The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Continuing on in the Chronicles of Narnia series, we finished The Voyage of the Dawn Treader tonight.  When I asked the kids what they thought I should say about it on my blog, Darcy said, "It's amazing!" and Wesley said, "It felt like it went on forever!"  When I asked him what he meant by that, he said that they had so many amazing adventures in this book, that it seemed like it went on forever, but in the best way.  He loved every minute of it.

I found this one difficult to read aloud, because of some of the nautical terms that I'm not familiar with (we had a lot of giggling every time the book made reference to the "poop" of the ship), but it's a great story.

Lucy and Edmund Pevensie are sent to spend the summer at the house of their nasty cousin Eustace.  One afternoon a painting of a sailing ship comes to life, filling the room with water, taking Lucy, Edmund and Eustace to Narnia.  There they encounter their friend King Caspian, who is on a journey to find seven missing Lords who were loyal to Caspian's father.  Along the way they encounter some strange lands, some strange people, and lots of magic.  Eustace spends some time as a dragon and it goes a long way to improving his personality.

We made the mistake of watching the movie before reading the book.  The movie changed the story in a lot of ways, but because the kids saw the movie first, they thought that was the right way to tell the story. It took a bit of convincing on my part to get them to believe that the book is actually the way the story is meant to be told.

Wesley says that this is his favourite book in the series so far (Darcy's is A Horse and His Boy).  That's not really surprising giving the pirate-like feel of a story told on a ship, with countless adventures to be had.  All in all, a really fun book that we had a lot of fun reading.

We Are Water by Wally Lamb

I have been a fan of Wally Lamb's for years.  I love the way he tells stories, the depth he brings into a storyline and how his stories often span generations in a family.  When I heard he had released a new book, I bought it without knowing anything about it. I will not do that again.

His books can tend to be dark (with the hilarious exception of Wishin' and Hopin') but this book is disturbing.  Just completely disturbing.  I wish I'd never read it, because there are now images in my mind that I can't get out.  The book claims to be about how a woman (Annie) shocks her family by leaving her husband of 27 years for a woman.  The book jacket references "a Pandora's box of secrets" that will be opened as these women prepare to be married.  The book looks at Annie's family and how her first marriage fell apart and the impact that had on her children.  Annie had some secrets that she brought into the marriage that she couldn't quite cope with.

I'm not normally one for spoilers, but I really wish I had known this before I read the book.  Annie, was molested and raped as a child by a cousin who lived with her.  The chapters of the book are told in alternating voices, so we get the perspectives of different characters.  Well, several chapters are told from the perspective of the molester.  I was completely unprepared for that, and to be honest, it's not a perspective I had any interest in reading.  He discusses how he finds new girls to approach and how he grooms them.  This is not something I want to read for fun.  Again, the book jacket talks about the alternating voices, but only mentions Annie, her ex-husband and children, it doesn't say anything about the cousin.

Wally Lamb's storytelling is still incredible to me, but this is not a story I want to be told.