Introverted Reader

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones: Book Review

"In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three. Everyone knows you are the one who will fail first, and worst, if the three of you set out to seek your fortunes." So begins Howl's Moving Castle. Our protagonist, Sophie Hatter, is well aware of the fate awaiting the oldest child. But circumstances force her to set out to seek her fortune despite the fact that she is the oldest of three daughters. This is one of those books that reminds you of the magic that made you fall in love with reading in the first place. Just look at that opening paragraph. Who can resist the lure of that? I immediately felt it calling me on to find out what does happen to the eldest. Overall, this was a charming fairy tale. And like all good fairy tales, everyone comes out a little wiser in the end. But what I really liked about this particular fairy tale is that Sophie was not a helpless maiden in distress. She was saved from quite a few jams, but she did just as much saving with her quick wits. But at the same time, she was a flawed character who made mistakes but ultimately learned from them. This was one of those books that left me with a satisfied smile at the end. I think it would be fun for both the young and the young-at-heart. I highly recommend it and I'll be looking for the sequel. Reviewed April 6, 2009 Read an excerpt. Read my review of Castle in the Air, the next book in the loose series. My Character Connection post about Sophie. Buy Howl's Moving Castle at Malaprop’s |…

Introverted Reader Features

Character Connection: Rebecca de Winter

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday. "Rebecca." All you have to do is say her name and anyone who has read the book by Daphne du Maurier will flash on the deceptively perfect wife and her housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers. Rebecca is dead throughout this entire book, and yet she's the main character. She is literally a larger-than-life personality. Everyone who knew her has strong feelings about her. To most people, she was the perfect wife and hostess. She's athletic and charming and well-mannered. To the unnamed, insecure second Mrs. de Winter, she's an impossible rival. Mrs. de Winter is young and naive and did not grow up in the wealthy society she marries into. She doesn't know how to act or what to say or what to do. She feels that she's doing it all wrong. It doesn't help that Mrs. Danvers is there telling her that everything she does is wrong and Rebecca would never have done that. This is where it…

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April 28, 2011

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale: Book Review

I loved this. I finished it with a huge smile on my face and that contentment that comes from a story well told. It's like enjoying a feast for the reader's soul. I had heard so many good things about this book, I went into it with very high expectations. I have to admit that I wasn't too sure what to think at first. The...

Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey: Book Review

3 Stars. This was a decent book, but I have a couple of complaints. I was excited to read a non-Western fairy tale re-telling. While I did enjoy the story, and I really liked Mulan herself, this book stayed a little too faithful to what I know of the legend from the Disney movie. I enjoy re-tellings that add an unusual twist to [...]

Bookish Miscellany

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Over the past two weeks, I've Read: Jack of Kinrowan by Charles de Lint--A very entertaining retelling of a Jack tale that held up well to another re-read The House on Tradd Street by Karen White--Not perfect, but a lot of fun to read this ghost-ish mystery set in Charleston Number the Stars by Lois Lowry--An excellent Holocaust novel for children Reviewed: Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn--Good, but I had some issues with it The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee--Bibliophiles will relate to this book A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin--I love this series Jack of Kinrowan by Charles de Lint Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen--A fast, engrossing read Currently Reading: A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin The Maze Runner by James Dashner, read by Mark Deakins--Almost done! Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi--For my Holocaust Remembrance Week event next week Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America by John M. Barry--On hold at the moment while I read Primo Levi's book Up Next: I don't think I'll be finishing anything soon! A Storm of Swords should be classified as a weapon, it's so heavy! Events: I'm giving away a beautiful print (see it at the top right sidebar) and the winner's choice of a fairy tale or retelling from Book Depository up to $15 as part of Fairy Tale Fortnight. Check out the details and enter at Book Rat. My Holocaust Remembrance Week event is coming up next week. Click the link for details. What are you reading this week? I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore, and Better World Books. I will receive a small…

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April 25, 2011

Personal Stories

Sunday Salon: Happy Easter!

glitter-graphics.com Happy Easter to all who celebrate! In case you're wondering after last week's post, we finally made it home Monday afternoon. I still haven't caught up! Our hotel did have HBO, so I got to watch the premiere of Game of Thrones and I mostly loved it! As far as I remember, it stayed very true to the book. I could do without all the unnecessary nudity though. This week was pretty busy. We went to see Sara Bareilles in concert Tuesday night and had a great time! She seemed to be having a lot of fun, and I think that just makes everyone have a great time. Elizabeth and the Catapult was one of her opening acts, and we loved them! I'd never heard them before, but I had to buy a CD. I embedded one of their songs below. I also checked out a new local independent bookstore/cafe for the first time. It's called Books and Breadboard. I love books, I love bread, it sounded perfect. It was! We just had a light lunch of a cheese and fruit plate, but it was presented beautifully and the fruit was absolutely perfect. We were scoping out all the sandwiches being ordered around us and everyone's food was almost too pretty to eat! Of course I browsed the books afterward. It's not a huge bookstore, but I love the presentation, and it has a great selection for its size. It's located in an old house in Biltmore Village, a quaint, historic part of town. I just felt like I was wandering through someone's house who had a great library. Books were scattered on tables and shelves, some of the gardening books were arranged on an old porch swing in a window, the kid's section looked like a castle and…

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April 25, 2011

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen: Book Review

Twenty-three-year-old Jacob Jankowski has just lost his parents in a car crash. They had already lost everything in the Great Depression. In a devastating bout of grief, Jacob, a vet school student, walks out of his final exams at Cornell University. He ends up working for a circus as the vet. His boss, August, is an unstable man who treats the animals and his employees cruelly. Jacob feels helpless to assist those in his care in the face of August's unpredictable wrath. Despite all this, Jacob at the age of 93 (or is it 90?) looks back frequently to his time with the circus and the people and animals he met there. First of all, let me just say here that I love Rosie the elephant. She has more personality than most of the other characters combined. What a charming rogue! I'm ready to give her a home in my backyard! Okay, with that out of the way, I'll say that I was hooked from the first page of this book. I read it in one very nice 12-hour shift at work. I was pulling for Jacob and his friends and I just had to make sure that they came through okay. I got so engrossed that at one point I gasped and cried, "Oh no!" Then looked around to make sure no one had heard me. I lose myself in books frequently. I don't talk out loud to books much, if ever. Sara Gruen had caught me in her spell all right. Without getting into spoilers, I'll just say that there were a few things that I didn't quite buy that kept me from giving this five stars. But I did honestly enjoy it and I'm glad that I read it. In fact, I wish I hadn't fought so…

Introverted Reader Features

Character Connection

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday. glitter-graphics.com I feel like I have been racing to try to catch up ever since I finally arrived home about 24 hours later than I was supposed to on Monday afternoon. Inspiration is not forthcoming today, so I'm taking today off. I'll be back with a new character connection next week. Here's Mr. Linky for those of you who are more coherent than I am! I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore, and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site.

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April 21, 2011

Jack of Kinrowan by Charles de Lint: Book Review

In Jack the Giant Killer, the first of two novels in this collection, Jacky Rowan has just realized that her life is not going where she wants it to go. She drifts along, refusing to take care of her life and just staying at home doing nothing. She decides to change her life after a nasty breakup. In a fit of pique, she goes out drinking alone. Staggering home, she sees a little man being chased by 9 men on motorcycles. She tries to help him, but the little man is killed. She runs to a nearby house to try to get help, but no one answers the door. She runs back to where the little man's body was, only to see it disappear, leaving behind only a red cap. The next day, she almost convinces herself that the alcohol was just making her see things that weren't there, but she can't explain where she got the cap from. She puts it on and starts to see people straight out of Faerie. She eventually finds out that the Unseelie Court has been getting stronger and stronger and has actually stolen the local Laird's daughter. The Seelie Court is so weak that everyone is afraid to go in search of the poor girl. Jacky decides to just go looking herself. With a hob's stitcheries giving her invisibility and swiftness, the help of her best friend Kate, and a whole heap of a Jack's luck, Jacky sets out to set the local Faerie courts to rights. I loved how Jack becomes Jacky in this story. Who says women can't be clever, lucky tricksters? She fills the role of Jack perfectly, coming up with ingenious solutions to problems and avoiding pitfalls in the tradition of the best fairy tales. I also loved how…

Read more about the article The Sunday Salon: <i>A Game of</i>… Airports?

Personal Stories

The Sunday Salon: A Game of… Airports?

So here I am in the Tampa airport. I've been here for 7 hours because our plane needs repairs. They've just announced that it could be another 3 hours and started offering up vouchers for overnight stays. We're giving up and taking them up on it. We flew down for my brother-in-law's beach wedding and it was beautiful. I hadn't met his new wife before but she seems like someone I'll like a lot. I mostly managed to avoid getting sunburned but my face is tomato red. Except for the white raccoon eyes. Yes, I'm looking fabulous! Anyway, I hope this hotel has HBO! We had carefully timed our flights so that we would be home for the premiere of A Game of Thrones on HBO. I gave my husband orders to get HBO about a year and a half ago so that I would be ready to watch this show. I don't think they had even finished casting it at that point! I hate movie covers but my husband has had to put up with me snatching up the book with the new cover and exclaiming, "I'm so excited! It's going to be so good!" No, my hopes aren't too high. Not at all. I am super-excited and the few actors that I know already are going to be absolutely perfect in their roles. Boromir as Eddard Stark? Couldn't pick a better actor! If you haven't read these books by George R. R. Martin, I highly recommend them. I've only read the first two but they both got an easy five stars, and if you've been around here much you know I don't really give those out very lightly. They have a perfect epic scope for a fantastic tv series. At least check out the first episode tonight if…

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April 17, 2011