Two Tales

I read two good books this week-end. The first one is Sold, by Patricia McCormick. It's about a girl from Nepal sold into slavery in India.

I really enjoyed the main character's voice. She actually sounded like a 13 year old girl and the author doesn't hit you over the head with visual, poetic descriptions, she gives the reader a little credit for intelligence. Even though it was a horrible story of a young girl torn away from her loving mother (and hateful stepfather), it was still a beautiful story, especially the descriptions of her life in the village. Sometimes one chapter would simply be a list, but the list would tell volumes.

The second book was An Innocent Soldier, by Josef Holub. It's really a simple story about a farmer boy drafted into Napoleon's army to fight against the Russians. They lose, the army is destroyed and of 450,000 troops only 1/4 return home alive.I love anything about the Napoleonic wars, so I thought this was a great read, although the majority of the book has the main characters trying to survive frostbite.

It was about -10 outside yesterday, so a book about people sitting down one minute and being frozen dead the next was right up my alley!

I can't write about books without saying I love, love, LOVE The Bloody Jack Adventures, by L.A. Meyer.

I've read them all and they are soooo funny! I laugh out loud to myself and everyone thinks I'm crazy. There is no way to describe the stories (I've tried and ended up looking like an idiot), because there are too many stories going on all at once.

However, one small warning - this series, even though it's written for children- is most definitely rated PG-13.
If I could play any character in a movie I would love to be Jacky Faber, Pirate of the High Seas!