Holiday Reads

I realized when starting this post that I have so many books I've read that are my "favorites" that it would be nigh impossible to sit down and write about them at once. I think that adding on an old favorite or two with each new post about books I've recently finished will have to suffice. This holiday I was spent visiting with family and many and I spent many an hour curled up with a book. I started with the first four Artemis Fowl novels by Eoin Colfer.

I found these books to be very entertaining. I typically love young adult novels. Usually things work out well for the main characters and there isn't the violence/sex/language etc. that can be present in more adult books. My favorite part about this series is that Artemis the main character is not the typical protagonist. One of the things that makes him so interesting and in my opinion likeable is that he is a criminally inclined child genius. Colfer does an excellent job of portraying another culture of fairies living secretly beneath the human world. I will definitely be finishing off this series as soon as I get a library card!

Next I read my first Jon Krakauer novel Into Thin Air. This was definitely a change of pace. It is a gripping fast paced story intermingled with tidbits of history that kept the pages turning. I finished this book in two days. This is an account of the Mt. Everest disaster of 1996 that resulted in the death of many climbers. In addition to telling the story of this particular fateful journey Krakauer details some of the history of climbing and the effects of high altitude on the human body. This book was one that left me wanting to know more about climbing and mountaineering, and although I will never climb Everest, it gave me motivation to become more physically fit and to take the time to enjoy the world around me. I would most definitely recommend this book, even if you've never so much as thought about ice climbing.

One of my favorite books since elementary school when I first read it is The Giver by Lois Lowry. This is the tale of Jonas, a boy born into a drastically different world where there is no pain, hunger, loss or adversity. It is a quick read and simple enough for a child, but the deeper meaning which sheds light on the importance of opposition in all things is enough to promote hearty dialog in any adult book club.