Along the path...

I recently finished reading The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. It was thoroughly entertaining! I haven't read the Grimm tale, so I don't know the differences between it and her retelling. I loved the plot and the lightness of the book. Her writing contained a lot of imagery--which I adore. It contained, drama, romance, love, mystery, treachery, and adventure. Hale creates an enchanting world where anything can happen and fits in well. Someone who can talk to animals or nature? That seems plausible in this fantasy world. It puts me in mind of the silver spoon taken away--that's when character shines through. This is a book I could recommend without qualms or reservations. The violence is not too bloody nor too violent. The love is not too steamy or over the top. The language is not something in need of censure. Parts of the storyline were a little predictable, but were easily forgiven. Bring on Enna Burning and River Secrets .

For a while now, people have been recommending the book Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides . As a book club read, it's finally on "the list". I'm not exactly sure what I had expected, but have enojoyed reading this fictitious memoir of a hermaphrodite that begins "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974." There are times I've forgotten the story is fictitious. Dare I admit that more than once checking the author's name on the cover to be sure it really isn't Calliope Helen Stephanides or even Cal Stephanides? The breadth and scope of characters and their family tree with all the grafts rather than branches is an interesting creation. This Pulitzer Prize winning novel is an interesting study on nature vs. nurture and all the shades between. Quite an imagination!

The husband of one of my friends posted a review of Twilight on their blog, from a male perspective. Thoroughly entertaining, but maybe it's just late. If you have read the book--whether you are a fan or not--you can read Jim's comments here . Any other male perspectives out there?