Clariel

Author: Garth Nix

Genre: Fantasy 

Setting: Belisaere, the capital city of the Old Kingdom (the important part is that it is a large city)

Summary: Clariel, a sixteen year old girl and her family move from the small town of Estwael to the capital city of Belisaere. Clariel wants to live a simple life hunting in the Great forest, but in Belisaere, she becomes involved with a plan to trap a dangerous magical creature that is loose in the city. In addition, the governor and his son have a plot to overthrow the king. Clariel discovers a power called Free Magic, which is not normally taught and is difficult to control. When her parents are killed, she wants to avenge them and thwart the governor. With the help of her power and a magical cat named Mogget, Clariel must try to protect the king and avenge her parents.

This book is the prequel to the main series, which was written much earlier. I read this book and am about to start the main series. I don't think it would matter if you read this book first. I really enjoyed this book. There were very few confusing parts of the plot and I felt like I understood it. The writing was engaging and I never really felt like the story was too dragged out or slow. Overall, this was an interesting and entertaining book. I would recommend it to fans of fantasy stories.

The Red Pony

Author: John Steinbeck
Genre: Realistic fiction
Setting: a farm near Salinas, California - 1930's
What it's About: The book is made up of four short stories about a boy named Jody. He lives on his family's farm. In the first story, Jody recieves a red pony (thus the title) and trains it with the help of Billy Buck, one of the workers. In the second story, an old man comes to the farm saying that he was born near there and is not welcomed kindly by Jody's father, Carl Tiflin. The third story describes mare Nellie, and what Billy Buck and Jody must do to help the colt that she is carrying. In the last story, Jody's grandfather comes to visit and bores the family with his repetitive stories of westward expansion, which the family have heard many times before.

I had to read this book for my English class a week or two ago. The writing in the book was descriptive with several amazing uses of imagery. Also, Steinbeck did well in developing the characters, especially Jody, Billy Buck, and Grandfather. However, there were several times in the book  where it became less engaging and the plot moved slowly. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy descriptive writing, short stories, and stories about horses and farms.

Completely Random Post

This post has absolutely nothing to do with books. I was bored, so I decided to knit something. I was going to knit a tea cozy, but I decided instead to knit an erlenmeyer flask cozy. I made up the pattern for it. It will fit a little bit tightly on a 500 ml erlenmeyer flask. This is how I made it.

Using worsted weight yarn and about 3.5 millimeter double pointed needles, cast on 60 stitches.
On each round, decrease 1 stitch. On the first round, knit 2 together and knit the rest of the way around. On the second round, knit and decrease when you are halfway around the round. You can make a design if you want to. (I did stripes.) Alternate rounds 1 and 2 until there are 20 stitches and cast off. With a piece of yarn and a tapestry needle, pull yarn through every fourth stitch on the base of the cozy. This will create a sort of drawstring.

Slip the cozy over the erlenmeyer flask and tie the drawstring firmly around the base of the flask.

No Passengers Beyond This Point

Author: Gennifer Choldenko
Genre: fantasy
Setting: it mainly takes place in the city of Falling Bird in either present day or future
Summary: When the Tompkins have to move, their mother decides that they should go to Uncle Red's house before she gets there. India, Finn, and Mouse take a plane, but when they land, everything seems very strange, but India (the oldest) tries to reassure them that Uncle Red set everything up. Later on, they find out that they are in the city of Falling Bird, and that they have to find a black box in order to get out of the city. They have very limited time, which is being kept on individual clocks for each of them. But when India gets a job in Falling Bird, will she even want to leave? Can Finn and Mouse convince her? And will they be able to get out of the city?

I thought this book was pretty good. At first, I thought it was a little bit confusing, though. It was really interesting, and The characters had strong personalities, especially Mouse, who is the youngest.  I think you would like this book if you like books with strange and interesting settings.

Rooftoppers

 

Author: Katherine Rundell
Genre: Realistic fiction (even though it isn't that realistic)
Setting: England and Paris (I'm not exactly sure on the time, but it was before women commonly wore pants)
Summary: When Sophie was a baby, she survived a sinking ship. She was floated in a cello case
and was found by a man named Charles Maxim. Since then she has lived with him, but the childcare agency doesn't approve of the way Sophie is being raised. Sophie is sure that she remembers that her mother wore trousers and played the cello, with were both unusual for women at the time. When Sophie finds an address in the cello case she was floated in, she and Charles travel there to escape the childcare agency and to see if they can find out more about Sophie's mother. In Paris, Sophie meets Matteo, a boy who lives on a roof.  But the questions are still: does Sophie's mother still live in Paris? And is she still alive? And if she is, then will Sophie find her?

I really enjoyed this book. I didn't think it was exactly a thrilling page-turner, but I still wanted to keep reading. There wasn't a whole lot of action, but I thought there was enough to keep the story interesting. I'm not exactly sure of the kind of person who would like this book, though.