33 / 50 words. 66% done!

Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog

Most of the books I read, I post to this blog saying to myself that most of you wouldn’t like them, even if I did. I know I can be very genre heavy and, if fantasy is not your thing, we aren’t going to see eye to eye. That said, I cannot imagine anyone who would not like this book. If you have ever had a dog or, I would venture to say, a pet at all, you will especially love this book.

Set against the background of two newlyweds starting a family, it is the non-fiction story about a man and his horribly behaved dog. Grogan has an amazing writing style and things like a simple game of fetch or obedience class become laugh out loud funny in his hands. This is truly one of those, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry books and I really enjoyed every minute of it.

Incidentally, there is an edited version of this book out for kids and young adults. I mention this because, if you have younglings, they might want to check it out. I also mention this because, if you are an adult, make sure you have the right version before you buy or take it out of the library.

32 / 50 words. 64% done!

The Crystal Cave (The Arthurian Saga, Book 1)

A year or two ago, a local bookstores was going out of business. As I browsed the clearance books for something cheap and interesting, I saw two discount books from Mary Stewart. I vaguely remembered reading something by her a long time ago and liking it so I picked them up. Lo and behold, these two books were books 3 and 4 in the series of hers that I had read 1 and 2 of.  I bought them and eagerly went home to start them.

However, I quickly discovered that I remembered NOTHING about the first two books in the series (The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills) so I decided to backtrack and re-read those books (which I had originally read in 6th grade). I have been carrying The Crystal Cave around with me for a very long time now, on each trip when I might have a chance to read, and have had zero interest in starting it. On our recent beach vacation, in which I foolishly brought only 3 books, two of which were Lloyd Alexander which I have a tendency to blow right through because I enjoy them, so I was finally forced to start The Crystal Cave or die of boredom.

I was only a few chapters in when I remembered why I had loved this book the first time through. It’s the Arthur legend from the perspective of Merlin (starting with him as a small boy). In fact, by the end of The Crystal Cave, Arthur is only an infant so its The Hollow Hills that really starts the whole legend. Mary Stewart has a great writing style that manages to be funny and epic at the same time and her Merlin is a very likable character. So much of his "magic" is smoke and mirrors and the way she plays with that is great. Once I finally got started, I blew right through this book as well and I eagerly await re-reading the next book and then moving on to 3 and 4.

31 / 50 words. 62% done!

Taran Wanderer (The Chronicles of Prydain)

The first half of this book was great with non-stop action. The second half was like an absurdist play and, oddly enough, totally featured The Secret! I was a little disappointed with how the action came to a screeching halt in the second part and I missed the heroine who was not in this book, but I am still pumped for the last book which is sitting on my desk right now waiting for me to start it.