Upating Book Reviews

I have had such rave reviews about my book reviews that I thought I would go back and do a little ex pos facto (in the past) reviews. These are some of the books I have read recently and love. The first one is entitled the Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. I absolutely loved it. It's themes are hidden potential and how we wouldn't get anywhere without the people around us. How it's hard for some people to show love, but if we look really hard, we can see it in their eyes, and in everything they do. And how it is so very important for each one of us to improve ourselves with the time we have been given on this earth, and if possible to help the people around us improve too.
The next one is called Inkheart Cornelia Funke. It's dark at times, but not gross scare your hair white dark. I think sometimes it's good for us to think about the darkness in this world so that we can identify the light when we see it. Meggie's father has a gift, he can read things out of books because he has such a beautiful voice. One night he reads a villian out of a book called Inkheart and his wife disappears. Because the catch of his gift is, for everything that comes out of the book, something must go back in. Meggie and her father have to find a way to defeat this villian. I am currently reading the sequel called Inkspell.

The next book is called The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. It won the Caldecott medal--enough said. It's a must read. The heir to the throne is snubbed by the royal court and the people because she is the daughter of a "witchwoman". She takes up a perilous journey to save her people and prove herself the rightful heir to the Damarian Throne. As you can tell, I really love books where people work hard to learn and grow, and go through perilous journeys having learned valuable lessons and become better people. That is what life is all about, and we may not do it in such a glorious fashion as it is done in works of fiction, but we navigate our own perilous journeys on a daily basis.

The last book that I have up here is a work of adult fiction--a genre which I usually steer clear of--except the classics of course. But this one drew me in. I think because of it's connection to Shakespeare. It is fiction, and I can't remember is Shakespeare is accused of murder or if one of the players (actors) in his company is. But a detective has to solve the case. I love this book because it really lets you understand the world that Shakespeare lived in. Beautifully done.