library

What special challenges do doubts and fears bring to an individual?

Dan Brown explores doubt and fear in all of his books that contain Robert Langdon. This is because Robert has one major fear: claustrophobia. Throughout the books, Brown mentions this fear many, many times. When Langdon was a little boy, he fell into a well and had to tread water overnight before someone found him. This initiated his fear.

Not so much in the DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons does Robert have to face his main fear. In this book, however, he comes face-to-face with his fear more than once.

In this book, Robert Langdon, Katherine Solomon, and the CIA are all in a mad race to stop Peter’s (Katherine’s brother) captor from killing him. Peter’s captor has kidnapped the thirty-third degree Mason to expose one of the world’s oldest secrets: a sacred Masonic treasure hidden somewhere in D.C.

He must be strong when traveling on a conveyor belt to save his friend. The challenge in this is either come face-to-face with your fear, or risk your best friend’s life, get arrested, and unleash one of the world’s most sacred secrets. Obviously enough, Langdon chose the first one.

A little while on, Langdon is kidnapped by the same person that kidnapped Peter. To torture him, the captor places Langdon in a coffin (confined space) and begins to fill it with water in the hopes to get another part of the secret out of him. Sadly, it works. Langdon spills EVERYTHING because the kidnapper knows exactly what his fears are.

But fear is not the only thing explored in this book. Langdon also has many doubts throughout the book. Doubt that the treasure exists and doubt that this has anything to do with the CIA. This poses a few problems. This makes it hard for Robert to believe what people are trying to tell him about the treasure, in turn making it difficult to save Peter and later on, Katherine and himself as well. Doubting that this has anything to do with the CIA makes wanting to tell the director anything.

This book was not disappointing by any means. It ended pretty much how I expected it to. With a few twists I never would’ve expected. But that’s the power of a good suspense novel: unexpected results. I would recommend this book to anyone in about Grade 9 and up looking for a good read. Anyone younger probably wouldn’t be able to understand the vocabulary and power of some of the meanings.

Imagine this: Your best friend in the whole world is eloping to Italy with the love of her life. He’s a great guy and you’re really happy for her. She asks you to come with so that you can sign as a witness along with HIS best friend. You agree. I mean, come on, a trip to Europe for little to nothing because you are staying at her uncle’s house. Who could ever say no? But, when you get to the airport, there is a male there roughly the same age as you who you very much dislike. It gets worse though. You have to sit beside him THE ENTIRE WAY TO EUROPE! And, just because you haven’t suffered enough, he also happens to be your best friend’s fiancé’s best friend, a.k.a. THE OTHER WITNESS! How are you going to survive with this guy for an entire seven days?!

Well, that’s the position Jane Harris is in. Her best friend, Holly, is, as I said before, eloping with Mark. But, when you elope, you need two witnesses to attest for the fact that you got married. So, they decide to each bring their best friend’s along with them. Jane thinks this is going to be great. 7 days away from work(not that she doesn’t love to draw Wondercat), a trip to Europe with her best friend and, they’re staying at Holly’s uncle’s mansion! There is a little hitch however. Holly’s parents don’t like Mark because he isn’t Catholic and Mark’s parents don’t like Holly because she isn’t Jewish. Kind of stupid, I know. But they don’t let that affect the way they feel about each other.

Jane and Mark’s best friend, Cal, go head-to-head however, when two very different values collide. Jane loves the idea of running away and getting married. She thinks it’s romantic. Cal thinks love is overrated and doesn’t exist. He claims that it is just a chemical reaction in the brain and doesn’t ever last. Jane believes that this is only because he was married once and his wife left him for someone else. She is quick to put him down and criticize his lifestyle.

Cal’s values are determined through experience, as are everyone else’s. He believes that since his feeling were hurt once because of rushed love, that he’ll never be able to love again. Jane’s values are determined also through experience. Her parents have been married for a very long time. Longer than Jane’s been alive. Therefore, she believes that love does and can exist and overcome everything.

In the end, some things go wrong and Cal and Jane are quick to the rescue. And, of course Holly and Mark’s parents are happy for them. Even though they still don’t think that it is proper for two different religions to mix. And, as it should be, Cal and Jane fall in love. I mean, it just wouldn’t be a good book if the two didn’t hook up in the end. This book is full of laughs, tears, and anger. I strongly suggest you read this book.

“The Queene’s sister shalt be Belov’d of the Morning Star, and shalt take the Worlde.”

In this book, Mary introduces us to only one new character: Laura Goodman, Betsy’s beloved half-sister. However, Antonia(a.k.a. The Ant) and Betsy’s father play much larger roles.

Now, everyone knows that the “rules” vampires live by are found in the Book of the Dead. But, if someone were to read the entire thing in one sitting, they would go insane! As per usual, Betsy doesn’t like to live by rules and decides she is fed up with Tina and Sinclair every onceinawhile going ‘Oh, you didn’t know about that? Ya, that was also in the Book.’ So, three hours and ten pages later, we could find Jessica crouching in her bedroom with a bruised face and two clean holes in her neck, an emotionally wrecked Marc, Sinclair patiently waiting in bed so he and Betsy could finish what they started, and Tina fighting with Betsy so as not to be murdered. And all this anarchy is from Betsy reading too much of the Book at one time.

Needless to say, no one is really happy with her. Well, except Marc and Tina. They seem to be pretty okay with the whole thing. But Sinclair keeps giving His Majesty the cold shoulder and shows no affection. Much loyalty, but no sidleine affection. And Jessica won’t even leave her room. The only reason she knows whats going on is because Marc snuck into her bedroom and put a baby monitor in there. Everytime something new happens, they just flick on their baby monitor and pretty much talk to empty space.

Before this whole shenanigan, Betsy receives an invitation to Antonia’s baby shower. Pity it’s during the day though. Oh wait, did I mention Betsy’s little evil streak caused her to be able to stay awake during daylight hours? Well, that changes everything.

But, as I mentioned before, Betsy has a half sister. Not the one the Ant is currently carrying. Oh no, this one’s already been born. Turns out, when Antonia was pregnant with THIS one, the devil possesed her body. Long story short, Ant woke up with a baby and freaked so it resulted in her casually dropping off the baby at the hospital and ditching. So, this child is a descendent of the devil and is destined to take over the world. And is roaming around Minneapolis. So, Betsy sets out to find her and politely ask her NOT to take over the world. But, she is taken by a small surprise when she meets Laura and finds out that her adopted father is a minister! And, she is just too darn sweet to be the devil!

Betsy just can’t figure out just how to tell someone that they are destined to take over the world. Little does she know, that Laura knows everything: that Betsy is a vampire, that she is supposed to take over the world, everything.

In the end, all is forgiven. That doesn’t mean that Betsy doesn’t still feel bad for what she did. However, like I said, all is forgiven. Everyone is friend’s again and Betsy and Sinclair end up deciding to get married.(Of course, not with a real priest because otherwise, bye-bye Sinclair.) Betsy agrees to sleep in the same room as Sinclair and treat him half decently if he marries her. What she doesn’t mention right then is that the number one reason she wants to marry Sinclair is because she loves him. I know, she FINALLY came to her senses!

Stuart McLean is a Canadian author who, a few years ago, came up with Dave. Dave is a middle age guy living in Toronto along with his wife Morley, teenage daughter Stephanie, son Sam, and dog Arthur.

Dave owns a second-hand record store named, you guessed it, the Vinyl Cafe. Dave, Morley and the kids live a very happy and “normal” life. Morley is the typical mom. She always has her plate full with work, kids and any other extracurricular activities she may take upon herself. When I first started reading the Vinyl Cafe stories, I thought she was a housewife because she cooks, cleans, the whole shebang, until they mentioned her going to work at the hospital. Stephanie is a typical teenager. She can’t go anywhere without doing her hair, she thinks her dad is a freak, and she can’t stand her little brother. No different from any other teenager you’ll find in a high school. Sam is a typical little kid. He loves to pester his older sister, thinks gross stuff is cool,??????????????. Dave is your everyday father. Always tells himself and everyone that ‘I can do it myself. We don’t need some costly professional. It’ll be easy.’ and ends up calling a professional in the end. Although most dads can usually cook a fairly basic meal, Dave can only cook spaghetti. We learn this in ‘Dave Cooks the Turkey’, my favorite story. Pretty normal family, right?

Stuart portrays a family trying their best to respond to the challenges of modern life. Who wouldn’t attempt to start a small home fix-it job only to end it with fire set walls and entire rooms destroyed? Who hasn’t attempted to toilet-train a cat? And, utter pandemonium? Please, just an everyday occurrence with an average Canadian family, right? Well, for this one, it is.

The Vinyl Cafe stories are not only in books. Stuart McLean does a Vinyl Cafe radio show(called Vinyl Cafe) on CBC Radio in Canada. I strongly recommend this series to anyone. Although these stories are very cute and often comical, they can also have a softer side. Some of them teach that we take the smallest things for granted. Or how the littlest things can have the biggest meaning. Another lesson we can learn from these is that things are not what they seem.

“And the first who shall noe the Queen as a husband noes his Wyfe shall be the Queen’s Consort and shall rule at her side for a thousand years.”

In the second of the eight book series, Mary Janice Davidson introduces us to a few more characters: the Blade Warriors, Monique, Marie and Sarah. And, of course, there is Eric Sinclair, Betsy Taylor, Jessica, Tina and Marc.

The Blade Warriors are a group of vampire killers anonymously hired to kill all vampires. They assume all vampires are evil and don’t realize there are some good guys. They are “lead” by a priest. Everything gets sorted out a.s.a.p. when they try to kill Betsy. One of them, Jon, develops a huge crush for Betsy.

Monique and Sarah are both vampires. Monique is usually with Tina who also adores Betsy. Sarah, on the other hand, is totally against Betsy. Nostro “made” her so she was completely loyal to him. So, the entire group believes that Sarah is the anonymous vamp who is tipping off the Blade Warriors about vampires that needed to be killed. In the end, it turns out that the only reason this group of teenagers were set to kill all the vamps in town, was practice to kill Betsy.

Marie is what seems to be a normal girl who likes to hang around the mansion that Jessica, Marc and Betsy all move into. But Betsy is the only one who knows about her. She believes that her mother is one of the many helpers Jessica hires. Turns out, that her mother is Sarah and no one could see her until Betsy convinces that Sinclair and Tina she is there. The only reason Marie is still hanging around her house(50 years after she dies!), is because she needed her mother to die so she could move onto heaven. Unfortunately, Betsy has to be the one to do it. She respects Sarah’s wishes though because she really cares about Marie and truly believes that they(Sarah and Marie) deserve to be happy. I mean, Marie has been stuck in her house for 50 years!

Now, Betsy loves shoes. As we have learned in previous books. But, when she gets a job at Macy’s(because, who WOULDN’T want the employee discount on amazing shoes?!), Sinclair is furious. He doesn’t believe that the queen should have to work and offers to buy her all the shoes she wants. After all, he IS living with them and is rich. Betsy refuses his offers and continues away at her job.

Little does she know that her boss is about to fire her. Under the influence of Monique of course. And probably, to some extent, loyalty too. Long story short, Betsy’s boss fires her, Betsy finds out it was Monique, and, after being staked, kills Monique. Luckily for her, when you slay a vampire, you inherit all their possesions! She now owns a club in Minneapolis, a spa in Switzerland, a private school in England, and a restaurant in France and nothing to do with them! Well, she’s just going to have to do some serious thinking.

And everyone lived happily ever after. Except for Monique, of course.

“If Sinclair thinks I’m going to be his wife for a thousand years, he’s out of his freaking mind.”

“Thank you, suh, I’d hafto say the secret’s in the sauce.”

In Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, Fannie Flagg introduces us to Evelyn Couch, Virginia(more commonly known as Ninny) Threadgoode, Idgie Threadgoode, and Ruth Jamison.

Evelyn Couch is a fourty-eight year old housewife living in Birmingham, Alabama, who is in the sad slump of middle age. Her husband’s mother is living at Rose Terrace Nursing Home in Birmingham. Every Sunday Ed and Evelyn go to visit Big Momma. But rather than sit in the creepy hopsital room, Evelyn sits in the visitors lounge with Mrs. Threadgoode. While Evelyn sits there quietly eating snacks and attentively listening, Mrs. Threadgoode will tell stories of her past.

Ninny Threadgoode is an eighty-six year old resident of the Rose Terrace Nursing Home but grew up in Whistle Stop, not far from Birmingham. She grew up at the big Threadgoode house and, in the end, married Cleo.

Mrs. Threadgoode mainly tells of Idgie Threadgoode, a daredevilish tomboy who didn’t always like to conform, and Ruth Jamison, the prettiest, purest, most whole-hearted person you’ll ever meet. The two women owned a café in Whistle Stop. It was famous for the amazing barbecue cooked by none other than Big George. People say you could smell it all the way in Troutville and even as far as Birmingham.

Now, back when Idgie and Ruth’s story takes place, the fact that colored people could work for white’s and not be slaves was a huge deal, unlike today when you see every race in almost every town. Idgie and Ruth had three colored people working for them: Sipsey, Onzell and Big George. Sipsey and Onzell would work in the kitchen and out front while Big George was the barbecue guy. Sipsey was Big George’s mother and Onzell was his wife. They had four children: Jasper, Artis, Willie Boy, and Naughty Bird. Sipsey helped Momma and Poppa Threadgoode raise the children before the café.

Idgie had 7 siblings. But she most took a tie with Buddy. However, when a tragic train accident results in the loss of Buddy, Idgie runs away from home and only comes back when Big George would find her. But, after a little bit, she would be off again. No one knows where she would run off to.

One summer, when Ruth Jamison comes to live at the Threadgoodes because she was teaching Vacation Bible School, Idgie’s attitude is completely turned around and she falls head over heels for Ruth. Everything was great. Life was good. Until Ruth has to return to Georgia to marry Frank Bennett, the man she promised she would marry when she got back home. Idgie then returns to the woods and drinks all day every day.

Every once in a while, she would go to Georgia to check on Ruth but never had the courage to go up to the door. Until she finds out that Frank was abusing Ruth. Then a threat of death is made to him. A few weeks later, Ruth returns to the Threadgoode house and promises never to leave again. Little did anyone know that Ruth was going to bear a child. That’s when they start the café.

One day, the Ku Klux Klan pays Whistle Stop a visit. They stop in front of the café and stand there for a minute or two. No one knew, but Frank was part of that Klan and he hadn`t known about the baby until he saw Buddy Jr. (later to be nicknamed Stump. He didn`t have very much luck with trains either.). Later on in the book, Frank returns one dark night when Ruth and Idgie are at the big house visiting Momma Threadgoode and Sipsey are watching Buddy. Sipsey defends the baby from being taken by Frank by hitting him over the head with a cast iron skillet, killing him.

Big George then drives his truck into the river and cooks him into the barbecue. Big George and Idgie are later, put on trial for the death of Frank because they had both threatened him. Thank God for Reverend Scroggins who lie for the two, saying they were at a three day revival when Frank Bennett went missing. The case was filed as drunken driving since a body was never found.

It is a tale of feminism, lesbianism, aging, racism and food. It was made into a movie in 1991 and Hollywood does an awesome job of depicting this book and they`re themes. In one way or another, everyone can relate to it. Whether it be because they have ambition like Idgie, gentleness like Ruth, youth like Mrs. Threadgoode, or confusion like Evelyn. This is a book that is enjoyed by all and gives us all a good insight to what life was probably like during the Great Depression and even afterwards.

“The day I died started out bad and got worse in a hurry.”

Elizabeth “Betsy” Taylor turns 30, loses her job, and dies all in the same week. But that’s not the worst of it. Not only does she wake up in a tacky coffin wearing a pink frilly dress(Blech!) and cheap knock-off shoes(Double blech!), but she also wakes up! Dead people are NOT supposed to wake up! As you can probably gather so far, Betsy Taylor is a vampire.

Her best friend Jessica, new friend Dr. Marc, and mother think it’s great that she’s alive. Her father and step-mother however, don’t think it’s so great.

And to add to all this stress, it turns out that she isn’t like other vamps. She is the queen! She can be in the sunlight and not get second degree burns, walk into a church and not explode, wear a crucifix around her neck and not burn, and look into a mirror and see her reflection. However, if Tina or Eric (her loyal vamp friend and would-be consort) were to do any of those things…BOOM! they would combust.

There are kind of two different groups of vampires. The good guys and the bad guys. Eric Sinclair is a gorgeous, irrisistable vampire who Betsy is supposedly not attracted. At least, she tries not to be taken over by his charm and classic good looks. He is part of the good guy group, not to mention, stronger at about 70 or 80 than Nostro(bad guy) is at 500 years.

Nostro, as mentioned before, is the head bad guy. He must be taken over. So, as Betsy learns the tricks of the vamp trade, a plan is being made to destroy Nostro.

Needless to say, she accepts to help defeat him and, as it should be, Nostro is defeated and, after a very, very, very……descriptive few pages (I won’t go into deep detail), Betsy offically becomes queen. But because of her very descriptive scene with Sinclair, he becomes her consort. Argh! But, what can you do? Just because he’s the king and she’s the queen doesn’t mean they have to actually be in a technical relationship, right? She hopes so.

“A Queen shall ryse, who has power beyond that of the vampyre. The thyrst shall not consume her, and the cross never will harm her, and the beasts will befryend her, and she will rule the dead.“

“And the first who shall noe the Queen as a husband noes his Wyfe after the fall of the usurper shall be the Queen`s Consort and shall rule at her side for a thousand yeares.“

“It was a dark and stormy night…”

Odd science experiments, strange creatures, and alternate universes is what this amazing book is comprised of.

The art of “tessering” is one that takes practice. A tesseract is moreorless, a wrinkle in time. Makes sense, huh? Think of it like this: for an ant to walk on a piece of string, it would be a long journey for him to walk right across. Now, imagine scrunching the string so the distance is much shorter. That is what a tesseract is. A shorter way of traveling.

After attempting to “tesser” during a science experiment, Mr. Murry disappears. He was aiming for Mars but ended up on Camazotz. Four years later, his daughter Meg, youngest son Charles Wallace and neighbour Calvin O’Keefe find themselves on the planet Camazotz in a completely different solar system than the one that we call home after an encounter with Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which and Happy Medium.

The people on Camazotz are like robots. Everybody receives their paper at the same time every day. All the children go into their front yard at the same time and bounce their balls in the same rythym and so far and so forth. A little too perfect, I know. So, needless to say, when Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin land there and experience this brand new way of life, they are a little too confused.

But, the “thing” that makes the planet act like this, or IT, has captured their father and they are bound and determined to find and rescue him. But, by the time they find him, poor Charles Wallace’s mind has already been taken over by IT. In the attempt to battle IT, Mr. Murry must tesser Meg and Calvin out of there before they too get taken over.

Some very friendly beasts then help them refuel and once again, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which visit them and return, only Meg this time, to Camazotz to save Charles Wallace. As you can probably predict, Meg saves Charles Wallace and Meg, Mr. Murry, Calvin, and Charles Wallace all return safely home.

When you read the book summary, science fiction is usually what comes to mind. However, to many people’s surprise, this book is NOT science fiction. There is mystery, mysticism and a feeling of indeniable horror. I, personally love this book.

I find this book somewhat similar to Shelby’s post, Uncertainity of the Future. You never know what the future will bring. Maybe someday, someone will find a way to travel in this kind of fifth dimension. It would be pretty cool if someone did figure it out.

“What if your heaven-sent job turned out to be a living hell?”

This book is the story of Andrea Sachs, a wanna-be writer for The New Yorker. But, when she is offered a job at Runway, she takes it. Hey, she may not know a THING about fashion, but after a year with Miranda Priestly, you are pretty much guaranteed a job anywhere you want. Besides, it’s a job “a million girls would die for”. But, she has no idea what she’s getting into when she accepts to be her new junior assistant. I mean, the job description didn’t exactly say Starbuck’s Coffee runs, going to the Tommy Hilfiger studio to pick up tennis skirts and driving her French bulldog puppy all around New York.

I mean, the free clothes from “The Closet” are a bonus, but is it really worth it to give up your entire life for one person? Is it really worth it to abandon your raging alcoholic friend and worlds-greatest-boyfriend just so you can go to some fashion show in Paris with one weeks notice or to sit in the same bar as Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt? It’s not like Andrea WANTS to give up all those great things but, she really wants a job at “The New Yorker” and besides, it’s not a permanent position. It’s only for a year.

When Lily, Andrea’s best friend, goes into a coma however, Andrea makes a fast flight home from Paris after saying some not-so-nice things to Miranda at the biggest fashion show of the year. She knows life isn’t going to be as cool as when she was working for Miranda(free town car rides, free Starbucks, free designer clothes) but this way, she’ll actually get some sleep and live her life without having to worry when her cellphone rings that her boss may be on the other end screaming “Ahn-dreah!”.

I found this book extremely well written. The language isn’t exactly little-child friendly but it is definitely something a teenager/adult can relate to. Some of the tasks Andrea is sent out to do are hilarious and when Miranda decides to change her mind halfway through I can’t help but to laugh out loud.

The movie, on the other hand, was not as well put together as the book. But that’s just my opinion. They skipped out on quite a bit of the information found in the book. But, I guess when you’re trying to make a movie, it may have been easier and/or cheaper to leave information out and replace it with other ideas. But, I guess it’s whatever floats there boat. Meryl Streep does an amazing job as Miranda Priestly. Anne Hathaway does an exceptional job as Andrea Sachs. I reccommend the movie and book(but more or less the book) to any girl looking for a good read. I doubt that boys would enjoy this book as much but if they would like to try it, they can go right ahead.

Charles Dickens’ 1843 ‘A Christmas Carol’, portrays the true meaning of Christmas: good will to all men and compassion. It tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the owner of a money house in London who is completely anti-Christmas. He thinks that everyone should work every day including Christmas and those who don’t are “ill-used” because they still get paid for a day’s work.

But, even seven year`s later, he is just as bitter as he was when his partner, Jacob Marley dies. So, he hires Bob Cratchit to work for him. He doesn’t pay Bob very much money and him and his entire family are living in poverty. Bob has five kids and the youngest has a condition and needs a crutch. But he doesn’t let that bring him down.

On Christmas Eve, while Scrooge is in his bedroom preparing for bed, he is visited by the ghost of Marley. He is told that he will be visited by three spirits and if he doesn`t change his ways before the morning after Christmas, he will become like Marley and carry the chains of all his wrong-doings in his past. Scrooge doesn’t believe him at first, until he is visited by the Ghost of Chrismtas Past who shows him how he went from an outcast, to a friend who everyone enjoyed being around, to a rich, self-centered enemy that no one wants anything to do with.

He is then visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present who shows him how bad life really is for the Cratchit’s and just how much he is disliked by everyone in that household except for Bob who really appreciates what Ebenezer does for them. He is also shown how much his nephew really loves him even though everyone else hates him.

And finally, he is paid a visit by the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. He sees that he will die and no one will even care. All of his stuff will be sold by his housemaid so that she has a few extra bucks. The only person that will actually care is his nephew Fred. And that Tiny Tim won’t get the care and services he needs and will die.

Fortunately for Ebenezer, he realizes that he was a bad person and decides to change his ways. The day after Christmas morning, he purchases a huge turkey for Bob and arrives at work earlier than usual so he can catch Bob being late. He was late as expected and at first, Scrooge seems cross with his clerk. But finally, Scrooge announces that Bob is getting a raise.

And everyone lives happily ever after. As each book should.

Personally, I find this book one that should be read by all. The old-style English makes this story a little harder to read but, in the end, it all makes sense and it’s meaning very understood. Many movies have been made based on this classic book. I, personally, have only seen the Disney version starring Scrooge McDuck and Mickey Mouse.

However, the Citadel Theatre in downtown Edmonton puts on a terrific play adapted by Tom Wood. It’s very well put together and is put on annually. I reccommend anyone who gets the chance to go see it to do so. For more details on the dates, go to www.citadeltheatre.com.