The Last Lecture

If you don't recall this story from a few years ago, Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The college had a series known as Last Lectures, where professors would give a lecture as if they were to die tomorrow. Except, when Randy Pausch decided to give his, he really did have a deadline looming.

I'm not usually a fan of non-fiction books. In fact, I tend to find them rather tedious and hard to get through. But this was different. I flew through this 206 page book in record time: 3 hours.

It was touching and moving. But most of all, it wasn't entirely about the fact that he was going to die. Randy wrote this as almost a companion to his Last Lecture. The book included more information that wasn't in that hour long lecture. He talks about his children, his wife, his experiences just getting to where he was.

He said that his main goal was to leave some sort of lasting advice for his three children.

But he left lasting advice for all of us. Things like writing a thank you note or not complaining. He wanted to pass along bits of wisdom that he had learned during his life, things that would help normal people in their everyday lives.

I cried a little bit, but not nearly as much as would be expected. I mostly found myself wondering how I could apply his wisdom to my own life.

Read the book, watch the lecture, live your life.

Winter's Heart

**Links: Prequel * Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Book 6 * Book 7 * Book 8**

First, I want to say that my husband was so wrong when he said this was a slow book. He went on and on about how he hated it and I wouldn't like it either. But, guess what? I really enjoyed it.

Granted, there are some slower sections, but that has been the case with most of the books in this series.

I particularly LOVED the last chapter of this book.

But, let me describe a little better. The book was really split in three distinct sections: Perrin, Mat, and Rand.

The beginning of the book, you follow Perrin and Faile through some seriously tough times (which haven't been resolved). Then the middle, you get mostly Mat. Rand gets the end of the book, but occasionally appears through the beginning and middle. There's a little of Elayne and Aviendha, and very little of Egwene.

You discover characters that will make a huge betrayal, characters that find amazing strength, and even characters that you still can't quite figure out (Verin, anyone?). Rand performs an amazing feat in the last chapter (seriously, read through this book just for that). There are so many points in the book that just pull you in with excitement.

Little House in the Big Woods

The Little House series was one of my favorite reads when I was a kid. So, I decided to start reading it to my daughter. She's not always the easiest to read to, but she'll quiet down long enough for me to read a chapter of Little House to her.

This is the first book of the Little House series. It's just a sweet book. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her own life as this series. I think that's one of my favorite things about this. It's easy to read, which makes it great for kids that are starting chapter books, and the illustrations help keep the attention of littler kids. Plus, I mean, come on, it helps adults reconnect with those books we loved as kids.

Anyway, in this first book, Laura and her family live in a little log house in the Big Woods (which are in Wisconsin). It takes place over the course of a year - the beginning of winter to the beginning of winter. It's just a great view into what normal life was like for people in that time period. From farming and hunting, to cooking and making clothes, Laura Ingalls Wilder shares it all.

If you've never read this, read it. Read it for yourself, read it for your kids, it doesn't matter.

Gulliver's Travels

I'm going to preface this whole thing by saying this: if you are not an extreme bibliophile, you probably won't like this book.

Gulliver's Travels is split into four sections. In each of these sections, you learn about Gulliver's experiences with different groups of people: the Lilliputians, the Brobdingnagians, the Laputans, and the Houyhnhnms. He ends up in each of these societies when he is either shipwrecked or abandoned.

There are a lot of tough words (and I read this to my toddler), especially once you get to the fourth part. Swift used a lot of nonsense words that have to be defined in the book. It's also somewhat satirical about the British empire. It's not always explicit that he is making some sort of statement about the government of England, but they're there if you look deep enough (and know Jonathan Swift's works).

So, I'd mostly just recommend this to English majors and extreme bibliophiles. I enjoyed it for the most part, but I'm both an English major and a bibliophile.

The Path of Daggers

**Links: Prequel * Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Book 6 * Book 7**

Book 8 in Robert Jordan's epic fantasy The Wheel of Time. I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Maybe because it was shorter than the last book, maybe because the story really sucked me in. I don't know. But I enjoyed reading this.

The weather has changed after Nynaeve and Elayne, along with Sea Folk Windfinders, other Aes Sedai, and a group of runaways and wilders called Kinswomen channeled into the Bowl of the Winds. Now, winter has struck across the entire world. It is a drastic change from the heat they had been suffering with.

Egwene and her army (and the rest of the rebel Aes Sedai) are traveling towards the White Tower, where they intend to bring down Elaida and gain control of the home base of the Aes Sedai.

Rand is really struggling. The entire world is against him, but he needs to live to see the end because the entire world depends on him as the Dragon Reborn. The question is, will he survive the end?

Perrin is on the tail of Masema, the Prophet of the Dragon. Masema is creating chaos wherever he goes, all in the name of the Dragon Reborn. Perrin has to handle this and bring Masema to Rand so that the killing and chaos can stop.

I'm kind of looking forward to going on and dreading the next book. Supposedly, book 9 is extremely slow, but we'll see.

Beauty's Release

**Links: Book 1 * Book 2**

I'm sort of glad that I'm finally done with this series. It just made me feel sort of uncomfortable. When so much of the book is basically just forcible rape, it's hard to be ok with what's going on.

Granted, this last book was a little easier. There was less beatings and whippings, but there was still that raping going on. Beauty and five other "slaves" were kidnapped and taken to an Arab country to become slaves to a Sultan. But they're treated, not necessarily better, but gentler in their new location. Hence, less beatings. So I was able to deal with this story a little better.

I still don't know that I'll ever read this series again. Unlike Fifty Shades (which excited me), I just couldn't handle the discomfort that this story made me feel.

A Crown of Swords

**Links: Prequel * Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5 * Book 6**

Book seven of this epic fantasy series mostly followed two groups of characters. You follow Rand through a huge chunk of this book as he plots how to kill Sammael, one of the Forsaken. He has control over some Aes Sedai in addition to all of his followers in various countries and the Aiel.

But you also follow Elayne, Nynaeve, Mat, and various other characters in their grouping during this book. Elayne and Nynaeve have been tasked by Egwene (the Amyrlin of the rebel Aes Sedai) to find a bowl that can change the course of the weather, which, in the middle of winter, is scaldingly hot no matter where the characters are. In places where there is supposed to be snow, there is only heat.

Following the various different characters can sometimes be confusing. You have to be able to follow the different story lines, because the stories are not really the same for the different characters that you follow. But, if you are able to follow anywhere from two to half a dozen story lines, you will likely enjoy this series.

I enjoyed this one. Granted, they don't follow my favorite characters (Perrin and Faile) much, but the story was exciting, more so than some of the other books in this series.