Favorite Tales from Grimm by Mercer Mayer

7 Stars

Wow. I feel like I've been giving lots of sevens lately... Maybe I need to vary up my reading lists a little. :?

If you like the Grimm fairy tales, I can safely recommend this collection. It includes many of the better-known ones (like The Sleeping Beauty), but even the ones that were lesser known were good picks: readable, likable, and just a little bit, well, grim. ;D There is no author credited, so I assume they are just basic translations, but the telling is concise without being abrupt and lyrical without being overly flowery. It's also a little more "kid-friendly", shall we say, as the most gruesome parts have been toned down a touch; but it still holds it's medieval/archaic brutality to a certain degree. And, of course, the book is sprinkled with Mayer's lovely watercolor paintings. In their subtle browns and otherworldliness they fit the feel of the tales to a tee.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond

7 Stars

So, surprisingly, I read this entire cookbook cover to cover. I can't say as that has ever been something I'd expect me to do, but Ree Drummond's outrageous sense of humor (not to mention her gorgeous photography of her rural home) kept me interested even through lists of ingredients. Drummond started out as a blogger and found such a positive response for her recipes listed there that she created this book. It isn't a book I could recommend to everyone as a COOKbook, as she has pretty much only "hearty" fair (read, meat and potatoes or lots of sugar and butter), but there were several recipes I'd like to try, and of the ones I DID try, all were keepers. It would be a GREAT cookbook for beginners, not only because it keeps the process interesting, but because Drummond photographs and explains EVERY step, making it very easy to follow even the more complex recipes. And, come on, any author that begins her acknowledgments page with, "I loved writing this cookbook. It made me happy. And chubby." is worth the read. Check it out! (Oh, and in case you are wondering, her cinnamon rolls are to DIE FOR. As in, even non-diabetics may be sent into a sugar coma by eating just one. But, YUM.)

Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpool

7 Stars

"After a life of riding the rails with her father, 12-year-old Abilene can’t understand why he has sent her away to stay with Pastor Shady Howard in Manifest, Missouri, a town he left years earlier; but over the summer she pieces together his story. In 1936, Manifest is a town worn down by sadness, drought, and the Depression, but it is more welcoming to newcomers than it was in 1918, when it was a conglomeration of coal-mining immigrants who were kept apart by habit, company practice, and prejudice." (Taken from Amazon.com)

Continuing on my quest to read all the Newberry nominees for this year, I finally obtained a copy of the winner. I was planning to save it for last, but when you are waiting for books at the library, you take it them when they come your way. At first I wasn't sure why this book and not the previous two that I read was the winner. I found the story not very engaging towards the beginning but it quickly picked up. It was not a fast read in that I felt compelled to read it every second, but by the end of the book it had me thinking about the issues addressed. I also loved the way that the author wove the past and present together so beautifully. In all, it was a very beautifully written book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested.