sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

October 18, 2008


readathon: hour 4
posted by soe 10:57 am

readathon logoI just finished my first book of the day. Not even noon yet. I feel so productive. Plus I washed the kitchen floor before I started reading this morning, so how about them apples?

Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale

From the jacket: “Dashti, a maid, and her mistress, Lady Saren, are shut in a tower for seven years because of Saren’s refusal to marry a man she despises, and the two prepare for a very long and dark imprisonment. When Saren’s two suitors arrive outside the tower, the girls are confronted with both hope and great danger. With Shannon Hale’s lyrical language, this little-known classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm is reimagined and and reset on the central Asian steppes; it is a completely unique retelling filled with adventure and romance.”

My take: I have yet to meet a Shannon Hale book that I don’t automatically fall into. She has a terrific grasp of how to breathe life into characters — both her main characters as well as secondaries — and you always find yourself turning the pages as quickly as you possibly can in order to find out what sort of thing they’re going to do next.

Because that’s one of the great things about her protagonists. Things don’t happen to them. I mean, yes, they do. Life swirls around them and they are, inevitably, touched by it. But they see what life is handing them and proactively turn to confront it. Her characters are actors in their own lives.

For Dashti, this is especially true. We meet her as she’s being bricked into a tower with a her mistress, a girl, we come to find out, that she’s only just met. But instead of freaking out (or taking the out that she is offered at the outset), she opts to remain positive and make the best of the situation. She rejoices that there is adequate food for her to eat for seven years — three whole meals a day — and a bed of her own upon which to sleep. She knows her place and her duty to Lady Saren, but she can’t help but claim a little bit of the situation for herself.

Time and time again she places herself between Lady Saren and the wolves — both metaphoric and real. The question is, when the time comes, will she be able to save her mistress — and herself?

Considering a Hale novel or just looking for a spectacular read? Pick this one up.

Pages: 329 (The library only had the large print edition, so this may have more pages than the regular print version.)


Other pertinent Readathon info:

Number of books read since you started: 1
Running total of pages read since you started: 265
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 3.25 hours

Category: books. There is/are 1 Comment.



Congrats on finishing your first book! Well done 🙂 That’s one I really want to read.

Comment by Nymeth 10.18.08 @ 11:52 am