3.23.2008

Book Review 1: Book of a Thousand Days

So, I've been thinking.....my blog is called "Book for Breakfast". I called it that because I love to read and it's not often you can ask "Elise, what book are you reading?" and the answer is "nothing at the moment." Basically, I just feel like this blog is not living up to it's name sake! I've mentioned books a few times, and I sort of reviewed 'The Pianist' (which is freaking amazing, by the way) but other than that....nothing. And I really do feel ashamed. So from now on I am going to prove that I do indeed eat books for breakfast and put up a review for all the books I read. I'll start with the most recent one I finished.

.: Book of a Thousand Days:.
By Shannon Hale


Let me just begin by saying that Shannon Hale is amazing. I love everything of hers that I've read so far. Her inspiration for this book was an all too often over looked Grimms' Fairy Tale called Maid Maleen about a noble woman who refuses to marry her suiter so her father locks both her and her servant in a tower for seven years. The story is mainly about the noble woman, but Shannon Hale was more curious about the barely mentioned servant and what her story was. So she set about writing A Book of a Thousand Days. It is written in diary format from the servants, whose name is Dashti, point of view. The story is laced with Mongolian culture which was another influence Hale used for the setting. One thing that I have noticed about Shannon Hales book is that they are adventurous, but not really that full of excitement or a whole lot of suspense to keep you hooked. For me, it's her style of writing and movement of the story that keeps me reading.
The first half of the book, we find Dashti and her mistress locked in the tower, facing troubles such as rats and cabin fever. It moves rather slow, with only bits of happening that move the story along, like the sudden appearance of her mistress' secret love, a khan from another kingdom, talking too them through the....well, basically the poop shoot. But hey, true love knows no bounds. The story really starts to move along after they get out of the tower about halfway through. That's really when all the intrigue and romance begin. Over all, I really really enjoyed it. I always know when I love a book because there is atleast one night through out the reading period that I stay up still about 3 am to finish. My only complaint would be the slow pace at the beginning. And also the diary format. It always bothers me to read book in diary formant because it's so awkward to add dialog and seems unreal to me. Regardless, Hale managed to make it run rather smooth without making me too irritated. This is a good, relatively fast read for anyone interested in fairy tales with a little romance....and towers with poop shoots.

Rating: A-

PS- Better watch your back, Melissa....
93 words

Speed test

2 comments:

Melissa Mae Johnson said...

Sounds like a good read! If I could ever get to the bottom of my ever growing pile of books to read...
I'll have to add this one to my list.

Unknown said...

what what what? i can't believe you peterson girls. i CANNOT beat 87 words a minutes. i think i need to make my brain go somehwere in lah lah land and then maybe i can get better.