The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

"Armed with only his wits and his cunning, one man recklessly defies the French revolutionaries and rescues scores of innocent men, women, and children from the deadly guillotine. His friends and foes know him only as the Scarlet Pimpernel. But the ruthless French agent Chauvelin is sworn to discover his identity and to hunt him down."

 Dana says: I had never heard of this book until my friend Shelley suggested it for my ladies classics book club a few month ago. I am glad I added it to the reading list as I really enjoyed the book. It did take me about 50 pages to get into it but from then on it was hard to put down. Very fast paced with surprises, suspense, heros, villains, romance and historical insight into France and Britain during the late 18th century. I enjoyed the characters (even if Margarite Blankely is rediculously vain) and found Orczy's writing to be quite smart and entertaining. I even learned a few new words! Highly recommended for anyone who likes a good adventure story with good writing!

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

Dana says: This was my first George MacDonald book and was recommended for my Ladies' Book Club by a few of my girlfriends who love it. I did enjoy it even though I felt like I was reading a children's book. I normally do not read fantasy and found the creativity and imagination of MacDonald to be delightful. His depiction of the cob's animals was one of my favorite parts. I also liked the sweet relationship between Irene and her King-papa and the some of the conversations between Irene and Curdie and Curdie and his mother about believing and understanding. I kept waiting for a twist or major revelation of some kind at the end but there really wasn't anything like that.

I think Irene's great great grandmother in this book is supposed to be some kind of God-type figure but she seemed very strange to me and for most of the book I wasn't sure if she was good or evil. I think I expected her to be more of a figure like Aslan is in the Narnia series than what George MacDonald portrays in this book. Maybe I will change my mind after the Ladies' Book Club discussion...

The Question of God - Armand Nicholi, Jr.

This book is not written as a "conversation" between Lewis and Freud as some authors do. It is a very well organized and readable description of each man's views on various topics. Nicholi uses a number of quotes from the personal and public writings of both Lewis and Freud to demonstrate these views and their fidelity to them.

I thought this was a really well done book and was easy to read.