My Favorite Book

Following Steph's blogging challenge, I jumped on the bandwagon and today I will talk about my favorite book growing up. Gladly.

This book needs more attention, anyway. It's called A Rustle in the Grass, and is about, of all things, ants.

Here's the story behind how this book and I met. I was nine years old, in the fourth grade. We had just moved and my mom wanted to go the local flea market and see if they had anything valuable. I had a quarter, and thought for sure I'd be able to buy a chair, a mirror, a shirt, or something.

The only things I found for a quarter were in a dusty barrel. Books. I sifted through them, but none looked interesting. Most were :::cough::: um, adult literature. At the last minute, I grabbed this book. (See picture.) Bought it, took it home, tried to start reading it. It was slightly too advanced for me. I put it down.

But I picked it up again a few months later, shortly after my tenth birthday. Still in the fourth grade. This time, I managed to read it. It took me a long time. A month, I think, and the book's not that long.

I loved it. Loved loved loved it. There's no way to explain to you the life lessons these ants teach. It's so obviously not scientific, since all the ants are male and we all know worker ants are female. And I doubt they go around telling stories and talking to each other. Duh. (That's a rant, because someone on Amazon gave it a low review because it wasn't very realistic. For real???)

I read it again in fifth grade. Again in sixth grade. Towards the end of the sixth grade school year, Ms. Jones (my teacher) must've been running out of things to read to us during reading time after lunch. She asked us if we had any books we'd like the class to read. Of course I brought this book, but either I was at the end of the queue, or she didn't think it looked good. It got bumped back and back while stupider stories got read (in my opinion, of course). Finally, after my begging, she started reading it to us on the last week of school. Needless to say, I don't think we finished a chapter.

But my teacher liked it enough to ask to borrow it over the summer. I said yes, and she was good enough to get it back to me. I passed it on to my little sister.

Two years later, my little sister was in Ms. Jones' sixth grade class. She walked into the room, and low and behold, on the classroom bookshelf was a classroom set of A Rustle in the Grass. Twenty-six lovely copies for the class to read. Boy, did I feel good when she told me that!

When my sister and I first saw the preview for A Bug's Life, however many years ago, our first thought was, "They're making a movie of it! How cool!" Of course, it wasn't our favorite book, which was way disappointing.

I read the book every year until I went to college. Then I read it once every three years. Too many other reading assignments. I can't seem to retain a copy, I keep giving them away. The last time I had a copy was four years ago, when I read the book to my husband. I believe he mailed it to his brother to read. Mark loved the book.

It's astoundingly good. Get it. You'll love it. I can't really say what it's about--you'll think it's not worth reading. I mean, who cares about ants, anyway? You can see my review on Amazon (funny story--a friend of mine, named Sasha Fletcher, asked me to help her set up an account on Amazon. I did something wrong. Not sure what, but all of my reviews were renamed as Sasha Fletcher after I did that. I tried and tried to fix it, and eventually gave up and created a new account.). Anyway, it says it's by Sasha Fletcher, but it's by me.

I don't know much about the author. As far as I know, he's only written two books, and the other wasn't that great (I didn't finish it). He's an actor, a movie director. But this book is good. My favorite to this day.

Sequel revisions:
tomorrow's goal: page 4/150

Review: Saving Madeline by Rachel Ann Nunes

I'm home. And happy to be so. No place is quite as productive as my own couch, quite as comfortable as my own bed, and quite inviting as my own kitchen. Even if it's a little messy.

But I'm also battling a horrible depression because my husband is not here. I almost wish I hadn't gone to see him. My boys need their daddy. Just three more weeks. Sometimes I find myself lacking the energy or motivation to do anything. ANYTHING. It gets quite hard.

Enough about me!!! I finally get to blog about that great book I told you about last time, Saving Madeline. I will say this book is inspired by a true story, because it's fiction, but I know true events inspired Rachel Ann Nunes to write this book.

Set in present day, Saving Madeline follows Caitlin, a public defender (read: free lawyer) and Parker, a man who kidnapped his daughter from his ex-wife. Caitlin is a stout defender of justice and morality, and sometimes this is hard in her job, where she's paid to defend her client, good or bad. Parker looks like just another crook. On the outside, it appears a vindictive, jealous father took his daughter from her mother and is trying to destroy her reputation.

But Parker is different. His sincerity and concern for Madeline, as well as his kindness for Caitlin, tell a story about a man who will cross whatever line necessary to protect his child. How can Caitlin argue with that? She finds herself doing everything she can to prove Parker is in the right. But what she doesn't fully grasp is that they are in a race against time. Because if Parker is telling the truth, Madeline's life is in danger.

Nunes is a fantastic writer. This book held my attention from chapter one. It's a suspense novel, a thriller, and of course, no book would be complete without romance. This is the book that had me up until after 1 am, reading and waiting for the resolution. The book provides a lot of insight into the public judicial system as well as the child protection services--what they can and can't do. This is one book you want to read.

Want this book, but don't want to buy it? Everyone who comments on this post will be entered into a contest to win a copy of the book! So good luck!

Sequel Stats:
today's goal: 34,162
actual: 34,266
tomorrow's goal: 36,266

Review: Uncut Diamonds by Karen Jones Gowen

I finished reading this book late Saturday night, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The main character, Marcie, goes through a wide variety of emotions very similar to myself, for us being young moms forty years apart. Karen Jones Gowen does a fantastic job of showing the experiences of the times.

Set in the seventies, Uncut Diamonds follows the life of Marcie McGill, an LDS (Mormon) mother with four children. Marcie struggles with the economy, reconciling their losses, accepting her wilder younger sister, and dealing with an unemployed and then absent husband. Most of us can relate to the high gas bills (not that high), making bread and beans and rice because we're saving money, and feeling frustrated with our husbands because they don't help out at home.

Marcie's parents, the Pritchards, also play a part in the book. A sweet, elderly Methodist couple, they are the kind of characters that touch your heart and make you wish you knew them. Karen Jones Gowen does a great job of painting them with an aura of love and generosity.

The book is divided into two parts, one during the recession and one after. The first one shows the damage and the latter the recovery.

I found Marcie to be so like me that it was often uncanny. Many times I wanted to highlight a passage and write in the book something like, "This is so me! I do this!" Her life situations, from struggling with the family business and debt to worrying about sick kids and spirituality, even down to the fights with her husband, matched my own life and perspective.

There were a few things I didn't like: The beginning of the book started out rough for me; there were a few typesetting errors and fewer commas than I'm accustomed to. Also, the characters were introduced by their first names and then referred to by the last name, leaving me a bit confused as to who was who in the first two or three chapters. Finally, Karen Jones Gowen includes inserts from Marcie's grandmother's diary. I would've enjoyed these more if they had been smaller inclusions. Marcie is an intriguing character. I would rather have read Marcie reading these things, Marcie's reactions and thoughts, than just reading verbatim the grandmother's words.

This book is not a thriller, mystery, suspense, or any of the nail-biting genre. It's very real. You feel like you're taking a peek into someone else's life, and it's entertaining. I very much enjoyed the book and can see it becoming something of a literary, historical classic. I definitely recommend it.