Books I've Recently Read

We'll start here with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I won't recap the story because you all know it, but I had never actually read it (Gasp - oh the horror!) and I wanted to, so I did. My thoughts - excellent book, fantastic story (we already knew that though), but it really did take me a long time to get through, mostly because I had seen the 5 hour movie so many times. The A&E version covers the book so comprehensively that I felt like I wasn't getting anything out of it for awhile. I did end up learning new things and am totally glad I read it, but I did have to convince myself to stick it out and not just go pop Colin Firth in.

Pamela Aiden's Duty and Desire is the second book in her series on Mr. Darcy. I know Maren and Abby shared their thoughts on here about the first book, and I'd like to share mine about the second. First, I will totally agree with them that this author has made Darcy totally sappy. He's so lovesick it's kind of ridiculous, but I really loved 1 part of this book - it's all about his relationship with Georgiana Darcy, and I found myself really interested in her, even if it's not what Jane Austen would have envisioned. I like reading more about her, and I really love to read books that give additional info about characters I love, so this is an interesting series for me. I'll never compare her writing or plots to Austen's but I do appreciate someone else's thoughts on why Darcy is the way he is.
Karen's mother-in-law told me about this book and I am soooooooo glad! Shannon Hale also wrote The Princess Academy which was phenomenal, and this book was absolutely the same. It was so well written and I loved the entire thing. It's about a princess who is sent to marry a foreign prince and ends up having a lot of problems along the way. She finds herself alone in a strange land with no friends and no way to get back to her family, so she becomes the goose girl - the one who tends the king's flock of geese. This is an old and little known fairy tale that Shannon Hale has brought to life with amazing force. She preserved the feeling of having a very old story told while still making it wonderful to read. I read it in 1 day and it's fairly long, so go get it. I'm stoked about it right now.
Ah, East. Karen I have you and Zack to thank for this one as well and I can't even say how much I loved it. It's basically a Norwegian version of Beauty and the Beast, but the part where she finds out that the beast is really a man, etc. is usually the end, but here it's only halfway through the book! The rest is a fascinating tale I'd never heard or read, but I am soooo glad I have now. It also had a feeling of being very old, almost comfortable, like revisiting your favorite books from childhood and still being fascinated by them. Edith Pattou has done an incredible job here. Go get this book.


Karen, I think you should post on Fablehaven. It was our book club book and I really enjoyed it. That's all I will say for now, so Karen, the pressure's on! I'm naughty, I know, but tell us your thoughts because I've now posted a lot and am all done. The end.