5 Stars for These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant

These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant is a contemporary classic about ultimate sacrifice and humble beginnings. It begins in the middle filling in the past through carefully placed flashbacks. One of my favorite classics of all times is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, another book about sacrifice, but with a heavy dose of atonement. Cooper, the dad protecting his daughter, Finch, in These Silent Woods, may feel he needs atonement for his actions to save his daughter, but he does not. It takes another character in the novel to make him see himself as Finch sees him and that is a guy with a big heart willing to sacrifice all of his own individual desires for her. This is a book that makes you believe in the beauty of human kindness and that it will continue as long as we are able to see beyond ourselves. It is a classic, and one I hope will one day be taught in the classroom alongside books like The Kite Runner. 

3 Stars for The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is an interesting twist on parallel universes. The idea that a different you can exist somewhere else in a better or worse life is more than intriguing, which is why I picked this book up in the first place. It is true this book makes a turn towards self-help, but for me that is not such an awful turn. In fact, it fits the premise that centers around a protagonist (Nora) who is depressed in almost all of her lives. Nora, like most of us, can be self-absorbed. In the beginning I did not like her much. Nora focused too much on regrets that did not focus on anyone but Nora. This changed when she began to incorporate the feelings of her brother rather than her own. The Midnight Librarian (God, because of the statement: "I am what I am") guides her to think about her brother's feelings alongside her own. At this point, I'm thinking Nora is on her way to receiving the kind of grace only the most humble of us deserve - not. This is where my three star rating comes in to play. Yes, this book is worth reading. Yes, it makes you ponder your own self-absorbed life, but the ending did not contain the selfless grace Nora needed to find. In the end, I enjoyed this book and read it quickly. I highly recommend it simply because I think opinions will vary and it is different in a world of books that are much the same. 

3 Stars for The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman

Invested in this series, I expected more from The Amber Spyglass. The creative storytelling elements in the first two books glued together the importance of the golden compass and the subtle knife cementing their crucial significance. Although the amber spyglass was explained in this story, it didn't add to the plot. I mean you have a knife that can cut into worlds and a compass that can tell truth and then you have the amber spyglass which can see dust understood philosophically as some sort of Brahman/Atman concept perhaps without the Brahman because of course in these books "God is Dead" or never existed at all and anything, not just the church, associated with this is evil. I didn't understand why the church was evil - exactly. 

I think Pullman wanted us to tap into our prior knowledge here that extended outside of this book tapping into horrific events like The Salem Witch Trials. With all of his blossoming promises to address how religion is used more like a sword than a warm blanket, he fell short. In these books, you have to accept religion is bad without really ever understanding why. I mean these people don't even go to church, but somehow the church chains them. With that said, the idea of dust is a fantastic one, but it was not explained fully. Pullman goes off on the Mulefa, some weird bug creatures without dust. This part of the narrative bored me to tears and I found myself skimming. He also spent quite a bit of time explaining why Mary (the snake temptress) left the nunnery. This story reasoned around a fruit (aka the apple) and an Italian guy. What? 

Pullman set up some pretty nifty symbolism in this story, and really whether he likes the Bible or not - its much better story telling. How can you mess up when you have stories like that to spin off? Well, Pullman did. For example, Lyra, a feisty brave young woman turns into a whimpering rib of Will, the giant man in this. I like Margaret Atwood's version of Eve much better in Quattrocento, at least here the importance of knowledge is focused on rather than an outpouring of hatred for Christianity. These books were ripe with possibilities and Pullman could have addressed The Garden of Eden/original sin story alongside the corrupt folks often hiding behind the church - but, alas he did not. He was too busy hating alongside Mary, the former nun and the Mulefa. Read at your own peril. 

The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney deserves a five star rating.

The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney deserves a five star rating. True, a couple of the books, namely Slither fell short of the hype; however, the long awaited battle with the Fiend made up for it in book 13. I still have some questions after reading this book. Plot questions not answered will wait for the new series already perfectly lined up with previous books like Slither and Grimalkin. As far as simplistic writing goes, I think folks should keep in mind these books are filed under children's literature. And for myself, I loved the writing. My summer reading often includes books that are not filed under children's literature and reading a kid's series was refreshing. Plus, I enjoyed reading this series with my daughter, who is not a kid, and also has reading that is far from simplistic. The Last Apprentice series is story telling at its best. The twists, scary monsters, heroes and character development is fan-freaking-tastic. I highly recommend this series!

5 Stars for The Golden Compass

 

The Golden Compass (book 1) by Phillip Pullman is a modern classic that ranks with stories like The Chronicles of Narnia, A Wrinkle in Time and The Lord of the Rings books. This is an impressive book for a number of reasons:

Concept

Plot

Lying for Love, not the romantic kind

Clever protagonist

Brave protagonist

Heart

World-Building

Soul, the high concept kind and the feeling kind

Human da'emons, although I don't know if I'm spelling that correctly for this book. In any case, this book shines an interesting pondering light questioning the reader's own demons - it makes you think.

With this in mind, I want to reflect on Pullman's own words a little, "As a passionate believer in the democracy of reading, I don't think it's the task of the author of a book to tell the reader what it means."

After reading a number of reviews on this story, I found this democracy to vary from one extreme interpretation to another extreme interpretation. For example, as a reader I did not see the main character, Lyra as Christ nor the Anti-Christ. I simple saw her as a young girl willing to do anything to save the people she loved even if it meant wicked lying. If anything she was only caught in the center of the polarities of good and evil. This idea stemming from Genesis, the original sin, "from dust you are to dust you will return". The idea of dust as good or bad is questionable. Dust almost seems like fairy dust giving flight to the birth of consciousness. In this way, it should be good because it makes us aware of good and evil and without knowing one we cannot know the other. This is where C.S. Lewis quotes like this come from, "Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.”

― C.S. Lewis. My interpretation of dust in this is that free will. Of course, that is only my democratic input along with a huge shout out: Read this book!

5 Stars for Double Threat by F. Paul Wilson

 Double Threat by F. Paul Wilson is about a young woman named Daley who finds an alien has resided inside her head. The plot moves from there with a "Stranger than Fiction" vibe. The humorous tone of the story changes with the emergence of a cult truly David Berg worthy. At this point, I'm reminded of Wilson's Repairman Jack series where Jack constantly averts danger to himself and loved ones. However, this book is not a Repairman Jack book. In fact, its enjoyment doesn't come from page turning danger. This is a slow burn ripe with fantastic dialogue between Daley and her alien, Daley's dynamic character change from extreme selfishness to to extrema empathy, and last Daley's paradoxical toxic relationship choices. Oh, and there's the cult based on mind bending science fiction. Wilson does a nice job of blending thriller and science fiction. Mostly, he's a natural with dialogue and immediately I am drawn into unique voices I want to root for. This book is well deserving of the applause and as much as I enjoyed the Repairman Jack books, Double Threat is better written. I suppose that comes from Wilson's dedication to perfecting his craft. I hope to see more of Daley soon. 

5 Stars for The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

 

This is my second Simone St. James book, and again I am not disappointed. St. James has a style that feels like walking into a Francisco Goya painting while listening to David Bowie's Under Pressure in the background. Fiona, the main character, is constantly struggling with a need for truth and as the premise indicates - she wants to know the truth behind her sister's murder. Fiona is a journalist, independent, self-motivated, subject to the powers of love, and somewhat under the shadow of a father who is bigger than life. That alone got me interested in this story, but as with all the St. James book there is more than one story line. The second story line dates back 64 years and centers around the death of other girls - no more word of that because I might give too much away. The second story is equally intriguing and the broken girls in that story vein are incredibly clever and strong because of their hardships. I enjoyed the different well-fleshed out personalities of each of them. I definitely leaned towards Katie the most. St. James books deliver well-thought out plots that tie up every loose end at the end, but style aside - I like her characters! I also like the spooky gothic atmosphere she plays up in her stories. It reminds me of my Stephen King favorites like Salem's Lot with extra mystery embellished in every corner. A reader cannot go wrong with books like that. I highly recommend Simone St. James's The Broken Girls.