Good books, May 2009

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, 2009, 288 pages.

We've enjoyed other books by this author, and M. and I weren't disappointed in this one either. I think I've read at least four retellings of the "twelve dancing princesses" fairy tale in the last couple of years, but this one definitely brings new life to the story. Galen, the soldier who follows the princesses and solves their mystery, is a very likeable hero. (And he knits!) This would be good for upper elementary level and beyond.


Nick of Time by Ted Bell, 2008, 434 pages.

I'm always interested in time travel books, so I grabbed this off the "new books" shelf in the children's section of the library. It's set in England just before World War II. The main characters, Nick and Kate, are children of a lighthouse keeper who is spying on the German submarine activity in the Channel. Nick finds a time machine that's been sent to him by an ancestor. Nick and Kate end up fighting separate battles in separate centuries to help save their country. There's a lot of sailing, a lot of action, and some interesting plot turns. I'd say the reading level is very high elementary or even young adult.


Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, first published 1889, 185 pages.

This is one of my favorite books and I just finished re-reading it. It's the story of a vacation trip up the Thames, but beyond that, it's a little masterpiece of comedy. If you like British humor (Jeeves and Wooster, etc.) you would like this book. Even if you don't, you should try it. M. is old enough to enjoy it too, so we can read parts out loud to each other and laugh together.


Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More than We Think by Brian Wansink, 2006, 292 pages.

Another re-read for me this month. This is a book about food psychology. It's absolutely fascinating, and fun to read, too. The author runs a food lab and designs experiments to find out what affects our food choices. He describes some of these experiments and their counterintuitive results, then explains how we can apply the results to our own lives to "mindlessly" eat better instead of worse.


Amazing Grace, 2007, DVD.

I finally watched this after many recommendations from friends. If you're one of the few who hasn't seen it yet, it's the story of William Wilberforce and his efforts to abolish the British slave trade. It's touching, and it definitely shows how hard it can be to change the laws and people's minds.