December Stats amd Reads plus a Review

I normally don't put everything together but the fact that I am losing my laptop for a little bit has urged me to get things done.

Here are my stats and reads for December:
1.The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffmann 12-01-09 through 12-30-09 A
2.The Christmas Blessing by Donna VanLiere 12-30-09 through 12-31-09 A+

Total Books I Read: 2
New Authors: 1
Fiction: 2
Non-Fiction: 0
Chunkster: 0
Mystery: 0
Romance: 0
From the Stacks: 2
Books for Review: 0
Books I Bought:3 (2 with gift card)
Total Pages Read: 311

Now for the review portion:
The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffman

This particular translation was done by Aliana Brodmann. I found her explanation of the story very interesting. As the story started and you got a glimpse into the children's world, I fell in love with Marie and the presents her Godfather Drosselmeyer would bring them. The little nutcracker was so sweet but there was more to his story. Her whole family thought Marie was making everything up including the battle between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Godfather Drosselmeyer told a story how the nutcracker came to be. Marie even had a dream of meeting the nutcracker and going off to worlds unknown.

The book was really good but due to life, it took me forever to get through. The story was so different from the ballet. The action was really good and well paced. I loved the rhyming and how Marie refused to believe any different than what she saw in front of her. She was a strong willed little girl but she was loyal to a fault. Godfather Drosselmeyer was a great character who brought depth to the story than even I could imagine.

This is one book that I hope to read to both my boys. It may be awhile cause it was a little scary at times even for me. But I loved reading it and the pictures were gorgeous! Definitely one of the highlights of this Christmas season for me.

E.T.A. Hoffman/ Children's lit/Fiction/99 pages/ 4 out of 5

Well if you must know, I bought The Cat, The Quilt, and the Corpse by Leann Sweeney as well as The Fashion Hound Murders by Elaine Viets with a gift card I got in a work gift exchange. :) I then bought The Polar Express by Charles Van Allsburg with Christmas money from my grandparents. Well Wee One should be up soon, so off to go check on him. I'll post the other review and my Year in Review some time this week.