The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I read a wide variety of books, from mystery to historical to biography to romance, and from children to adult reading levels.  I don't often review books that I read.  The Hunger Games are just different enough that I felt compelled to rant a little.  Without telling you anything at all about the books, I loved the first one, liked the second, and hated the third.  You really have to read all three books for them to make sense, although I guess you could quit after the first one without too much trouble.  But if you go on to book two, you have to read book three to finish the story.  I've heard of teachers reading these books to elementary age children.  Please don't do that.  They really are too heavy a subject matter for such a young audience.  Teenagers, yes.  Elementary students, no.  It is basically a war story with all the issues that war brings.  Honestly, after finishing the last one yesterday evening, I was so upset it was hard to move on to anything else.  Lots of killing, lots of blood shed, lots of questions.  Even now my brain is trying to wrap itself around the ending.  I wasn't sure about who I wanted to end up together in the end but still hated the ending.  My recommendation:  Don't read these, they're too weird.  If you do, don't complain to me about the ending.

~Jane

The Mary Frances Sewing Book - Adventures Among the Thimble People

This is the kind of book that just enthralls me.  I am always so amazed to see the books that children of a bygone era read and used.  This is a simply wonderful book.  It's delightful to read, but also gives very detailed instructions for learning to hand sew.  The little sampler strips the author has you sew to practice the stitches are not unlike the strips my home economics teacher made us do way back in the seventh grade.  I'm not sure what age this was geared to, but I am assuming around age 10.  It was published for the first time in 1913, back in an age where little girls were little girls for a while and it was acceptable to play with their dolls much later than girls nowadays sometimes do.

I have to admit I got quite caught up in the process described in the story and immediately wanted to start sewing for a doll.  Now I have quite a few projects already going, including several doll projects, but had to figure out if I had a doll needing clothes that would fit the time period and the patterns.  A quick scan of my doll cabinet and some measuring with my tape measure brought me to this little Schoenhut.  She's been sitting in my doll cabinet for 20 years wearing just her union suit.  She is just the right size and from the right era to wear the clothes in the Mary Frances sewing book.  So now I have ANOTHER project!  :)  I'd like to make her the entire wardrobe in the book, following the directions they give.  I think it will be lots of fun.

~Jane - Who has also decided she needs a sewing bird like the one mentioned in the book.  :)

Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon

“These books have to be word-of-mouth books because they're too weird to describe to anybody.”—Jackie Cantor, Diana Gabaldon's first editor.

I wrote about these books a couple weeks ago.  For the past several months these books have been my companions.  I have now finished all of them.  I am sad.  The next one isn't going to be published until next year some time, if I'm lucky.  I guess I might have to get some of my other reading done now.  Although, the author has another series also; kind of a take-off of some of the Outlander characters.  Guess I might have to check it out. 

I just checked out the author's website.  She actually has a list of books to help you get over the withdrawal of finishing her books.  I'm going to try A.S. Byatt's "The Children's Year."  We'll see.  :)

~Jane

Searching for Pemberley

Have you ever started a book that looked wonderful, only to have it fall rather flat?  That was my problem with Searching for Pemberley by Mary Simonsen.  The book had good reviews and seemed interesting at first. Its premise was that Jane Austen based Pride and Prejudice on people that lived in her neighborhood.  By changing a few names, etc., she didn't really make up the whole story, she retold it, or at least most of it.  The story involved a young woman with an interest in Jane Austen delving into letters written by local people that prove she used her neighbors to provide her story line.  A second thread to the book was the romance of the young woman and her friendship with two different guys.  A third thread was the family of one of the descendents of the Darcy (Lacey) family and their story.  I could accept the theory that Jane Austen got her stories from things she heard happening around her, but I didn't really need to read all the supporting letters to prove it.  Even when we got past the Jane Austen part of the story and moved to the story of the young woman, the book failed to really catch my interest.  Ah, well.  On to the next one. 

~Jane

Reading

Reading is and has always been my favorite past time.  There is an old tale in my family about my mom or dad opening the door to the bathroom once when I was small and finding me sitting on the toilet reading a huge atlas spread on my lap.  When asked, "Why the atlas?"  I replied I had run out of all other reading material.  I couldn't have been more than 7 at the time.  Funny though the story is, it is totally true, and a very good picture of my reading habits.  At dinnertime I would always get in trouble because I would hide a book under the edge of the table and read.  Or at least try to.  My reading habits brought me into conflict with librarians and teachers who were always telling me I was trying to read something too far above my interest level.  Luckily I had a wonderful mom who would always defend me, usually telling the bad librarian to back off because I had already read the book in question several times. 

My favorites growing up were the Little House on the Prairie series, The Bobbsey Twins, Honey Bunch and Norman, The Happy Hollisters, Nancy Drew, anything by Louisa May Alcott, Elsie Dinsmore, and all the usual childhood favorites.  It wasn't until I was an adult that I found and fell in love with the Anne of Green Gables series, the Shoe books (Dancing Shoes, etc.), and Jane Austen.  Another favorite recent series I've read several times are the Mitford books by Jan Karon. I like historical novels, any kind of book with a knitting theme, and all  mysteries.

I've always read a mixture of both children's and adult literature.  My favorites I read over and over, although most books are a one-time deal.  New favorites that I'm planning on rereading though are the Bryant and May series by Christopher Fowler, and the Thursday Next and Nursery Rhyme series by Jasper Fforde.  So fascinating and detailed you can't read them only once.  I loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy.  Excellent.  My latest good read was Casting Off by Nicole Dickson.  It was one of those read-it-all-night, can't put it down books.
 
When my daughter was young, I remember standing at the stove one evening making dinner.  I had a book in one hand and was stirring the gravy with the other. The TV was on, a talk show began, and the host started telling the audience about how to get your kids to read.  He said that if you were a parent who cooked dinner with a book in one hand, you would probably never have to worry about your kids developing the reading habit. At that point my daughter jumped up and said, "He's talking about you, Mom!" I guess they were right because my daughter definitely caught the reading habit.

~Jane