Book Report for April

We've got a mix of NY Times bestsellers, Young Adult, and even a graphic novel this month. Some of you are bound to have read some of them before.

Atonement by Ian McEwan
This book begins in Great Britain before the second World War started, and the plot progresses into that war time period. The main plot in this book didn't move me as much as his descriptions of World War II. It's about a young dramatic girl who destroys someone's life by falsely accusing them of rape. She was young and naive at the time, and didn't understand really what she was doing. That plot line was interesting, but what I remember most from the book is the story of the man she accused. His story starts during the war when the retreat for Dunkirk happens. The descriptions of war are very compelling. It was messy, dirty, horrific, and surreal, and the author describes it well with out being completely overwhelming. It's got sex and violence, but not in a gratuitous way, more in a real life way. Good book.

Leven Thumps and the Eyes of Want by Obert Skye
I actually had to get this through inter-library loan. My library had the first two in the series, but for some reason didn't have the third one. I think I enjoyed this one the most out of the series, as far as plot goes. There wasn't much character development to do since it's already been done in the previous books.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki
I really enjoy Miyazaki's film work like Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and My Neighbor Totoro, so when I heard he wrote a graphic novel (i.e. comic book for those worried how that sounds...) I wanted to read it. I wasn't disappointed at all. He wrote an epic story that inspired. The only hard part was that it was originally in Japanese, and they couldn't re-do where all the speech bubbles and frames are. It's in English, but you have to read it back to front, right to left. But once I got the hang of it, I didn't even notice it anymore.

I got the movie from the library, but didn't like it as much. I thought it was one of the poorer Miyazaki films, but maybe that's because I was hoping for it to be like the books, a dangerous hope to have.

Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones
You know, I just like Diana Wynne Jones. She writes good books. Not earth-shaking or anything, but I like them.

Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
This one's a Newbery Award winner, and since I would like to read all Newbery Award books eventually, I got this one. I guess I shouldn't be, but I'm still surprised by how poignant a children's book can be to an adult. I liked this book in part because it was good, and the other part because it was set in the Chesapeake bay, where we would visit my great-grandfather. The talk about crabbing brought back memories of shelling and then yummy crab-cakes afterwards.

The Truthsayers Apprentice by Deborah Christian
This is a bona-fide nerdy fantasy book, and I unashamedly profess that it was just what I needed. I read this while Lindsay was sick, and I was sick, so it was a nice distraction. It was also pretty good.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
This one's for book club this month. It's another bestseller. For some reason I never read bestsellers. This book is set in the circus life during the Depression era. The author is a good story teller, and you never really want to put the book down because of it. It's also got a happy ending, which I appreciate getting every once in a while from that type of book. It's got some sex in it though.

Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
This is a retelling of a Grimm fairy tale, which I always thought were fun. She has smooth story telling skills, which makes for an easy read, but still quite entertaining. She puts enough humanity into the characters where you don't really feel like you're reading about caricatured fairy tale figures. This book I can recommend to anyone.

Until next month!