This series is dragging a bit for me but I will see it through to the end. I find that I am still rooting for the characters and especially for this tThis series is dragging a bit for me but I will see it through to the end. I find that I am still rooting for the characters and especially for this town. And it is always nice to have a God-centered novel to read when one's life is in chaos....more
Yep, this one rated four stars from me for personal reasons. What Anastasia experiences in this novel brought back a ton of memories of a time in my yYep, this one rated four stars from me for personal reasons. What Anastasia experiences in this novel brought back a ton of memories of a time in my youth when I went on a similar adventure. I loved the feeling of nostalgia brought on by this story. And one of the overriding themes is one that I am focused on right now and I appreciated how it was presented. This quote gives a glimpse into that theme...
"No, WAIT!" Robert said angrily. "Let us finish. That's the whole trouble - people get embarrassed about other people's problems, so they don't have anybody to talk to - because they won't LISTEN - then the problems STAY."...more
There were some surprises in this one and I loved it! This contribution to the series offered the opportunity to really see grace, repentance, and forThere were some surprises in this one and I loved it! This contribution to the series offered the opportunity to really see grace, repentance, and forgiveness at work. The author took a chance with the reveal in this novel and I appreciated that so much. I am looking forward to reading the next installment. I have fallen in love with this little town and its characters. Yes, these are very Christian in their approach to life and the world. Consider that a warning if that is a trigger for you. ...more
Well, that was exhausting. And painful. I hope my hold at the library for the next book comes through quickly. There is really little I can say about Well, that was exhausting. And painful. I hope my hold at the library for the next book comes through quickly. There is really little I can say about the story without giving away spoilers as this one is full of suprrises so I will just offer up the quotes that struck me and leave it at that.
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." (Yes, this is Tolkien and I love that Butcher quoted him!)
"Plan B," I said. "Okay, right. We need a plan B. If we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something." Susan let out a puff of laughter, and then I turned to her, my eyes alight. "We have a great big truck," Susan said.d "Then why didn't you list that among our assets?" I said, in a bad British accent. "Go!" (Another fun quote from a favorite source!)
"Martin was alphabetizing my bookshelves. They used to kill men for sacrilege like that."
"Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others - even when there's not going to be anyone telling you what a hero you are. Faith is a power of its own, and one even more elusive and difficult to define than magic. A symbol of faith, presented with genuine belief and sincerity, is the bane of many an otherworldly predator."
"That is the difficult part of being mortal. Of having choice. Much is hidden from you. Love your child, Dresden. Everything else flows from there. A wise man said that. Whatever you do, do it for love. If you keep to that, your path will never wander so far from the light that you can never return."
"Paranoia is a survival trait when you run in my circles. It gives you something to do in your spare time, coming up with solutions to ridiculous problems that aren't ever going to happen. Except when one of them does, at which point you feel way too vindicated."
"A certain energy seemed to enter him as he nodded, and I knew exactly what he was feeling - the positive upswing in his emotions, an electricity that came with the sudden understanding that not only was death not certain, but that victory might actually be possible. Hope is a force of nature. Don't let anyone tell you different."...more
I loved the journalistic addition to this one, with Anastasia attempting to answer the journalist's questions of who, what, when, where, and why of heI loved the journalistic addition to this one, with Anastasia attempting to answer the journalist's questions of who, what, when, where, and why of her life's situations. That being said, this was likely my least favorite book thus far in the series. I did not appreciate the way the aunt's death was handled. Far too cavalier for my taste. I found it seriously hard to believe that Uncle George (or anyone else) was mourning a woman who had died suddenly of food poisoning after 30 years of a happy marriage. I was proud of Anastasia's accomplishment at the end of the book!...more
Well, that was rather depressing. Well-written, but not a happy book. I was doubly sad to learn that it was near enough to being autobiographical thatWell, that was rather depressing. Well-written, but not a happy book. I was doubly sad to learn that it was near enough to being autobiographical that it was not allowed to be a finalist for the Booker Prize. I did come to love the young and taciturn young lady protagonist and my heart ached for her and the struggles she faced in her family. There was one quote that I especially appreciated. "I remember little about my father but I found I could remember the smell of his tobacco when he came into my bedroom to say goodnight and that he once told me to read Shakespeare because when I grew up and was very unhappy I woudl find every kind of human unhappiness perfectly expressed there." I immediatly thought that this young woman would find Hamlet especially relatable as she processed the loss of her father. Poor thing. ...more
"Anastasia, I wish you'd learn to appreciate Bach. Rachmaninoff is schmaltzy." It was worth the entire book to come across this one line. Actually I a"Anastasia, I wish you'd learn to appreciate Bach. Rachmaninoff is schmaltzy." It was worth the entire book to come across this one line. Actually I always appreciate Anastasia's adventures and this one is a doozy. Left to her own devices when her mom is called out of town for a week, well, it is a roller-coaster ride of epic proportions!...more
This feels like a British version of the Harry Dresden books. Jim Butcher is a better author, I will always love Dresden best, but I loved having thisThis feels like a British version of the Harry Dresden books. Jim Butcher is a better author, I will always love Dresden best, but I loved having this set in London with all of its history, supernatural and otherwise, available. I do think that a knowledge of British/London history makes this novel richer. This was a lot of fun for me!
Some delightful quotes:
"Stone retains vestigia (remnants of supernatural activity) very well. That's why old buildings have such character."
"Like a lot of London, Richmond Town center had been laid out back when town planning was something that happened to other people."
"Seen something?" asked Nightingale, making me jump. "Jesus Christ," I said. "Not on this river," said Nightingale. "Not even Blake thought that was possible."
"Nightingale said that everything was true, after a fashion, and that had to include vampires, didn't it? I doubted they were anything like they were in books and TV, and one thing for certain, they absolutely weren't going to sparkle in the sunlight."
"Ever since mankind stopped wandering around aimlessly and started cultivating its own food, society has been growing more complex. As soon as we stopped sleeping with our cousins and built walls, temples and a few decent nightclubs, society became too complex for any one person to grasp all at once, and thus bureaucracy was born. A bureaucracy breaks the complexity down into a series of interlocking systems; you don't need to know how the systems fit together or even what function your bit of the system has, you just perform your bit and the whole machine creaks on. The more diverse the functions performed by an organization, the more complex the interlocking systems and subsystems become."
"The villain ghost led me back in time down grimy side streets that I knew didn't exist anymore, until finally we passed a newly built St. Clements and onto Fleet Street. The Great Fire of London went by too fast for me to register it, just a blast of hot air as if from the open door of an oven. One minute the top of Fleet Street was dominated by St. Paul's and the next, the dome had been replaced by the squared-off Norman tower of the old Cathedral. To a Londoner like me, it was a heretical sight - like suddenly finding a stranger in your bed. The street itself was narrower and crowded by narrow fronted half-timbered houses with overhanging top floors. We were back in the time of Shakespeare and I have to say it didn't smell nearly as bad as the nineteenth century." ...more
This is a 2.5 star rating rounded up because I love David Almond's other books so much. This one has some of what I love about Almond's writing but thThis is a 2.5 star rating rounded up because I love David Almond's other books so much. This one has some of what I love about Almond's writing but the character development and some of the directions of the storyline just did not work for me as I was hoping. This one is dark, as Almond's offerings often are, but this one felt darker than others. While this one does bring up some of the moral questions raised by Frankenstein, it misses that mark as well for me and I would point any YA readers who asked my opinion to just read the original in this case. I think that what I was most frustrated by was the lack of any real character in the creature that the boys brought to life. Not sorry I read it, but not that excited either....more
This book in the series felt a lot more like the characters were caricatures than the ones previous. That frustrated me. Still trying to decide whetheThis book in the series felt a lot more like the characters were caricatures than the ones previous. That frustrated me. Still trying to decide whether or not I will continue reading the rest of the series. I did enjoy reminiscing over what it was like to have gerbils as a kid....more
This is really a 3.5 rating. I did not love this one quite as much as the first one but it was still delightful and I will continue with the series. IThis is really a 3.5 rating. I did not love this one quite as much as the first one but it was still delightful and I will continue with the series. I did relate to the changes being made in the life of Dearest Dorothy and learned some things that may be useful to me as I work to transition to a new and different life. I do hope to be an 87-year-old the likes of Dorothy one day! This is not great literature but it is a fun small town full of characters....more
I swore I wouldn't read another in this series after reading the first but I didn't realize I had already requested this one through interlibrary loanI swore I wouldn't read another in this series after reading the first but I didn't realize I had already requested this one through interlibrary loan. While I found this one slightly less creepy than the first one, I really will not continue reading these books. Interesting concept but there is just something that messes with my head with these photos!...more
"I am 83 years old, and I have come to realize that there is always more in life to learn. I just started taking swimming lessons last year. I ask a l"I am 83 years old, and I have come to realize that there is always more in life to learn. I just started taking swimming lessons last year. I ask a lot of questions during my swimming lessons. You can drown yourself with problems if you do not ask questions." I wish that all young people could spend some time reading/hearing Mrs. Parks' words and gaining from the wisdom she has gained through the years. She is remembered for that one act on the bus but she is far more than that one moment in her life. She is a woman of powerful understanding of the world and the necessary changes to make the world a better place.
Her hopeful words to wrap up the book...
"I can see a world in which children do not learn hatred in their homes. I can see a world in which mothers and fathers have the last and most important word. I can see a world in which all adults protect the innocence of children. I can see a world in which people do not call each other names based on skin color. I can see a world free of acts of violence. I can see a world in which people of all races and all religions work together to improve the quality of life for everyone. I can see this world because it exists today in small pockets of this country and in a small pocket of every person's heart. If we will look to God and work together - not only here, but everywhere - then others will see this world, too, and help to make it a reality."...more
Okay, I was warned but I chose to go forward and read this book anyway. I don't see dolls as having a creep factor like other members of my family, atOkay, I was warned but I chose to go forward and read this book anyway. I don't see dolls as having a creep factor like other members of my family, at least I didn't until I read this book. This is totally messed up! Those photos of the doll walking and acting out her life were just beyond weird. My poor son, who really does have a problem with dolls, nearly had a breakdown when I started showing him the photos. (Okay, it was a little bit funny.) I understand that there are more books in this series. I will be giving those a hard pass....more
It started off with ugly parents. Yes, you will hate them. And then the middle was syrupy at best. Then, towards the end, things got real. Finally, thIt started off with ugly parents. Yes, you will hate them. And then the middle was syrupy at best. Then, towards the end, things got real. Finally, there is the end, and I closed it feeling rather livid but still enjoyed the book as a whole. This was a quick read that refreshed my palate after a bunch of heavy stuff. It is a romance created for anyone who wants such a thing that is absolutely squeaky clean. One passage that I loved, especially since I read this on the 4th of July... "Peter was getting to be a man, and his father said he was very worth while, and he must have at least two years of British training, because, after all, the British really are older than we are, and they have behind them a culture and a reverence for law and a nice way of doing things, and a precision of speech that would be very beneficial for Peter and all of us to begin to practice."...more
I am not even sure what to say about this slim little volume of meaty thought. I did get this one through an inter-library loan but will be purchasingI am not even sure what to say about this slim little volume of meaty thought. I did get this one through an inter-library loan but will be purchasing it for my own library. I am not even going to try and express any of my own thoughts, I will just toss out a few of the quotations I will be marking once my own copy is in my hands.
"A poet is different. The absolute characteristic of 'being a poet' is the capacity to see connections where, normally, connections are not obvious."
"If actors are taught that Shakespeare wrote in pentameters, and the pentameters have a certain beat, and the actors try to use this in their speech, you get a dry, empty music, which is not the living music that is there in the words."
"If one refuses to accept the reality of a world of spirits it's much better to burn all the works of Shakespeare becuase they don't have any meaning at all any more." -Gordon Craig
"Each line in Shakespeare is an atom. The energy that can be released is infinite - if we can split it open."
"Actors are once more drawn into the trap of believing that their own everyday experience can give them what they need and that they can base their understanding on their personal set of references. This leads him - or her - to apply current political and social clichés to situations and characters whose riches go far beyond ideas. When for instance one tries to use The Tempest to illustrate stereotyped notions about slavery, domination, and colonialism, or to play complex characters to fit in with sexual attitudes that happen to be in the air, the result is taking characters who have fascinated audiences over the century because of their being to unfamiliar, so hard to encompass - and making them ordinary."...more
I was excited to read this one as I love the idea of seeing things through the eyes of the wives, girlfriends, and other women from the lives of famouI was excited to read this one as I love the idea of seeing things through the eyes of the wives, girlfriends, and other women from the lives of famous men. These are clever and did make me think. My favorites were the poem of Anne Hathaway and the one about Mrs. Darwin made me snort. An intriguing read. ...more
I just really love Anastasia and her family and I appreciate some of the themes that are addressed in these books. Themes that need to be discussed wiI just really love Anastasia and her family and I appreciate some of the themes that are addressed in these books. Themes that need to be discussed with kids, especially as they approach their middle school years. I also appreciated that the adults, even the ones who seem evil early on in the book, take the time to speak to the young people as though they have brains. Even when, perhaps especially when, they do remarkably stupid things! While these books are slightly dated, they still make me smile. ...more
This one was hard for me to read. Especially so soon on the heels of finishing Out of the Easy. These stories of children who come to mothers who neveThis one was hard for me to read. Especially so soon on the heels of finishing Out of the Easy. These stories of children who come to mothers who never move past their selfishness and take proper care of their children are just so hard for me to read. I will need something a bit lighter for my next read. I understand the reviewers who felt that it wrapped up too neatly but I appreciated the ending. There was no way for the happy ending that the main character ached for, but she did get the best possibility for her world and circumstance.
Two quotes that struck me...
"You can't think all your memories at once or your head will burst. So you put them in a drawer in the back bit of your brain and close them away."
"This is how I found myself in this fancy garden I'd never even known existed. It was like going from the pits to paradise in ten metres. And isn't that just London for you."...more
What a quietly stunning woman is Rosa Parks. I enjoyed understanding her choices and approach to life more deeply through this autobiographical work. What a quietly stunning woman is Rosa Parks. I enjoyed understanding her choices and approach to life more deeply through this autobiographical work. Two different parts of this story really stood out to me. One was the time she spent at Miss White's School (technically called the Montgomery Industrial School). Alice L. White spent her life trying to make certain that young black women in Alabama received as much education as possible. I appreciated what Mrs. Parks said about her time there:
"What I learned best at Miss White's school was that I was a person with dignity and self-respect, and I should not set my sights lower than anybody else just because I was black. We were taught to be ambitious and to believe that we could do what we wanted in life. This was not something I learned just at Miss White's school. I had learned it from my grandparents and my mother too. But what I had learned at home was reinforced by the teachers I had at Miss White's school."
But the moment when Mrs. Parks really shone for me was when she was taken to jail, after being arrested off the bus and her response to one of her fellow cellmates.
"This woman wanted to know if there was anything she could do, and I said, 'If you have a cup, I could drink a little water.' She had a dark metal mug hanging above the toilet, and she caught a little water from the tap, and I took two swallows of that. She then started telling me about her problems. I became interested in her story and wondered how I could assist her."
Now, Rosa Parks had problems aplenty of her own in that moment but she immediately began to formulate a plan for how she should help this other person. And she did manage to help her once she was released from jail. That is an attitude I would like to cultivate in myself. That no matter what I may be struggling with, I am always wondering how I can assist someone else.
Loading...
