The Hero and the Crown

by Robin McKinley

My sister called today wanting to know if I remembered a book we read when we were younger, specifically with a girl and a dragon.  That rather broad topic could have covered a lot, but as soon as she said the author's name might have been Robin I knew she was talking about The Hero and the Crown, a Newbery Medal Award winner.

Robin McKinley is a favorite author of mine because she tells stories (I believe they are considered young adult genre) that are full of fantasy and fun, but yet have a very firm grounding on reality.  The romances she portrays aren't story book romances where the perfect man and perfect woman fall madly in love and live happily ever after.  Her stories don't always have easily wrapped-up happy endings.  So they feel real and let me (especially as a young girl) dream of something beyond where I was at the time.

This specific book is about a girl named Aerin who is royalty, but doesn't fit in.  She is loved by her father and by her friend Tor, but other hate her.  She becomes a dragon slayer which is not considered proper work for a princess.  She eventually saves a village from the dragon Maur but at much cost to her own well-being, and is saved by a mysterious man who is not quite mortal, named Luthe.  He gives her further information about the real problem behind the evil happening in her land, and she then goes off to again save the kingdom.  You'll enjoy this book at any age, but teenage girls who like a little fantasy will especially appreciate this one.

Christmas Gifts

As this is a blog about books, I felt it was appropriate to break quickly from book reviews and tell the story of my Christmas gifts.  First, a little background.  My husband is an accountant.  I have come to learn that many accountants actually have a sense of humor.  My husband loves joking around, and is best at quick off-the-cuff quips.  Sometimes his more "planned" jokes don't always come out as funny as he expects, but at least he tries.  He rarely gives me a gift without a joke involved.  In the past this usually involves a lot of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups which I don't care for, but which he loves.  Once he even emptied a big package of them, and put a KitKat inside instead, thus camoflaging it, and I almost gave it away!  So, I expected much of the same this Christmas.  Little did I know that he had switched things up...

My first present I go to open does not look like the shape of a book, but he has disguised it and I pull out a book titled, "Housekeeping".  Everyone laughs hysterically because this is obviously a comment about how he loves a clean house and I don't care quite as much.  What's funny about this is that I tell him later that 1) the book has really nothing whatsoever to do about housekeeping, and 2) I already own the book and have read it.  He was rather disappointed by this revelation but I told him it was still funny the way it came across.

I get my 2nd present from him, which is obviously a book.  I'm thinking that this is my real present.  But no, it definitely is not.  It is a hardbound library book that looks like it was written in the 70s, and titled "Women Chosen for Public Office (Profiles)".  I wish I had taken a picture of it, but a description will have to suffice.  There are black and white photos of women who must have lived in the 1900s, formidable looking women like most of those early "feminists" must have been.  All of them with high neck collars, big black hats, and corsets.  Not that I wouldn't want to learn about these tough women, but this book was scary looking!   Apparently he got this one at Goodwill for a dollar.

So now I am wondering in my head how many of these joke books I'm going to have to open before I get a book I want!  Apparently my husband said I looked mad (I was not) so he finally got my last present out and had me open it.  It was most definitely not a book, but it was a lovely purple necklace with the receipt for an Amazon order attached.  My REAL present arrived 2 days later. 

I'm glad my husband knows what I really want, and can still have fun himself at the same time.  Here's hoping all you received some good books for the holidays.  I'm always looking for recommendations.

Stones into Schools

by Greg Mortenson

Back in September I raved about Mortenson's first book, Three Cups of Tea, which to this day is one of the most memorable and inspiring nonfiction books I have read.  This second book, which picks up where Three Cups left off is just as mesmerizing.

Three Cups of Tea tells of how Mortenson fails to climb K2 and ends up in a small village in Pakistan where they save his life and care for him.  It is there he discovers a group of children going to "school" out in the open, with no supplies.  He goes on to promise the leader of the small village that somehow he will build them a school.  From there the book details how he does his by starting the Central Asia Institute (CAI) and fulfills the promise and makes many more to many small villages in Pakistan.

Stones into Schools details the further adventures of this organization and man as they both grow, and as they move into working in the harsh conditions of remote Afghanistan.  The harrowing efforts so many people make, most of them local people who simply want education for their daughters, is truly amazing.  And I was equally appreciative that Mortenson covers his expanding relationship with members of the military, who are in support of his good work.  Even he admits it surprised him somewhat, but it gives a lot of hope to me that there are many good men and women who serve their country (my brother and brother-in-law included) and also want to help the people where they serve. 

If you've read Three Cups of Tea, this sequel is just as good if not better.  If you haven't read either of them, go do it now because it will change your view of the world for better.

The Man in the High Castle

by Philip K. Dick

I recently got the urge to read some good sci-fi, so went online and looked up a list of the top 100 books in the genre.  This book ranked high on a number of lists so I thought I'd give it a try.  My review is mixed.  While I was fascinated by the premise of the plot, as well as intrigued by the style of writing, overall it didn't always hold my attention, and the ending was a little too "post-modern" for my taste.  It just kind of ended, without really ending.  I've taken classes on Post-modern literature but I just prefer tradition story-lines.

The main idea of the book focuses on the United States in an alternate reality where Japan and Germany have won World War II.  The western half of the country is controlled by the Japanese, who are the conquerers but somewhat decent.  The eastern half is run by the Nazis, who have taken their "final solution" to greater lengths and have proceeded to wipe out most of Africa.  The Nazis are the real ones in control, with the Japanese under them, and the Americans on the bottom rung.  The way Dick simply and quietly introduces the reader to this society and fills it with believeable characters and characteristics is fascinating and quite impressive.  His attention to detail is exquisite and makes the reading of the book quite fascinating.

I also was intrigued by the language and word style of the book.  I'm not sure I can explain it very well, but it is as if Dick writes it like he is one of the conquered Americans who has been influenced heavily by an oriental way of thinking and writing.  The way the characters speak and think are in sentences that often don't have connecting words, so they feel somewhat like a foreigner speaking.  Let me give you a small example.  Instead of writing the sentence "It was essential to avoid politics."  he simply writes "Essential to avoid politics."  It seems simple enough, but when all these sentences are added up into a whole book, it gives a strong feeling of a foreign kind of presence upon these otherwise "normal" Americans.  It makes the reader wonder how we, as "conquerers" influence and change those that are the "conquered." 

It also makes you think about how fluid history is, and how changeable it is with even just one simple alteration.  And how history can be very different from various viewpoints. 

I can't really explain the ending, but suffice it to say I got to it and kept reading into the next book (I'm reading it from a compilation of his works) thinking that there was more to the story.  It just kind of leaves you hanging.  In fact, after doing some research, I found out that Dick had intended to write a sequel but could never get to it, partly because he was loathe to go back into the draining experience of having to research history about the Nazis.  So, maybe there's a reason for the strange ending but it was still disappointing.  An interesting literary read that I'm glad I picked up, but I can't say I really "enjoyed" it.

The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexandre Dumas, translation by Robin Buss

I've long been interested in reading some of the "classics" that somehow I never got to in my many years of school and personal reading.  So when I heard that my mom was recommended The Count of Monte Cristo by a friend of hers and that she enjoyed it very much, I was eager to pick it up.  I went to the library and ordered a copy but when it arrived, it was about half the size of the one my mom had recommended.  The librarian explained that most people don't care what version of a book they read.  Yet, there can be quite a difference between translations.  I had been told that the translation my mom had was particularly good, in that it followed the original narrative of the story that Dumas wrote in French without cutting a lot out, but still made it very readable.  I was desperate for a big book as reading material on the long flight to Hawaii (I know, tough life, eh?!) so I asked to borrow her copy, and luckily she had just finished.  Thank goodness.  It kept me busy for the flights there and back, as well as a few weeks afterward.

The very basic story of the book involves Edmond Dantes who is falsely accused and throw into prison for a crime he didn't commit.  In prison he meets another prisoner, an old man, who helps him escape to find a hidden treasure on the island of Monte Cristo.  From there the story explodes into a ton of different story lines which eventually all connect in the end, all centered around Dantes as he goes about exacting his revenge on those who hurt him.  Yet he also comes to learn that it is really only God who is the final judge. 

If you've seen the movie "The Princess Bride", there is a part where the grandfather explains what is in the book he wants to read to his grandson: "Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles..."  That's how this book is, its got everything you could want in a good adventure story.

I must warn that it is not a particularly easy book to read if you have a lot of distractions (such as children), because it is no simple matter keeping all the many players in the story straight in your head and remembering how they relate to one another.  But it is well worth the time.

Ender's Game

by Orson Scott Card

Ender is a child genius who lives in a future world where Earth is fighting a war to stop an alien invasion by what are know as the "Buggers."  He is recruited and trained to be the next great general that will hopefully save the world.  He is trained, along with a number of other children, to learn combat tactics, psychology, and leadership.  But the training he receives is much more serious than he or any of the others understand. 

This is one of my favorite sci-fi books, because its not your typical "hero saves Earth" story.  Ender is an innocent kid who nevertheless has a brilliant mind and can access ruthless and violent tendencies in himself when necessary to get the job done.  And yet, he maintains his integrity and innocence as much as is possible.  There are few books out there that really get into the mind of a kid, and I think Card does a fabulous job of writing from the perspective of children. 

Be warned that there is some violence and language in the book that can be disturbing.  It is a tough read because it is about putting children into situations where they have to grow up very fast and learn to deal with a very hard world.  How each of them cope with it is what the story is really about. 

One of my favorite parts is a bit surprising, because normally I have trouble following technical/strategy type stuff.  However, the parts where they describe the zero gravity combat tactics training missions is really fascinating, and he writes so well that even I can picture it in my mind.  I so wish I could be weightless, just once! 

Ender is one of my favorite characters of all time, and wait until I review the companion novel "Ender's Shadow" which is about the same story, except from a different child's perspective.  Another quite fascinating look into child psychology, but contained within a brilliantly written fiction.

The Long Walk

by Slavomir Rawicz

There are no words that do justice to the true story of this man's walk to freedom, except his own.  I have read this book before, but found myself just as involved through my second reading.  Rawicz describes the journey from being captured and tortured (not horribly graphic, but plenty to make the point) as a Polish prisoner in a Russian prison, then shipped like cattle to Siberia, and finally sent on a forced march to a gulag, or work camp.  He and six other men plan an escape which entails walking south from Siberia, all the way to India.  This "walk" not only cover approximately 4000 miles, but involved walking through the Russian winter snowstorms, crossing the Gobi Desert, and the Himalayas.  It is also somewhat unique because along the way this group of men befriend a female escapee and she travels with them.

It is a harrowing journey to read, and makes you very tense until the end, wondering if they really are going to make it.  You laugh a few times, cry some, and gasp at what these men, with hardly any supplies except their friendship and pure resolve, are able to do.  It is an important read for detailing many of the unjust, cruel, and inhumane ways these people were treated.  The book also has a very unique voice to it, one of straightforward and honest details, without going too far into melodrama. 

What is especially wonderful about this book is that for all the horrible treatment these men receive at the beginning of their experience, the story chronicles many good and generous people who help them along their way, who literally saved their lives time and time again.  Some of the stories of "poor" Mongolian and Tibetan people who give of their small means in such generous ways are true examples of the goodness of humanity.  It makes up, in some part, for the terrible things that were done to them.  And finally, it again reminds me and hopefully you of the greatness of the freedoms we so readily enjoy.  To what lengths would you or I be willing to go to for freedom?