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Title: Speaker for the Dead Author: Orson Scott Card Genre: Sci-fi Rating: 9/10 # pages: 382 Date read: July, 2007

Summary: In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: The Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War. Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening....again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery....and the truth.

Review: Orson Scott Card himself thinks that this sequel to "Ender's Game" is superior to the first. In fact, "Ender's Game" wasn't even a novel at first, it was merely a short story that had to be expanded into a novel to serve as a prequel to "Speaker for the Dead". As much as I respect his writing abilities, I can't agree with him on this. "Ender's Game" is - IMHO - by far the better of the two both in terms of plots and characterizations. But as you can see from the rating, that doesn't mean that this book isn't great too. I had sever difficulties putting it down once I got into it, and am already keeping a look out for the 3rd and 4th books of the Ender series.

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Title: Little Town on the Prairie Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder Genre: Classics Rating: 4.5/5 # pages: 223 Date read: July 2007, January 2010, August 2012, January 2018, 2024

The long winter is finally over, and with spring comes a new job for Laura, town parties, and more time to spend with Almanzo Wilder. Laura also tries to help Pa and Ma save money for Mary to go to college.


This is one of my favourite LIW books. I'm fascinated by the descriptions of life in town. Two things that struck me in particular were a) how modestly they lived and b) how quickly they had to grow up. Just think of Laura, going off to teach at age 15. I was no where near mature enough for that at that age. And they all seemed so selfless too - always passing on things to each other, because they didn't need them themselves, and thought the other person would like them more.

Title: Farmer Boy Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder Genre: Classics Rating: 4.5/5 # pages: 236, Audiobook ~7hrs Date read: July 2007, January 2010, August 2012, January 2018, November 2024

The Story of a boy named Almanzo Wilder...While Laura Ingalls grows up on the western prairie, a boy named Almanzo Wilder is living on a farm in New York State. Almanzo and his brother and sisters work at their chores from dawn until supper most days -- no matter what the weather. There is still time for fun, though, especially with the horses, which Almanzo loves more than anything.


It took me quite awhile to read this one the first time around, because I didn't originally think that a book not about Laura could possibly be as good. I don't know why I thought that, seeing as it was the same person writing them, and fortunately my mum talked me into reading it. Now, it's one of my favourite of the series. It has a lot more explaining how they do this or that, but that doesn't bother me at all, since lots of this is completely new to me. I also like the fact that this book spans over almost exactly one year, so you get to see how life on a farm was back in those days.

Title: The Devil Wears Prada Author: Lauren Weisberger Genre: Chick-lit Rating: 7/10 # pages: 392 Date read: July, 2007

Summary: Most recent college grads know they have to start at the bottom and work their way up. But not many picture themselves having to pick up their boss's dry cleaning, deliver them hot lattes, land them copies of the newest Harry Potter book before it hits stores and screen potential nannies for their children. Charmingly unfashionable Andrea Sachs, upon graduating from Brown, finds herself in this precarious position: she's an assistant to the most revered-and hated-woman in fashion, Runway editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly. The self-described "biggest fashion loser to ever hit the scene," Andy takes the job hoping to land at the New Yorker after a year. As the "lowest-paid-but-most-highly-perked assistant in the free world," she soon learns her Nine West loafers won't cut it-everyone wears Jimmy Choos or Manolos-and that the four years she spent memorizing poems and examining prose will not help her in her new role of "finding, fetching, or faxing" whatever the diabolical Miranda wants, immediately.

Review: Chick-lit and fairly enjoyable, but as you can see from the rating, I wasn't knocked off my feet. It was okay, but Andrea needed to grow a spine in the worst way. I couldn't believe she'd let her boss treat her like that - and CONSTANTLY. It'd be one thing if Miranda had at least some redeeming qualities, but there were none. Which made for a train-wreck-like book (i.e. you couldn't look away), but not one that could be labelled 'comfort book' by any stretch of the imagination. I kept waiting for Karma to bite back and it never happened, which left me with a terribly unsatisfied feeling.

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Title: Dancing Shoes Author: Noel Streatfield Genre: YA Rating: 6/10 # pages: 237 Date read: July, 2007

Summary: Life at Mrs. Wintle's School of Dancing is a big change for Rachel and her sister, Hilary. Tap lessons, musical comedy, singing lessons, acrobatics - it's a far cry from the quiet contry life they led before Mother died. Now they're living in London wiht eccentric Aunt Cora Wintle, who's determined to turn them into memebers of her dance troupe, Wintle's Little Wonders.

But Rachel doesn't want to be a Little Wonder! She can't dance, and she'd rather die than wear the ruffly costume. Not only that, she doesn't want Hilary to be a Littel Wonder either. Hilary is truly talented, and should be studying with the Royal Ballet!

To make matters worse, there's conceited cousin Dulcie. She's the school's star dancer, and the apple of Aunt Cora's eye. And if there's one thing Dulcie hates, it's the thought that somebody else might be as good a performer as she is...

Review: Ever since watching "You've Got Mail" I've wanted to read books by Noel Streatfield. Thanks to an online friend of mine, I've finally been able to. It's a children's book, to be sure, but quite sweet for what it is, and I enjoyed the atmosphere of it. I also have "Theater Shoes" and "Ballet Shoes", but as far as I can see it's not a continuing series, but rather separate stories?

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Title: Three Men In A Boat: To Say Nothing Of The Dog Author: Jerome K. Jerome Genre: Classics Rating: 7/10 # pages: Audiobook Date read: July, 2007

Summary: Imagine Bertie Wooster and two of his idiot friends out on a boat... with no Jeeves. That about describes "Three Men in a Boat : To Say Nothing of the Dog," Jerome K. Jerome's enchanting comic novel about three young men (to say nothing of the dog) who discover the "joys" of roughing it.

The three men are George, Harris and the narrator, who are all massive hypochiandriacs -- they find that they have symptoms of every disease in existance (except housemaid's knee). To prop up their failing health, they decide to take a cruise down the Thames in a rented boat, camping and enjoying nature's bounty.

Along with Monty -- an angelic-looking, devilish terrier -- the three friends set off down the river. But they find that not everything is as easy as they expected. They get lost in hedge mazes, end up going downstream without a paddle, encounter monstrous cats and vicious swans, have picnics navigate locks, offend German professors, and generally get into every kind of trouble they possibly can...

Review: Absolutely hilarious! I love the dry wit of Jerome's writing, even if some of his tangents went just a bit too far out. It's the perfect book for reading aloud, and I wish I'd known it while I was still living at home, so I could've gotten dad to read it to us on one of our vacations.

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Title: The Little House in the Big Woods Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder Genre: Classics Rating: 4.5/5 # pages: 138, Audiobook ~4hrs Date read: July 2007, February 2010, August 2012, December 2017, September 2024

Little House in the Big Woods--the first book of the series and Laura Ingalls Wilder's first children's book--is full of the thrills, chills, and spills typically associated with "boy" books. Any boy or girl who has fantasized about running off to live in the woods will find ample information in these pages to manage a Wisconsin snowstorm, a panther attack, or a wild sled ride with a pig as an uninvited guest. Every chapter divulges fascinatingly intricate, yet easy-to-read, details about pioneer life in the Midwest in the late 1800s, from bear-meat curing to maple-tree sapping to homemade bullet making.


This is one of the best comfort-book-series around - although I always get so hungry when reading it! I want to try fresh made maple syrup and culled corn too! Such a cozy book :) Even if I do skip most of Pa's tales when rereading it these days.

Reread 2024: I heard this as an audiobook this time where the narrator actually performed the songs - that was a nice touch, even if it was a tad louder than the spoken word, so I had to adjust it. Still a nice addition.

Title: Third
Author: Lorna Summers
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 965
Date read: July 2007, April 2009, October 2011, December 2014

Summary: Set in a post-apocalyptic world similar to that of "A Handmaid's Tale" this story takes place in a world where only a small percentage of men and women are fertile. The population is kept from extinction by 'thirds' - fertile women who chose to serve as a surrogate mother as often as they can before they retire.

Charlotte Bennigan is an experienced third. Matt is her 6th "little husband", and she's already been pregnant 8 times by the time he moves in, so she assumed she knew exactly what to expect. She knew how to have a friendly, affectionate yet professional relationship with him. But Matt is nothing like any little husband she's ever met before and suddenly it becomes difficult to separate business from pleasure and remember what's appropriate for a third and her 10 year younger little husband.

Review: Third is one of those few books that I really cannot put down - forgoing sleep in order to read just a couple of more pages, not only on my first read-through, but in every subsequent reread. It's LONG (965 pages), but doesn't feel long, because I'm totally drawn in from the very first page. It's well-written, poignant, funny, devastating and just plain fascinating. Though I know what's happening quite well by now, I still alternatively laugh out loud and wipe my eyes while reading it. It has some of my favourite literary scenes, that just break my heart with the beauty and emotion of them.

I love the characterisations - the people become REAL to me, and they draw me in the way few others can. Lorna has managed to make the people three-dimensional, and I ended up caring for all of them and wanting to learn more about their internal relationships, their triumpths and their failures.

Third is still in the final stages of editing and thus not ready for purchase yet. I'll be sure to let you know when that changes.

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Title: Kald mig Prinsesse
Author: Sara Blædel
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 9/10
# pages: 320
Date read: July 2007, May 2014, February 2021

"Call me Princess" The homocide department of Copenhagen police station receive news that a young woman has been raped, and detective Louise Rick is put on the case. The woman was raped by a man she met on a dating site, but the identity he stated was false. Looking through unsolved rape cases, Louise finds more following a similar pattern and when a young woman is shortly after found choked while raped by the same man, all resources are put into finding the serial rapist who operates in the shadows of the anonymity of the internet. But all leads turn up cold, and Louise Rick realizes that they need to turn to untraditional methods. So she creates a dating-profile herself.


I could not put this book down! It was fascinating and chilling, because it could so easily happen.

My only beef with the book was that it ended too soon. I doubt I spoil anybody by revealing that they catch the guy in the end ;) but the book ends right when they arrest him. I would have appreciated another 20 pages or so - perhaps as an epilogue - wrapping things up. There were too few reactions to the identity of the rapist.

Title: The Supernaturalist
Author: Eoin Colfer
Genre: Fantasy, ya
Rating: 7/10
# pages: 253
Date read: July 2007

Summary: In a future dystopia, cities have become for-profit businesses. Orphanages are not exempt from the struggle to make money, and at the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys, kids are forced to endure product testing and frequently end up injured as a result. With orphans facing an average life expectancy of 15, 14-year-old Cosmo Hill knows that he is on borrowed time. Unfortunately, his escape attempt nearly proves fatal. While he's lying there dying, a small, hairless blue creature lands on his chest and begins to feed. He is rescued by the Supernaturalists, a motley crew of young people who have dedicated their lives to destroying the Parasites, which feed on the essence of the living. Cosmo joins the group as a Spotter, someone who can actually see the creatures and thus destroy them. However, facts soon emerge that cause the Supernaturalists to question everything they believe in.

Review: A lot darker and more serious than the Artemis Fowl series, and unfortunately not nearly as good. There were some nice twists and turns though, that keep you guessing until the very end. Enjoyable, but not up to her usual standards.

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