I'm a bit behind on my book reviews. I started making a list of the books I've read and I've had to add a few because I'm that far behind.

Men to Match My Mountains—Irving Stone. 5 and a 10. I really love this book. I've read it twice now. It's a overview/history of the colonization of the American West. (I did mention that I like this era of history, did I not?) Irving Stone writes a history like a story which makes it an easy read. He brings the people that were involved in this larger than life experience to reality. He focuses on individual stories and then explains them in the context of this larger western experience. I also feel he is very fair to the Mormon part of the story. It's not all pretty in the LDS history, but he puts it all in context and tries to be fair, and he reminds me, as an LDS person who occasionally gets appalled at moments in the history of my people, that life was different then and so I can't expect the same rules to apply. When I read the whole story of the whole west, the LDS people fit right into the story in some sometimes very interesting ways.

The Great Hunt, number two in The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I'm mostly seeing how far I can make it in this series because Brandon Sanderson is finishing it, and I thought I'd give it a try. There are things I love about these books and things I hate about them. Mostly they are so huge! So many characters to try and keep straight in my head that it starts to hurt after a while. The thing that I don't like about these books, aside from the blood (and we all know I cannot handle that) is that they don't captivate me. I can read an hour or two, and then put it back with minimal pain. I'm spoiled. want my books to suck me in and keep me in them. Not so with this series. 4 and 18. Don't love the violence.

I've also finished number three and I've found number three is the book that drew me in the most.

I can't remember whether or not I posted about The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia or not, by Megan Whalen Turner. Love these. I read them both in one night. I liked the King of Attolia better, for the intricacies of character that happen in the book. There were fabulous cliffhangers, and the characters were real to me. Love Gen. That's all I can say. 4 ½ (because sometimes I would get through a chapter and feel like I was missing a sentence or two) and a 14. These are not hard to read, but the character inter-relationships get a little complicated for a younger crowd.

Hmm. What's next?

Ooooh. That's right!

Miss Delacourt Speaks Her Mind—Heidi Ashworth (I blog with her!). What a fun read! Heidi, I take my hat off to you! It was nice to read a book that had nothing offensive in it, to begin with, and I loved that I thought I had the book figured out and then it kept taking little twists on me. The only thing that annoyed me (And I've found that it's a personal thing) was the occasional feeling that I was reading a screenplay rather than a book. Let's see if I can explain myself. There was a lot of “and she could feel the touch of his hand on hers for hours after and she wondered why.” and “His thoughts kept returning to her red lips” or something like that. (Heidi, you're writing was much better than that! I'm making things up to make my point.) I feel like this actually made the one scene. . .you know. . .the K-I-S-S scene. . .a little less dramatic. I was expecting it to happen eventually. I wondered if a little less of the first would have given the second a little more punch. But that's entirely my opinion. Go buy the book! I think it's worth it. It was very fun. 4 and 10.

I think I'm about half-way through at this point.

Peter and the Starcatchers—Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson This was a bizarre book. I loved the idea of finding out where Peter Pan really came from, and there were things that I loved about it. But a brazierre for a sail on a ship? I could have done without that illustration. It's a strange hybrid of a book. It's supposed to be for kids, but it has some very adult humor in it. I love Dave Barry as an adult humorist, but I'm not entirely sure that I love him trying to be a kids humorist. He obviously does well, since there are more to this series, but if I do read them, I will probably not buy them like I did the first. 4 and 12.

Okay, so I sort-of caved. I had promised myself that I would not read another Stephanie Myers novel until my daughter read them. But then she wrote this stand alone book that other people kept loving and not feeling guilty for reading. Then I went to babysit for my SIL who has every Stephanie Myers novel ever written and this one just beckoned from the shelf. Especially since I had forgotten my book to read. So I picked it up,--and, minus driving home from my SIL's house and getting ready for bed—put The Host down 6 ½ hours later. I was enthralled. I noticed some spots where I would have worded things differently, but otherwise, what a great book. Now, did I love it? The jury is still out on that. But it did hold me spellbound and at one scene (if you've read it, you know which one I'm talking about) I was crying. I'm still not ready for my daughter to read it (for different reasons than the others). 4 ½ and 14 or so.

The Gettysburg Gospel—Gabor Boritt See Post Below. (Oh, and a funny side-note about this particular book. When we went to the library last I had all of my kids pick out books to take home. Between my 8 and 11 year old we had 7-10 Droon books and my 5 year old picked out some monster truck type books. My three year old? The Gettysburg Gospel. Even now when he sees it he says “That's my book.” Still cracks me up.)

The Once and Future King—T.H.White. I needed to read this book in college when I had the patience and brains for stuff like this. I can see the analytical side of me wanting to write a paper or two about this. However, the current me? Couldn't stand it. I was bored to sleep over this book. It read more like a history than a book. He would randomly spend several pages describing something and then say something like, “This isn't important to the book, except perhaps as an illustration of jousting.” Argh! I like smooth plot and for things to make sense. I'm spoiled, like I said before. I don't have the patience for stuff like this any more. (Hmm, I wonder if I would be able to handle Les Mis un-edited any more. I loved it when I read it but now? . . .) 2 and 18.

The Wednesday Letters—Jason F Wright I'm not really sure what to think of this book. It was good. Maybe I just felt it was sort-of cliché. I can't even put a real finger on why I didn't love it. It just didn't grab me. Maybe if I'd had a different life experience? Not sure. Just didn't resonate with me. 3 ½ and 16 for some very adult themes.

I'm in the middle of Extras by Westerfield. I have a specific page in a book for recommendations. Got any?