Tag Archives: book

Every Cowgirl Needs a Horse by Rebecca Janni and Lynne Avril

Did you know that Ivy loves horses?

She does.  Really, really loves them.

Sometime last winter her Grandma Mary happened to say, “Ivy, what would you do if Santa brought you a horse?”

Bad idea Grandma Mary, bad idea.

After a few weeks when it became obvious that Ivy was convinced Santa was bringing her a horse I called up my Mom and yelled at her.

In effort to fix the situation she told Ivy that winter isn’t a very good time to get a horse. Ivy accepted this explanation and our conversations turned to, “…when it’s spring and I get my horse…” which was a problem, but I was hoping she would forget.

Of course she did not forget.

We still don’t have a horse and Ivy still wants one, so when the librarian showed her this book at the library I must have got a bit of a wide eyed panicked look because she quickly assured me it would be perfect.

The girl in the story wants a horse for her birthday,

instead she gets a bicycle.

The bike turns out to be a great pretend horse for the “cowgirl,” the last line says: “Yes, sir, I’m a cowgirl from head to toe, and all a cowgirl really needs is a horse…

…and I do have that.”

It did seem perfect for the little girl who really wants a horse but isn’t getting one even though, as she has pointed out, it is spring now.

Ivy listened to the book.  When we finished she pointed at the last page and said “But Mom, that’s not a horse that’s a bike.”

So much for that idea.

Would I recommend it? Yes, while it did nothing to temper Ivy’s horses wishes we did read it approximately 16 million times and she only pointed out the bike/horse discrepancy 14 million. I’m calling it progress.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

  My copy of this book is a discard from our library and it confuses me because on the spine there is a little sticker that says “Mystery” complete with ghost and candle.

Is it because mystery and history rhyme and they mixed up the stickers?

Or if I was still a young adult and hadn’t read this book a pile of times would there be a mystery to solve?

I can’t figure it out, but if I ignore the sticker I like the rest of the book mystery or not.  I think I read this first as a Battle of the Books book and it’s somehow found it’s way onto my book shelf.

Would I recommend it? Yes, while I enjoy it now I loved it when I was younger.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

The last of my “sick” books was an old favorite.I’m a book re-reader, I like to own my favorite books so I can come back to them again. Even though I’ve read them before it’s almost always something new that jumps out at me.

As I was reading The Poisonwood Bible I realized that I haven’t read it since having the girls. What a different perspective motherhood brings!

Would I recommend it? Yes!

Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger

After reading more about cooking pasta than is normal I switched gears to northern Minnesota murder mystery. I read Boundary Waters by this author a few months ago, and it was alright. Once I started this one I realized it was the same series, but a book that came before Boundary Waters – oops!

Would I recommend it? I feel about the same as I did with the other. To use John’s least favorite phrase: I didn’t hate it.

Heat by Bill Buford

Being sick most of the week was rotten, really rotten. The only silver lining was I got to read a pile of books, some new and some old.

The first one I read was Heat {An Amateur’s adventures as kitchen slave, line cook, pasta-maker, and apprentice to a Dante- quoting butcher in Tuscany} this is our book clubs current book and I’m hoping they may have something to add to this post, becuase I read this during the worst of last week and it’s a bit fuzzy.

What I can say is that some of it was funny, some of it was disturbing, and probably the only thing that kept me from rushing off to the kitchen to consume large amounts of food is that I wasn’t running anywhere, and if I did go someplace it wasn’t going to be the kitchen…

Would I recommend it? I just can’t give any real recommendation on a book all about cooking read when I had the flu. Someone else will have to help me out!

Duck Soup by Jackie Urbanovic

We are once a week library regulars, we know the librarians, they know us and 95 percent of all children’s books are returned the next week. Even good books are hard to read every day multiple times for more than a week, but Duck Soup was an exception.

It’s a funny book, best read with a bit of flair (we did lots of yelling) and  guaranteed to be kept from the library longer than usual without being lost under the couch!

Would I recommend it? Yes, we’ve also had Duck at the Door and enjoyed that one as well, but this one is better!

The Soldier Son Trilogy by Robin Hobb

These three books ( Shaman’s Crossing, Forest Mage and Renegade’s Magic)would be a clear example of when my stubborn persistent reading does not pay off. The books did not get better as I went, the end was not worth it.

 

Would I recommend it? No, they don’t even warrant a picture.