Night

Night By: Elie Wiesel

I thought I had read this book when I was younger, but after watching a documentary with Elie Wiesel I realized that I didn't recognize some of the stories. So I decided to read it and see if any of it came back to me. I realized that a story like his I definitely would have remembered.  I don't know why but I love to learn about the holocaust and especially reading the stories from the survivors. Elie Wiesel gives a narrative after the story, he talks about the original story and a few of the things that were taken out of the English translation because they publisher thought it was to personal. It kinda made me wonder, out of his whole story that he is telling why they decided to take just a few simple passages out when he is clearly telling his own very personal story and account of what happened to him. The version I read also included his acceptance speech of the Nobel peace prize, where he stated that as he was accepting this prize he could feel the presence of the people who didn't survive the camps. He said that he could especially feel the presence of his father, mother and little sister. He talked about how he wanted to continue to tell his story so that the memory of what happened doesn't become like myth and that people wont forget what happened to the Jewish people.
I really loved reading this story and learning about what happened to Elie. For anyone interested in the holocaust and the stories of the survivors this is a MUST read.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn By: Mark Twain

This is another classic that I have been wanting to read for awhile. I own 4 different copies of this book but had never actually read it. A few years back I read Tom Sawyer and I felt like it was time to read this. I was very excited to find this version in audible. Elijah Wood does such a good job reading this books, I am biased yes, he is after all one of my favorite actors. :) But I was very impressed at all the voices he was able to do and how well he was able to speak the southern dialect. I am very happy that I am able to check this off my classics list. :)

After the adventure Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer had they found themselves with more money than they knew what to do with. Huck was adopted by the widow and she was trying to "civilize" him. He started to enjoy his life style till his drunkard abusive father came back to claim Huck as his. After awhile Huck got tired of being locked in the cabin when his father left and tired when his tired was back and drunk and beat him. So he devised a plan to make it look like he was murdered and he snuck down the Mississippi and hid on an island. There he found a runaway slave, but not any slave but Jim who use to work for the same widow that had adopted Huck. As Huck agreed to help Jim make it to the free states so he could be free, there adventures begin.

Lectures on Faith

Lectures on Faith

This is a book I have been wanting to read for awhile. It has been sitting on my shelf for over 4 years now. I really enjoyed extending my knowledge about faith and about the gospel of Christ and the origins of faith and power that faith contains. This was an in depth study of faith from the creation of the world till us now and how through faith we can come to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ on a personal level. I have enjoyed reading this and look forward to reading it again in the future but this time with a highlighter, notebook and my scriptures ready

The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane

The Last Apprentice-Curse of the Bane  By: Joseph Delaney

This is a book that I have been picking at for a few years now. I guess i just needed to be in the right mood for it or I have been craving holding a book in my hands again. Whatever the case may be, I picked it back up this weekend and couldn't put it down. It was a really interesting story that inspired a lot of wondrous emotions. Joseph Delaney does a good job helping you to not only relate to the characters but also to feel a connection to them.

Thomas Ward is the 7th son of a 7th son and 6 months into his apprenticeship with the county spook ( a dark fighter) Due to an illness the spook couldn't attend to the capturing of a dark creature known as a ripper. Tom must take of it on his own, he succeeds but to the loss of a priest who just happens to be the Spooks brother. The loss makes the spook realize that he needed to journey back to his home town of Priest town not just to pay last respects to his brother, but also to confront an old and horrible evil that he fears that if it grows stronger it will be hard to conquer. It is up to Tom and the Spook to confront the evil that lives in the catacombs below the church. The bane.

The Children of Hurin

The Children of Hurin BY: J.R.R Tolkien

This is a book that I picked up and started to read a long time ago when I was commuting on the train. After I stopped taking the train, this book fell by the wayside and I decided it was time to pick it back up and try again. When I saw this I thought I would really enjoy it because everything I had read so far of Tolkien's work I have loved.

This is the story that begun long before the One Ring was forged. A dark lord by the name of Morgoth was terrorizing Middle Earth and only one man dared stand up to him. Hurin dreamt of a time when the race of men could live in peace without fear of evil and darkness. He set out to war with elves and dwarfs to try and make this happen. He was captured by Morgoth and set upon a high rocky chair to watch as Morgoth cursed his family over and over. Hurin's son Turin and his daughter Nienor faced a number of hardships and evils. But no matter what darkness and evil that came upon them; they continued to fight for peace and light. Helping to shape the fortunes of their lives as well as the history of Middle Earth.

I will admit this isn't the cheeriest of books. However life isn't always cheery and happy stories. Bad things happen to good people for no apparent reason, And while I know reading books is an escape of the day to day. There was something about the stories of this brother and sister that was almost comforting. Even though bad things happen; we can still face our "demons" and even though the battle is fierce we can still triumph in the end. If you are looking for adventure, fantasy and love. This is the book for you. If you are looking for everything to be sunshine and rainbows in the end and everything just turns out wonderful, this is NOT the book for you.

Stardust

Stardust By: Neil Gaiman

                          In a quaint small town in England is where this story starts. The town is called Wall it is so named because of a giant stone wall that is built along one of its meadows. The book starts with a single adventure of a young man named Dunston Thorne. On the other side of the wall is a magical land called Faerie and every few years the fair folk of Faerie and the normal folk of wall have a market. It is the only time the citizens of wall are allowed to cross said wall. It was then the Dunston met and fell in love with a beautiful slave girl. Which brought about Tristan Thorne, who at 18 was in love with the town beauty. Whilst walking her home one night they witnessed a falling star, he vowed to cross the wall to go and find the star and bring it back to her.
                         It's a book filled with princes, witches, adventures, unicorns and more. I saw the movie before I found out it was a book, and sought it out to read. I will admit it wasn't quite like the movie, but then again no book is. I find them very similar but different enough that you could see them as two different stories. I rather enjoyed both. There is a scene in the beginning that did make me blush a little, and would advise this to be a story for an older audience.

Happy Reading!

Allegiant

A personal note before I start my review I just want to say that I realize that my reviews are short and vague. I thought that by giving bits of information like how you would read the back of a book that it may leave out most of the spoilers and coax people to read. However I have come to realize that it just made for a bad review. So I will try and do better in the future. :)

Allegiant By: Veronica Roth

The adventures for Tris and Tobias and their friends continue in the last book of the divergent series. Allegiant. With Jeannie Mathews dead and the swarms of factionless rallying behind Evelyn a shocking video come to light about what lies outside of the city and the large fences. With the help of a group of rebels who want the factions back; calling themselves the Allegiant; Tris, Tobias and others sneak out of the city and its fences to see just what is outside. What they find is an even larger war and immediately get caught up in the need to figure out what really is right or wrong.

I enjoyed this book, however I didn't (at first) see the point in killing off certain characters that Veronica Roth did. But after thinking about the book and the characteristics of those characters I realized that  it was the only way and that it was set in those characters all along. I guess kind of like their destiny. I did enjoy this series and there is a chance that I will read it again in the future.