The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

This was our next stop on our trip through Narnia.  For this book, we went back to the beginning to see how Narnia was created.  I prefer to read this one second when I read the whole series as I think it helps to know what happens in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" before you read this one. That was confirmed for me when I saw the looks on the kids faces when they found out that Digory grows up to be the Professor in "The Lion...".  They were so excited.

There are some really funny parts in this book, like when the White Witch invades London, or when Uncle Andrew is planted like a tree in the new land of Narnia.  It's interesting to see how the White Witch leaves the land of Charn and ends up in Narnia, causing trouble.

All in all, we loved this book.  The kids are loving the series and I'm loving reading it again with their first-time enthusiasm.  Next we will read, "A Horse and His Boy" and then work the rest of the way through the series as they're numbered.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

I'm iffy about this one.  I started reading it on the recommendation of a friend, but I didn't read any sort of synopsis before I started.  I had no idea what was about to happen.  I really liked it at the beginning, but as it wore on, I kind of lost interest.

This is the story of Clay Jannon, a young man living in San Francisco who finds himself out of work.  He stumbles across a "Help Wanted" sign and goes into Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and gets a job on the spot.  But when he is hired, he is told not to look into the books that are available there.

Soon after starting, Clay notices that strange things are happening in the bookstore.  Regular customers come in (and he must record every detail of their visit in a log book) and borrow books, but they never purchase them.  Even though he has been told not to, Clay decides to look at the books to see what is inside.  He finds a series of symbols that don't make sense to him and stumbles across a secret society trying to crack the code.

Conveniently, his girlfriend works for Google and his roommate works for Industrial Light and Magic.  Having these two at his disposal makes it easy for him to try to find out more information and even crack part of the code that takes some of the members decades to do on their own.

From here, it lost me a little.  It was a little too convenient that he had people working for Google and ILM available to him.  Also, the secret society part seemed like it was trying to be a bit Dan Brown-y.  I don't like Dan Brown, so for me, that's not a good thing.

It was good, not great, but a fun, quick read.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I really have a hard time talking about this book.  It's so beautiful, yet so difficult at the same time.  This was a re-read for me.  I read it for the first time several years ago, and then it was the selection for my book club for this month's meeting.  I don't know if I would have read it a second time without it having been selected by my book club.

Set in Germany during World War II, I feel this book gives an insight into WWII that is often overlooked.  When thinking of that war, we often (or at least I do) just think of Germany as the "bad guys".  You don't think about the average German family at that time, people who may not have agreed with the direction their country was heading, but had to survive there regardless.  The book is narrated by Death, and he is kept very busy throughout the book.

The Book Thief is the story of Liesel Meminger, who at the beginning of the book is an illiterate girl being taken by train to live with a new foster family.  She is taken by her mother, a communist, to try to give her a safer life.  Her younger brother dies on the train journey.  Liesel in now left to start a new life alone with her new foster parents, Hans and Rose Hubermann.

After the death of her brother, Liesel steals a book dropped by the gravediggers who bury him.  It is the beginning of her love of words, books and language, which carries her through the rest of her life.  Taught to read by her foster father, words change Liesel's life in ways she never imagined.

As a lover of words and books myself, this strikes a chord with me.  I love this girl and her story.

But aside from all that, this book introduces one of my favourite literary characters of all time, Hans Hubermann, Liesel's stepfather.  Foster parents often are depicted as the villains, but nothing can be further from the truth in this book.  Hans is genuine goodness and love personified, and one of the most beautiful characters I've ever read.

It's not a light read.  You're not going to walk away from this book and think, "Wow, that was great.  I loved that!" in a traditional way.  But if you're like me, you will be challenged by what you read, you'll love the characters, and you might even gain a new understanding about how people lived during WWII.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

I'm not sure how many times I've read this book, but this past reading was definitely my favourite.  The kids and I have been reading a chapter (or two) at night before bed.  Reading one of my favourite stories from childhood with my kids was so much fun  They were so excited each night to see what was going to happen next and every night they asked me to just read a little more.  In fact, the best motivator I've ever had to get Wesley to brush his teeth was to say, "Come on, let's go so we can see what's happening in Narnia."  The teeth got brushed every time.

We loved reading this book together.  They loved the characters, the creatures from another world that they've never heard of and couldn't quite picture.  They loved the idea of being able to sneak into another world, and have asked me to buy a wardrobe in case it's one that will get us into Narnia.

I don't think I really need to say a lot about this book, it's such a classic.  If you haven't read it, you should, no matter what your age.  And if you can read it with your kids, even better.

I decided to read the series a little out of order with them.  Chronologically this is the second in the series, but I thought they'd enjoy this one more than, "The Magicians's Nephew" which is #1 in the series.  We're going to start that one tomorrow.

Now I just have to keep Darcy from reading ahead.  No easy task.