Tales of Beedle the Bard

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of fairy tales written by the Bard himself and edited by J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame. It was originally available in only 5 copies in 2007 as a kind of artifact from the Harry Potter series complete with silver ornaments and moonstones it was published for general purchase in late 2008. Although a bit pricey for such a slim volume part of the proceeds to go to support the Children's High Level Group. The fairy tales feature witches and magic but all contain some lesson. The book also contains notes from Hogwart's famous headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. The book is cute and whimsy and can be read in an hour or so. Although not remarkable by itself it is a necessary edition to your Harry Potter collection.

The Plains of Passage

Whew! It has been a month since I blogged about my reading but I have been reading so I'll try to catch up now.

The Plains of Passage is the fourth book in the Earth's Child Series by Jean M Auel. Best known for the first installment, Clan of the Cave Bear, this novel follows the two main characters, Ayla & Jondalar as they travel East across the continent on a year long journey toward Jondalar's home. This is my least favorite of the series so far. I absolutely loved Clan of the Cave Bear and was delighted when The Valley of Horses was even better but for different reasons. The Mammoth Hunters was entirely different and not as enjoyable. While Plains has an interesting story line and quite honestly is an interestingly told story it is stagnated by long narrations on the plant and animal life of the ice age. While I am sure it is well-researched and very interesting to those who are interested I found it quite boring. I think the story could have been told quite successfully in about half the number of pages(868 in my copy). Furthermore, the lengthy descriptions of the characters love-making grew quite tedious after a while. I have the next book on my to-read list but I think it will be a while before I begin it. It took me almost two weeks to plow my way to the end of Plains of Passage.

The Secret Life of Bees

I know that The Secret Life of Bees is somewhat of a bestseller and received a lot of attention a few years ago. I'm not sure why I haven't read it before except I am usually repelled by what is typically considered a "bestseller". I've read one other book by Sue Monk Kidd, The Mermaid Chair which I enjoyed. The Secret Life of Bees was delightful. I dare say it is the best novel I've read this year and perhaps in a long while. The story is set in 1960's South Carolina and deals with some of the racial tension of that time. The story is one of the special bond of love among women. It is a short novel and a quick read but wonderfully told.

Swimming Lessons

Swimming Lessons by Mary Alice Monroe features the same characters from her novel The Beach House. Five years have passed and the story centers on single mother, Toy Sooner and her daughter who reside in the beach house. Toy has a lot going on in her life. She starts a new turtle hospital at the aquarium where she works as wounded and ailing Loggerheads begin to show up on the coast. Toy has a new love interest, too, but almost blows her opportunities when the father of her five year-old daughter shows up and wants to reconnect. The story is woven beautiful with updates on the other familiar characters and the story of the Loggerhead migration. It is not necessary to read The Beach house to appreciate this novel but I would recommend it.

The Associate

John Grisham is one of the few authors who I buy in hardback as soon as the book is released. His latest novel, The Associate, was no exception. I've been doing this for at least the last ten years and I have read every book he has published. I have voiced my dissapointment with the downhill slide of his stories of legal intrigue over the years and expressed my desire that he write more unique novels. His novels, A Painted House, Playing for Pizza, and The Bleachers are some of my favorites. I don't know if the pressure of turning out a new novel every year is to blame or if the legal thriller is just what he knows how to do best. I think it is possible every good legal themed thriller/story has been written and it is time to move on to other subject matter. The Associate just further proves my point.

First off, The Associate is hardly a thriller. It is filled with intrigue but lacks suspense and certainly contains no thrill. I did not find myself rooting for the protaganist but just sitting back to watch as events unfolded. I will admit that I have grown so accustomed to Grisham's typical end of book twists that I became anxious with anticipation in the last 30 pages or so. There were great twists written into The Runaway Jury and The Partner which are among my favorites. Certainly, this story was ripe for some sort of twist to spice up the ending. I really expected the ending would somehome redeem an otherwise bland story line. However, I was once again dissapointed.

I certainly wouldn't recommend this book unless you, like me, have read all of Grisham's other novels. But if you haven't, please pick somewhere else to start.

R is for Richochet

Traditionally, the novels in Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series are murder mysteries. Murder mysteries = someone dies. Sometimes Kinsey tells us the lucky victim in the first paragraph of the story. So you can imagine my confusion when 300 pages into R is for Richochet there was still no body. Now don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed this book and all of her previous adventures. I do believe they get better each time. But I failed to see the mystery in this mystery. Perhaps, we are running out of mysteries? I mean how many times can Kinsey get herself in a life-threatening situation? (18 so far, if you are counting.) And in all fairness, a body did turn up there at the end, although it wasn't quite murder, and it wasn't quite a mystery. So although it would not be accurate to call this novel a murder mystery it was a quality read nonetheless.

The Covenant

The Covenant is the first in the series by Beverly Lewis called Abram's Daughters. The story is about a community of Amish farmers in Pennsylvania. At first I found the story a little to simply written for my taste but as the novel progressed the writing improved greatly. The story became more complex and more enjoyable. It's obvious it was written with a sequel in mind as the resolution of story is incomplete. I do believe I'll finish the series but I need to read something a little more challenging for now.