Books on My Growing List to Read: Hush

And here is my first novel to add to the growing pile of books to read this summer (now that it is here for me!) now that I can actually sit down and read. I think that a library trip sometime next week would be lovely…especially with an upcoming trip to Phoenix coming up!

So, the book that is going on this pile is Hush, by Donna Jo Napoli. It’s only three years old, as it was published in 2007.

It is supposed to be a ‘fairy-tale-retold’ novel, based on an Irish fairy tale. Sounds great.

But apparently this is not any happy fairy tale. This one is supposed to be gritty.

This is supposed to be like a Brother’s Grimm fairy tale, and not the Disney versions. The Grimm tales were – excuse the pun – grim. For example, in Cinderella, one of the step-sisters actually cuts off her toes when her foot does not fit into Cinderella’s shoe. Guess they had to leave that part out of the story when they wrote it for Disney.

So I am exited. After all, there have been too many happy-go-lucky novels out there, filled with princesses who want to find their prince, and somehow do. This is not supposed to be a novel that is like that, and for that, I am grateful.

To tell you the truth, I have absolutely no idea how I came across this novel. The most likely place is Goodreads, that much I now, otherwise I am clueless. I am writing about it now, becuase it was on my to-read shelf, and I clicked on it. And voila, it looks so very interesting.

I love the whole princess thing, and I love that it is based on a legend. And, if you couldn’t quite tell, I love the fact that it’s supposed to be different than the other novels I have read lately. Dark. Sad. I like it.

Not that I am a dark and sad person; I am just sick of the whole happy paranormal teenagers who fall in love, and everything is such a happy ending.  I am a little done with that.

Anyways, Goodreads stats. 863 ratings, a 3.44 average rating, and 229 reviews. The majority of people have voted this novel 3 stars, with a close 4 stars. But that might not mean anything. Just becuase only a few people like a book does not mean that I won’t, or you won’t. So there.

I am excited to get my hands on this…let’s hope that I get it soon!

Fifteen-year-old Melkorka, an Irish princess, is kidnapped by Russian slave traders and not only learns how to survive but to challenge some of the brutality of her captors, who are fascinated by her apparent muteness and the possibility that she is enchanted.

From http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/765584.Hush_An_Irish_Princess_Tale (No synopsis on the author’s site)

Author: Donna Jo Napoli

Published: October 23rd 2007 by Atheneum

Page Count: 320

ISBN: 0689861761    (isbn13: 9780689861765)

Mulling On Monday #13

2 Stars

I seem to have issues finding a newer novel by an author that I have not read before. The newest novel to fall short of my expectations is A Curse Dark as Gold, by Elizabeth C. Bunce. It was a novel that I had wanted to get my hands on for a while, but just did not have the time to do so. So I finally did, and I find myself disappointed.

What is going to be hard about this review is telling what I did and did not like without giving too much away.

It is supposed to be a re-telling of Rumpelstiltskin. While I was able to see why this would be, and how it would be, I had issues finding exactly where it was. If anything, then it could have been a novel that did not have to reflect a re-telling of any fairy tale, though, again, I can see where it comes into play.

I found the pacing to be off in this novel. In some parts, it was very, very skilled, and had excellent timing. In other parts, not so much. It could be choppy and hard to read.

And while I realize that the majority of it is supposed to have a fairy tale quality to it, I found parts to be unrealistic and not believable. This comes in many forms, whether the decisions made by the characters, to the strange occurrences and ideas. I mean, the author notes that this is supposed to take place just before/the very beginning of the industrial evolution, but it seemed to be more of a Lord of the Rings type era with the magic and curses and such. It was very frustrating for me.

I also did not like, of course, the ending. Abrupt, if not foreseen, not to mention that it left much to be desired. It was too open ended. It did have the closure needed to end a book; it is not like it just ended, but it still seemed abrupt for what I was expecting.

What I did like were the characters. The majority of the characters were deep, well rounded and for the most part kept you guessing. I say the majority because two stick out in my mind that I feel were not adequate. The first one is Jack Spinner. The second is the heroine herself.

Jack Spinner is a character that is, yes, very much essential to the novel, however, towards the end he became more shady and random. He was not the character that I wanted to see. He was choppy and very much random. I also did not like that he seemed to be a bit of a head case, which gets explained by the end, but it threw me a bit.

The heroine, Charlotte, by the end made me really angry. She is so inconsistent, one moment believing in the curse and all that it pertains, and the next denouncing it and calling it folly. Okay then. Her random decision at the fair also made me angry, because who does that? Unless she was drunk (and I checked; she was not, she was just out of character) it does not seem to make sense.

However, they do all end up rounding out nicely by the end.

What I also liked was the cover. The hands bound in gold thread is a very clever idea, kudos to whomever thought of that. The girl also just suits the book.

I also liked learning about the process of the mill…the little that was talked about. The descriptions were fabulous, and I highly enjoyed the strange superstitions that the ‘village people’ had.

Overall, a ‘meh’ book, that I do not think I will be adding to my personal collection anytime soon.

Charlotte Miller needs some serious help.

With a mill to run, a town to keep together and her father’s recent death, any surprised that could cripple the mill could spell disaster.

Too bad her father neglected to mention the enormous debt that he racked up for some unbeknownst cause leaving Charlotte Miller and her sister Rosie in a heap of trouble.

With the bank calling in the debt, they have a very limited time to save the town, their life, and the mill.

The fact that the mill is cursed is not too big of help either.

Any help is welcome. But could the help they get actually cause more heartache and pain? Or will they be able to save everything that they hold dear?

In Elizabeth C. Bunce’s debut novel, A Curse Dark as Gold is a retelling of a classic fairy-tale where so much went wrong, with too much to lose.

Author: Elizabeth C. Bunce

Published: March 1st 2008 by Arthur A. Levine Books

Page Count: 396

ISBN: 0439895766    (isbn13: 9780439895767)

Book of The Week: Ella Enchanted

3 1/2

Sadly, I did not have the opportunity to read much this week, thus, there is only one option as to the “book of the week scenario”, becuase I am still working on my mission…but you will have to wait for that review, coming up sometime this weekend, I think.

And I do admit that it is a little sad, even though I loved this book as a kid, and I still love it (yes, it is yet another YA novel…oh well.) that I am still stuck on young adult fiction. It is Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted.

 This is a novel that all the girls I knew when I was younger loved the book. And the movie, when it came out, starring Anne Hathaway as Ella.

There are major differences between the book and the movie, however.

But we won’t get into that, other than for me to say that I much preferred the book to the movie, and found that in the movie they took a lot of liberty with the plot. Moving on though…

What I like most about this book is the fact that you can love it, whether you are young or old. It has that fairy-tale quality to it that is reminiscent of  Cinderella. I also really enjoyed the characters, which were true, again to the Cinderella tale. The ugly step-sisters, the evil step-mother, the forbidden prince.It’s all one remix.

What I don’t like about this novel is that is a very light read. You can read it in one sitting, though I suppose that would not matter to ten year old girls sitting down to read it. It’s not necessarily meant for teens my age, but I will get over it. I still love this novel, even if the characters were flat, the writing sometimes awkward, and the plot sometimes slogging.

Overall though, its a good story and a light read.

Ella is not an ordinary girl in the town of Frell. If you told her to lose a race, she would do it. If you told her to do your chores she would do it. If you told her to chop off her own head…she would have to do it.

After all, her gift of obedience won’t let her do anything else.

But will she have to power to overcome her obedience when it matters most? Or will she succumb to the gift that twisted itself into a curse?

In a story that is reminiscent of Cinderella, Ella Enchanted is a read that will fascinate fantasy-lovers of all sorts.

Author: Gail Carson Levine

Published: January 1st 1997 by Scholastic Books

Page Count: 394

ISBN: 0778323420    (isbn13: 9780778323426)

 

Book of the Week: Song of the Sparrow

4 Stars

Some people have asked me how I can call this book a novel. After all, it’s 380-some pages of poetry, is it not?

Well, um, no. While it may be in a poetic format, there are no rhymes, no set rhythm, just a story that you can read as easily as anything else.It is beautifully done, and I have to love the idea of it.

And the story is done so very well. The legend is taken on in such a way that it is absorbing from the very first page.  The poetry part at first is a tad daunting, if only becuase we are not used to reading a novel set in this way. But it was very well done, and I enjoy it very, very much.

What I liked so much was, yes, the format, but also the story line. It was different than all of the other King Aurthur novels that I tried to avoid for the reason of that they were usually really, really dumb (no offense meant).  I never have found a King Aurthur book I liked, but this was the exception.

What I did not like, was, yes, the format. Sometimes, it was hard to put down for a few minutes becuase you knew it would be hard to get back into it. I also did not like that it was a very quick read. I finished 50 pages in about 10 minutes. So it is a quick and light read.

Elaine has always been the only girl in a military camp of hundreds of men – which are now like brothers to her – ever since her mother was murdered. She admires the playful men who all treat her like a sister…and she especially admires Lancelot. But she cannot tell anybody this – especially when a beautiful maiden comes to the camp.

Filled with a strange sense of jealousy, bewilderment, and an odd sense of possessiveness, Elaine finds herself fighting her own battle. But it cannot go on any longer -or else.

A book that is different and completely well written, Song of the Sparrow is a novel that once read will be remembered.

Author: Lisa Ann Sandell

Published: December 20th 1987 by HarperTrophy (first published 1888)

Page Count: 245

ISBN:0064401871    (isbn13: 9780064401876)

Monday Mulling #3

2 1/2 Stars

So, in light of the recent mission that I am working on, and the fact that I am reading more YA books than I am Adult (thus driving my sanity to the limit sometimes…the writing can get quite…juvenile), means that, yet again, I will be mulling over yet another YA novel. At first I considered doing The Grouchy Ladybug…then I realized that it was a children’s book, and not a YA. Oops. My bad. Please excuse my sudden loss of sanity.

Therefore, say hello to Just Ella, a novel by Margaret Peterson Haddix. A story that has re-mixed the well-known fairy-tale of Cinderella…but this is the after story. This is the story where Ella is being primed to be a princess, and a beautiful wife to the prince who she met at the ball. We all know how that went down. But what if she did not like the happily-ever-after? This is the story that explores that option.

It is hard to say what I liked about this book, other than the idea, really. The idea was lovely, captivating, different. But how the author presented the idea and how it was pursued it was not great.

As for what I did not like, I just did not like the book. The storyline was iffy, the idea not executed well, and the ending…abrupt. I had hoped for a sequel so that I could understand, but it never happened. The book just ended. Just like that, with Ella like “Well, I’m here now, so I suppose I can just stay here. And what’s his face can do his own thing while I’m here…” Really? No.

I lied. I like something else; I did like the book cover. I found it to be most interesting, and very pretty.

Ella has done what every girl in the country has wished for; she has won the prince’s hand, and she is becoming a princess.

But its not all its cracked up to be.

Ella has decided that perhaps this life is not for her. She is not allowed to do anything, her lessons are ridiculous, and her life is very bland. She misses the sun, and the freedom she has as a commoner. The prince is also dull and not very bright.

When she decides to escape, everything fall apart. Can she get out of the life that is slowly boring her to death?

Author:  Margaret Peterson Haddix

Published: June 1st 2002 by Simon and Schuster (first published 1999)

Page Count: 240

ISBN: 0689851979    (isbn13: 9780689851971)