Let The Right One In

Soooo, this is kind of a messed up book. I don't know that I can really recommend it to anyone actually. A couple of my friends at work read it and said it was ok, that it was about a little vampire girl who befriends a boy and that it was going to be made into a movie. So my curiosity was piqued and even though they didn't love it I thought I'd read it just for the change of literary pace. And that, it definitely was. I think I'm glad I read it (I do love vampire stories)....but it's not for the faint of heart, and there are some truly disturbing subject matters (completely aside from the whole idea of creatures subsisting on living blood, of course). I simply cannot comprehend what the movie will be. At all. The Swedish author definitely has story telling capabilities though, I'll give him that...but a lot of it was just a deer-in-the-headlights feeling where I wanted to know where it was going, but at the same time really didn't.

The Heritage of Shannara

So after all of these deep, brain-intensive, thought-provoking books, I was desperate to read something that flows easily, grips my imagination, and turns into a movie in my mind. A good friend told me that Terry Brooks has continued to perform and write excellent books, so I decided to pick him back up. I recently re-read his first trilogy, so I decided to pick it up where I left off - his 4-book series The Heritage of Shannara. I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear that I loved, loved, loved them. I couldn't put them down and often stayed up to 2am because I couldn't make my hands close the book. I finished all 4 in about 2 weeks, and would recommend it to anyone that wants a smart adventure story with great characters, magic, conflicts, fantastic villains, and the descriptive power of an author that can spin words and stories like a literary spider, drawing you into his web.

The Glass Castle

I loved this book. It made me so much more aware of what I have and what I have been given my whole life. This is an extremely interesting and heartbreaking story of a crazy family (well crazy parents) and the amazing kids who survive it all. It's a testament to the resiliency of children, and I am extremely glad I read it. I recommend it to anyone, if only to put things in perspective. It's told in such a matter-of-fact manner that you can really see it from the point of view of the little girl telling the story (Jeannette Walls), a girl who has grown up to be an amazing woman.