The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is definitely one of the more interesting books that I've read this year. A psychological thriller, this book had me guessing the entire time as to what was happening. Unlike Possession, however, I wasn't rereading paragraphs to understand what was happening. Instead, I was going, "No way that just happened!"

Michelle Hodkin was at the same author panel that I attended a few months ago and her story of how she started writing this book intrigued me. Mara Dyer is her first book and it's good. I can see why so many people like it. Mara is fascinating as a character. She's had a traumatic experience that has affected her deeply. She see things that aren't there, hears things that don't exist. And it makes the reader guess whether this is one of her episodes or if it's really happening. Just when I thought I had figured things out, the story twists into something completely different. I never saw it coming. Maybe I needed to pay attention more, but there you go. I was caught up in the story.

On a side note, there is a bit of swearing, including the "f" word. And since teenagers are involved, there is a bit of sexual innuendos, although there isn't any sex. Kissing, yes. But no sex. You have been warned.

And the best/worst part is the book leaves you wanting more. It ends suddenly and on a note of "No way!" So book 2 will be coming out, I'm sure of it. Prepare yourselves that this isn't a neat little story all wrapped at the end. It does answer some questions, but leaves plenty for book 2.

All in all, this was a fun, exciting read.

From Pennies to Possession

 Two more books down! What a great month it has been for reading. I've been really busy at work, but still found some time to read for pleasure.

First up is Carla Kelly's The Admiral's Penniless Bride. It's been about a year since Carla joined the ranks of CFI's authors and I've had the wonderful pleasure of working with her. She's awesome. She sent me this book after Borrowed Light was published, with a little warning that it was a little "spicey," or something like that.

And, indeed, it is. This is a harlequin, after all. There are a couple of sex scenes (I skipped over those) and mentions some child abuse. 

Overall, the book is quite delightful, filled with interesting and intriguing characters and a scenario that's fun. The protagonists enter in an agreement of marriage, one to save him from his sisters' nagging and the other to save her from a life of poverty. What started out as a marriage of convenience, however, turns into a happy romance. I love how Carla writes and her characters are so much fun. Although I can't really suggest this book as being the best clean read, I do suggest checking out her books with CFI, Borrowed Light and Enduring Light. They are fantastic, and she's writing more novels for us. Also, for those that are interested, we are also making several of Carla's classics as ebooks. And I get to edit all of them. :)

The second is Possession by Elana Johnson. What a fascinating, quick read. My only complaint with this book is that it goes so fast, the plot constantly jumping, that I had to stop several times and ask, "What just happened here?" In a technological society where everyone is either labeled "Bad" or "Good," Violet decides that she's sick of following the rules and runs into trouble. The writing is crisp and clear, but there are a lot of things to take in, so it took me awhile to figure out what  was really going on. And then you throw in some awesome powers, such as controlling other people by voice or even mere thoughts, and you have one heck of a ride. The bad news is that it sets up a sequel and doesn't end happily. Be forewarned. You will want to read the sequel. This ending just cannot be.

This is what happens when you go to an author panel at the Provo Library. You want to read the authors' books. And it hijacks the order that I had planned. In any case, more book reviews to come. My shelf is still full, and I desperately need to get the stack down.

Here's to more reading. :)

Book club read: The Mysterious Benedict Society

Oh boy, what a fun ride! This book was definitely up my alley since I like puzzles and I like solving puzzles. One of the many reasons that I bought this book (besides the fact that I had a birthday present gift card) was the quiz at the back of the paperback copy. (By the way, Ann, Emily, Kyle, and I took said quiz and I got 10/10. :) I'm not geeky.) The other reason was due to the artwork. I know, I know, you should never judge a book by its cover, but seriously--this art is cool.

I really liked the themes of family, friendship, and belonging. The main characters have lost their parents in some way or another. (Question: how did Constance Contraire was an orphan? I can't remember.) So in some ways, this book explores how the children make connections with each other and how they learn to trust each other on their top-secret mission.

I just loved the many different, zany characters. For some reason I thought that S.Q. was a spy all along. He was a bumbling, kind of spacey character who worked for the bad guys, but he was endearing in a way. And perhaps he do learn about his past in the later books. He just seems too nice of a guy to really be bad. Constance was a riot. Mr. Benedict was weird at first, but I grew to like him. Mr. Curtain was such a great bad guy, driving around in his wheelchair. Milligan was a secret favorite, even though he was depressed for most of the book.

This book is a nice fun read. I'll probably read the other books in the series . . .  when I have time. :)

The Good Earth . . . and other news

 

When I finished listening to The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, I felt a little bit more knowledgeable about of Chinese culture. This book is a Pulitzer Prize winner for a reason: it is really, really well written. Not having read Pearl S. Buck before now, I went in without having any expectations. And I was surprised how much I liked this book even as it tackled such topics of marriage, culture versus nature, and the role of women. There are other themes, of course, but these struck me the most. This is the kind of book that makes people think and evaluate their own lives. I recommend it.

In other news, I'm doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and have written over 15,000 words in 10 days. Boo-yah! And in the meantime of that, I'm also reading a book for my sister's book club (it's one I chose, which makes it even better.) And I'll be helping to write a blog about our experiences as a book club as we discuss the book. This is going to be good. :) If you're interested in checking it out, I'll be promoting it as soon as we create it. My sister and I are interested in hearing other people's opinions about books. You never know what you'll learn. 

And in other, other news, I'm running a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. Please, oh please, don't let it be freezing!

Till next time!

Melly

Book Club Read: The Wikkeling

This is one strange little story that left a lot of questions unanswered and left me wishing I could know more about the backstory. Focusing on Henrietta and Gary, two children who live in the Addition, this book describes a world filled with plastic and garbage, of regulations and growth.

As my fellow book clubbers (Ann and Emily, at this point) gathered to discuss, we all felt that The Wikkeling had a lot of interesting points:

1) the education system
2) the monster itself
3) the constant barrage of advertisements
4) the overprotectiveness of society
5) the mysterious wild housecats
6) the history of Old Town and the Addition
7) garbage men

I was somewhat dissatisfied because I wanted my questions to be answered about why the monster was the way it was, why the town chose to develop so quickly, and why the Wikkeling affected our heroes the way it did. Those questions are left to a sequel, I suppose. Overall, the book was beautifully designed and the pictures went right along with the story--kinda dark and not overly filled with detail. I give this book 3 stars out of 5.

I Shall Wear Midnight

This may come as a shock to a few of you, but I actually read—rather than listened to—this book.  And I must admit that I got as much pleasure reading it as I did listening to the previous three. It was actually pretty thrilling to see the dialogue of the Wee Free Men and to see the clever puns and comments made by the author. It's another thrilling story where Tiffany grows up a little bit more while yet another something else tries to kill her.

But Tiffany is Tiffany for a reason and nothing seems to really throw her off balance, even if it's her best friend getting married to another girl.

I'm so glad that my friend Ann introduced me to Terry Pratchett and Tiffany Aching. I give this book a thumbs up. Read the whole series. Laugh, and enjoy the Wee Free Men.

"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"

I love Anne of Green Gables.

I started reading this book last year because I watched the movie with some friends. The movie inspired me, and I read to chapter 33 and stopped.

And just last week, I finally finished. There are so many good quotes in this book! Here are a few of my favorites:

"There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting."

"It's so easy to be wicked without knowing it, isn't it?"

"And people laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas you have to use big words to express them, haven't you?"

"Mrs. Lynde says that sound doctrine in the man and good housekeeping in the woman make an ideal combination for a minister's family."

I could go on, but I think you get the picture. If you haven't read this book, you need to. And if you haven't seen the movie, you need to do that as well. It will change your life. :)

Little Blue Men, Dragons, and Wizards, Oh My!

My, oh my, indeed!
Three more books down. Oh, okay, I listened to two of them, but I finally, finally, finished Brisingr! That alone makes me feel so, so . . . free.  Here are my thoughts on the books:

Wintersmith is the third in the Tiffany Aching series, and was funny and thought-provoking as the other two. Little Tiffany keeps on growing up, and as she hones her magical abilities, her responsibilities keep increasing. I loved listening to this book. The Wee Free Men kept me laughing with their bumbling but earnest ways. And Tiffany learns a few lessons about love and lost, legend and legacy. Good read!

I'm practically tap-dancing to have finished this book! I keep trudging through the series because at parts the story holds my attention and I want to know more. 
But then . . . it becomes boring and dragged out and forever long. Seven hundred–plus pages to basically found out what the title of this book means—that's what I discovered. I'm still not convinced that I really this series. The new book comes out in a month. I don't think I'll stand in line to get it, but I'll borrow it from my roommate . . . a few months down the road.

Oh, Harry Potter. I loved reading you when you first came out. And I really, really loved listening to you. I listened to this book while exercising (a common thing for me to do is to listen to audiobooks while exercising. I get lost in the story and thirty minutes fly by!). By the end, I wished—once again—that there was one more book to this series. I guess the movies fulfilled my wish in a way. Anywho, great book and great series. I can't be disappointed here.





In other unrelated news, I've decided to buy a new camera. I've loved my little Casio Exilim, but I think I want to go up one (or maybe half) level, which means I gotta put down some cash for it. GULP. Yeah, I like to save money, but in this one thing, I want to get something nice that will last for years to come. Suggestions? I've been looking at the Nikon s8200 Coolpix and the Casio Exilim ZR100. I have a couple of months to make the decision.

A Hat Full of Sky audiobook

I finished listening to A Hat Full of Sky, which either means I'm walking/jogging more, or I cheated and listened to the book when I should have been doing something else.

In any case, I loved this book! The characters are so well thought out and the narrator is so good at creating voices, that I wanted to keep listening. The sense of humor is exactly what I like, and the author is rather good at putting in clever little jokes here and there mixed in with an exciting story. I got sucked in every time I turned it on...and believe me, it made my walk go a whole lot faster. I highly recommend reading/listening to this book!

And, as a side note, my diligence in exercising has increased. Which means that I'm exercising more and feeling great about myself. This morning I pushed myself to go farther with my jogging, and it felt awesome!

I have four minutes till lunch is over...

... wanted to update you on my running. I pulled my quad a few weeks and also injured my foot. So  I'm taking it slow and easy until I heal somewhat. The quad feels better. The foot is doing better as well. All I can say is turn on your lights when you're walking down the stairs. You never know what's lying on a step!

Hallelujah!

I FINISHED! About time!

Audiobooks...

It's time to once again update you all on my book reading. And . . . I'm still reading Eldest. But, in the midst of my reading, I have listened to a couple of audiobooks . . . they count, right?

The first was Howl's Moving Castle. Being a big fan of the movie, I had high expectations for the book and was not disappointed. The movie isn't an exactly faithful adaptation; therefore, there were plenty of surprises in the book to discover. I still love Howl and his maddeningly boyish ways, but absolutely adored Sophie. She has a whole lot more character than what the movie showed. And now I know about the importance of turning 10,000 days old (which passed by me without much of an eyebrow raise. I celebrated my sister turning 10,000 days old, though).

  The second is Wee Free Men, and I almost died laughing at some of the parts. Since I was listening, the voices of the characters really came through, due to the efforts of the narrator. Who would have thought that tiny red-headed blue men could be so much fun? Thanks to my friend Ann for introducing to the books of Terry Pratchett. I now have a new obsession, and will be listening to the sequel shortly.

I highly recommend both books. And interestingly enough, both are written by British authors. Gotta love them. :)


And in other news, I'm close to finishing that Eldest book. Really.

This weekend, for sure!

The Mortal Instruments continuation

Two more books down! I'm definitely on a roll! I finished reading City of Glass, and City of Fallen Angels.

 















These books are somewhat addicting and I will admit they're like my secret guilty pleasure. City of Glass wraps up the quite nicely the first two books. It has a lot of action, resolves a lot of the story lines, and gives the reader a satisfactory ending. City of Fallen Angels, on the other hand, is a blatant cliffhanger. It builds and builds, pretty much stressing me out, and then there's some wrapping, then bam! cliffhanger! What the?! In any case, now I have to wait for a few months until the fifth book comes out.

And, fyi, Fallen Angels is just a little bit more steamier than any of the other books, which kinda surprised. Definitely a PG-13 rating.

New goal: to finish Eldest. Seriously. I gotta finish that book...

Two more books read!

I know. I know. It's been a long month or so, friends.  I got bogged down reading Eldest, but in about two weekends, I finished two different books.

Sorry, Eldest. Better luck next time.

The first was book 4 in the Lemony Snicket series:

It was a quick enjoyable read. Gotta love those orphans and their genius way.

The second was City of Ashes, book 2 of the Mortal Instruments series.

Wow, did I ever get caught up in this story! It was exciting, had a few unexpected twists, and plenty of teenager love and angst. Such a great read to just relax. I'm reading the third one now, and it's great too.

So, I'm alive and ticking and reading bit by bit. :)

Running, running, running...

Yes, I'm in the middle of the busiest week at work. Yes, I feel stressed. Yes, I'm trying my best to balance work, friends, and home life. But all I can think about lately is running.

Weird, I know.

I started running this week, and you know, the most surprising part is that it's not as difficult to get up at 5:45 a.m. as I thought it would be. Seriously. I roll over in bed, groan for a minute or two, then get up and go. Of course, I've been preparing myself for weeks by getting up early to exercise using my Wii. Good times running in place and doing arm and leg exercises.

The second most surprising part is I actually want to run.  If only my legs and ankles would cooperate with my vision of running elegantly down the street.

In the mean time, if you see me running so early in the morning, give a shout of encouragement, will ya? I would sure appreciate it.

—Melly

Another book down!

Yes, those are pumpkins with candles. This is a romance, after all.

Anyway, I'm now in the process of reading three books at once. Which one will I finish next?

Another Book Down!

Here's a quick update: I finished another book! The Eagle by Rosemary Sutcliff, written in 1956, is a story of a Roman soldier and his slave as they search for the lost Eagle of the Ninth. The recent movie is based off of this novel, and I have to admit, it has a whole lot more action and fight scenes. But I liked the themes of honor and redemption found throughout the book and movie. A great, entertaining read.

I Finished a Book!

Good news, everyone! I finally finished To the Rescue: The Biography of Thomas S. Monson. HURRAH! And I definitely give it a thumbs up. This book gave me a better view of Pres. Monson as a boy, man, father, apostle, and prophet. He is truly amazing and has led an incredibly faithful and devoted life to the Lord.

Did I mention that this copy is special? Well, it is. It's signed by both the Heidi S. Swinton and Pres. Monson!

Onto the next book . . .

Books, books, and more books

So recently I looked at my bookshelf and came to an astonishing realization: I have started a lot of books but haven't finished many at all.

Yes, this are all the books that I've started and still need to finish. Eight.

And these are the books I want to read. Nine. That's a total of seventeen books. So to encourage myself to actually finish reading books before picking up a new one, I'm going to celebrate every book I finish reading on this blog. Whether that means I'll give a review is debatable. More likely it means that I'll put up a picture, write a few thoughts about it, and choose what book I'll be reading next. (But as it is with me, most likely I'll be reading other books all at the same time. Variety, guys. Variety.)

In any case, the one I'm working on right now is the biography of Thomas S. Monson. I hope to finish in the next couple of weeks, I'm that close.

So happy reading to all of you, and happy reading to me!

Some sound advice from Sis. Beck

I had the opportunity to go to a tri-stake Relief Society meeting, where Sis. Julie B. Beck spoke. It was an amazing experience, one that I won't forget anytime soon. The entire chapel and gymnasium were filled with sisters. My mom and I were fortunate enough to sit in the chapel on a side bench because we got there early enough to claim a "good" spot. Sis. Beck was friendly, open, and down to earth. She let us ask questions and she would answer them. Here are a few highlights:

• We need to protect the Spirit from other influences that will drive it away.
• Make every day a scripture day. She mentioned that she had "failed" all programs to read the scriptures until she decided to read something everyday. It didn't have to be a whole chapter, a specific set of scriptures, or following a reading schedule. And through the simple act of reading something, she developed a love and gave more time to scripture study. 
• Just do the best you can with your priorities: there are essential things, necessary things, and nice-to-do things.
• If you don't have a testimony of visiting teaching, now is the time to get one.
• Greatest danger to young mothers is escape. Don't run from your responsibilities when it gets too hard.
• If you're comparing yourself to other women, you're using the wrong measure.
• How good is good enough? The only one who can tell you that is the Lord.
• We're competing against unreal identities—and we can't run away from the divine calling and eternal identity of mother.

Sis. Beck is one of my personal heroes. If I can be like her, then I've accomplished something good in my life.

Being Left Behind

"It is not only selfish but also irresponsible and dangerous to leave the weakest members of your group to fend for themselves." —Clark R. Burbridge

I've been thinking about the above quote for the past week, mainly because it won't leave me alone. Talk about persistence,  the quote even wriggled into my dreams, strange dreams about mountain biking, which I have never, ever attempted before. (Bikes are not my friends anymore. Too many crashes and not enough band-aids, I guess.)

Anyway, the quote is about mountain biking, specifically when riding in groups up and down mountain trails. Clark, who is an experienced mountain biker, gives a suggestion about not leaving the weakest members of the group at the end of the line: Put them in the middle and have strong riders in the front and back.

This got to me thinking about experiences where I have been left to fend for myself. On one particular hike with my singles ward, a leader stayed with me for about five minutes before realizing that I was a slow hiker. He then took off to catch up with his children, which was fine, I suppose, except that action left me all alone. For nearly 25 minutes, I didn't see anyone on the trail, not even hikers walking down. Talk about some anxiety. All sorts of thoughts came into my head, especially about the 10-minute mark of being left alone. When I finally caught up to someone, I stuck to them like glue, and fortunately, they were ambling along at a rate that I could keep up. 

Now, I'm not a terrible hiker—I'm just slow—and I'll eventually get to the destination. I wonder what I would have done if something had happened during those 25 minutes. Would have anyone heard me shouting? I don't know. Everyone seemed so eager to get to the end that they forgot about me. A terrible feeling to have.


Contrast that to my recent cross-skiing trip where Kyle, my brother-in-law, stayed with me, even though there were only four of us and I was in the back. I really appreciated his concern for how I was doing, and he even gave me tips to ski better. That in turn made me feel more confident. And the day turned out to be a success.

All of these thoughts boiled down to this one: that some people have been left to fend for themselves, and perhaps in some way, I can be the one to help them, to encourage them, to be their guide for  a little bit. I know what it's like to be left behind and it's not fun. So instead of moping what's happened in the past, I can do something good in the future. And in the process help someone else who's been left behind. 


Okay, subconscious, no more dreams about mountain biking. All right?

New haircut

Yes, for those of you who don't know, I got a new haircut over Christmas vacation. It's actually shorter than I wanted it to be. I haven't had this short of hair since my mission, but overall, I think it looks nice. And it definitely has cut down on hair drying and styling time. :)

Happy New Year

Happy new year! I'm ever so grateful for 2011 to finally roll around. I had a lot of interesting things happen to me in 2010 and learned quite a few lessons about life, but you have no idea the kind of relief I feel that it's a brand new year and a new start. Whew!

Some things I learned:

1. Two moves in one year is not ideal. I now need to go to three wards to get tax information. Sigh.

2. Repentance does work. I think I learned this from the year before. And now it's a recurring theme.

3. Family is important. Take time to do things with them.

4. Gratitude changes perspective. For those months (like two) that I tried to find something to be grateful for every day, I had a better and healthier attitude about life.

5. Hearts really can be broken. I now know why the "Color Code" suggests breaking a blue's heart.

6. True friends will never abandon you.

7. Running is fun. Seriously, I got addicted to running, even though I complained about doing it. I miss running in the morning, and can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can start doing it again, this time on hills.

8. God will provide a way for me to be happy. I just need to listen and then follow.

9. Roommates are interesting, crazy, and wonderful. :)

10. And probably the best thing I learned was I can always depend on Heavenly Father and my Savior.


Learning some of these lessons came at a high price of emotional pain and growth. But I survived. And I'm a better person because of the hard knocks. Some of them, I'm still working my way through. But I do know that I can make it.

To evaluate my goals from 2010: no, I did not read the entire Old Testament (I got to Chronicles); did finish the Book of Mormon--twice; and lost ten pounds.


2011's goals:

1. Attend the temple twice a month
2. Read the New Testament
3. Run a 5K without dying

I believe this year will be much better than last. :)

Melly