Eragon by Christopher Paolini

When I was in Mexico, I read Eragon by Christopher Paolini. My husband had told me about how much he enjoyed these books when he was home on break from college several years ago, and since the last book recently came out, he wanted to have a go at them again. I picked up the first one and slugged through it. I usually devour these kinds of stories, but this one just didn't enchant me. It seemed slow and predictable: Incompetent hero with incredible potential is protected by awesome sidekick (dragon) and follows his destiny back and forth across an interesting landscape first searching for revenge and then realizing that he's already caught up in something bigger than he knows... what is it? read the second book and you'll find out. I know that many people rave about this series (and my husband enjoys it so much that I got him the last book for his birthday) but really, it just wasn't inventive and purposeful enough for me to pursue it past the first book.

However, one thing I did really enjoy was the treatment of magic and the thought-communication between dragon and rider. It's always fun to see a clever author take a look a genre with new vision. For another visionary, check out Rachel Neumeier's The Floating Islands. I read this a while ago, but still think about the magic in her story--flying and tasting magic as spices (so cool!). If you love dragon stories, check out Paolini's series, but if you just love fantasy and magic, find The Floating Islands or Diana Wynn Jones's The Chronicles of Chrestomanci --which probably has the distinction of being the six books I've read the fastest (approximately a day each). Also take a look at The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley or for more recent novels, check out The Farwalker's Quest and The Timekeeper's Moon by Joni Sensel. Incidentally, Joni Sensel published the third book to the Farwalker trilogy at the end of last year, The Skeleton's Knife....which will be appearing shortly in another review. Unfortunately, I wasn't as crazy about it as the first two, but it's still worth a read.

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

I'm going to post several short book reviews of what I have read recently, trying to catch up for this year at least. I spent so long away from internet that I got woefully behind. So I'll start with the beginning of 2012 and go from there. When I was in Alaska for Christmas, I took a short break away from children's fiction and picked up an old classic that's been on my to-read list for ages.

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, was a surprising delight! In the days when the Saxons were oppressed by the Normans, and the Jews were persecuted by both, Ivanhoe, the Saxon servant of King Richard, quietly returns to England from the Crusades in disguise, known only as "The Disinherited Knight." He crushes his foe, Brian De Boi Gilbert in the lists, stands up for and extends mercy to the hated Jew, Isaac, and eventually saves the Jewess, Rebecca from being burnt at the stake. When Ivanhoe is held captive inside a castle with his father, the lady Rowena, and the two Jews; his friend, the Black Knight (none other than King Richard himself!) and the band of the forest (anyone who knows the Robin Hood legends will recognize him here) bravely attack and succeed in storming the castle and razing it to the ground on top of its hateful Norman lord.

This is an exciting story, written in a delightful, old style. I learned a lot of good vocabulary relating to the era of the Crusades. One other point of style that I loved was Scott's use of quotations at the beginning of each chapter. Some are from famous works, some not, but all are clever and apt, and show Scott's excellent knowledge of literature. All in all, I found it engaging and inspiring.

A Lesson from Jane Austen

I just recently finished Jane Austen's Persuasion. Having read most of her books, and come away from nearly all of them delighting in their language and wry sense of humor, but looking down on their social life as meaningless, I was surprised to get a different impression from this book.

The story bears the predictable similarity to all her others, and yet I enjoyed it more because Anne, the heroin, is less effected and mortified by her family's frivolities than say, Lizzie and Jane Bennett. (My aversion to hopeless awkwardness and impropriety is enough to make me skip certain sections both of the book and the movie of Pride and Prejudice.) So that was the first thing in Persuasion's favor.

The next thing that I appreciated, I think I may have scorned until now. And that is Austen's presentation of the virtue of contemplating propriety. I think on the whole, it's usually annoying to me to read how characters just sit around wondering whether they should do this or that...whether they should disclose this or that "sensitive" information to such and such a party. And heaven forbid that they should let their "violent" emotions show when present with truly astonishing information. But I think my feelings have changed somewhat in this latest Jane Austin reading.

Certainly, there is an enormous contrast between that kind of mental lifestyle and that of today's society. Now, people commonly recommend "being yourself" or "being honest" with no thought to propriety. You want to let out a big belch at a cocktail party? Sure...it's just being yourself. You want to be friends with the pretty, popular girls and ignore the one who is frankly horrible at playing the pianoforte? No problem...it's just being honest. Today's modern society has effectively brushed aside all consideration for the other person and constantly asks of us, "How do you feel?" and recommends, "Don't pretend to be anything other than your natural, horrible self."

And I do think that Jane Austen's society may have carried the concept of propriety a little too far. But I also think she would agree with that. For Jane Austen, I believe, valued sincerity just as much as our modern authors, and yet she effectively illustrates in her novels that sincerity without decorum (Mrs. Bennett sincerely wanted her daughters to marry rich men, and Mr. Elliot in Persuasion sincerely valued his own beautiful appearance) is quite as bad, or worse, than decorum without sincerity (take a look at Mr. Wickham or Mr. William Elliot).

The lesson for me was (is) a simple one: there is virtue in sitting down and contemplating propriety and what it ought to look like. For me, it doesn't mean trying to revert to Victorian norms (heaven forbid!). Nor does it mean going with whatever people say is right or okay in the latest fad of self discovery. Instead, I think it is important (for Christians at least) to really consider the principles laid out for us in the Bible, which gives us fairly clear guidelines that we can apply in a number of different cultural settings. What are some of these? Consider others as more important than ourselves. Don't gossip or slander. Build each other up and edify each other by speaking words of spiritual truth (as opposed to the "truth" that I might happen to hate your guts.) Dwell on what is pure and holy and blameless. Be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.

I could go on and on and on...there is practically no end to Biblical advice on how to interact with other people, both Christian and non-Christian. So while finding the advice is easy, I think it may be valuable for those of us raised in a "just be yourself" society, to spend more time contemplating how it should change our behavior and make us more thoughtful of others around us.

Being an Aunt

Being an Aunt isn't like being a mom...or a grandmother...or a sister (and I wouldn't know anything about those anyway.) But I do know something about being an aunt, and that's because I have two adorable nieces. Part of the joy of having my brother and his family on the East coast is that I can fly up last minute (for astonishingly low prices) and visit whenever I want (or they need) me to.

Some people might not even like being and Aunt. Sometimes it means getting your hair pulled, and sometimes it means getting all worn out with 2 and 3 year olds climbing all over your body and pushing on the uncomfortable parts. But here are some fun things that I discovered about being an Aunt. (They correspond to the pictures... and though there were more fun things, I decided to limit it to these.) And honestly, I think parents do a lot of these things too.... All this is from when I went to Boston for a week towards the end of January. (less than a week after we got back from Williamsburg!)

1) Being an Aunt is fun when you can go "sailing" on comforters in the middle of the floor. Incidentally, this is almost as fun and not quite as energy-dependent as "going to the zoo".

 

2) Being an Aunt means I can read as many stories as I want all day long....and make them up too! (Actually, some of you may know that I do this even when I'm not "being an Aunt".) 

3) Being an Aunt means that I get to go to a playground, pretend I'm a real photographer, and have almost as much fun as the girls!

4) Being an Aunt means that I'm allowed to encourage them and take pictures when my nieces are being outrageously silly with their friends.

 

5) Being an Aunt means that I can cook something strange every once in a while. This happens to be octopus (or squid? I'm not sure, actually). I know Margaret doesn't look very excited, but she and Adelynn both put away quite a bit. Adelynn had never had any before and had picked it out at Costco as her "special treat." She told me about it a few days later and assured me that she would share it with me....that it would be our special treat. 

 

6) Being an Aunt means I can have TEA PARTIES at the genuine tea time of 4 o' clock every day because a) it's when the girls get up from nap time, and b) they always want a snack right then. So even though they're only 2 and 3, we get out the nice china and the tea cups and we have cheese and bread and fruit for snacks! SO fun. Every day after the first, the girls would ask me if they could have a tea party. What did I say? "YES!" 

And finally, 7) An Aunt and her nieces can have "girl time" when we pull out two enormous bags of little household items and set up a whole miniature house! I know it sounds so 5 year old of me, but it was SO fun!

It's hard to believe that it's already the middle of February, and I still have not started blogging again! Some of you may have wondered about the long silences, and I claim the very good excuse of not having internet (until this month) since last September.

That was when we moved. We were reborn into an existence that included trees and real dirt (and roadkill) and of course no internet. Which, many of you will be surprised to know, was quite wonderful. I read even more books, if you can believe it. And I took more walks. The Man and I talked more and we played games together. It's a sweet and simple life, and I can't wait to start a garden in my tiny backyard come springtime.

So here is a mostly picture post of various adventures since the middle of December.

These first couple are of our Christmas with my family in Alaska. There was so much snow!!! And we had SO much fun playing in it. We built a fort for our nieces for when they came after Christmas, and we built an enormous snow cave inside the mound of snow behind us (see the other picture for a better view of how big it was.)

On New Year's Day, we flew out of Anchorage and down down down to Cancun, Mexico, where we joined up with all my in-laws. It was very fun. Lots of beach, lots of sun, lots of free cocktails. How can you go wrong with that? The first several pictures were from the all-inclusive resort near the Mayan Riviera!

 

 

These were super cute creatures that frequented the dock between the resort and the beach. I think everyone wanted one for a pet!

Getting drinks with the girls at he piano bar....tequila!

Sand castles are the best! And this definitely wasn't our most impressive one....

Can I get an "awwwww"?

 These pictures are from Playa del Carmen, where we stayed for the second half of our trip. The beach was fantastic and the town was fun (I bought some beautiful serving dishes!) We didn't make this Mayan Temple, it was just so awesome that I had to take a picture of it. Below, there's a picture of me at a street quesadilla shop, and then some of the awesome banyan trees (I think they're called) and then a dead lizard from inside one of the Mayan ruins.

 

 

After we got back from Mexico, we decided that it was high time we visited some friends in Williamsburg, so less than a week later, we popped in our car and drove down to show off our tans. We had SUCH a good time. It was like going home to family! And spending a morning touring Yorktown was very worth it--especially since our friend's had a "driving tour" CD that we could just pop in our car and hear all about the battle without even getting out (if we wanted to.) As it was, we DID want to get out, and we really enjoyed exploring the sites, but I know I wouldn't have learned nearly as much without the CD leading us through the timeline of the battle. Fascinating!  After the battlefield, we went down to the water and had a fantastic fish lunch at the Yorktown Pub! Be sure to check it out if your ever in the area and hungry! 

And.... I think that's enough for now. My fun trip to Boston (not for the sights... for my nieces) will have to wait till next time. Do let me know if you need our new address (by email or facebook). I've been terrible about sending updates.

Butternut Custard

This is turning into one of my favorite desserts (or snacks). Since Paul and I are starting to try a new low-carb type diet, I needed some kind of dessert we could have that didn't have a lot of sugar or carbs. I managed to come up with this delightful concoction that has a mere 7 carbs per serving!

Butternut Custard

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

2 cups butternut squash (blended or mixed well)
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmet
1/4 tsp cloves
6 packets sucralose (equal to about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of sugar)
4 eggs


Mix everything together with a hand mixer until it is well blended and pour equal portions into 6 buttered ramekins. Place them in a baking dish (I use my lasagna pan) and fill the bottom of the pan with 1 inch of boiling water. (a water bath) Put the whole thing in the oven, being very careful not to touch the oven OR slosh boiling water either onto your hands or inside the ramekins, and let it bake for about 35-40 minutes. You can check to see if it's done by inserting a knife or toothpick halfway between the center and the outer edge--it's done if it comes out clean (as usual.)

It's delicious both warm and cold...and either way, you'll be missing out if you don't serve it with a huge dollup of whipped cream on top!

Joni Sensel: The Farwalker's Quest and The Timekeeper's Moon

Anyone who read and loved Lois Lowry's The Giver and the accompanying books, will see some obvious similarities with the idea of occupations in this fascinating fantasy by Joni Sensel. I appreciated that the book was longer and the plot much more intricate than The Giver (which I also loved) but I still finished it in about a day because I just couldn't put it down!

The story opens with Ariel and Zeke, 12-year-olds (almost 13) in a small coastal town, preparing to take their Naming test. This will determine their last names, which is also the occupation they will be apprenticed in until they become a master. But when Ariel finds a telling dart (a mysterious relic from a past that was much more scientifically advanced) and two strangers come to the town, things start unraveling.

Ariel fails her Healtouch test, and is invited by the two mysterious Finders to deliver it herself to the man who is interested in it. She plans to go, but when her mother refuses, the men kidnap Ariel! Thus begins the wild ride that leads to Ariel becoming a Farwalker, Zeke discovering that he can talk to stones, and them both finding a true friend in an unlikely place.

This story is sparkling with imagination, and I relished every moment of it. But I've read stories that are gripping and interesting, but the characters themselves kill any inspiration that could have come from the story. Here, Joni Sensel writes an exciting story with perfect characters to match. They are young, but brave. And they are thrown into a situation where courage is their only option other than giving up--which meant death. They grown and learn as the story progresses, both through their natural raw talents and through the experiences that press them to be bold and courageous. I love how the story shows young teens that see the contrast of talent and calling and are willing to do what is good and important, not just what they know they can already do well.

Sensel also creates a beautiful picture of love and friendship in this book, between Ariel, who finds out she is an orphan along her journey, Zeke who leaves home and family to rescue her, and a fatherly figure who helps guide them on their journey. And here we see a beautiful picture of another truth: even the toughest need someone to love and hang on to; everyone has moments of weakness....and that's okay.

Well, once I finished The Farwalker's Quest, I immediately dove into The Timekeeper's Moon, which consumed me for another day (because I couldn't put that down either.)

In this sequel, Ariel discovers that there was something left undone on her previous journey. And, being a year later, if she doesn't finish it soon, everything that happened will become undone. Between the moon speaking to her and almost driving her loony, and a confusing map that they aren't even sure is a map, Ariel once again takes to the countryside following the direction her feet set.

Zeke is left behind on this journey, but Ariel picks up two new companions. One is Sienna, a chatty young Fire Mage who is set on finding a husband at the next town they find, and the second, Nace, is an attractive and romantic (but mute) Kincaller (animal whisperer) that follows Ariel when she leaves his village and eventually joins their group.

Will Sienna succeed in worming her way into Scarl's (Ariel's surrogate father's) affections? Why are things that are lost from the past suddenly reappearing and then disappearing again? With the moon calling and urging, will Ariel complete her unknown task in time? Do Ariel's dreams have an element of reality in them, and if so, why does she keep dreaming about falling and death? On top of all this mystery, add in a beautiful bead necklace, each bead with an accompanying story that seems to have a creepy connection with what is happening to Ariel on this journey...and you have in your hands a real humdinger of a gripping fantasy novel.

As soon as Joni Sensel comes out with another, you bet I'm going to pounce on it as soon as it leaves the printing press!