And Dragonsinger<\/em><\/strong> is the 2nd book in a trilogy.\u00a0 The first one, Dragonsong<\/em>, is very wonderful but its the second one that always makes me so happy inside.\u00a0 Its a tale of a girl with a talent that her family doesn’t appreciate.\u00a0 In the first book she runs off & by the end is found by those who appreciate it.\u00a0 In the second book its her awakening to the value of herself and her talent in a seven day period of her first week at music school.\u00a0 And its THAT which gets to me.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course its also set in a far away world with dragons & daggers & a whole lot of other wonderful things.<\/p>\n I finished that book with the usual box of tissues by well after 11pm on a Friday night and the next morning promptly picked up my second favorite, Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Again the plot is about a young girl who doesn’t realize it is her very difference which makes her the heroine and eventually saves the day.\u00a0 But my favorite scene is when she triumphantly returns home (to beg help to defend a narrow pass from the evil coming from the north) to friends & family who were dismayed they couldn’t seem to fit her into their prescribed idea of respectable.\u00a0 And here she is not only dead but on an enviously wonderful horse & a coveted King’s Rider to boot.\u00a0 (Of course she marries the King by the end of the book, but that’s the expected par for the course isn’t it!)\u00a0 The style of McKinley’s book is a little like reading a Kipling.. if he were a woman. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n The third of my favorite feel good reads I didn’t get to on the weekend as I’d set myself the goal of stripping the paint off the wood trim of a window a weekend.\u00a0 I had that goal AND the goal of truly scrubbing my upstairs bathroom top to bottom including washing the tiles with Soft Scrub & a toothbrush to try and do in one day!\u00a0 In any case I only managed to complete 3\/4ths of by the end of Sunday.<\/p>\n I have many books and series I adore both in and out of my library but none that I can whip through quick in a half day of self indulgent pleasure.\u00a0\u00a0 And these three will never get lent out.\u00a0 NEVER.\u00a0\u00a0 Love them much too much to lose them.<\/p>\n I hope everyone has a favorite comfort read and I hope everyone gets the chance to indulge themselves in it at least once a year.<\/p>\n Happy New Year Friends<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes when I desire an escape I crave the assurance of a favorite book.\u00a0 To jump into a world that I KNOW I already love with an adventure I KNOW stirs me and makes me happy. There are only three … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Dragonsinger.jpg\" "\\"Dragonsinger\\"")
<\/a>McCaffrey has long been one of my favorite authors and I adore all her books.\u00a0 Now that she’s quite aged her son had taken over writing her well know Dragonrider series.\u00a0 He’s local to So Cal so I’ve met him on the rare occasion of attending a panel with him at a Science Fiction convention.\u00a0 Very nice guy.\u00a0 And he’s done right by the series, even though my “almost 50” taste is books has moved me to enjoy it less and less.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Blue-Sword.jpg\" "\\"Blue")
<\/a>This one took a bit longer to read as there were distractions from the kids throughout the day but by dinner I had well finished it.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Restoree.jpg\" "\\"Restoree\\"")
<\/a>If I’d not had that chore I would have happily delved into my favorite 3rd book.\u00a0 Another one by Anne McCaffery and one of her more unknown titles.\u00a0 Restoree<\/em><\/strong> is my favorite as its a wonderful romance different than any other.\u00a0 An ugly duckling girl sees blinding lights and wakes up in a mental institution.\u00a0 Everyone is goldenly tan, even herself, and many of her uglier features are gone, including her large nose.\u00a0 She realizes she’s not safe & in charge of a hulking mental patient & tries to wean the both of them off the drugs in the food.\u00a0 She manages it & it turns out he’s the regent for the king so they escape together.\u00a0 Even crazier, she’s on another planet & has to keep her origins all hush hush.\u00a0 My favorite moment, when they’ve captured a bad alien ship, found the coordinates to Earth & plan to send an envoy.\u00a0 She blandly tells them they’d better go very carefully as HER world has missiles and if these bad aliens have been harvesting humans they no doubt have been fighting back!\u00a0\u00a0 I love her and, of course, she gets the sexy regent to marry her in the end.\u00a0 (You know, for the green card!)<\/p>\n