"Eldest" by Christopher Paolini

My reread of the Inheritance series stalled out for a while with this book, I'm afraid.  I think it could have been about 200 pages shorter, and it would have been a much stronger book.  Imagine if The Empire Strikes Back (1980) was three hours long, and a full hour of it was Luke and Yoda hanging out on Dagobah, and you get an idea of the pacing issues.

That aside, I do enjoy the fantasy world of Alegaesia.  And Eldest had lots and lots of time spent with Roran Stronghammer, who is my favorite character in the series.  I very much enjoyed all of his sections, especially since they moved forward at a relentless pace.  I do get that part of Eragon's character growth was learning to be patient and to stop wanting to be going and doing at all times... but I think we could have experienced that arc just as well with a lot fewer pages.

Particularly Good Bits:

If any honor existed in war, he concluded, it was in fighting to protect others from harm (p. 2).

"History provides us with numerous examples of people who were convinced that they were doing the right thing and committed terrible crimes because of it.  Keep in mind, Eragon that no one thinks of himself as a villain, and few make decisions they think are wrong.  A person may dislike his choice, but he will stand by it because, even in the worst circumstances, he believes that it was the best option available to him at the time.  On its own, being a decent person is no guarantee that you will act well" (p. 351).

"To have a child is the greatest honor and responsibility that can be bestowed upon any living being" (p. 362).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for fantasy violence.  Nothing gory, but not suitable for small children.  I think it may have had one or two old-fashioned cuss words, too.  No smut.

"Rowan Farm" by Margot Benary-Isbert

Rowan Farm is the sequel to The Ark and continues the story of the Lechow family as they attempt to build new lives and a new home in post-war West Germany.  Informed on the author's own knowledge and experiences after WWII, these two books show the chaos and ruin of Germany after WWII, but also the courage and hope of the people who work together to make the country fit for life and love once more.  

The youngsters from The Ark all live at Rowan Farm by this point, and have acquired some new friends.  Margret and Matthias, the two oldest Lechows, both have some romantic misadventures, though one of them does find love and start making plans for a future marriage by the end of the book.  This book is a little less funny than the first one, but instead feels more poignant and contemplative.  That feels very natural, because most of the Lechow children are pretty well grown up by the end of it.

As you might expect from a book about life in post-World War II West Germany, many struggles are portrayed here.  A new schoolmaster comes to town, a veteran who lost an arm in the war.  He and his pupils try to build a home for displaced veterans out of an old farmhouse and meet with a lot of opposition.  Other war veterans come through the story, all weary and burdened with doubt and dread and remorse.  Some new characters are escapees from Communist East Germany.  

The book never discusses Nazis or the cause for the war, only the helpfulness of American occupation troops in getting Germany back to being good and productive again.  Benary-Isbert was German herself, and wrote the first draft of The Ark while sharing an apartment with two other families in West Germany after WWII.  Both it and Rowan Farm were completed in the USA after she moved there with her husband in the 1950s.

I read Rowan Farm out loud to my kids over the past couple of months, and it marks a first for us -- we started reading it immediately after finishing The Ark.  Usually, I read a different book in between books in a series, but none of us wanted to wait to get to this book.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-10 for discussions of death, loss, and suicide.  That all happens off-page, but is discussed by the characters.  No cussing, smut, or on-page violence.

This has been my 38th book read and reviewed for my 4th Classics Club list.

"Forget Me Knot" by B. R. Goodwin

Sometimes, when I have a very busy and stressful week or so, I want to read something short, bright, and perky.  This past week was overstuffed, and so I read Forget Me Knot because I knew it would make me smile and keep me interested, but not stress me out by being really suspenseful or anything.  It delivered everything I wanted: nice characters I'd like to be friends with, a cute little town I'd like to live in, and a sweet-but-not-sappy romance.  

There aren't a lot of authors that can get me really invested in a book that has a romance-driven plot, simply because I prefer plot-driven romances, on a whole.  B. R. Goodwin pulls it off handily, and I totally trust her to strike the right balance between romantic and realistic.

Forget Me Knot is about a young woman named Dinah who moves to a small Georgia town to be closer to her widowed sister and niece.  Dinah opens a pretzel shop and starts to fall for Jack, the guy who owns and operates a flower shop next door.  But Jack has a very complicated life because he has (SPOILER ALERT!!!) a split personality thanks to a traumatic head injury.  B. R. Goodwin doesn't offer any simplistic or unrealistic solutions to the inherent difficulties that presents, and I really appreciated her balanced and open-eyed look at that.

Particularly Good Bits:

Sometimes, when someone grieves, just allowing them to talk about their loved ones in their own time is the best offering (p. 61).

"No, Dinah, it sucks.  It's okay to say it sucks.  Grief isn't measured with time.  There aren't rules for how long you're permitted to miss someone, and pretending that you don't will only hurt more in the end" (p. 170).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-16 for a LOT of gushing about how attractive a man is, women talking about their ovaries reacting to a man, some kissing and caressing, and just generally being more romantic than a younger teen is going to enjoy anyway.  Nothing smutty -- you can't even call it "closed-door" because Dinah and Jacks are both committed to waiting for marriage before having sex.  But I also wouldn't hand this to my young teen daughters.

"Pictures by J. R. R. Tolkien" ed. by Christopher Tolkien

My husband got me this book for my birthday, and it is a visual treat!  Oodles and oodles of drawings and paintings by Tolkien, mainly related to Middle-earth, but not entirely.  And each one has a note from his son Christopher explaining what the picture is, when it was done, where it was published before, and so on.  

Many of the pictures have the original black-and-white artwork by Tolkien and then a version that had color added for a calendar or some book edition.  I found those especially fascinating, maybe because I'm very drawn to black-and-white artwork.  And I'm fascinated by the process of someone else trying to stay true to the original artist's idea while adding color to the artwork.

This book doesn't take long to enjoy, but it's one I'll pull out and savor again and again.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Nothing objectionable here.

"Sinister Spring" by Agatha Christie

Like Autumn Chills and Midwinter Murder, this is a collection of short mysteries by Agatha Christie that all take place in a particular season.

Hands down, my favorite short story in here was "The Girl in the Train," which was funny, quirky, and exciting all at the same time.  It made me think alternately of P. G. Wodehouse and F. Scott Fitzgerald, which is no mean feat!

I also very much enjoyed "Have You Got Everything You Want?" (I'm becoming a Parker Pyne fan) and "The Soul of the Croupier" (I'm also becoming a Mr. Quin fan).  

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for various crimes such as murder and theft, and attendant mild violence.

This is my 37th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.