Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen E. Though I say all this I still think that it may not be all that bad, and maybe some one else will find it better book than I did. I really couldn’t finish the book to be honest and would never recommend it to any one. The story line had potential, but was rushed in the beginning and slow in the end. It is written completely in first person (which is hard to do well so you can only imagine that this was poorly done) and felt like an amateurs fanfiction (trust me though there are a lot of fanfic better than this). The main character feels hypocritical and most of the characters are under developed (even for a short mystery novel). Very quickly into the story (maybe even less than forty pages in and during Maggie’s first day at her new job) Felicity (the Wiccan woman) becomes suspect of her sister’s murder. Maggie O’Neill an extremely annoying, preachy, full of herself and equally as closed minded young woman, loses her job (from what seems like a lack of hard-work) and instead gets a job working in an antique shop owned by a nice Wiccan woman. I liked it and plan on reading the other two books from this trilogy. Also I felt that a man writing a sex scene from a woman’s perspective felt kind of ridiculous (but again oh well). Personally the author’s writing was shit, but oh well. It was a really interesting twist on the biblical story and it gave many of the characters a little more depth then what some one may be used to. Most of the story is the author’s creation (things that aren’t mentioned specifically in the bible such as the really mean sister of Zipporah or how involved Zipporah was in getting Moses to listen to God). This follows the story of Moses from the perspective of the wife Zipporah, a Cushite and daughter of Jethro (high priest of the Midianites).

Reading these felt like having a night-full of many dreams where you always wake up before you get a definitive ending.

My favorite of the short stories were A Poor Aunt’s Story, A Perfect Day for Kangaroo’s, Tony Takitani, Chance Traveler, and Shinagawa Monkey (my least favorite is the one about the Ice Man). My only problem is that I wish I understood the meanings for some of the characters and their stories (like why did this happen or what does it mean that that happened). The stories ranged from dealing with deaths, to sex, to marriage, and identities. Like most of Murakami’s works, it has a surrealistic (full of magic) and mundane quality to the lives of the characters. For the most part, I read through this weekly and didn’t feel bored or compelled to stop. This was a collection of 24 short stories, most of which were fun and enjoyable. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami

The Trouble With Magic by Madelyn Alt