We're Just Like You, Only Prettier

Okay, so who isn't surprised that I picked up a book called We're Just Like You, Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle? Because it really didn't surprise me. It's got all the things I love in a non-fiction book. Southern-ness, confessions, and sarcasm.

Anyway, it's by Celia Rivenbark, and it's 270 pages of hilarity.

Want to know about how to become white trash, "the change", and which kind of plumber you really want? Ask Celia. She'll tell you all about, then make you laugh with her Southern stories. And yes, you can literally hear her accent when it comes to the whole tone of the book. I love it.

Anyway, hilarious. Read it. Oh, and since it has the word "confession" in the title, and is a non-fiction book, I'm totally counting it as a memoir. So there.

Ella Enchanted

Okay, so part of my idea when I said I was going to read more award winning books was that I was going to read award winning kids books. Because, face it, sometimes you learn more from a kids book than you would than reading Shakespeare.

You think I'm kidding? Read The Missing Piece Meets the Big O by Shel Silverstein, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, or The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster.

Okay, there's my rant on why I love kids books.

Anyway, I have to admit that I saw "Ella Enchanted" when it came out (starring Anne Hathaway), and at some point heard it was a book first (unsurprising, really).

As far I can remember, the movie and the book (the latter written by Gail Carson Levine) are a lot a like. Well, Prince Char (for Charmont in the book, but Charming in the movie) is a lot nicer in the book. In the movie, he's kind of a diva.

Anyway, the book was fun. Ella has glass shoes, a terrible step-family (Hattie is really a terrible sister), can learn any language, and even tame ogres in her spare time. Not to mention runs away from finishing school, and steals Hattie's wig on her way out. Not bad for a girl who is cursed and has to do everything she's told.

Oh, and I did mention that her fairy godmother is her cook? Yeah, but she makes really good food.

The book won a Newbery Honor. I liked it. 3 snowflakes.

Dime Store Magic

So, Dime Store Magic is the third in Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series (the first is Bitten, the second Stolen). If you remember, the first (and second, though I haven't read that one yet) starred Elena, a werewolf.

This one stars Paige, a witch. A lot happens in the second that leads up to this, but Paige is in custody of Savannah, a 13 year old witch.

When a half-demon tells Savannah's dad (Kristof) of Savannah's mother's death, she also convinces Kristof to go after Savannah.

Paige knows that it's best for Savannah to stay with her, and goes about fighting for her. She employs a human lawyer (Kristof has a sorcerer for a lawyer), but he's killed (by Leah, the half-demon).

Lots of things go wrong after that, most of them involving police action. Between stealing grave dirt, killing a boy, bringing an entire mortuary of dead bodies into zombiehood, and a police chase, Paige has her own problem.

Lucas Cortez, a sorcerer, has shown up, volunteering to be her lawyer.

The only other really important thing you're missing? The sorcerer's have their own mob-type families, called Kabals, and both Kristof and Lucas are heirs to their own Kabal thrones. Lucas doesn't want it, and Kristof does.

So Paige is also trying to keep Savannah out of that kind of trouble, and falling in love with Lucas.

It's a lot to follow sometimes, and it's a little slow (it took me a while to really get into this one...maybe because I read Haunted, the 5th in the series starring Eve, Savannah's mother, before I read this one). Other than those things, I liked it.