• Poland (Enchantment of the World) - Martin Hintz

I liked this one, better than the book on Hungary, but less than the book on Romania. The last chapter was a day in a life story that just kind of killed it for me. It's nice to actually know something about Poland now since I have a friend who lives there. Eventually I hope to visit her, but that might take a while. The library really needs to get better books on European countries. I think that I'm going to have to get a card to the university library.

• Romania (Enchantment of the World) - Terri Willis

This was a fun little survey of Romania that provides the reader with some general ideas about the country without going in depth. The pictures are beautiful and make me want to visit Romania and study it's history in a more academic text. I like this series much better than the one on Hungary. It's better organized and doesn't constantly repeat itself.

PS - I haven't been in a reading mood recently so until I get back in it I'll be taking my time on the books.

• Cultures of the World: Hungary - Robert S. Esbenshade

It's a nice little cultural introduction book on Hungary, but if you're looking for substance find a bigger book. There are some good pictures and some good info on society during communist rule, but it's just an intro book so, again, don't expect too much. Teachers might find it good to have around the room so that students can look at it though.

• The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

This was definitely light reading. I enjoyed the book and I got a lot of good quotes out of it. The main theme is beaten into you so if you miss the message to follow through with your dreams you're ... well, you're not processing things properly. I don't think it's a literary marvel, but if you're ever in need of an extra boost because you're afraid of something then this book could come in handy.

• The Divine Comedy: Inferno (Vol 1)

I've always wanted to read the Inferno, but I never got around to it for some reason. Finally, I found a book that had the original Italian on one side with the translation on the other, plus a bunch of extra stuff at the end of each chapter and then even more at the back of the book to break it down. I think that I was expecting a lot more out of this book since you hear so much about it, but maybe that's becasue I stll have two more books to read in order to finish The Divine Comedy. (I'm not saying that it was bad, just that I expected it to be amazing.) Thinking of the book in the context of the society in which it was written I can see why it was so popular.

• The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

This was such a fun read! I never wanted the story to end. It has a perfect mix of history and adventure that made me love the book. The Historian is another Dracula hunt, but this one is much different than the rest. It's easy to get behind the characters, to picture yourself traveling to amazing locations and researching in some of the best libraries. This is definitely one of my favorite books. I just wish it never ended. I think this is one that I'll reread in a few years.

• Dracula - Bram Stoker

I'm a scardy cat so I put off reading this for a very long time. However, it wasn't really scary. For the most part I kept imagining the characters as those in Mel Brooks' Dracula: Dead and Loving It. It's hard to get freaked out when you're imagining spoof characters. However, there was a part that did kind of get to me because it had to do with wolves and I read it at 3am with every dog in the neighborhood going off. Besides that it was all rather disapointing. By using journals, Bram Stoker had an interesting way of being able to switch perspectives while still using the first person. While that was interesting, the final scene felt like he was simply ready to finish the book and it was written without as much detail or adventure as one might assume was coming.

• Never Have Your Dog Stuffed And Other Things I've Learned - Alan Alda

The book was fun and interesting. It's a light read, but Alda has a lot to say. He writes about his life and the things that have affected him, and most importantly how they affected him. I've always been a fan of Alan Alda (I named a cat Hawkeye recently) and this book just reinforced my ideas about him. He's amazingly intelligent and just as OCD, if not more, about planning things out and being prepared so that he knows what he's talking about. I know that one of the main reason he writes the book is to overcome the urge to let the past rule your life rather than the present, but I think that the most important thing I got from the book is that it's okay to adapt yourself according to the situation if you find a way to do it without losing yourself in all of the adaptions.

• The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield

I expected a little out of this book, but I didn't expect to really be drawn into it as I read. However, it managed to captivate me. I really enjoyed reading this book. It's about a lady who gets asked to write a biography of a famous author. The author is notorious for lying to the press and the public about her life and the lady worries that the author won't be honest with her. However, after a few false starts, the woman begins to tell her her story. A story that no one would have expected. A story that's amazingly interesting and kept me entertained. I even read it at the Trace Adkins concert until the sun went down and I was left to stare at drunk middle aged people and wonder why they were so immature.