This one I just finished and I was hung up on this one the last couple months so I am pretty excited it is finished. I wanted to read the favorite book of a few of my friends. I typically choose biographies of people who have overcome obstacles in their lives or survival books so I thought it would be good to step out of my own choices and read the favorite book of my friends. Danielle choose a book called Gossie and Gertie. It was one I got for her at the dollar store a couple of Christmases ago and it was about 2 duck friends who do everything together and then one of them gets destracted....I don't know if it was Gossie or Gertie..... and doesn't do what the other one wants...until it is dinner time. Obviously it is a children's book but it was her favorite present that year and proudly displayed in her bedroom so that was pretty easy to get through. If we read a really good book we usually both end up reading it so we have read a lot of the same stuff.
The next was "Same Kind of Different as Me". This was Amy's favorite book and I read it last summer. It was about a homeless man who had a horrible life and then someone recognized the good in him and helped him find his own good and self. It opened my eyes a little of how people do live lives of inadequate education, no family connections, and poverty. It also showed me that there is good in everyone, even though sometimes you have to be willing to look deeper than the surface for it.
Then I read "Daughter of the Forest" which was Ambree's. It was a fun book based around Medieval times in Ireland. It was fun to review the history of the British Isles and some of the folklore of Ireland. The story was good too. The main character lost the ability to speak at the very first of the book so I wondered how that would work throughout the book. It did. Even though there was tons of conflict in the story everything worked out in the end. This is going to sound weird but the brothers were turned into swans and then were turned back into humans but one brother chose to be a swan because he had fallen in love with another swan. When I finished the book the WJ pool closed by our house and then all the water fowl come and take it over and there were two swans in there until a couple of weeks ago, so every time I pass and see them I think of they are Finbar and his love. "I suppose they were lovers."
"The Blue Castle" was Naomi's choice. She had a hard time choosing. Her favorite is Jane Eyre and no offense but I hate that story so bad, that I don't think I could get through the book, so I asked her to choose another one. "Blue Castle" was one that I think she read as a teenager so it was about being your true self and then everything works how beautifully in the end. It was a cute story of how a women breaks out of her tedious life living with her dominating family and follows what she wants to do and ends up marrying the weird guy in the town who ends up being the wealthiest guy ever! It was fun to read.
Rachel and Jenna both said "Pride and Prejudice". That was on Naomi's list too so I figured go for it. I just finished it. I have seen many different renditions of it in movies and TV but like most stories the book was far better. It was just so sweet. Elizabeth did bother me the whole way through because she was just so proud but some lines just really appeal to the romantic in the reader. I was glad for a couple of things. First that I did know the story because it was hard to follow who was saying what about who. Also that I read it on my kindle so all the old English words I could touch and the definition would pop up. I notice that I speak a little 'old English' after having been engrossed in the book for the last few days. I did really enjoy it and want to read more of Jane Austen's books in the future.
So that is Number One. It was fun and gave me a little insight into what my friends like and more about them. It also go me to read a few books I never would have otherwise. Check.
