The Diamond of Darkhold ~ Jeanne Duprau

Book four in the series (I am hoping to get book three tomorrow).  I'll bump this one up to three out of five.  The series as a whole has quite a number of lessons in it, I do think it would be a good read for a preteen/teen.  It's not too difficult to understand, and it does bring to the forefront how very important it is to learn and keep knowledge.

This is the last, that I know of, and everything comes to a nice close.  There's some stretching into the distant future and in all, I would say this was a nice way to end it.

The City of Sparks ~ Jeanne DuPrau

Book two in this series.  Another two and a half out of five, for all the same reasons.

WARNING, this review will be a spoiler if you wanted to read book one!

SPOILER ALERT
Okay, so the kids manage to rescue the townspeople, who were unwittingly living in a cave.  Now that everyone is free from the cave, though, they have to find somewhere to go...  can you guess???  Yes, the city of Sparks finds itself inundated with hundreds of refugee "cave people."  They do their best, or not, well, maybe they hold a little back, but they have to look out for number one, and it's not as though they owe those people anything at all!  So, the people of Sparks sort of help the people of Ember and then grudges build up and they all relearn the lesson that we all need to get along.

On second thought, maybe I shouldn't have rated this one so high, but really, if you have nothing better to do you can read this in a day or so and it must be somewhat interesting, because I'm reading another in the series right now.

The City of Ember ~ Jean DuPrau

This is the first in a series.  I give it two and a half out of five.  It's not complete junk, it is interesting, as far as I know it's a new idea, but it's still young adult, so really fluff.  The city of Ember exists in darkness.  The people live in periods of day and night, controlled by electric lighting throughout their city.  The problem is, the city is old.  Supplies are running out and the generator is breaking down constantly.  Two young adults (12-year-olds) find "Instructions" and with them they hope to rescue their city.

Again, it's a neat little book.  A short read, interesting, but it was easy to figure out what was going on.  Not bad if you have some time to kill.

The Autobiography of Mark Twain

I expected wit and I got it.

I give this book 4 out 5.  There were some rants about the nature of man, versus the laws of man, and some slights against Christianity that made me pretty uncomfortable.  So I docked him.

I was really surprised by how exciting his life had been from beginning to end.  That and how many of his characters were based upon people he knew, things they had done and other real-life happenings.  I have read that fiction should be fiction, not autobiographical, but Twain has shot that theory all to pieces.  Most of what he wrote was relating the stories of other people, or himself.

The amount of death in his life is stunning and the way it comes on out of nowhere.  Reading about the death of his son, who became sick and died within (from what I remember) a day; then the death of his daughter, who was fine and then dead within two days; the death of his wife, who seemed to be getting better (oh the tragedies in that story are big enough to make you sob); finally the death of another daughter, who was alive and healthy the night before...  it's so much.  By the time he'd finished I figured out that his raging against certain machines was a response to this death and in the death of his youngest daughter I found that he believed something, enough to cry out to God.

This was a rollercoaster ride.  One moment you're laughing your fool head off and the next you are teetering on the edge of a deep dark precipice at the bottom gnashes the teeth of death and loss.  I suppose most everyone can relate to loss, so I think most everyone could find a plethora of comforting, understanding, sympathetic quotes in this book.  Twain was a remarkable man.  I wanted to argue with him and embrace him (which he would have hated).  I cried, but I was glad the book was over, because I'm not sure I could have faced the weight of more of his loss.  He is right when he says the dead are the blessed ones.  His death must have brought such relief.

Starting a new book and the beginning is delicious!

I just picked this up this morning!

Have you ever started a book, read the preface and thought....  EGADS!  And then wished you could rent a cabin in the middle of nowhere so you could fully emerse yourself in it?  This is one of those books.

Golly, I adore Mark Twain and his autobiography is more than I expected.  I had to share some quotes.  I'm only on page five as of yet, but I'll post more as I go, hopefully not rewriting the entire book before I'm done!

"When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened.  It is sad to go to pieces like this but we all have to do it."  [3]
.....
"It seems a pity that the world should throw away so many good things merely because they are unwholesome.  I doubt if God has given us any refreshment which, taken in moderation, is unwholesome, except microbes.  Yet there are people who strictly deprive themselves of each and every eatable, drinkable and smokable which has in any way acquired a shady reputation.  They pay this price for health.  And health is all they get for it.  How strange it is!  It is like paying out your whole fortune for a cow that has gone dry." [4-5]

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ~ Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Five out of Five

I have loved this book.  My first thought, upon seeing that it was all correspondance was, you must be kidding me.  I am terrible at writing letters and reading them, well, not my best moments.  However, this story will sweep you along.  After a few back and forths you start to really hear the characters and being able to see things from everyone's point of view is stirring.  The main character is contacted out of the blue by someone that has bought one of her used book.  The buyer is inquiring into more books by the same author and, because she had her name and address written inside the cover, decided she must be the best person to ask.  That letter starts one of the sweetest stories I've ever read.  The occupation of Guernsey during WWII (the book takes place soon after the end of the war) is gone over from many different points of view.

I'll probably need to collect myself and rewrite this review.  I'm just so...  It's like finding out a dear friend has made millions off of some scrap in their attic.  It's that warm afterglowish feeling of happiness for someone else, someone you love that you know deserves it.  That's how this book has left me.  I could probably just delete the rest of the review, huh?

A huge thank you!

This may seem silly, but if you've ever read a truly excellent book on someone else's recommendation, then I'm sure you will understand.  My never ending gratitude is thus expressed to Dangermom for recommending "The Guernsey Literary and Poato Peel Pie Society."  I have truly enjoyed this book.  Thank you so much!