Adrienne's review of "The Scarlet Pimpernel"

After Jeff and I saw the play I really wanted to read the original book. It was a pretty easy read and one that I quickly got into. (Sometimes a concern for me with the "classics".) The book starts off at about halfway through the movie, with Marguerite and Percy already married and estranged from each other and you find out why as you read the book. It has a different story line and ending than the movie and the play. It is just the first in a series of books that Baroness Orczy wrote about The Scarlet Pimpernel and think that they might have mixed parts of different books together for the play and movie. I would give it 3.5 stars.

The Blue Sword

Yay, I finished the book this time! For some reason, it took me a while to get through the first part of this book again, even though I enjoyed the story. The ending went much quicker and I really liked it. I agree with Adrienne, that I love the main character of this story, Harry. I also loved reading this book just because I knew it was one of Adrienne's favorites. I would give it 4 stars. But take in mind that it is written by Robin McKinley, and her writing takes a little getting used to. (I am excited to read The Hero and the Crown now!)

Well you guys are much better at keeping up on this blog than I am. I have been reading but not taking the time to write anything down. Our book club read The Peacegiver last month which is an excellent read. It is a fictional book but gives you unique perspectives about the Atonement and applying it in your life. It is a quick read but very worthwhile so that is a bonus. I would give this 4+ stars.

I have also just read the Christmas Jars. It was a quick read as well (only about 100 pages) and a good book for the holidays. Nothing to astounding or anything but I did want to finish it. I would give it 3 stars.

Adrienne's review of "Love Comes Softly"

This is actually an eight book series written by Janette Oke that I stumbled upon at my library in the DVD section. Michael Landon, Jr. has directed a movie series based on the books and I started checking them out for something to watch while I worked on sewing and ended up checking out the books.

The first book is about 19 year old Marty Claridge, who just after arriving in the west with her husband Clem is left alone when he is killed in an accident. Marty has no money to get back home and doesn't know anyone. After her husband's funeral she is approached by Clark Davis. He's a young widower with a small daughter. He proposes a marriage of convenience. She would be a mother to his little Missy and he would give her a place to live. If she wanted to still go back home in the Spring he would pay her way if she would take Missy with her. Seeing no other way to survive she accepts his offer.

These books have a very similar feel to Little House on The Prairie (the show, I haven't read the books). It's set on the frontier and while it's about Marty and Clark, the story is also about those in their community.

I've only read the first two books in the series, Love Comes Softly and Loves Enduring Promise, but I really enjoyed both of them. I actually enjoyed the second book a little bit more than the first.

(Just an FYI, Janette Oke is a Christian author so there is a strong Christian influence to the books, which I really enjoyed.)

Adrienne's review of "Freckles"

This was a book recommended to me by Mom's friend Lee when we were driving to the put-in for Cat. It is written by Gene Stratton-Porter in 1904. Apparently Stratton-Porter was a pretty big author around the turn of the century and has written quite a list of books. She grew up in Indiana next to some woods called the Limberlost (which have long since disappeared) and became a lover of nature and was a pretty influential environmentalist for her day. Many of her books are about nature and most of the fiction books have a very strong nature theme in them as well.

Freckles is about a one-armed orphan who becomes the limber guard for the Limberlost. He is a wonderful character, full of courage and integrity. Because of the kind of person he is, those around him are drawn to him and grow to love him. While guarding the Limberlost he falls in love with a beautiful girl he calls the Swamp Angel.

This book took me a long time to get into, mostly due to the language and writing style that I'm sure was common for the time it was written. The ending didn't seem to really fit with the rest of the book. I found out later it was not the original ending, but her publisher made her change it to appeal more to the audience.

I give it 3 stars. I loved the story, but the style and language are a little difficult for me to get into. Enough so that I can't decide whether or not to start one of the other 2 books of her's that I have sitting on my desk waiting for me to read.

Adrienne's review of "Confessions of a Shopoholic"

We read this book for my book club last month, and I thought it was a fun and quick read. There is some language and sex, but I don't remember it being very bad. (The other ladies at book club seemed to remember more than I did.) The thing that I had the hardest time with in this book was the out of control shopping. It was making me a little stressed out at first.

Still, I thought it was a cute story and although Becky Bloomwood (the main character) is selfish and lies all the time, she's kind of endearing in a way and the situations that her lying puts her in are very humorous. The story line is completely different from the movie, so don't let that stop you from reading the book.

I give it 3 stars. - written by Sophie Kinsella

Shannan's Review of "The Red Tent"

This was our book club book for this month. I originally wasn't going to read it because of some reviews from other people, but then some other people told me that it was okay, as long as you get through the beginning. Let's just say, it wasn't my favorite.

This book is a fictional account of Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob in the Old Testament. It is written from her perspective and the author uses the Bible lightly as an outline for the story. That is one of the things that bothered me about the book. The way she portrays some of the people, especially the prophets like Jacob and Joseph were not accurate at all, at least the way that I have always thought of them. Because Dinah is telling the story, you never seem to get a very good idea of what kind of person she is. You never read a description of her or get a sense of her personality. Because of this, I never really felt a connection with her.

The Red Tent is a place where all the women in the camp spend their periods together, away from the men. The book focuses a lot on cycles and women giving birth. It reminded me a little of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan with the separation of women and men and the bonds the women form together.

I would only give this book 2 stars. My interest died out at the end. The author is a proclaimed feminist and seemed like a manhater to me. I didn't care for her depictions of a lot of the characters. Although I do have to say that after I went back and read some of the chapters in the Bible, I was amazed that some of the things she had written were actually true and really did happen. So, there you go! :)