Books I've Read for the Past Seven Days

1. Ella Enchanted. Two thumbs up! Gail Carson Levine is really superb in twisting fairy tales. From the Elves and Shoemaker to Cinderella, Ella Enchanted offers fresh insights to the old, rigid faily tales. Her books (I've only read two so far) inspire me to dig in local folk tales and find ways to twist them into unique, brand new stories. Ella Enchanted is one hilarious, thought-provoking book, even though it's primarily written for teenagers!

2. Princess Diaries: Gimme Five. Mia Thermopolis sounds so superficial in this book. This time she wants to go to the prom but her boyfriend thinks that prom is lame. I enjoy reading it, but don't think it's a superb book. I can see why some teenagers love it, though, I guess they can relate well to what Mia is feeling and thinking.

3. The Star of Kazan. First Eva Ibbotson book (that I've read) without ghosts and monsters. Kinda disappointing. Good storytelling and superb description, though. When she describes a certain dish, I feel I can smell nutmeg and other herbs. Plot is predictable, story is too long. I think "Which Witch?" is her best book so far.

4. Bob Hope--My Life in Jokes. Some jokes are pretty funny and touching. But I feel I can't relate to most of his jokes--they mainly deal with golf and politics, two topics that I don't really like. It's pretty amazing that Hope has many anecdoctes to tell regarding the President of USA--from FDR to Bush Junior.

5. Wicked! A collaboration of Paul Jennings (one of my favorite authors!) and Morris Gleitzman. The storytelling is so Gleitzman. The bizarre atmosphere certainly comes from Jennings. At first I was a bit bored reading it. But when interesting things start to happen, I simply have to finish the book!

6. The Magician's Nephew

and

7. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. The storytelling is so smooth. I'd rather read those books in English though. Was quite annoyed seeing this line: "Kisah/cerita istri tua". I'm pretty sure the English is "old wives' tale".

8. Makanan Sehat untuk Bayi dan Balita. Quite useful and interesting. Too bad the book doesn't contain many recipes for babies.

Now I'm reading Morris Gleitzman's Toad Rage. Maybe I should finish Exile's Return first? People are telling me that Raymond E. Feist's newest book tells the story about the villain in King of Foxes. (Come to think about it, King of Foxes and Exile's Return refer to the same person!) Duh, I prefer to read the story about Talon of the Silver Hawk. Oh well, better get it over with and wait for Feist's newest trilogy--in several years, if I'm lucky.