Giving My Brain a Break

Picture of the Day for 4/30/2010. This is an update to my "Flight of the Old Dog" entry from two days ago. I managed to slog through the rest of that book last night. Whew. It is my conclusion that the novel contained 5% character development and 95% technical aviation/military jargon. I decided to give my poor brain a break from all the technical jargon by reading something completely different- "East" by Edith Pattou. I read about 100 pages today during my hair appointment (yay for no gray hair, by the way). It was so nice to fly through the book (it's quite a page-turner) rather than make my tortuous and labored way through each page. Another plus- "East" has a really pretty cover. (Yeah, I'm pretty shallow in case you haven't already noticed.)

For those of you interested in the plot of "East," below is a book review from Amazon.com:

"In the rural villages of Norway, there is an ancient belief that children inherit the qualities of the direction in which they are born. Nymah Rose, the last daughter of eight siblings born to a poor mapmaker and his superstitious wife, was a North-born baby. It is said that North-born babies are wild, unpredictable, intelligent, and destined to break their mothers' hearts because they all leave hearth and home to travel to the far ends of the earth. To keep her close, Rose’s mother lied and told her she had been born of the obedient and pliable East. But destiny cannot be denied. One day, a great white bear comes to the mapmaker’s door to claim Rose’s birthright. Everything that comes after, as richly imagined by author Edith Pattou, is the basis for one of the most epic romantic fantasies ever told. East is a deftly woven tapestry that melds traditional fairy tale motifs of both Beauty and the Beast and East of the Sun and West of the Moon, with the haunting icy lore of medieval northern lands. Told in a changing chorus of voices, including that of Rose, her hopeful brother Neddy, her regretful father, the charmed white bear, and the Troll Queen whose selfish wish is the catalyst that seals Rose’s fate, East will enchant any and all who venture within its pages."