easy to relate to.

Another new character in the book was not new to the pages, but we have not seen through his eyes was, Theon Greyjoy. This was a young man that was Robb Starks, the king of the North’s, steward. He has returned home and declared his father King of the Iron Islands and since he is the only living son, he has declared himself heir. This character went from saving Bran’s life in the first book to doing some horrible things to the Stark family in this book. I cannot relate to Theon’s character in this story, he is horrible and never redeems himself. He is selfish and self serving. Everything about his character upsets me and I didn’t enjoy reading this thoughts.
In this 969 page novel, there was so much to like and dislike. The writing was fantastic and I have no negative thoughts on style, grammar, or cadence. He has a great story line and plot and is true to his style. I know that he knows how this story is going to end, he’s not afraid to do what must be done to come to that ending. The one complaint I have is that it is taking me a while to get through each book, but I also have a lot going on, so it is not bothering me to take my time.

My favorite characters are still Jon, Arya, and Dany. I enjoyed all three story lines and was thankful that Martin hasn’t killed any of these characters off (yet). I think I like Jon and Arya even more now than I did before. I get real excited when his or her chapter is coming up.

I’m sad to say that I will have to end this blog abruptly because I’ve been so busy that I wrote this blog weeks ago and now I’m started the third book in the series and can’t really remember what took place in this book. So, stay tuned for the third book, A Storm of Swords. It’s been really great so far. Leave me a message and let me know what you thought about this blog or this book! Happy Reading!

Confessions of who knows what...

Confessions of a Shopaholic
by: Sophie Kinsella

Confessions Of a… if I had a book styled like this what would it be called? Probably “Confessions of a Banker.” It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it does it? Oh well. Confessions. Do you have something to confess? Guilty conscience pulling you down? Hum, interesting point to ponder. I have a confession, I ate 3 pieces of chocolate today. Bye Bye Diet!

The book is styled as if this shopaholic was confessing her inner thoughts to the audience. Some things are even too bad to share with us, while other thoughts and actions are just thrown out there for us to read.

So, here’s the second book that I’ve read by this author. I do have to say that I liked this book better than “Can You Keep a Secret?” First of all, it’s a series. I love finding series, it’s just nice to know that when you get to know a character in a book, that the story isn’t over at the end of book one. You can see some development in their story and you’ll have a few more to go before it’s all over with. Second, the personality of Becky Bloomwood is a very interesting character. Just the fact that this character is a financial journalist and she’s in serious debt is such a funny concept (not funny haha, of course). Becky is funny and witty and she’ll keep you smiling throughout the book (or gritting your teeth and biting your nails-but a reaction none-the-less). The third thing I enjoyed about this book is that it was a quick read. I went home sick from work one day, but I was in too much pain to go to sleep, so I read for the afternoon. Seriously, I read for 4 or 5 hours and knocked the book out. Which is a good thing since it took me 3 weeks to read the last book I read (A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin), quite refreshing!

There are a few points that I would like to make about this book. Just a little insight into my personality, I can’t be in debt. I hate debt, it stresses me out BIG TIME. I can’t sleep at night if I’m worrying about money. Because of this reason my husband and I keep a tight reign on our finances. Therefore when this girl is just spending money constantly and on ridiculous things I’m screaming “For real? Are you freaking kidding me, because you are RIDICULOUS!!!” Becky sees that she has two options for getting out of debt, 1. Spend less, or 2. Make more Money. When she tries to cut back on her spending, she just ends up spending more money, maybe more than she would have if she just kept to her regular shopping patterns (which is, walk by a store, go in, buy what she wants). K-razy!!!

A complaint I have is that the ending isn’t really that realistic. I have always thought that if you work hard, then you will be rewarded for your work. Without giving away the ending, you can’t get something for nothing. Your personality can only get you so far and you actually need to work hard to achieve your goals. Actually, come to think of it, her life isn’t very realistic. How can you get hired as a financial journalist without a credit check or knowing nothing about finances in the first place? I thought they did credit checks for every job these days, I know with Simon and I working at a bank, they did one on both of us, so wouldn’t someone writing for a magazine on finances be about the same? Again, without ruining the ending, there are some very unrealistic things that happen at the end. I hope that the movie does a better job of making it look like real life. The transitions in the book didn’t work for me. Speaking of, I think I’m going to make my husband take me to this movie for my birthday, yay!!!

As a whole, the book was good, it was kind of predictable, but a fun read none-the-less. This is one of those books that it is a brainless, fun read, which is a good change of pace. Please read the book and let me know what you think. Am I right? Am I wrong? Let me know… also, if you see the movie, let me know what you think about that as well.

P.S. Please use discretion. I would say this book is PG17, There is some language and sexual content.

“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.” Queen Cersei

A Game of Thrones by: George R.R. Martin

I have read quite a few fantasy books. If you asked me what my favorite genre is I would probably say fantasy. A friend of mine termed it quite accurately, she said, “We are escapists, we want to read things that aren’t real to escape from the real world.” So, some of my favorite fantasy books are the Lord of the Rings series. I read them last year and LOVED them. I have not blogged about them, because there is so much information that I wouldn’t even know where to start. I feel the same way about this book, A Game of Thrones. My friend Jimmy Pope from work said if I like Lord of the Rings, that I would love this story, A Song of Ice and Fire. The first in the chronicle is an eight hundred page book. I usually read a book a week, this book took me three weeks to start and finish. It was not a boring book, it was actually quite action packed, it was just super long and the vernacular was pretty intense.

This story revolves around a family of strong honor, character, personalities. The Stark family, the Lords and protectors of Winterfell, are as hard and cold as the area they grew up in, but will it be this family that saves the Seven Kingdoms? Each person seems to have begun an individual journey within this first book. Honestly, this book seemed like a rather long intro for what is to come in the future books. I can’t wait to see certain character’s stories unfold.

I will start with my criticism for the book… Hum, well… um… ok, so I know that no book is perfect, but I think that because the book was so intense and so long I really can’t think of any criticism for the book. Anything that could be a negative, I can turn it into a positive, such as… the amount of details about every subject matter… I loved it. The detail was so good I thought I was in the story. Another thought that I could have is that the author had no sanctity of life. He would and could kill any character off at any time. But if you remember my Breaking Dawn blog, I like for some people to die. It makes the story so much more interesting if you are unable to figure out who is going to live and who is going to die. Main characters dying, makes for a more interesting story.

My absolute favorite part of the book is the chapter “titles.” Each chapter is focused on one character. We, the audience are hearing the story from the narrator and it focuses on a particular character in each chapter. I found that when I would finish one of my favorite character’s chapters, I would look ahead to see when their next chapter was. I don’t usually cheat like that, but I wanted to see if I could keep reading and find out what happened. One thing I found interesting is that if 2 weeks had gone by for one character, the same amount of time has gone by for all of the characters. So, when we would come back to a character that we haven’t heard about in a while, something else would be going on, instead of picking up where we left off.

My favorite characters were: Jon Snow, Eddard Stark, Arya Stark and Daenerys Targaryen. I have a feeling that some of these will change, one of them for obvious reasons (well to anyone who has read the books) and the last chapter of the book really weirded me out, so I might switch favorite characters because of that alone. We’ll see as the books progress who continues to be my favorites and who changes.

I also enjoyed the language. Each person spoke in old English and stayed in character throughout the book. Even the descriptions were written with the same cadence as the spoken words. A wonderful example is from the Lady Catelyn Stark when she thinks, “Ser Wendel, the younger boy, would have been the fattest man she’d ever known, had she only neglected to meet his father and brother.” If I was writing this, I would have said it totally different. I wonder if the author has to talk like that all of the time, kind of like an actor, you know, to stay in character. I’m sure Mr. Martin never says something like, “I’m sooooo over you, Sansa Stark. HOLLA!”

The last contents of the book that I want to write on is, The Others. The book starts off in the Prologue with an exciting sequence of events. This book started stronger than any other book I have ever read. I couldn’t believe how he started it, it was extremely intense. In the prologue, The Others appear and I had to know what they were and how they come into existence. Well my questions go unanswered in the first book, but hopefully by the end we will know everything there is to know about The Others. (dun dun duuuuuuuun)

I will be starting A Clash of Kings soon and it will probably take me 3 weeks to read it just like this one did. Please let me know what you think about this blog or this book. Do you think it’s something you would enjoy reading? Let me know what you think!

“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.” Queen Cersei

Hopping Pots? Hairy Hearts? Cackling Stumps? Sign me Up!

The Tales of Beedle the Bard By: J.K. Rowling

This compilation of tales is a classic from the world of Harry Potter. In the introduction JKR explains that these stories are much like our Muggle childhood fairy tales, but with one main difference, magic. Magic was usually the cause of all of the problems in our childhood favorites, her examples include, the witch that poisoned the apple, or put the princess to a hundred-year’s sleep. However in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the heroes and heroines can perform magic themselves and still have trouble solving their problems. These tales have helped magical parents all over the world explain to their over eager children that magic can cause as many problems as it can solve to the unworthy witch or wizard.
This book contains 5 tales along with commentary by our own dear Professor Albus Dumbledore. So, if you couldn’t figure out the moral of the story, don’t worry, Dumblydore is always obliged to help. The five stories are: The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, The Fountain of Fair Fortune, The Warlock’s Hairy Heart, Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump, and the Tale of the Three Brothers. My favorite is The Fountain of Fair Fortune.

This tale was about a Fountain that only one person could bathe in one day in one year. Hundreds of people would come from all around to hopefully be picked to be the one person that could dip in this fountain to receive Fair Fortune forevermore. Three sister witches had a plan to get each other in, it works, but on accident Sir Luckless is also dragged in along with the sisters (with a name like that, we all know who needs the fair fortune). Through their travels they all learn life lessons that in the end none of them need the waters of fortune. Through their struggles they learn important lessons about themselves and each other that lasts the rest of their lives. I guess the moral of the story is that your problems are never so big that you can’t find a solution. Personally, I know this is not a Christian story, but I find my absolute peace and all my answers from Jesus Christ. He is my stronghold and my fountain of fair fortune and my constant help in times of trouble. He can heal the symptoms that no doctor can cure, he has treasures laid up in heaven, and he can mend the broken heart.

All of that to say, when my children are growing up, I think I’m going to read them The Tales of Beedle the Bard instead of the fairy tales that I grew up with. Why??? Because I think that would be awesome for them to talk about these tales like we would talk about Hansel and Gretel, etc. When you think about these stories, verses the stories that we heard as children, are they so different? They all have people who need to learn a life lesson.

So, which tale was your favorite? Did you learn anything from these stories?

Secrets Don't Make Friends!

Can You Keep a Secret? By: Sophie Kinsella

That is a good question. Emma Corrigan is just an average girl, petty, smart, funny, but average. She has an average life, a good boyfriend, a good job, a good flat, but nothing spectacular. Until one day she gets on a plane, after having a little too much to drink, hits a little turbulence and here comes every secret of her life. Of course sitting next to her is a silent, handsome stranger that she thinks she will never see again. Boy is she wrong. The fantastic plane ride is on Friday, well on Monday the owner of the huge company that Emma works for comes for a visit to the London office. Jack Harper. Stranger no more. As she tries to keep her distance he is always there, it’s like he’s drawn to her. You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens. I’m not spilling the beans.

When I think about my life and whether I can keep a secret, I rather think I’m a good secret keeper. I think my one problem is that I trust too many people. I tell things about myself and trust that they aren’t a big mouth. I am an open book, you ask me a question about myself, I’m going to tell you. I don’t see the point in secrets. I really don’t have any. Now keeping secrets about other people, it’s a vault, lock down. Most of the time…

So, back to the book, I liked it. It was a cute book about a fun character. Sophie Kinsella’s writing style is a lot like Meg Cabot or vice versa(author of the Queen of Babble series), fun, quick wit, charming. Although, when I started the book, I had to look at the cover and make sure I hadn’t picked up Bridget Jones’ Diary again. The main character’s inner monologue was exactly like Bridget’s. Then when the gut spilling episode happened I thought, OMG, this is just like Queen of Babble. Now, I didn’t do any research, but I’m going to guess that someone is copying each other. One instance is on a train and the other is on a plane, but still it is the almost exact scenario. Also, Kinsella has the “Shopaholic” series and the first three in the series are Confessions of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, and Shopaholic ties the knot, while the Queen of Babble series is Queen of Babble, Queen of Babble in the Big City and Queen of Babble gets Hitched…. Um, Really?!?!? Someone is copying.

One other complaint I have is, wow… the F-bomb. I have never read a book with the F-word in it so much in my life. I really am ok with profanity in books if it matches the character, for instance, if there is a man that is a drug addict, beats his girlfriend, and is unemployed, when he stubs his toe, he better not say, “oh darn it” that would just be out of character. But over use gets annoying. I guess let that be a warning to a younger audience, F-Bomb will be blowing up!

Ok, so I do have one more complaint about the book. I know I am an over excited person. When I’m writing I exclaim a lot, but the over use of the exclamation mark in this book was insane. I can understand some use of it in a book, but really? Is everything being screamed in this book? I finally just ignored it, but it did get on my nerves. Settle down, breathe in, breath out.

I know it seems like I’ve only complained about the book, but it was quite cute. British humor is my kind of book. The things I really enjoyed about the book would ruin it for the audience, so please pick it up and let me know what you thought about it.

This book was loaned to me by a dear friend that reads, so if you have any suggestions, leave me a comment and let me know what should be on my list!

Dying for Someone You Love

My Sister’s Keeper By: Jodi Picoult

Did you know that I have rheumatoid arthritis? It’s really not that big of a deal. Luckily, I’m not going to die from it, it’s just a “debilitating disease,” as my specialist doctor said about 50 times on my first visit. Pretty much, I have quite a bit of pain in most of my joints (from my fingers to my toes and almost all the joints in between including my jaw-who knew eating would be painful for me…). Anyway, this is not a pity party, and if it was I wouldn’t invite any of you. I’m more of the “suffer alone” kind (unless you’re my friend Andi-then I tell her EVERYTHING about how I’m feeling- thanks for listening Andi!) Ok, back on track, the reason I mention this, is because if I’m going to be handed a bad card in my life, this one isn’t so awful. There are so many other things out there that are so much worse than RA! Like, oh, I don’t know… Leukemia! There are deathly diseases out there that like RA there is no cure for, but the worse that’s going to happen to me is that I’m going to have some JACKED up hands and feet when I’m older and pain, but I’ll still be around.

My Sister’s Keeper, is about a family that the middle child has Promyelocytic leukemia. She is diagnosed at age two. Her older brother is not a match to her genetic make up so the family designs a baby to be her sister’s exact genetic match. The story starts when Anna, the designer baby is 13, she is suing her parents for medical emancipation. She no longer wants to be prodded and poked and donate every cell of her body to keep her sister from dying. Kate the middle child was only supposed to live to be 5 and here she is 16 and it isn’t the cancer that’s killing her now, she has kidney failure. The story takes place over 2 weeks during the trial.

I don’t have just a whole lot to say about this book, so I’ll just tell you what I liked and what I didn’t like. First, I like how the book is written. Each chapter is from a different person’s perspective. Picoult even changed the fonts for each character. The audience sees the perspective from inside and outside the family. My favorite character in the book was Anna’s lawyer, Campbell. He to me was the most real and complex character in the book. All of that to say, one thing I didn’t like about the book was it didn’t seem like she changed very much between the characters. There was a difference in how each character thought, but in my opinion it could have been stronger. If she wouldn’t have put the narrators’ name on the beginning of each chapter, I don’t know that a paragraph in, I could tell who was talking.

The next concept I enjoyed is that you didn’t know exactly what was going on during the book. You think you do, but everyone is keeping a secret. Some character’s secrets are big and some are small, therefore I was guessing throughout the entire book. What’s going on? I was looking for the answers. When I was about half way finished I figured most of them out, and I was right. There were some things at the end that took me by surprise, but you’ll have to read the book to know what they are.

All of that to say, this book was enjoyable. I liked it. You should pick it up sometime, read it, then tell me what you think about it! Don’t forget your Kleenex (BYOK!).

boy, oh boy

Boys… better yet, brothers. What can I say about growing up as the only girl with 2 brothers? Ha! One thing is for sure, I was a tom-boy. I would much rather wear a pair of jeans or shorts than a skirt any day. I would have rather played in the woods than played dress up, and I would have definitely rather ran with my brothers and their friends than stay inside alone. My brothers are now two of the most wonderful men I know and I love them dearly. Then? Well that’s another story. Jordan my youngest brother was sometimes my best friend (yes, not all of the time-we would also fight like cats and dogs). He would play Ninja Turtles and Barbies with me, or board games or whatever. Jordan has never been one to be bored, as a small child he could play by himself for hours, I was the one that need to be entertained. So, when I say he would play with me, that was exactly it. Ky on the other hand was too old to play our little games, Jordan and I would play secretly with his toys, and somehow he would always know. I remember two specific times when Ky was gone to a friends and when he got back home, we were in trouble. One time, somehow he could tell we played with his transformer, and he probably knew because we apparently broke it. He was so angry I thought for sure we were goners. The other time was when Ky was gone for a whole weekend. The boys shared a room and for decoration, Ky had a baseball pennant collection. He had so many the entire room was covered in them, and of course each corner had a thumb tack in it. Jordan and I took out all of the thumb tacks and made a tent from the ceiling with bed sheets. We had so much fun playing in our hand made fort, but it was apparently the dumbest idea we’ve ever had in our young lives (and by that time, I’m certain that Jordan and I had burned the families storage building down, ran away to a gas station to buy kit kats, and played with the neighbors hundreds of cats when we weren’t allowed to), because when Ky got home I remember Jordan and I hiding in a closet waiting for our punishment. Now, 20 years later, my brothers are wonderful. Whenever we are all together we have a great time. We talk, we laugh, and we just enjoy each others company. All of that to say, I believe that I know little boys and how they act.

So, whenever I picked up Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, I felt right at home with Tom and Huck (Huckleberry Finn, that is). These two mischievous little guys will forever be marked in history as true American boys. I have two favorite scenes, the first is when we first meet Huck and he and Tom are talking about the dead cat that Huck has bought from another boy. And the other is when these two and another boy named Joe decide to run away and become pirates. The first is because of the boy’s conversation about the cat, for instance, Tom comments that the cat is “mighty stiff” and Huck informs Tom that dead cats can cure warts (of course it has to be in a graveyard at around midnight, and you have to speak an incantation). The second is because I love pirates…arrrr matey!

The dead cat that can cure warts leads me to another fantastic part of the story, which is all of the superstitions. It seemed like Tom had a little incantation for all situations, one of my favorite is when he sees a lady bug he tells it, “Lady bug, lady bug, fly away home, your house is on fire, your children’s alone,’ and she took wing and went off to see about it- which did not surprise the boy, for he knew of old that this insect was credulous about conflagrations, and he had practiced upon its simplicity more than once.”

Tom Sawyer is such a great character because he is mischievous, but he also has a good heart. He saved the girl of his dreams from a beating at school and took the beating himself. He always did the right thing in the end and was often the hero. This childhood classic should be in the homes of all American families. Besides it being one of America’s literary classics, it is a great story with many great lessons that we can all learn from. Samuel Clemens or better known as Mark Twain is of course one of America’s great authors he will forever me remembered for his work.