Book Challenge Day 7: Most underrated book

Mara Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Javis McGraw

http://crystallizedheart.blogspot.com/2013/08/book-challenge-day-7-most-underrated.html

Book Challenge Day 6: A book that makes you sad

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

http://crystallizedheart.blogspot.com/2013/08/book-challenge-day-6-book-that-makes.html

Book Challenge Day 5: A book that makes you happy

Penelope by Marilyn Kaye

http://crystallizedheart.blogspot.com/2013/08/book-challenge-day-5-book-that-makes.html

Book Challenge Day 4: Favorite Book of your favorite series

Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark

http://crystallizedheart.blogspot.com/2013/08/book-challenge-day-4-favorite-book-of.html

Book Challenge Day 3: Your favorite series

The Kingdom Keepers series by Ridley Pearson.

http://crystallizedheart.blogspot.com/2013/08/book-challenge-day-3-your-favorite.html

Book Challenge Day 2: A book that you've read more than 3 times

http://crystallizedheart.blogspot.com/2013/08/book-challenge-day-2-book-that-you-read.html

Luka and The Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie

Adventures can change your life forever. No one knows this more than Luka, son of a story teller, and his father's only hope. As Luka helplessly watches his father become ill, he can only wonder why it hasn't been his turn for an adventure. But when his Antifather or Nobodaddy appears, telling him that the only way he can save his father is to journey into the World of Magic, Luka decides to take up the challenge, and together with Bear the dog and Dog the bear, he follows Nobodaddy to the World of Magic and begins his task to steal the fire of life. With numerous foes before him, including the deadliest villians and most viscious deities from his father's stories, Luka the twelve year old journeys through a familar yet strange world and discovers a power he never knew he had. But will he reach his father in time, or is Nobodaddy lying about his motive to pass the time?

This book was an amazing journey, with more cameos from mythology around the world to name. From the creative characters to the powerful folklore, this novel honors the story and what can be created from it. Luka himself is a clever tweleve year old, brave and caring. His love of his father and  every story his father told him is a strong theme in the story, and helps Luka grow to stand alongside his favorite heroes. 

At first glance, this may look like a children's tale, and through the format and the playful tone, I believe it can pass as one. On second glance, this is a philosophical musing of the power stories have over us, and the power that we unknowingly carrry ourselves. With familiar friends and foes from beloved stories around the world, and orignal, new friends from Luka's father's stories, this book is a true escape into the imagination and an enjoyable read. 

I recommend this book to anyone who love stories, mythology, folklore and the imagination. 

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Book Challenge Day 1: The Best Book you read this year

http://crystallizedheart.blogspot.com/2013/08/book-challenge-day-1-best-book-you-read.html

I found a book challenge

Posting on both blogs starting tomorrow. Feel free to add your own favorites :)

http://crystallizedheart.blogspot.com/2013/08/i-found-book-challenge.html

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

In a word, this book was creepy. With society dumbed down by television and the law, human inteligence is not what it once was. Books are illegal, and reading them is a crime. Montag is a fireman, but instead of saving people from fires, he starts fires and can kill people. His job is to burn houses, and the books inside them. But once he begins to question the world and his purpose in it, he decides to follow his curiousity and do what is forbidden: read. 

The creepy part of this book is how eeriely similar the world of Montaq is to everyday society. The ads, the focus on television, gossip and politics. This world is familiar and alien all at once. Even the language between the characters is strange, and reveals how little they know and understand. With no purpose, people begin to do crazy things and become brainwashed that they are having fun. 

As creepy and strange as this book is, I recommend it to any book worm, and any person who believes that reading is a waste of time. The loss of knowledge damages history and humans have a habit of learning from mistakes. 

Austenland by Shannon Hale

What do you do when fantasy eclipses your reality? Jane Hayes has wondered just that, as she goes from failed relationship to failed relationship. Her problem? No one can compare to the dashing Mr. Darcy, and Jane often spends weekends with ice cream and the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, wondering why her life was not written by Jane Austen herself.

Jane tries to keep the obsession hidden, but her great aunt discovers her infatuation, and bequeaths a paid in full vacation to an Austenland resort, where actors bring the world of Jane Austen to life. Embarassed, afraid and unsure what to do, Jane goes on the vacation, as a service to her great aunt, and as therapy for herself. By the end of the trip she vows that she will be over Darcy for good. 

During her stay, she meets many characters, and she is never quite sure when they are acting or being themselves. But can she find herself in a fantasy land? Or is Mr. Darcy a myth that she only thought she wanted?

This book was an enjoyable read. Especially for Austen fans. Jane's obsession is more extreme than I expected, but she learns a valuable lesson from her experience. In the Austen world, the fantasy is comforting to her, and she allows herself to be the Jane that she knew she could be. 

Not the usual customer, Jane stirs up the fascade of Austen's England and discovers that her great aunt may have given her the best gift she ever recieved. 

I highly recommend this novel to Jane Austen fans, and anyone who feels left out of the world for clinging to a fantasy. The fantasy may give you the freedom you need to be yourself, and you may learn that you are capable of so much more than you believe in the real world.