Bloggin 'Bout Books Blog

Galax-Arena by Gillian Rubinstein is a novel that I love when I was younger.  For one of my classes, I was required to reread a novel I remembered from my youth, and during discussion this book came up. I loved this book when I was in elementary school. I was a little surprised to see that it's recommended for kids 12+ because I definitely read it when I was 8 or 9. That's pretty typical for me though. Galax-Arena is about three siblings: Peter, Joella and Liane. They're kidnapped by a man named Hythe and taken to an alien planet called Vexak. There they are forced to perform for aliens called Vexa in an acrobatic troup that performs in the Galax-Arena. They are not the only children in the Galax-Arena. There are many children from all across Earth. They've cobbled together a language and a means of living, but their entire life centers around performing in the Galax-Arena--and in surviving each performance. As I was rereading this book, I was surprised at how m...

Well hey everybody. I'm back! I'm alive! I'm in Boston(ish)! And I missed a couple weeks of Top Ten Tuesdays, but I'm just going to let that go, and hop back in with a review. For one of my classes for my MA, I got to reread The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. It's definitely been more than a decade since I read this series. It was interesting going back to it because when I originally read it, I had no idea  it was "supposed to be" about Christianity and the story of Jesus and God and all of that allegory. I simply didn't see it. I actually almost got into a fist fight with a kid in 10th grade when he brought it up. I was so 100% not aware of or reading it for that reason. This read-through, I obviously had a better grasp of the intended (? -- but I'm going to go with yes because Lewis writes a lot of religious works) allegories. Honestly, it was a hard book for me to start reading. A large part of that is because...

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen might just be my least favorite of her novels.  I've read Mansfield Park before. During my junior year of college, I took a class on Miss Jane Austen, and we read all of her novels. Some of them I was surprised to find I enjoyed. Some of them I find that I dislike less now that I've had some distance between us. And some of them I just generally dislike. Mansfield Park falls into that latter category.  So a brief synopsis (with some spoilers if you find Austen's works unpredictable). Fanny Price gets adopted by her rich aunt and uncle. She has two snotty girl cousins and two boy cousins: one who is snotty, one who is the love interest. After she spends six years growing up with the cousins (from 11 to 17) there are a snotty brother and a snotty sister who move in down the way. The brother (Mr. Crawford) toys with Fanny's cousins hearts. The sister (Miss Crawford) originally wants to catch Fanny's snotty boy cousin, but...

The Wanderer by Sharon Creech  is an excellent example of a bildungsroman or coming-of-age novel. The protagonist of the story is 13 year old Sophie. She narrates most chapters with the occasional viewpoint from her cousin Cody. The alternating viewpoint is necessary to the story, as the reader finds out pretty early on that Sophie isn't exactly a reliable narrator. Sophie loves the sea. She wants to spend the summer sailing with her three uncles and two cousins on a trip across the ocean to visit their grandfather who is known as Bompie.  They make several stops along the way, but the majority of the book is spent on a small sailboat. The character relationships in this book really drive the plot along. This is the second time I've read this book. The first time I was probably 12 or 13 and I loved it. I still loved it this time but for different reasons. When I was younger, I loved Cody. I also loved Sophie's stories, and I felt like the ending was the perfect mix...