Chronicles of Narnia series, favorites

Another audio book/series I listened to as a young child was the Chronicles of Narnia series.
If you haven’t heard of the Chronicles of Narnia, it’s a fantasy series written by C.S. Lewis.
He wrote and released the books in one order, and then rearranged them into a 
chronological order. The series is all about young people from our world being summoned
in various ways to a magical land called Narnia. Each time they are summoned by a 
mysterious and powerful Lion named Aslan. Over the past few weeks I’ve been re-listening
to a few of my favorites in the series.

Book #3-The Horse and His Boy. This story is different than all of the others, since the entire book centers around a character who lives in the world of Narnia, rather than a visitor from our world. It’s all about a boy named Shasta, who lives in a country that is close to the southern borders of Narnia. Two horses, he and another child have to escape to Narnia, and on the way each learns an important lesson about their own shortcomings.

Book #6-The Silver Chair. Two children from our world are summoned to Narnia to find a lost prince and save him from an evil witch and her enchantments. This book is one of my favorites because C.S. Lewis does an even better job than usual of creating instantly classic and loveable characters, no matter how depressed and moping they are all the time.

Book #7-The Last Battle. In this book, the last King of Narnia, two children from our world, and a small group of Narnians who are still loyal to Aslan must fight to survive and remember the true nature of Aslan. As you read through the books, it becomes increasingly more obvious that C.S. Lewis wrote the book as an allegory for his Christian beliefs. In this book in particular, as Aslan stands and brings forth the end of Old Narnia and the beginning of New Narnia, it is clear that these excellent books were never just about adventure, but something much deeper.

Overall, this is one of my favorite series of all time. It blends excellent storytelling with important moral lessons to create a story for the ages. Children, teenagers, and adults throughout the years have enjoyed these books and continue to enjoy them. This is one of series I would recommend to anyone without fear of them not enjoying it.

The Cricket in Times Square

When I was really young, I used to listen to The Cricket  in Times Square on audio book all the time. It was a huge part of my childhood, and so I decided to revisit that this week, and listen to it once more. The Cricket in Times Square was written in 1960 by George Selden and illustrated by Garth Williams.

It’s a very short book, but it’s definitely one of my top books. The characters are so quaint and quirky, it’s hard not to fall in love with them. Each character is richly put together and George Selden did an excellent job in creating realistic scenarios, even with talking animals.

Occasionally, you’ll forget that animals don’t really talk, and that this couldn’t possibly be a true story. My favorite thing about this book is how well the author displays the locations in the book to you. You are able to picture every place in your mind’s eye, whether it be newsstand, drain-pipe, or Chinese novelty shop. If you enjoy reading books with incredibly rich visual descriptions, well rounded characters, and happy endings, then this book is for you!

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

 Cornelia Funke is a very well-known and widely recognized author for her Inkheart trilogy. Many people have read the books, or at least watched the Inkheart movie. However, I think her best piece is a beautiful book called Dragon Rider.

In the book, a dragon named Firedrake, a forest brownie named Sorrell, and a human boy named Ben go on a quest to find the Rim of Heaven, former home of the dragons, hidden deep in the Himalayas. But they are not alone in their search. Nettlebrand, the villainous great golden dragon, is hunting them along with his spies.

The book is masterfully written, with beautiful descriptions of mountains, rivers, and deserts. The characters are instantly loveable, and it’s incredibly creative as well, with all sorts of fabulous and fantastic creatures filling its pages. There are dragons, brownies, dwarves, fairies, and so much more!

And not only that, but Funke’s book has themes of love, compassion, bravery, selflessness, friendship, and forgiveness. It also strongly shows how good can always come from the most evil things. This is definitely within my top 10 all-time favorite books, and I hope you’ll read it and enjoy it as much as I have.

The Last of the Mohicans

 I just finished reading through The Last of the Mohicans this week, and I really enjoyed it! The Last of the Mohicans was written in 1825 by James Fenimore Cooper, and is a story about adventure, danger, and love during the French and Indian War, and set in 1757 North America.

        Summary

        The story begins as two young women, daughters of a British general, begin to travel down south from the Great Lakes. They are accompanied by Duncan Heyward, a soldier, and friend of their family, and David Gamut, a minstrel. They are also accompanied by a Native American named Magua, who is from the Huron tribe.

        They are joined in their journey by a frontier scout named Hawkeye, and two Mohican Indians named Chingachgook and Uncas, a father and son, and Magua leaves their party for the time being. After being attacked by some Indians, the company finally comes to the fort where the girls’ father is. An overwhelmingly large number of French and Indian troops are preparing to besiege it, but their general sends in offers of a surrender that is too lenient to pass up so the fort gives in.

The company is attacked by the Hurons, led by Magua as they leave, and the two girls and the musician are carried off. The rest of the book is about the group that is following them to bring them back. I won’t spoil it for you, but the ending is incredibly touching.

There is sacrifice, true love, and duty all wrapped up into one book. The author does an incredible job of showing the realness of the situation and how people would react. I believe that a lot of people could learn from the selfless actions portrayed here.

Probably my favorite part of this book was how the author painted the characters like a landscape. It was easy to get to know the characters and identify with each of them in a different way. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good adventure story!

The Luck Library Blog is back in action!

📘😄💖
With a little help from some locals, the library blog is being revived!  Watch for our first official literary blogpost with our new author and local teen resident, Josh Stirrat!

My Favorite Books. Part 2

The Boy Detective Fails. Joe Meno

"Dear Reader,

  The story thus far, as you may have forgotten: Even as a young boy, Billy Argo showed an uncanny talent for solving puzzles of almost every configuration, arrangement, and design.

  That is all."

Billy Argo, his sister Caroline, and best friend fenton become Gothom City, New Jersey's best crime solving team, after Billy receives a Junior detective kit for his birthday. The three best friends solve all manner of crime, most of them in record time.
  Soon after leaving for collage, Caroline commits suicide. Billy unable to cope with the loss of his sister is committed to a mental hospital. After a decade spent in the hospital, Billy is released. Now if he can only solve the one case he has never solved.
  On his journey Billy encounters many strange characters and people from his past that are only too happy to see his failure.

Some of my favorite lines:
"Do you see my bunny's head over there? the girl shouts?

"So, are you going to find its head or not?" the girl asks.
"No. it doesn't look like it"
"No?" the girl asks.
"No, I don't think it's very likely."
"You're not a very good detective are you?"
"No I am afraid I am not."

"Why is a mystery so terrifying to us as adults? Is it because our worlds have become worlds of routine and safety and order the older we've grown? Is it because we have learned the answer to everything and that answer is that there is never a secret passageway, a hidden treasure, or a note written in code to save us from our darkest moments? Why are we struggling so hard against believing there is a world we don't know? Is it more frightening to accept our lives as they are than it is to entertain a fantasy of hope?"

"Part of being an adult is dealing with the terror of being an adult and not knowing what might happen next."

Whenever I find myself in a reading slump, I pull out this book. The story itself is great, but its in the way that it is told that makes this book so special. Billy Argo is a sympathetic character that you can't help but root for.If you ever wondered what could of happened after encyclopedia Brown grew up, then this is the book for you.

My favorite books. Part 1

Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk

When I started batting around the idea of coming back to write a new blog post,(really dropped the ball on wanting to blog a lot) my initial idea was that I wanted to do a top 10 favorite books of all time. So I started by going through my Goodreads account and looking over the books I gave 5 stars. I wrote these all down and then added books that I had not added yet. The list was much bigger than I anticipated, over 50 books. I then put a star next to the ones that I know I really loved. Still over 20 books.
 Now for some reason I really love lists. I always have. I search the internet for the top 10 movies, television shows, cars, etc. What I didn't realize was just how hard it is to come up with a top 10. It felt like picking out a favorite child. This was just not going to happen. So as a compromise I am just going to do a series on my favorite books.
 The only rule I put on myself was that I would have to re-read the book so I could comment on it fresh. And I might just find out I do not feel the same about it as I once did.
 So here we go! I hope you enjoy.

Opening line. "Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die."

Fight club is the first novel by author Chuck Palahniuk. Fight club tells the story of our unnamed narrator who is working in a corporate job with an insurance company. The only thing he has in is life is his job and the unending pursuit to own the best clothes, home, car, etc. Yet he feels empty, no direction in his life. Then his world is turned upside down with a chance encounter with Tyler Durden.
 Tyler represents everything that is missing in our narrators life. together they start a series of underground fight clubs. A place where men can shed the 9 to 5 lifestyle and go primitive. Tyler hates all things related to consumerism and the pursuit of material things. He is about living in the moment, and changing the world. And it might not be in a good way.

I have always loved this book. Fight club is a book for the generation of adults who grew up in the late 80's early 90's. It was in this time of history where young men found themselves with nothing to fight for. their grandparents fought in wars that meant something to the world. Now everything was about how much money you made and how nice your things were. Many were working jobs that were unfulfilling, careers that their parents wanted more than they did.

"The feeling you get is that you're one of those space monkeys. you do the little job you're trained to do. Pull a lever. Push a button. You don't understand any of it, and then you just die"

Many from this generation also came from divorced families with fathers not in the picture.

"Me, I knew my dad for about six years, but i don't remember anything. My dad, he starts a new family in a new town, about every six years. This isn't so much like a family as its like he sets up a franchise. What you see in fight club is a generation of men raised by women."

"My father never went to college so it was really important I go to college. After college, I called him long distance and said, now what? My dad didn't know. When I got a job and turned twenty-five, long distance, I said, now what? My dad didn't know, so he said, get married. I'm a thirty-year-old boy, and I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer I need."

The creation of fight club allowed a generation of men to see what they were capable of, to get away from this bubble wrapped world.

"If you've never been in a fight, you wonder. About getting hurt, about what you're capable of doing against another man."

It gave them the inner strength to change their lives. To stop living for others and start doing what they want.

"It's only after you've lost everything. That you are free to do anything."

"Geting fired, is the best thing that could happen to any of us. That way, we'd quit treading water and do something with our lives."

Tyler comes off as a savior for this group of men, yet he does have other motives. Motives that could change the world for ever. The book takes a hard turn near the end, giving us one of the great litterary twists there is.

I think we all have that one book that we read at the perfect time in our lives. One that makes a huge impression on us. For me it's Fight Club.