The Great Bean Adventure

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The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

This book was very dense although I enjoyed it. It was not a fast read for me. I read a bunch of other novels in between. There were a lot of twists in this book and surprises. The location was Canada and Toronto was often mentioned. References to Greek and Roman mythology and exerpts in French is probably some of the reason why this book was on the reading list for a first year English class at University of Winnipeg in 2001. The time frame of the book took place during the First and Second World Wars. I suppose the novel brought a flavor of Candian life at that time, however, everyone's flavor would have been differently experienced, so I am not so sure that description is accurate. Also, the heroine was rediculously wealthy, however, towards the end of the novel she wasn't. It was quite sad and depressing overall, but I still enjoyed it. I would give this book an 8/10.

Esperanza by Trish J. MacGregor

At first I thought this book might be a trashy cheap romance novel. It was not like that. It was more like the James Patterson books. There was a lot of action and some romance. The story was about brujos who were some South American ghost that took posession of peoples' bodies which most often killed the one who was posessed in a horrible and painful way. The back of the book indicates that this is a very scary novel. Usually when a book says that I am scared, but in this book I was not scared, just entertained and interrested. There was over-the-top swearing which turned me off, but the rest of the book was very good. There was time-travel which I find usually doesn't work well when I am reading a book, but in this novel it was great. Aparently this book was the basis for a hit TV show Dexter, but I've never heard of it. The end of the book leaves ideas open for sequels to this novel.

Pilate's Wife by Antoinette May

I thought this book was GREAT! I really enjoyed reading it. It was a lot like Cleopatra which I read about a year ago (I don't remember who the author was). I found it very interesting to read about how the author portrayed Pilate's Wife's life (her name was Claudia). I wonder how accurate the portrayal was as I have not studied Roman history outside of very briefly in school. We touched on it at University at times, but not in depth at all.

A description of Claudia as a little girl, her relationship with her parents and siblings and extended family, her courtship and marriage to Pilate and her affair were all described in this novel. Claudia's religious beliefs and those of others were shared as well.

I did not feel comfortable with the depiction of Jesus at all, or his disciples towards the ending, but I considered that the author did what she could with her knowledge. The author's adding a relationship with Miriam was something that I would have felt better if it was left out of the novel.

There was a lot of horrific violence and love affairs, which, for the Romans and the people living in this time, I am guessing was what probably did occur for at least some people. We see this today, so it is not that huge of a jump to believe. I tend to think of Pilot as nothing but a sub-human brute, but this book depicted him as a very human man with feelings. It was very believable that he could have been this way. I did like that Pilot did not really want to convict Jesus. I thought this when I read that section of the bible as well.

It was fascinating reading about what life may have been like for Pilot and for people living at that time. I enjoyed this book so much that I had a hard time doing other things. I would give this book a 9/10.

Caleb and Kate by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma

This was a cute little teenage romance book. I wish my experience with a boyfriend was like this! Quite a perfect little romance. It wasn't as exciting as Twilight, but it was sweet. This was a Christian novel. The story was quick and simple. I really enjoyed reading it. I read it in my spare time in two days. The girl was gloriously wealthy and the boy was thought to have been very poor at first and ended up being secretly wealthy as well. It would have been great if this book would have been a little bit more intrigue in it, but I did enjoy it for what it was. I would give this book a 6/10.

The Car Thief by Theodore Weesner

This book was somewhat depressing. It was good though. This wasn't the kind of book that I just couldn't put down and there wasn't very much romance. There was some lust maybe, but that's about it. The book was about a sixteen-year-old boy who lives with his alcoholic father and who has barely any contact with his estranged mother. He's really lonely and obviously, steels cars. The boy ended up in a juvenile detention center for a period of time and throughout the rest of the book he couldn't break past the stereotype accorded him through that experience. The book ended on a somewhat positive note considering the rest of the story. What was tragic was the fact that this boy could have had an outstanding life had he had any encouragement from his family as he showed talent in academics and athletics. All the family he had though, was his father. I would give this book a 7/10.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

A little bit too much evil going on in this book to make me feel comfortable reading it. This book talks about Satan and his followers. That's a little much for me. I did read the whole thing though and will probably try to read the other two books at some point (City of Angels and City of Glass), but if you won't let your child read Harry Potter because you think it's too evil, this book should be completely off-limits. As I was reading through this book it took me a while to figure out what was going on. I did like that part and the book hasn't totally made sense yet, but enough for me to get the picture or understand what is going on. It has been about three or four months since I've read it, but from what I remember, some people pass as angels and have powers that humans don't have (which actually seems that way sometimes with normal people who actually don't have powers) which would fit right in to real life, so there is an element of being able to believe it could be true. I think the world is going to be destroyed by the evil angels and the good angels are trying to protect the earth and it's people. This is a book for teenagers. I have two teenagers, which is why I am into these teen books! I find I am really enjoying some of them. This book would be about a 61/2 out of 10.