Princess Academy

by Shannon Hale

{ 2005 | Bloomsbury | 250 pgs }

What looked to be a dreadfully boring, sappy, girly book turned out to be one of the most enjoyable books I read last year. Surprise!

A long time ago, I read Hale’s Goose Girl, and loved it, although now I remember almost nothing about it. I was hesitant to read any of her other work, in case it ruined my opinion of Goose Girl (the same reason I won’t read anything besides the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander). But I wish I’d picked up Princess Academy earlier! It had a strong heroine, of course, and believable characters. Perhaps if Hale had chosen a different name for her book, it would draw more readers in. It sounded to me like that Disney movie where Cinderella has to learn how to be a princess. Dumb. Princess Academy is really nothing like that, and I enjoyed the plot twists, even if they were a little bit obvious.

This is another book I won a free copy of, but I’d probably spend money to buy it for myself. At the very least, you might check it out from the library. If you’re into that sort of thing.

P.S. My copy has a different cover – I wish it had this one! Check out the artwork.

No Great Mischief

by Alistair MacLeod

{ 2000 | W.W. Norton & Company | 288 pgs }

I must have read this late at night, because my memory of it seems very surreal and dreamlike. MacLeod’s novel is about a the generations of a Scottish clan living in Canada, though it centers on the family of its narrator, Alexander MacDonald. The writing is well-done, seamlessly combining references to the clan’s past in Scotland and Canada with the narrator’s own memories and experiences. However, the book was a little bit hard for me to get into, and in parts it seemed like I had missed some important element of the plot from earlier. When I finished reading, I felt detached, both from the story and from my own life.

I’d be interested to hear what you thought – so if you haven’t read it yet, get to it!

Torts Stories

Yes, I read one of the Romgi’s law school texts. Before he did. Because I wanted to.

Am I really that weird?

Wow…

But it was an interesting book!

Ok, I am pretty weird.

Torts Stories discusses 10 different landmark torts cases, as well as why they’re considered landmark. (If you’re wondering, torts are cases where [this is me paraphrasing the Romgi] “one person is to blame for what happened to another person” – although the people can be companies. Torts are always civil cases. Everything on Judge Judy is a tort.)