Squeaky Books

New Blog Title

Friday, August 31, 2007 8:24 PM Posted by Enna Isilee , 12 Comments
Labels: Other

Okay so I have 6 votes on my poll (I didn't even know 6 people knew my blog existed!) and it's about even. So I want to hear opinions.

Story Shanty?
Squeaky Books?
What the heck?

What do y'all think?

The Mysterious Benedict Society—Trenton Lee Stewart

Sunday, August 26, 2007 10:01 AM Posted by Enna Isilee , 6 Comments
Labels: Book Review

A strange article appears in the paper. “Are you a gifted child?” Well many children think they are, and many parents think they have such a child. But only four children pass the test. And they are sent into the dangerous Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened (or LIVE) to stop the evil Mr. Curtain from brainwashing the world. But you’ve never seen a school like this.

“‘If any others leave the room in panic or dismay,’ she said sternly, ‘Please be sure to close the door behind you. Your sobs may disturb the other test takers.’ “

Ha! Charming. That is the perfect word for this book. Absolutely charming. A new novel, just come out this year, TMBS is quite hilarious and at the same time heartwarming. The touching story of these four poor kids and their struggle to find a place where they belong is just charming.

There were times where I thought the book was a bit too long. I would think “Okay, okay we get it. Move on!” but then I’d hit another good patch and I would fall back in love with the story.

Definitely a book I would recommend. Not particularly difficult to read, just a bit long in some places. But it’s a nice book that leaves you with a happy feeling. At least it did for me.

The Ropemaker-- Peter Dickinson.

Friday, August 17, 2007 5:20 PM Posted by Enna Isilee , 8 Comments
Labels: Book Review

The magic protecting Tilja’s little valley is dying. Can she, Tahl, and their grandparents save it from the greedy empire? Only one man can help them. And that man controls the very fabric of time.

Time is a great rope.”

Well I’m at the end of mine.

I just finished The Ropemaker by Peter Dickinson. It was recommended to me by one of my friends on LRRH.

Why am I at the end of my rope? Because this book was a mess. There’s a program on my computer that only allows me to get on for an hour a day. I thought that this would be ok because I have a lot of recommended books to read. A word of advice. If you have a lot of time to read a book. Don’t read this one.

I’m not saying that the story wasn’t good. It was. But the first 150 pages or so were confusing, frustrating, haphazard and occasionally boring. I found myself trudging through them with a kind of duty. I very rarely start a book and then not finish. It took me almost a week to read the first 150 pages. I read the last 250 today.

The story did pick up, but it didn’t get any less frustrating. I got confused easily as the author jumped from thing to thing. I couldn’t follow the dialogue and had to read large parts of it again and again. I was able to read the last 100 pages with more ease. Only having to repeat segments occasionally. But the ending was dissatisfying.

I suppose I had to have one negative blog entry. Well I guess this is it.

The epilogue was just like the beginning. I could hardly understand anything. Most of the holes in the story I had to fill with guess work, and that left me unhappy. Imagination is one thing, guess work is another.

So while the story was very interesting, the writing was not very good. Who knows? Maybe one of you will read it and absolutely love it. It’s just not my kind of book I guess. I don’t regret reading it though. Well, hopefully my next one will be a little faster paced.

~Enna Isilee

Kristin Chenoweth

Sunday, August 12, 2007 2:42 PM Posted by Enna Isilee , 7 Comments
Labels: Other

Would you consider books entertainment? I would. So then an author would be an entertainer? Sure. (Isn't rationalizing fun?) Well I would like to tribute this entry to another entertainer that really deserves mentioning even though I will not be the first to mention her.

Kristin Chenoweth

I, like many, first heard of Ms. Chenoweth in her amazing performance in Wicked the musical (which started off as a script which is like a book ya know (ooh, more rationalizing)) but she's done so much more than that.

One of my favorite things about Ms. Chenoweth is that she's so cute and funny. I thought I'd share some of these really funny videos with you. The first of which my good friend Taiger led me too.

"Taylor The Latte Boy"

You're a Good Man Charlie Brown--"My New Philosophy"

Wicked-- "Popular"

The Prydain Chronicles-- Lloyd Alexander

2:35 PM Posted by Enna Isilee , 3 Comments
Labels: Book Review

On a recommendation from LittleRed (who had these recommended to her by Shannon Hale) I read the Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander. I had heard of these books before but I had never read them.

The Chronicles are the story of Taran, Assistant Pig-keeper, and his journey to become a man. At first all Taran wants is to be hero and then slowly he learns what it truly means to be a hero. There's love, danger, magic, and evil. Fantastic.

As some of you may or may not know, Lloyd Alexander passed away earlier this year. I couldn't fully appreciate what a loss this was to the literary community. Who knows? Maybe he would have written more!

Bear with me, I have to write about 5 books in one entry.

The Book of Three was very good. If a bit abrupt. I think it could have been stretched out a few more pages. Here began the basis of the characters and they were established very well.

I don't know how many of you have seen the animated movie of The Black Cauldron but it is NOTHING like the book. The movie takes pieces of all the books and mushes them together, at the same time twisting and warping them into an entirely different story. In The Black Cauldron novel I thought that the story was gripping and the details were nice, but what it shared in common with The Book of Three was that it was abrupt. Elements of the story were introduced and then discarded almost instantly.

The Castle of Llyr was no different than the previous two in my opinion, if perhaps a bit more humorous.

Taran Wanderer however was amazing. I found it an inspirational story of growing up and learning to find yourself. Truly wonderful. I was sure that it would be my favorite in the series. Not so.

The High King brought me to tears. A true masterpiece deserving of that shiny Newbery medal it wears. The complete selflessness and love in this book was just astounding. Holy cats.

I was able to read about a book and a half a day, but that was only because I had a lot of time and I just put my mind to it. I got a little frustrated in The Castle of Llyr because all of the books seemed so repetitive. But then I read Taran Wanderer and I was floored. If you haven't read these books I recommend that you do so. Now.

~Enna Isilee