The BFG

Goodreads Synopsis:    Captured by a giant! The BFG is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It's lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been carried off in the middle of the night by the Bloodbottler, the Fleshlumpeater, the Bonecruncher, or any of the other giants-rather than the BFG-she would have soon become breakfast. 

When Sophie hears that they are flush-bunking off in England to swollomp a few nice little chiddlers, she decides she must stop them once and for all. And the BFG is going to help her!

My Thoughts:

-    This is a very charming and endearing book! I loved sharing it with my 5 year old daughter.

-    This was really fun to read aloud. It was fun to say all the funny different words and speak for the BFG.

-    The illustrations are awesome! I love Dahl and Quentin Blake together. These books would be incomplete without Blake's fun and whimsical illustrations.

-    Despite the story being short, it is filled with wonder and imagination. Roald Dahl is a master storyteller.

-    I look forward to sharing more Roald Dahl and his delightful stories with my daughter!

Right after finishing the book, I asked Gnome what she thought, and these were her comments. Warning! There are spoilers!

Gnome's Thoughts:

-    I liked how they captured the giants.

-    My favorite part was when the giant was given a nightmare.

-    I liked how the BFG talked funny.

-    I liked when they fed the giants snozzcumbers.

-    The BFG was funny.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

My Thoughts:

-    Oh my flamboyance! Percy's acting was too much. I couldn't handle it. 

-    What the crap does "Sink me!" even mean? It baffled me every time Percy said it.

-    Ian McKellen is SO young in this! I almost didn't recognize him. He was awesome!

-    I liked seeing Percy's disguises. They were really fun and clever. 

-    This didn't follow the book very well, but I could see why people like it.

-    My husband thought Marguerite was very pretty. I couldn't over her giant afro. 

-    The music was over dramatic at times and very absent other times.

-    The best part of the movie was the costumes. 

-    This movie was bit over the top for me. I didn't hate it, but I didn't enjoy it either. 

-    I wouldn't mind seeing a more updated version of this with less flamboyancy.

Magician: Master

Goodreads Description:    He held the fate of two worlds in his hands... 

Once he was an orphan called Pug, apprenticed to a sorcerer of the enchanted land of Midkemia.. Then he was captured and enslaved by the Tsurani, a strange, warlike race of invaders from another world.

There, in the exotic Empire of Kelewan, he earned a new name--Milamber. He learned to tame the unnimagined powers that lay withing him. And he took his place in an ancient struggle against an evil Enemy older than time itself.

My Thoughts:

-    I enjoyed this book more than the first. It had a lot more action and adventure.

-    The story starts up a few years after Apprentice ends.

-    Throughout the story a lot of the Tsurani people earned my respect. I didn't think of them as the evil enemy anymore.

-    Pug's vision on the tour is long. It isn't super interesting, and I'm not sure I understood it all. 

-    The voyage through the Straits of Darkness was thrilling! I loved learning more about Amos Trask.

-    The ending was perfect! Everything ended well, right down to the last words exchanged between Arutha and Trask. Things were resolved and everything seemed put right. 

-    What affection I gained for the characters in the first book only increased in this one! I loved learning more about each of them, and I loved seeing everyone mature and grow.

-    This book was wonderful! Absolutely epic and awesome!

Magician: Apprentice

Goodreads Synopsis:    To the forest on the shore of the Kingdom of the Isles, the orphan Pug came to study with the master magician Kulgan. But though his courage won him a place at court and the heart of a lovely Princess, he was ill at ease with the normal ways of wizardry. Yet Pug's strange sort of magic would one day change forever the fates of two worlds. For dark beings from another world had opened a rift in the fabric of spacetime to being again the age-old battle between the forces of Order and Chaos.









My Thoughts:

-    This is one of my favorite authors of all time! I love his stories, world, characters, and writing.

-    There are a lot of characters in this book, but it is very easy to keep track of who is who and their station.

-    This book has everything! Magic, knights, romance, princes and princesses, aliens, action, chase scenes, pirates, battles, elves, dwarves, and more! It is epic!

-    I love how the characters grow and develop. This book takes place over several years, and the characters mature as they grow up. I love that!

-    There is so much going on in the story, but it flows really well. I don't get confused or anything. All the pieces just fit, and it is fun to see each character and their journey.

-    The ending is especially exciting. The battle at Crydee is so fun to read.

-    The story is not finished. There are so many things left to wonder about, but the ending is not a killer cliffhanger.

-    The enemy in this book is so interesting. Their different culture and the way they think really intrigues me.

-    I feel like my ramblings just don't do this book justice! This is a must read for all fantasy lovers!! 

Revolting Rhymes

Goodreads Bit:    Fairy Tales have never been more revolting!

Six of the best-known fairy tales are retold, with some extremely surprising twists, by the master of the comic and bloodcurdling- Roald Dahl.

My Thoughts:

-    I love Roald Dahl's humor. It is so unique!

-    I like Quentin Blake's illustrations, and I think they really fit Dahl's books, but I feel like even I could have do drawings like this.

-    The Cinderella was peculiar. It was a tad barbaric yet funny.

-    Jack and the Beanstalk was hilarious!

-    The evil Queen in Snow White has quite the rack.

-    This was a weird and more modern Snow White story.

-    Why was Snow White blonde?

-    I've always thought Goldilocks was a jerk! I love that The Three Bears poem depicts that!

-    I love what Red Riding hood does to the wolf!

-    The end of The Three Little Pigs is awful!

-    The picture of the wolf licking the pig's tail is a bit weird!