This is a series of books that, sadly enough, I never read when I was a child. Now my daughter is listening to these on audiobook, and I’ve been able to catch snippets of it here and there. I was really surprised at the genuine portrayal of pioneer life, written so appropriately for children. I was also surprised that they actually moved from the little house. Shows how inaccurate TV can be!

This was a tough one to get through. I started with the unabridged audio but took it back and got the abridged. The abridged was more than adequate …

I guess it was my expectations. I thought this going to be a light, breezy romance. Instead, there was some serious domestic violence, right from the get-go, which I found disturbing. I thought about giving it up, but held out.

And I don’t know if it was the abridgement or what, but sometimes the main character just did not seem all that swift. I like to see contemporary romances with a strong, or at least sympathetic, female character. I can’t say this one did.

Wow.

It’s very rare that an audiobook has me literally rooting for its characters, but this one did. It’s an unusual mix of “metaphysical” (psychic) episodes, set into a very well-written description of antebellum Maryland.

Liz, called “the dreamer” by her fellow slaves, has a brain injury which leaves her with the uncanny ability to see the future, specifically the future of African-Americans in the 20th & 21st centuries. Liz’s visions raise the question of the true nature of freedom, and make the point that the past and the future are inextricably linked. She moves among free blacks and slaves seeking freedom (who are in awe of her), slave catchers and slave traders, changing their lives forever.

Three very strong, wild, and mean characters make this story interesting. Patty Cannon is the brutal leader of a gang of slave catchers & traders, who makes no distinctions as to whether those captured are enslaved or free. The Woolman is a literal wild man who lives in the woods and swamps, a near-mythic “creature” feared by the local slaves. The third, my favorite, is Denwood Long, a successful, cool-headed slave catcher (but not trader) with a deeply-felt moral streak.

“Song Yet Sung” was very satisfying on a number of levels. The story was intricately woven, and seemed very historically authentic. The characters were complex and interesting. A particularly fascinating theme was the “code” by which slaves communicated successfully, and which McBride relates in detail. And of course my favorite part was the just deserts the “villains” mentioned above received, which made for a rousing climax.

The final coup for this audiobook was its reader. Leslie Uggams made this a compelling, spellbinding listen.

Some things don’t really need to be in 3-D, and this was one of them.

I fell asleep, my husband fell asleep. ‘Nuff said.

I didn’t get to watch too many of the Oscar films this year, but I did watch this DVD yesterday.

Wow. This was cool. It reminded me a bit of a John Grisham novel, but more layered and intricate, more players with more twists.

Michael Clayton is a “fixer,” a kind of free-agent lawyer whom other lawyers contract for seemingly impossible cases. When a prominent fellow attorney goes a little mental & then rogue, threatening to expose a corporation’s lethal secrets, Clayton is “put on the case”. To complicate matters, Clayton also has problems of his own, quickly coming to a head.

What I liked best about this were the moral ambiguities of a litigious culture. How much of your integrity will you sacrifice to advance in the ranks, or to just save face? Which is more important – the individual, or the conglomerate? What is the value of human life? All of these issues seem to come to roost toward the end of this film, with some satisfying results.

George Clooney does quite well with this complex character. His “eye-appeal” is of some value as well. ;-)

Vision quest lite … kinda.

“Eat, Pray, Love” was one of those “trendy” books that I was going to skip, until a trusted friend gave it a high recommendation. I’m glad I read it.

Liz Gilbert was not writing a how-to book per se, nor do I think it’s a travel book, though it’s classified as one. It’s both a literal journey and a journey of growth

Her prose is very readable, and yet there were times that I felt myself slogging through this book. So many seemingly life-altering events take place, and while her descriptions are very clear and sometimes profound, readers are off to her next experience before we can fully absorb what’s happened. There were just so many things I wanted to know more about.

Gilbert’s story is part Anne Lamott (with expletives deleted and less anger), part “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” with some Bill Bryson thrown in for good measure. It would be nice to read more of her adventures, taken at a slower, perhaps more contemplative pace.

This was a lovely period piece. Anne Hathaway is turning out to be a very decent young actress, and James McAvoy was a great foil/love interest for her. People who have read Jane Austen’s books through will find a lot to enjoy. Those who haven’t will find this a very pleasant view.

I had a little trouble getting into this. The characters were interesting, but not necessarily engaging. The best parts were the relationship between the “hero” & “villain” at the end, and the section in the special features where you see the men these characters were based upon. Those intereviews were fascinating.

If you want to read funny books about the library, you might want to try the “Unshelved” comic strip books by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum. Barnes is an illustrator and Ambaum a librarian, and together they have created some really funny, frequently real-life stuff. Definitely worth looking at.