104:49 The Ancient South Asian World by Kenoyer & Heuston

The book covered from 400,000 years ago to about the time of the Huns invading South Asia. Yes, it's coverage in brief but it was a good introduction to the material. I knew a little about the Indus Valley people but hadn't heard of the Harrapan civilization before. So much of the history of that time period is lost which is a shame. I enjoyed reading more about their religion and how some things have developed, many things stayed the same for many, many centuries even while incorporating bits and pieces from so many other cultures through trade and conquest.

A vibrant and rich culture warmly explained for the middle schooler.

Page count: 159p/13,452p ytd

104:48 Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione

Okay, normally I would have walked to the other side of the aisle from a book with this title but my SIL brought it over and said "read this series". Now except for the fact that she's a Twilight addict and I have yet to hear one compelling reason why I should read those books, our tastes are similar so I decided to give it a chance. I will admit that as the book started and within a few pages a demon and a demon slayer who didn't know each other were getting very up close and personal that this was going to be like the trainwreck Anita Blake has become with tons of sex for no purpose and no plot except something that keeps putting people in places so they can have sex but in this case there wasn't even any books with major character development leading up to that point.

I couldn't have been more wrong. Yes, the demon is an incubus so he is very sexual in nature and that leads to a ton of sex through the book but there is real plot, real character development, and a desire for monogamy. It was intense and had tons of action, both in and out of the bedroom, that kept me hooked pretty much from the start.

Page count: 400p/13,293p ytd

104:47 The Story of Art by E.H. Combrich

This reviews pertains to the 16th edition. Used as an Art History text for Christopher.

I have to start out by saying that I enjoy looking at the masterpieces and have been known to go to art museums from time to time but had really no clue about what brought about the changes in styles that we see through the centuries. This was an incredible book for me to read in that it detailed how each style of art learned from and then grew from the previous. It wove in not only the art and artists but the politics of the time that influenced what, how, and why they did it. The book was of course filled with pictures to show us the details of things as art moved from cave drawings to modern day (that being the 1970s for this edition) but more than telling us "Hey, this is great art and you should like it", it told us what the art meant to the people of the time, to the artist that created it. Did I like everything I saw in the book? No. There were pieces that did not appeal to me but at least now I can look at them and have a basic understanding of what it represents. I also admired the way he added to the end in the later editions to tell of new discoveries or show how things had changed from the previous edition and to show how trends had altered yet again.

This is yet another time when I am so glad to be homeschooling. This is a book that I never would have picked up on my own but I truly feel that my life has been enriched by reading it and learning from it and I highly recommend it to anyone wishing to better understand the history of art.

Page count: 637p/12,893p ytd

104:46 The Sorceress by Michael Scott

The 3rd book in the Nicholas Flamel series. Josh has now had his power awakened and he, Sophie, and Nicholas have fled to the heart of Dr. Dee's power, London in the hopes of getting the oldest of humani immortals to help them. The problem is Gilgamesh is quite insane and has issues with Nicholas. Dr. Dee is continuing to hunt them down and getting lots of big and nasty help in the form of an Archon from his masters. But if he continues to fail, he may be in more trouble than Nicholas and the twins.

Perenelle is still stranded on Alcatraz and many big, bad guys are headed her way to try and destroy her including the Morrigan and Nicolo Machiavelli. Add in a bunch of very scary monsters collected from all over locked in the cells and in a state of hibernation and Perenelle has her own worries to consider.

Again, very fast paced. There is so much going on all the time and the author weaves all the different character's pieces very effectively. My only complaint is that I'm now stuck waiting until next month to get the book and then it will be a long wait to see what happens after that.

Page count: 488p/12,256p ytd

104:45 Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by Alan Alda

Really an interesting look at a man that I pretty much only knew of as Hawkeye Pierce. I always loved him in MASH and when I saw this was expecting to see some of that humor come through so it was surprising that it doesn't. Instead what you find out is that it's a much quieter book, written like you were sitting there talking with him over coffee. It's gently written. You can see his passion for his work start at a young age. Hear his quiet devotion to his wife since they first met. Shake your head at the way he fixates on some things. I enjoyed it a lot, just not in the way I thought I would. He has an incredible gift and has gotten some really lucky breaks along the way but you also know that he's worked hard to get where he is.

Page count: 235p/11,768p ytd

104:44 The Great Brain Reforms by John D. Fitzgerald

T.D. has taken it too far this time when he risks the life of 2 boys in order to make 30 cents after swindling all the kids out of their best new presents shortly after his return from the academy. The kids in town have all stopped talking to him and his father has threatened to send him to a strict military academy if he doesn't shape up but J.D. knows that those things won't change his brother. It's up to him and the rest of the kids of Adenville to put the Great Brain on trial for his crimes as a confidence man, swindler, cheat, and now attempted murderer. But will even that help T.D. have a change of heart?

This one sees everyone finally thoroughly fed up with T.D. and all the crap he's been pulling and calling him on it. Will he reform? And even if he does, how long can it possibly last?

Page count: 165p/11,533p ytd

104:43 The Magician by Michael Scott

The 2nd book in the Nicholas Flamel series. This one takes place in the 2-3 days following the events in the first during their time in Paris. Parenelle is still Dee's captive back in San Francisco. The twins are still with Nicholas who has now gotten help by Comte de Saint Germaine and his wife, Joan of Arc. Dr. Dee has teamed up, sort of, with Niccolo Machiavelli who has brought in the Valkyries. He has also managed to plant many doubts in Josh about Nicholas and has brought him to meet the Sleeping God who may awaken his powers, but at what price?

Again, very fast paced. The author keeps things moving forward quickly (I would hate to be living their lives with everything that is going on constantly) and manages to switch between characters regularly so you don't end up wondering what is going on with someone. He continues to use good research to bring people/Elders and places alive and he includes some notes in the back, this time about the catacombs under Paris, to tell you the history of the people, places, or ideas which makes for a nice touch.

Still really enjoying the series and can't wait to find some time to read the 3rd book. I almost don't want to rush into it since the 4th one comes out next month and then if it's not over, it will be a long wait til the next one.

Page count: 464p/11,368p ytd

104:42 The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

The first book in the "Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" series by Michael Scott. After liking but not being overly impressed with the Percy Jackson series, I admit to not looking forward to this series but I was happily surprised and found it to be wonderful. The first book takes place over the course of two days but it's amazing how much they can pack into just two days. Nicholas Flamel and his wife have been hiding out in San Francisco as bookstore owners while guarding The Codex, aka The Book of Abraham, and keeping it safe from the Dark Elders who would use the information contained in it to bring back their full powers and enslave humanity. Who are the Dark Elders? So far we've only met 2 of the them but I wouldn't want either of them mad at me considering they are the Morrigan and Bastet. Their servant is Dr. John Dee who is a necromancer, alchemist, mathematician, geographer, astronomer, and astrologer. He was once a valued member of the court of Queen Elizabeth I.

So who does Nicholas Flamel turn to when Dr. Dee is after him with his allies? Well, there are the twins that have blundered into the thick of things who seem to be part of an ancient prophecy from the Book of Abraham and his friend Scathach but then there are the Elders, Hekate and the Witch of Endor. Hekate has powerful magic at her disposal, enough to bring forth a seed of Yggdrasil and awaken the powers of the twins. But will she and what will it cost her and what will it do to the twins?

I really loved the entwining of the different mythologies and personalities of the Elders/Dark Elders. The twins spend much of the book being very confused and trying to make sense of what is going on around them which is normal. Their personalities are not very strong at this point but at least they aren't whining or bratty which tends to really turn me off to a character. I look forward to their personalities coming out more in the following books. This book was very much getting the stage set and filling in the background on the older characters and did an excellent job of that while keeping everything moving forward. I also loved that the characters of Dr. Dee, Nicholas, and Perry were taken from historical accounts. Mr. Scott did his research on them and it shows.

Really looking forward to reading the rest of the series (what's been published so far).

Page count: 375p/10,904p ytd

104:41 The End by Lemony Snicket

I took the author's advice for quite a long time but finally curiosity overcame his sage advice and I succumbed to reading this final chapter of the Baudelaire children. It was just as sad and miserable as all the others and I have no idea why anyone bought these books and actually read them as it only brought more misery into already miserable lives. In this book, we see the Baudelaire children stranded on an island and threatened again by Olaf and the Medusoid Mycelium. I would tell you more but it would truly be best if you listen to the author and don't pick up this book and find out The End of this chapter of the Baudelaire's lives. Some things are just truly too horrible to speak of.

Page count: 337p/10,529p ytd

104:40 Last Words by George Carlin with Tony Hadra

Published posthumously, this is the sortabiography of George Carlin in his own words. He spent hours talking with Tony and just pouring everything out onto tapes with the idea of publishing something at some point. When George died, Tony finished it up and published it and this is the result. The book covers George from his birth, just about to his death and everything in between with no apologies and laying it all bare. This is Carlin putting it all out there. The years of drug use, his struggles trying to find his real voice, his many heart attacks and surgeries, his outlook on everything that happened on his road. I didn't really get into Carlin until he had hit his stride so hearing about all the more commercial stuff he had done and tried in getting there and just about his entire life was fabulous. I absolutely recommend this for any Carlin fans, just to learn so much more about what went on behind the scenes to make him the man we most remember.

Page count: 297p/10,921p ytd

104:39 The Great Brain at the Academy by John D. Fitzgerald

This had to be my favorite of the series growing up. I remember finding it hilarious outrageous the stuff he managed to get away with while under the noses of the Jesuits at the Catholic Academy for Boys. Rereading it now to my own children, I can better understand how he did get away with those things but I find the final scenes with Father Rodriquez to be much more poignant than I did as a child. Again, at the end of the book we see that Tom isn't just what his money-loving heart makes him. He is a child and he makes mistakes, many of them in his pursuit of showing off and swindling people but he truly doesn't realize how his actions can impact others. He may possess a great brain but his sense of empathy and moral compass are truly lacking but when he does finally have it thrown in his face that his actions have consequences for others that he did not intend, he is truly contrite which makes him very human. I like that in reading this, kids can see the different sides to the story and how ones' actions can have a much bigger impact than they thought it would and how their words and actions can hurt people when they had no intention of doing so.

Page count: 164p/9,895p ytd

104:38 Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

The 9th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I really enjoyed this one a lot. Several things mentioned in previous books are being brought up and dealt with: the shifters come out, Eric and Sookie start dealing with their relationship since Eric now remembers what happened before, the Fae feature prominently, and things come to a head with Arlene and her new "friends". I found that it wove all the pieces together well for the most part and moved really quickly. It was hard to put down simply because there were so many things going on all the time that you just had to see how all the different pieces played out and who would survive. The snippet from the next book helped to answer a few of the questions that were raised in this one and I can't wait to read it and get the rest of the answers or find out what new questions get raised.

Page count: 307p/9,731p ytd

104:37 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

A splendid version of this well known rogue. Howard Pyle did his research, reading many of the ballads of Robin Hood from centuries previous and weaving his own version where Robin is mischievous, arrogant, and proud but not mean-spirited or cruel. He kills one man in the beginning of the book in self-defense and this brings him such despair that he does not kill again for over 15yrs and then, again, only in self-defense. It really is a book about his fun adventures, roving the country side and tricking the rich or just having a lark. What I found interesting in this version was that it takes place primarily during the reign of Henry II and Eleanor although the history is wrong for that as he has the two of them about and having fun at tournaments together towards the end of Henry's life during which time Eleanor was in prison for treason. It made for a nice twist tho for then when Richard takes the throne, he and Robin meet and Robin pledges his service to Richard and goes off with him until Richard's death at which time he heads back to Sherwood and the issues between Prince John, the Sherriff, and Robin are touched on briefly. Another interesting difference is that Maid Marian is mentioned only once in passing. Truly, this is a boys' adventure although the boy is technically an adult but it strikes that chord in all of us to go out adventuring, living the care-free life.

Absolutely a must read for all, but most especially for boys. The language can be a bit daunting for the younger set tho. Matthew is still struggling through it. He enjoys it, but the language is definitely detracting from the fun for him.

Page count: 376p/9,424p ytd

104:36 Me and My Little Brain by John D. Fitzgerald

The third book in the series. In this one, Tom has left for the Academy in Salt Lake City and John is figuring he can take up where his brother left off. He finds out pretty quickly that it's not as easy as all that and he comes to the conclusion that being himself is a better thing. Then life throws another curve ball in the form of Frankie Pennyworth when his family is killed and look out when Cal Roberts escapes with the murder of Pa on his mind.

John really comes into his own in this book in so many ways. He isn't his brother but he shows his true heart, his faith, his love, and his loyalty are so much more important than a great brain. Probably the best book in the series for showing how much a person's character defines him.

Page count: 137p/9,048p

104:35 On the Banks of the Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The boys are continuing to enjoy the series. I like the lessons it teaches them about being content with what you have and showing how the family deals with wants vs. needs and about adversity and hope. We use it to talk about the science of "grasshopper weather", droughts, fire, and ball lightning. We learned about badgers, beavers, lichens, butterflies, and leeches. We talked about the wheat crops, willow trees, flowers and lichens and that led us to talking about what we would plant in the garden we plan on doing this year. The boys discovered the literary device of foreshadowing and how it is used. We saw how school was conducted in those times and discussed the differences between their schooling and ours. We admired Pa for his determination to do whatever it took to take care of his family including walking 250+mi to find work. The boys also had fun looking up quilt patterns to see what kinds the girls had been making and laughed when I showed them that the quilt on my bed is the bear paw pattern.

I just love how much they get out of these books in life lessons as well as the practical science and history. It's done so skillfully that it makes it easy to talk about further and frequently the boys bring up many of the questions or eagerly embrace a discussion on them. Such fun!

Page count: 358p/8,911p ytd

104:34 Favorite North American Indian Legends edited by Philip Smith

A Dover Children's Thrift Classics, this presents a collection of 13 North American Indian Legends with stories from the MicMac, Sioux, Passamaquoddy, Tsimshian, Pueblo, Cherokee, Isleta Pueblo, and Iroquois tribes. I thought it was a nice addition to our Native American studies since we spent a lot of time studying their history and hearing about their rich traditions but not much in the way of their stories. This helped to close that gap a bit in a nice way. Some of the stories have a lot in common with the ones we more commonly hear but others are very different but yet when looking at their history you can understand a little better the people that would tell them. I would definitely recommend this as a wonderful adjunct to your homeschool Native American studies.

Page count: 90p/8,553p ytd

104:33 The World According to Clarkson, vol 2 by Jeremy Clarkson

Ok, if you don't know who Jeremy Clarkson is don't pick up this book. He's offensive and generally an a**hole and makes no apologies for this. He tells you exactly what he's thinking which is never going to be politically correct. But for all that, he's funny. You may not agree with him but he has a way of saying the most outrageous crap and making you laugh, so long as you aren't taking yourself too seriously. He doesn't take himself or much of anything other than fast sportscars seriously. This book is a collection of his Sunday columns that he writes for one of the British papers. Each one is short and a quick read full of Clarkson's "wit". I learned about Clarkson when Mark got hooked on Top Gear (a British carshow) where Clarkson is one of the presenters. It makes it interesting reading his book because I can totally hear every word spoken in his voice. Is this stunning reading? Nope, not even close. But it's Clarkson and what you see is exactly what you get.

Page count: 318p/8,463p ytd

Crossing fingers I'm not jinxing us

So as I type this, I seem to be the only one with any lingering symptoms from the last several weeks worth of colds and other illness. Still a slight cough and my lungs are still not 100% but I'm upright more and starting to get back into the swing of things. I've gotten a walk in the last three days and today I'm staring at a great huge pile of laundry so I'll do some laundry stepping before hitting Kuk Sool Won tonight. I'm trying to stage a slow comeback in the hopes that this will keep something else from sneaking up on me and kicking my butt back into bed.

To top off all the illness tho, what would be better than a fender-bender? Yep, that was how we wrapped up our first normal Tuesday in weeks. Another guy I know was backing out his parking space at the same time we were and right into my blind spot. I didn't see him at all until after the bump and I looked in my side mirror as he was not visible from the rear of my car, likely hidden behind my spare tire. No one was injured since he had just barely stopped and I was pulling out slowly since I was in a busy parking lot. My car is fine (of course, it's a real car) but his tissue paper prius bumper is crumpled and will need to be replaced. My insurance is pushing for a no-fault claim so we'll see what happens there. Of course, now since we were in an accident that occurred at 5mph, we need a new carseat. *rolling eyes* So now I need to go take pictures of our carseat and send them to our insurance adjuster. The only nice thing is that we were in the process of looking at new carseats anyway that do a better job of converting to a booster than our current one so at least now we wont' have to pay for the whole thing out of pocket. Trying to look at the bright side here.

Yesterday nobody got motivated to do much around here so I guess the fact that everyone is already dressed and it's not 11a yet is progress. I freaking hate daylight savings time. Seriously. It will take 2-3wks to get everyone readjusted to the time change. I'm having a really hard time since it's now dark when I need to get up. Really?! Why did we have to change it so that it's dark when people need to be getting up and moving? Why just so that during the summer it will be light out when the kids need to go to bed of course! I swear it is the stupidest thing in the world but then making it so that we have DST for 8mos and standard time for 4 is even more ridiculous! Who wants to help me start a petition to get rid of it? I will seriously do this and send it straight to the White House. Pick a freaking time and stick with it already! Either that, or they need to send someone here to deal with Nicholas while trying to retrain his body. Ugh!

104:32 More Adventures of the Great Brain by John. D. Fitzgerald

The 2nd book in the Great Brain series which chronicles the adventures of Tom (T.D.) Fitzgerald as seen by his younger brother John. In this book he manages to take a girl that was raised more like a boy with no education and help her learn to read and write and even *gasp* wear a dress! He proves that there are not ghosts and learns that his great brain may do some great things like solving bank robberies but it still has a lot to learn about how to handle people, especially his parents.

The boys are continuing to enjoy this to the point that we had to read two chapters this morning to finish the book. It's interesting to see that in some ways they can easily identify with the boys behavior and attitudes even tho they aren't really compatible to how my boys behave today but somewhere back in their brains apparently those behaviors still resonate.

Page count: 142p/8,145p ytd

104:31 The Ancient Egyptian World by Eric H. Cline & Jill Rubalcaba

Absolutely loving this series! It really makes the history so accessible and fun! Admittedly it wasn't up-to-date on the most recent findings of what killed King Tut but since that was only revealed last month, I think it can be forgiven. I loved reading about the lives of the commoner as well as about the Pharohs. It was horrifying to read about the way the ancient artifacts were disregarded back in the 1920s including how they literally cut apart King Tut in order to remove him from his tomb. I had no idea that archeologists would have ever done that! It was fascinating to read about their ancient medicinal practices and as we progressed to read about the inventions and discoveries made at the Library in Alexandria, some of which we still use today and some which were discovered almost 2000yrs before being commonly accepted like the fact that the Earth is round. They knew it back then!

Page count: 172p/8,003p ytd