The Silver Chair -- C. S. Lewis

Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole are students at Experiment House, a place where many are bullied and bullies aren't punished. After a run-in with some of the school bullies, Jill Pole hides behind a building where no one can see her cry. But Eustace happens upon her, and they begin to talk of a place quite different than Experiment House. A place Eustace has visited before where animals talk and thinks are beautiful and full of hope. Longing to go to such a place and leave the unhappiness of Experiment House behind, Eustace and Jill begin pleading to go to the other world.

And somehow, they get there! They soon learn they have been summoned to Narnia by Aslan; for Aslan has a mission for them. They are to rescue Prince Rilian, son of the aged king Caspian. Rilian disappeared years before and no one has seen or heard from him since.

So, with the help of Puddleglum, a Marsh-wiggle, Jill and Eustace set off to fulfill their mission. But the journey is long and hard, and soon the children forget their mission -- thinking only of the comforts for which they long. Forgetting proves to be to their detriment, and they find themselves on the menu for some giants' feast, held captive underground, and enchanted by an evil queen. Soon they are unsure if they will ever succeed in finding Prince Rilian -- or if they'll ever see their world again.


*Cute. I like the parallels between the novel and Christian doctrines. Look forward to reading this with my children one day.

Body of Lies -- Iris Johansen

Eve Duncan, a nationally-known forensic sculptor, enjoys the life she is living in a lovely lake cottage in Georgia. She has her boyfriend, her adopted daughter, and has finally been able to lay to rest the remains of her biological daughter on a hillside on her property. She is at peace and has no desire to leave her sanctuary; so when she if offered a job in Louisiana, she has no problem turning it down.

But someone wants her on the job enough to dig up information which would shatter Eve's utopian life and cause her to flee her home and her life with Atlanta detective Joe Quinn, at least until she could sort out her feelings and emotions about the new -- and devastating -- information. And so Eve runs, right into grave danger. She is surrounded by half-truths, deception, and attempts on her life; because while some people want her to learn the identity of a skull in Louisiana, someone else wants to keep the skull's identity a mystery -- enough to kill for it.

Determined to identify the skull, Eve continues her work in the face of danger. With the help of Galen and Quinn, who, much to her dismay, arrives on the scene when he learns her life is danger and when he discovers some unsettling news back in Atlanta which leads him to believe Eve was tricked into taking the job; Eve is moved from safe house to safe house until she is able to finish her work and turn the skull over to the FBI. But soon they all realize they are playing in a game with very high-rolling players who have more power than any of them realized. And they will stop at nothing to get what they want.


*I decided to read this book because it had been several years since I'd started the Eve Duncan series, and I remembered liking it before. I've definitely not been missing much. Though there was suspense at times, the characters are not really believable to me. All of them are too "perfect" at what they do. And Eve Duncan is too dramatic. I'm pretty sure I'm done with this series of books now, as I don't anticipate enjoying any others in the series either.

Insurgent -- Veronica Roth

Seeking safety with the Amity faction, Tris, Tobias, Peter, Caleb, Susan, and Marcus know the time they have there will be short. But before they make their plans to leave and head back into the city, their presence is discovered by the Erudite and the traitor-Dauntless; causing them to flee and seek refuge with the factionless.

There, Tris realizes that being factionless isn't as bad as she was led to believe; for the Factionless are strong in number and unity. And the Factionless leader has big plans for taking down the Erudite and the current factioned society. She seeks out Tobias and invites him to join her cause, telling him to become important to the loyal Dauntless so they will follow him.

Deciding they will need the help of the Candor, Tris and Tobias go to Candor headquarters and are subjected to their truth serum. Their deepest secrets and regrets are revealed, and before long, everyone knows Tris is Divergent. And so is Tobias. The Candor grant the loyal Divergent safety once they know Tris and Tobias were not involved in the simulation massacre of Abnegation. But their safety is short-lived. Because the Erudite and traitor-Dauntless launch an attack on Candor headquarters, injecting many there with a simulation serum which Jeanine can control anytime and for as long as she'd like -- a serum never before known among them. When Jeanine causes some to leap to their deaths with the threat of more if the Divergent don't give themselves up, Tris surrenders herself to Jeanine and her torture. Fully expecting her own demise, Tris learns as much as she can while imprisoned by Jeanine. But what Tris starts to learn is that there is information nobody could ever have imagined. Information that could change their entire world. Information Jeanine will kill over. And once she learns all she can from Tris about the Divergent, Tris will be Jeanine's next target.

*I definitely got sucked into this book and enjoyed it more than the first one. One complaint I have with both is all the childish drama. Tris and Tobias and their over-the-top arguments, etc. I realize it's written from the perspective of teenagers -- and is written for teens as the main audience. But I just get annoyed with how Tris makes huge mountains out of molehills a lot of the time. Otherwise, I enjoy the story and am looking forward to #3.

The Love of Her Life -- Harriet Evans

Running away is what Kate Miller has done best.

Three years ago, after a series of tragic events, she ran away to New York and moved in with her mother. And she tried to close the door on the events of her past in London: the broken engagement, her father's new marriage and new daughter, the friend whose life she destroyed, the man whose heart she shattered.

But then her father falls ill, and she returns to London -- only for two weeks (or so she plans) -- to check on him. But once there, she must face the fact that she hadn't closed the door as tightly as she'd hoped. The memories flood back, and she is forced to come to terms with all that has happened. She begins to mend relationships which were strained during those years away... And she begins to realize and accept that, sometimes, love blossoms where you least expect it.


*I had a hard time getting into this book. Once I was about half-way in, however, I could agree that it was a page-turner.

The City of Ember -- Jeanne DuPrau

In the city of Ember, the lights are starting to go out... a lot. Nobody knows how to fix the generator permanently... the generator which powers the entire city. And nobody knows what to do about all the supply shortages which are happening either. Perhaps, in most cities, this wouldn't be a problem. But Ember isn't like most cities. Because when the lights go out in Ember, there is NO light at all -- everything is pitch black. There is no fire, no flashlights. And there's nowhere to go, for as the citizens have been told for centuries: there is no place BUT Ember.

Most of the citizens are content to accept that Ember is the only city in existence. They are willing to pretend nothing is wrong, though somewhere inside they know the now-frequent blackouts are not good. Some of the citizens know things are bad -- and they are seeking to make their lives comfortable until the end. But there are some who are unwilling to accept the impending doom of their city. Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow are two of those citizens. And though they are only twelve years old, they begin the search for a solution and a way out of Ember.

Lina feels there must be a city somewhere else, for she has dreamed of it. Doon feels there must be a way to fix the generator permanently, if only he understood electricity. But when Lina happens upon a partially-destroyed (thanks to her toddler-sister Poppy) sheet of paper with instructions that seem to be vitally important, she turns to Doon as one who can work with her to solve the mystery of the instructions -- and maybe find a way out of the City of Ember and into a different world.


**I picked this book up to read to fill the space between the last book I finished and the one I was waiting for at the library. I ended up liking this book. I think it's a great read for early teens (12/13), both boys and girls. There is adventure and suspense. I was eager to see how it ended, and I'm now planning to read the next in the series!

Divergent -- Veronica Roth

Some time in future Chicago, the day has come for Beatrice Prior and all her 16 year-old friends to make a decision which will change their entire lives: the decision to leave their family and the only way of life they've ever known, or to stay. For Beatrice, the choice has been something over which she struggled. Though her heart yearned to be with her family, she did not feel that she fit in with the way of life of the Abnegations -- those who are selfless. But to choose to leave her family, with the sure knowledge she'd be disowned, was a heart-breaking choice.

Even more troubling than the decision which lays before her are the results of the aptitude test -- the test which determines where she really belongs, even if she chooses otherwise. When her results come back inconclusive, she hears a word she's never heard before: DIVERGENT. It is a word almost whispered. A word warned against. A word she is admonished to keep secret, even from her parents. It is the word which describes Beatrice.

With little help from the aptitude test for decision-making, Beatrice chooses to leave her family and join the Dauntless -- those brave ones who are meant to protect the city from harm. And she changes her name to Tris, a more fitting name, she feels, for a brave fighter.

But all is not as it seems. Because all is not as it once was when the factions were created years before. As Beatrice initiates into the Dauntless faction, she faces violence, cruelty, betrayal. She finds herself singled out and must work constantly to keep her secret safe -- for there is fear associated with her divergence. And when she finds out the truth, she must strive to warn her family whom she loves; because she cannot fully accept the edict "faction before blood," even if it costs her her life.


*I will say that this book was a page-turner for me. I wanted to see how things would pan out. That being said, I found it disturbingly violent for the age group it is intended for and also felt like some of the storyline got rushed toward the end of the novel, thereby making it not as well developed as I think it could have been.

The Book Thief -- Markus Zusak

It's 1939 and Leisel Meminger is a young girl living in Nazi Germany. She and her brother are traveling with their mother to be left in the care of foster parents Rosa and Hans Hubermann. But Leisel's brother doesn't make it -- he dies on the train and is buried in a town along the way.

And that's when Leisel steals her first book, an act which sets in motion her destiny.

Though at first reluctant to accept her new living arrangements and the loss of all her family, Leisel eventually acclimates and finds her place among the Hubermanns and the other residents of Himmel Street. She finds her best friend in a boy named Rudy who lives next door. And, with the help of her new Papa, she learns to read during midnight reading sessions. Soon Leisel's hunger for words grows, and when, at a book burning to celebrate the Fuhrer's birthday, she spots a book that escaped destruction, she steals it. An act she will perform every time she needs a new book flong or reading.

But life is dangerous in Nazi Germany. Especially if you're a Jew. And, unbeknownst to Leisel, her life is soon to be intertwined with one such Jew. And nothing will ever be the same.


**This was an amazing read. I didn't want to put it down. A beautiful story of love and humanity -- both the goodness within us as well as the cruelty of which we are capable -- this novel had me thinking a lot about events which happened long before I was born, but which changed the world I would come into forever. And this book has certainly changed me as well.