Personal Reading
The Traitor's Game
The Deceiver's Heart
The Warrior's Curse
by Jennifer A. Nielsen
This trilogy was written by the author of The False Prince, but for an older audience and with a female protagonist and a supporting male character (instead of a male protagonist with a supporting female character). Like The False Prince, the action occurs in a quasi-medieval setting (horses, swords, daggers, castles, lords). The main characters face incessant peril and impossible dilemmas; they constantly devise schemes and plans that interfere with each other; they engage in snarky dialog; they are rocked by revelation of details about true identity; and they find it hard to trust each other and anyone else. Indeed, all the characters' motives are called into question at one point or another. And of course, as I am coming to expect from this author, the plot twists take you on a mental and emotional roller coaster. The chapters alternate between the two main characters, told in the first person. The narrators for the audiobook were excellent.
Unlike The False Prince, it contains sci-fi and magical elements (the magic is viewed as a corrupting influence). It is darker, more intense, and contains more violence, cruelty & evil than The False Prince series; and there was definitely more romance. In The False Prince series, the most I remember are statements that the main characters kissed or hugged or held each other. In this one, there are longer and more descriptive scenes, including the physical sensations and emotional effects of being in close proximity and passionate kissing (kissing is as far as it goes); this physical and emotional connection seems to be the primary basis for their love relationship. Also, they keep hoping and pursuing their relationship even though everyone around advises against it and says it can't work. It's a book, so everything works out for them eventually, but this rarely happens in real life.
The plot and character development are intriguing, but I wouldn't recommend it to most teens because of the romantic angle. For what it's worth, while the publisher recommends The False Prince series for ages 9-12, I recommend it for teens and up. The publisher recommends this series for ages 12+, while I think it contains too much romantic descriptions even for teens, though I'm sure it's not as graphic as the stuff produced for adults.
I am David
by Anne Holm
Library description: After escaping from an Eastern European concentration camp where he has spent most of his life, a twelve-year-old boy struggles to cope with an entirely strange world as he flees northward to freedom in Denmark. The story is told from David's point of view. There is mystery about why he was in a prison camp, where the camp was, and when the story takes place. The book was written in 1963, so I assume it's post-WWII, but the book never makes that clear. It does a good job of describing the wonders and fears of a boy encountering a free world he has never known. I feel like this is one of those books that teachers love to make kids read, analyze, discuss, and write papers about; but I suspect most kids won't enjoy it very much, certainly not those who like clear-cut story lines and explanations.
Hidden Figures
by Margot Lee Shetterly
As the subtitle says, this is a history book about The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. It starts with the women who were recruited to work at Langley Research Center during WWII to help build better, safer airplanes for the war effort. It gives their backstories and describes the cultural context of race relations and male/female workplace relations throughout the 1940s through the 1970s. I listened to the audiobook.
Treve
by Albert Payson Terhune
This is a full-length novel, set on a sheep ranch in the deserts of Southern California. As a puppy, Treve falls into the hands of two men who are partners on a sheep ranch. The younger man takes a liking to the pup, but the grouchy older man thinks he's a waste of time. Eventually, Treve saves the grumpy man's life and wins him over, though he tries to pretend he still doesn't like Treve. They all have various adventures, and Treve is always the hero.
Iceberg
by Jennifer A. Nielsen
From the library description: Twelve-year-old Hazel Rothbury stows away aboard the Titanic and, with the help of a porter named Charlie and a first-class passenger named Sylvia, she sets out to explore the great ship, uncovering a haunting mystery until the ship hits an iceberg and she must fight to save herself and her friends. A clean book; no romance or violence. A lot of historical information. Audiobook had a good narrator.
Zvi: The Miraculous Story of Triumph over the Holocaust
by Elwood McQuaid
A fascinating biography about a Jewish boy who survived WWII in Poland, then immigrated to Israel, helped establish the new nation, found hope in his Messiah Jesus through reading the Bible, and spent the rest of his life telling his fellow Jews about this Jesus. I've had it on my shelf for several years but had put off reading it partly because I needed a break from Holocaust stories, and partly because I was afraid it would be a boring biography. It was definitely not boring. I finished it in 3 days. Content considerations: there are some vivid war and holocaust descriptions, but not a whole lot.
Red River of the North Series
Untamed Heart (Prequel)
Untamed Land
New Day Rising
A Land to Call Home
The Reaper's Song
Tender Mercies
Blessing in Disguise
by Lauraine Snelling
This six book historical fiction series (and its prequel) is the story of a Norwegian family who emigrates to America in the late 1800s to homestead in the Dakota Territory. Think Little House on the Prairie, but for adults. Definitely written for adult women, as it deals with marriage and childbirth issues in a realistic, yet appropriate way. The author has more 3- and 4- book series following the lives of the children of this family as they grow up. Their Christian faith is mentioned lightly in the first 3 books, and more centrally and more in depth in the later books. These books remind me a bit of Janette Oke's Love Comes Softly Series. If you liked those, you might like these. One other quibble: in the third and fourth books, the author has the annoying habit of ending a chapter of ending on a cliff-hanger, and then the next chapter switches to a totally different scene and set of characters. The cliff-hanger isn't resolved until several chapters later when I've almost forgotten about it. Also, a glossary and pronunciation guide would have been helpful for all the Norwegian words and names. And a list of characters and their relationships would have been good, because there are a lot of duplicate names on the different branches of the family and it gets kind of confusing.
Stepping Heavenward: One Woman's Journey to Godliness
by Elizabeth Prentiss
Written in the form of a diary, this story follows the journey of Katherine as she steps into young womanhood on her sixteenth birthday to her later grown-up years in her late 30s. She learns that true satisfaction is found in serving others and allowing herself to be used by God as a wife, mother, and homemaker---and helper in her community as God leads her. (from a reviewer). I read this many, many years ago. I identify with it even more now and feel as the main character does that I've made slow progress in my "journey to godliness." I listened to a recording from Librivox.
A Good Old Age
by Derek Prime
From a reviewer: Written for senior adults by a senior adult this devotional contains 26 bite-size encouragements for the heart and exhortations to make the most of where aging finds us. Also recommended as quick read for those younger wishing to better understand common spiritual challenges faced by those in their elder years.
Newbery Medal Books
Hitty: Her First Hundred Years
by Rachel Field
Hitty is a doll carved out of mountain-ash wood, probably in the colonial days of America. The book is her memoirs, written as she sits in an antique shop. She first belonged to a girl named Phoebe Preble and ends up going on many adventures around the world, with periods of being lost, forgotten, or stored away. A clean, mildly interesting story.
Genre: Fantasy/Historical Fiction. 1930 Newbery Medal Winner
Noah Webster: Master of Words
by David Collins
A middle-grade biography of Noah Webster, most famous for his 1828 American dictionary. It was interesting to learn more about this man, but the book was full of typos and punctuation errors.
Charles Spurgeon: The Great Orator
by J. C. Carlie
This biography is written more topically than chronologically. It relies on quotes from many sources to tell its story and seems to include a lot of the author's opinion or interpretation of events and ideas. It's intended to be a "youth biography," but even I found quite a lot of the vocabulary to be challenging. And its discussion of Spurgeon's theology and the controversy of it was hard to understand. We didn't even get halfway through before I decided to stop because my kids' eyes were glazing over (and mine too).
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