The River Between Us By Richard Peck (Audio) Book Review

      I recently re-listened to the novel, The River Between Us by Richard Peck.  I first experienced this work back in high school and I loved it even then.
      Peck is an award winning novelist that writes mostly historical fiction, coming of ages stories about young people in odd and funny situations.
      Being a fan of his for many years I have read most of his novels, this novel is a little out of the ordinary for him because it is a darker piece about the Civil War.
      The story is split in two, starting with a young boy going on a road trip with his father and younger brother during the early 1900's, and the story his grandmother is telling him about her life during the Civil War. I remember being very confused the first time through this book, because the back cover said it was about a girl in the 1800's and not only was it the wrong time period in the beginning but the narrator starts out as a man and then switches to a woman when the story changes.
     This is a great book that shows the war from a girl's perspective.  It also has an almost ghost story undertone ( as you can tell by the cover) that makes for a more thrilling story.
     Richard Peck weaves a tale that is both dark and gritty, but somehow still innocent and hopeful. the characters, plot and dialogue has a richness that only he can create.
    I highly recommend this for Civil War buffs, YA readers and anyone who enjoys a really well written book.

Book Review: Soul Surfer By Bethany Hamilton

 
    Just finished this inspirational autobiography by Bethany Hamilton, pro-surfer and shark-attack survivor.  And I have to say it is a really good read.
    I was first drawn to the story when the movie, based on the book and of the same name, came out last year.
     Bethany's story is an amazing one.  A young girl, obviously born to surf, loses her arm in a terrifying accident but somehow finds the will to get back in the water and achieve her dreams even after they seem completely (pardon the pun) out of reach.
     But that is not why I am so captivated by this story, it's the fact that she is using her loss as a way to reach out to others.  If you read the book, losing her arm is tough, but what might be even harder on Bethany is being a celebrity. She is a shy person and would rather be in the background surfing, than on center stage, yet from the news story to the book deals to the movie, she has become a well known figure and a house-hold name.  She does this not FOR the fame. (Oh, no, she hates that part),  but rather she gives up her privacy in order to tell as many people as possible about Christ and how He truly has helped her, be not just a survivor, but a victor for Him.
    I have yet to read, see or hear; an interview, movie or book with her name on it that is not dripping with references to God and Jesus. Bethany might just be the modern Eric Liddell.  (An Olympic gold medalist who made history by refusing to run on Sunday.)
   Bethany has gone so far as to say that she would never take her arm back, because God has done so much more with out her arm than she could have done with it.

   The Soul Surfer's life story, inspires me because I have seen hard times.  I have been through bad things, but nothing compared to losing an arm.  If Bethany Hamilton can lose and arm, give up a normal life and still  say: take more God, I want to live for you.  Then by golly, I can survive being a little public speaker and losing a boyfriend or two.  Bethany didn't just ask God, "why", when things went wrong, she asked, "What now?"
    So, I want to run like Eric Liddell and surf like Bethany Hamilton, for God all the way.

The Help, Helps: Book and Movie Review

     When The Help first came to theaters, I had the great pleasure of watching it.  I had heard of the book but knew little about the content of the story, except that it had something to do with toilets. 
      I have to say that once I actually saw the film I realized that it had so much more to it than just who gets it sit on whose "royal throne."
      The book and the movie are fairly alike, (a story about maids and their mistresses in Jackson, MS during the 1960's), so I shall review both at once.  
      The book was written by Kathryn Stockett, a woman born and raised in Jackson, during the 60's.  She lived a life similar to the white heroine in the novel, Miss Skeeter and knew many woman similar to the African-American heroines, Aibileen and Minny.  She wanted to tell a story that would show the good and the bad of living in such a racially unforgiving time, and I believe she succeeded.  The Help tells the story of these three women, in first person narrative.  Though the book is well over 400 pages long, the story-telling style of the book makes you only want more, like a child feels when they are being told a bedtime story.  
     The film, which is of the same name, stars: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, and Bryce Dallas Howard. It was a brilliant adaptation of the novel, capturing it's heart with grace and beauty. 
     I think this movie will always have a very close place to my heart because it was the inspiration for me to become a full-time nanny.  The way Aibileen cared for her charges and the way she was able to be there for them when no one else was, sold me on the idea of caring for children.  
     The book and the movie are the same in that they are about what it means to be a person, and the importance of treating others the same as yourself.  Whether you are black, white, rich or poor, young or old... The women in this story learn to love and except each other even in the face of great adversity.  

     I highly recommend both the movie and the novel.   


  

It’s National Princess Week and in Celebration

Here are My Top Ten Princess Books

10.  The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker

(Her prince is lame, but this fun tale inspired the Disney movie, The Princess and the Frog.)

9.  The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

(A little mature for some readers, but still laugh-out-loud funny.)

                8.  A Little Princess by  Frances Hodgson Burnett                 (Sad, sweet and compelling, a true classic.)

7.  Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

(An interesting modern twist on Russian myth and historical tragedy.)

6. Spindles End by Robin McKinley

(What if Briar Rose didn’t want to leave her life to be a princess?)

5. Snow by Tracy Lynn

(A more SiFi version of an old tale.)

4. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

(It’s really Snow White but it’s such a fresh take you might miss that fact.)

3.  His Princess by Sheri Rose Shepherd

(A daily devotional for young woman written as love letters from the Most High King.)

2.  Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

(Beautiful and clever, the best version of the little cinder-girl to date.)

And… #1 is… Beauty by Robin McKinley

(One of the best novelized versions of Beauty and the Beast.  This book takes the tale and makes it deeper and fuller than it has ever gone before.)

Don't forget my novel, Petals, a modern day version of Beauty and the Beast is coming Summer 2012!! 

Book Review: Redeeming Love, Prologue-Chapter 3

So, I have started reading Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers. It is a now twenty year old novel that has touched the hearts of thousands.

It's the story of a prostitute during the 1850's who is ransomed by a man named Micheal Hosea and is based on the book of Hosea from the bible.

I just finished the startlingly intense prologue and was so wrapped in the story that I quickly flashed through three more chapters ( and only put the book down because I realized I had not eaten any breakfast.)

My impressions of the prologue and chapters 1-3 are that this book tells it like it is. Ms. Rivers writes about vary "adult topics" in a delicate way, but not in a way that sugar coats it. In the prologue we see the very sad story of a little girl who is basically sold into prostitution.

Sarah is just like any other little girl, wanting to be loved by her parents and to be delighted in. But because her parents were having an affair and her father made it clear that he did not want her, Sarah never received those gifts.

Finally after her mother's death, Sarah is sold to a man who would abuse her from the ages of 8-18.

Chapters 1-3, show us how she finally got away from the man but has been working for a madame in California during the gold rush. Given the name Angel, by her abuser, she now has no hope for any other life.

Micheal Hosea, a man of God, believes that Angel is the woman he is destined to marry and wants nothing but to save her from her nightmare of a life.

To say the least: I am hooked.

DVD Review: Real Steel: A Power Punch of Fatherly Love.

Today the Shawn Levy film Real Steel busts out onto DVD.

Real Steel staring Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly (Kate from LOST), is set in the not too distant future, where boxing with humans has become passé and the world now turns to watching robots beat the oily snot out of each other.

Jackman’s character is a down on his luck, former boxer who is trying to make a buck and pay off his gambling debts by fighting ‘bots in underground fights and state fair bull rings. While he is trying to do this, his former girlfriend dies, leaving him with an estranged son.

The movie is actually just rock ‘em sock ‘em robots with Wolverine and that kid from Phantom Menace (though much less annoying and a way better dancer).

Over all the movie is a fun flick and worth checking out, though it was a little to “auto-tuned” for my taste, (in other words, the makers were trying too hard to be cool). I will say that the heart-warming father/son storyline and the excellent acting, makes it a great movie to bring home for the kids.

The DVD and Blu-Ray comes with special features like bloopers and deleted scenes and would be the perfect “guys night in” flick.

Real Steel is rated PG-13 for some violence, intense action and brief language.

Movie Review: War Horse 2011

War Horse is a critically acclaimed War/Feel Good/Guy/Chick Flick movie.

Now it may not be strange to see a couple of single ladies having a girls night out, but for those two reasonably attractive woman to not only be without dates but also going to see a “guys movie” it becomes something odd.

I recently went to see War Horse with a friend and seeing as she didn’t want to watch Breaking Dawn, we were stuck going to a movie about a young man’s beloved horse who is sold to the British army during WWI.

Surprisingly the film is enjoyable and a great piece of cinematography. With blazing battle scenes, hobbit style rolling hills and Black Beauty moments galore, it is probably the most perfectly bipolar movie that I have ever seen.
It truly would make the perfect date movie, with gushy horse loving scenes followed by guys getting blown up with “ancient” weaponry.

Adapted from the 1982 children's novel by Michael Morpurgo, and the 2007 stage play of the same name, War Horse is defiantly worth a look-see and will probably be remembered as one of the better movies of 2011 (though, that’s not really saying much).

If nothing else the movie does make a good chick flick, because of all the WWI soldiers in their spiffy uniforms and of course the rising star Jeremy Irvine:

'Nough said.