Fall On Your Knees and More Background Info

Happy new year to everyone out there!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've been really busy and a lot has been going on. I recently had two deaths in the family which kept me pretty preoccupied for a while. As well, my cockatiel, Gimli, passed away on December 31. All this, on top of the recent holidays, has kept me quite busy, so I haven't posted in just over a month. Let's get down to the goods:

Update on Fall On Your Knees:

I finished the book a couple weeks ago (took me a while because of how busy I have been), and it was awesome! Though it started out a little slowly, I trudged through the begining and found out just how amazing the story is! The book was set in eastern Canada the early 1900's and covered World War I, the depression, and World War II. Needless to say, because of the setting, the book covered a lot of Canadian history, despite it being a work of fiction. It also covered a lot of controversial topics, both relevant then and today. Some of these topics are: racism, sexism, incest, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and so many more. From what I've written, it probably sounds like a pessimistic book, but it is honestly one of the best historical fiction books I have ever read. It really gives an insight into what life was like during such hard times from many different points of view. I would strongly urge anyone to read this book as, due to the diversity of topics in it, I'm positive that almost anyone can find something to relate to in it. I have no regrets after reading this book. It was one of the best I've read all year, and I read a lot!

Speaking of reading a lot, over the past year or so, I have discovered new authors that I love, and new genres that I am addicted to. Here are a select few books, authors, and sets that I am particularly drawn to:

Michael Palmer - There's a little place in Powasson, On called the Treasure Mill. This summer, I went with my mom to browse at all the interesting things they had. I found my way to their bookshelf and randomly pulled out a book. The book was called Critical Judgment by Michael Palmer. This was the first medical mystery book I had ever read, and after it, I went on to read another of his books, Natural Causes. These two books opened up the world of medical/forensic mystery to me and I discovered a few other authors that I really enjoyed. Another of my favourites in this genre is Tess Gerritsen. The first book of hers that I read is called The Sinner. This book has so many twists and turns that you just can't put the book down because you are too anxious to find out what happens next. After The Sinner, I went on to read Body Double and Vanish, both by Tess Gerritsen as well. All three books really met my expectations (based on the blurbs on the back) and I have no regrets after reading them.

Though, as I said earlier, I only started reading medical and forensic mystery in the summer of 2007, I have been reading true crime books for the past few years. The book that originally got me hooked on true crime is Deadly Medicine by Kelly Moore and Dan Reid. I started and finished reading this book about 2.5 years ago, yet I still find myself thinking about it often. The book is based on the true story of a murderer nurse named Genene Jones, a nurse who risked the lives of and killed anywhere between 11 and 47 babies and children under the age of 7. You might now wonder what would bring someone to read a book about this, but keep in mind that the book covers the psychological and legal aspects of the investigation and trial. It also contains interviews with some of the children's family members and other people associated with the crimes or with G. Jones. Anyway, from this book, I went on to read another 20 or more true crime novels and found a well known author named Ann Rule. The most recent of her books I've read is Small Sacrifices. I recommend her books to anyone who is interested in this genre.

The last author that I'd like to mention is Diane Chamberlain. Of her books, I have read Her Mother's Shadow; Kiss River; Keeper of the Light; The Courage Tree; Cypress Point; Summer's Child; and Breaking the Silence. Not one of her books has disappointed me yet, and I doubt they ever will. Her books, as far as I know, are all fiction, though they are very realistic stories. They are also quite inspiring and, again, I would recommend her books to anyone who loves a good, realistic story about life and love, hardships and triumphs.

As well as the authors and books I've listed above, here are a few others that I have enjoyed:

Harry Potter - Yes, I was one of those people who had the last book reserved for me so I could read it the first day it came out!
The Chronicles of Narnia - I enjoyed the entire series.
The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Awesome books for girls and women (and maybe a few boys and men) of all ages.
Chicken Soup books - I have read a variety of these.
Ruth Rendel - My fiance's family is welsh and his mother got me started on this British writer.
Stephen King - Nothing terrifies and entices me more than a good Stephen King Novel (they sometimes give me nightmares)!

So, this gives you a brief (or not so brief, ha ha) look into what I most enjoy reading.

Last thing to update you on: Wedding plans.

Yesterday, despite being sick and calling in sick to work, I tried on my first wedding dress! It was amazing and I found the dress I want! I'll be buying it in approximately 4 weeks! Here's a picture of the exact dress!



Hope everything is well with anyone reading this! I'll post again a bit sooner this time!

A Bit of History / Fall On Your Knees

Hello people! This is my second post to my blog, and I figured that I would post a bit of background information about myself. I am 20 years old and I was born and raised in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. I love it here, though I would also like to leave someday just to see what the outside world is like. I have never really lived anywhere else, though I did spend some of my summers in Chisholm, a rural farming area with a fairly high concentration of Mennonites and Quakers. I also spent a few summers on Manitoulin Island, which is on Lake Huron.

I come from a mixed family. I have my mom, who was remarried when I was 7, so I also have a step-dad, Cliff. Cliff has two daughters, Jess and Hil, and Jess has an almost three year old son, Noah. I have my dad, who has also been remarried, then divorced again, and he is now with another woman with whom he had a son, my two year old half-brother, Thomas. My mom and dad had another child aside from myself, my full-brother, Chad. With so much blending, and marrying, and remarrying, just imagine the family chaos!

Speaking of marriage, I am getting married on September 20th, 2008 to the love of my life, Karl. If you check my profile, you should see a picture of us together. That picture was taken almost exactly two years ago, shortly after we started dating when we were 18 and in High School. High school seems like ages ago...

I went to college and graduated from a program called Office Administration. I want to go back for one more year so I can be a medical transcriber, but I won't be going back until September of 2008 (it's going to be a crazy month!). In the meantime, I work as a Customer Service Representative for an American cell phone company, Sprint. In layman's terms: I answer phone calls from the company's customers who have all kinds of crazy questions. For example, here is an *almost* direct quote from a call I had a few days ago:

Customer: "Hello, I needs you to track my phone calls on (date) during (hours). I needs to know what cellular towers my phones was working on sos I can prove to the police that I did not commit a crime they is blaming me of... And don't tell me y'all can't do it, 'cause I knows you can; I seen it on CSI!"

Needless to say, there are some really good days, some really bad days, and some days that make you laugh so hard that you almost pee your pants!

For now, that's pretty much all I'll tell about myself. When some more interesting things arrise, I'll post them.

Also, I just wanted to let you all know (you all being the millions of people who just so happen to be reading my blog) that I am starting a new book: Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald, a Canadian author. It's her debut novel, and so far I'm only about 10 pages in, but I am already hooked. So hooked, in fact, that I am going to head to bed to read now!

I'll post my thoughts on this book in a few days when I've finished it!

My First Official Blog! / Review of White Oleander

Yes! This is my first entry in my blog! I just started this blog on a whim, mainly because I needed to register so I could comment on someone else's blog that I really wanted to comment on.
As for right now, I'll probably just use this blog to ramble on about things that are going on around me, what I'm doing with my life, and most likely about books I've read and movies I've seen recently.

My first official blog is going to be about a book I've just completed, White Oleander by Janet Fitch. First of all, I'd like to start out by saying that I did not set out to get this book purposefully; instead, it found me. I have a friend who works for a small township, so she ends up working at the dump/recycling area for the township. Every once in a while, people stop by and drop off boxes and boxes of books that they just want to throw out. When I heard about this, I asked her to start keeping some books for me. One day, she stopped by with a box of books, one of them being White Oleander. I didn't give it much thought at first, so for a few weeks, it just sat around. Then, when I was out of choice reading material, I saw it sitting on my bookshelf and picked it up. Four days later, I was finished, after nights of not being able to put it down until 5:30am.

Needless to say, this book was amazing! It's a ficticious tale of a teenaged girl's adventure in the world of the American foster care system. The entire story is narrated from her point of view. Though I'm not going to get into very much detail (for fear of ruining this great work for anyone hoping to read it), I will give a brief synopsis:

The story starts with Astrid (the main character) describing her life with her mother. After a quick turn of out-of-the-ordinary events, Ingrid (her mother) ends up with a life sentence to prison, so Astrid enters the world of foster homes.

Her homes range from living in a converted trailer, to a run down house, to a beautiful masion lurking with a daily struggle for life, and many more. Each foster home comes with a story of its own, each story a unique adventure.

Because Astrid changes homes so often, the characters and settings in the book change frequently as well, making it hard to put the book down because you're always wondering what's going to happen next.

This book was a great read. Although it is a work of fiction, the story was written so well that you could believe it was actually happening to someone.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who craves a good story.

Next on my list: Watch the Motion Picture based on the novel.