Breaking Dawn Cover

The cover for Breaking Dawn was released with the Eclipse Special Edition today.

Breaking Dawn Cover

The preface and first chapter were also released. Unfortunately, Stephenie doesn’t have permission from the publisher to put them on her website yet. There are links to them on the Internet, but I don’t want to violate any copyright laws by linking to them. :? If you want to read the preface and first chapter, either do a search for them on the Internet or go to your local Borders and read them in the back of the Eclipse Special Edition. ;) It’s really exciting and I want August 2 to be here sooner than ever now! :D

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Mansfield Park CoverTitle: Mansfield Park

Author: Jane Austen

Series: Stand-alone

Genre: Classic

Pages: 464 Pages (Paperback)

Original Publication Date: July 1814


Overall Rating:
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Summary from Goodreads

Taken from the poverty of her parents’ home, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with only her cousin Edmund as an ally. When Fanny’s uncle is absent in Antigua, Mary Crawford and her brother Henry arrive in the neighborhood, bringing with them London glamor and a reckless taste for flirtation.

As her female cousins vie for Henry’s attention, and even Edmund falls for Mary’s dazzling charms, only Fanny remains doubtful about the Crawford’s influence and finds herself more isolated than ever. A subtle examination of social position and moral integrity, Mansfield Park is one of Jane Austen’s most profound works.

My Thoughts

Mansfield Park is the first Jane Austen novel I’ve ever read. It was difficult to get into at first, but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

My co-workers Erin and Becky, and I were going to read Mansfield Park as our March book for our book club. But, everything got really crazy with work so we abandoned it. By the time we decided to abandon it, Becky had read the first chapter, Erin had read 11 chapters, and I had read part of the first paragraph. :?

Once work slowed down a bit, Becky and Erin decided they didn’t want to finish reading Mansfield Park. (Becky was too interested in other books and Erin despised Fanny, the main character, so she didn’t want to continue to read it. :roll: )

I started to read Mansfield Park in mid-April. Even though I didn’t quite get into it at first, I forced myself to read until I did. I wanted to read a classic since I’ve only read one–The Scarlet Letter. I don’t think I would’ve been able to get through the first few chapters without the help of Spark Notes, not because I didn’t understand what was going on (except for the first chapter), but because it helped me see the end goal of the book.

I’m very glad I did force myself to read until I got into the book because I ended up enjoying the story quite a bit. It was very interesting to read about the focus placed on one’s “place” in society, the importance of marrying well, and the social implications that occurred during the 1800s.

The story’s about a girl, Fanny, sent to live with her rich uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas Bertram and Lady Bertram, in Mansfield Park. She grows up with Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram’s four children, Tom, Edmund, Maria, and Julia. Almost everyone in the household, including another aunt, Mrs. Norris, treats her as an inferior. The only reprieve she gets is from Edmund, who becomes her only friend. (As a little tidbit of trivia, the cat Mrs. Norris from Harry Potter was named after Fanny’s aunt Mrs. Norris.)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Read at your own risk as this post contains spoilers. ;) However, the post’s basic gist is that I loved the movie and can’t wait to add it to the collection.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal SkullI just got back from seeing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. :D I saw it with Corey and some of my co-workers–Erin, Jeff, and Becky–and Becky’s husband, Matt.

Erin and Jeff didn’t hate the film, but they didn’t like the alien themes because it seemed too far from the original three movies. At first, I sort of agreed, even though I liked the film overall. However, after I thought about it, I decided I actually liked the alien themes. It was different from the original three movies, but the movie does take place 20 years after Crusade. And, if you think about it, Raiders and Crusade dealt with the Nazis because Hitler was a nut about collecting religious relics. Of course, those two movies are going to deal with religious themes. Isn’t it safe to assume that since Crystal Skull is set in the late 50s, the movie’s going to have an extraterrestrial theme?  I think so. ;)

I didn’t necessarily like all the CGI because it separated this one from the original three movies. However, in my opinion, it didn’t detract too much from the film.

I loved that Spielberg and Lucas kept with the theme of having a mountain at the beginning of the film, even if it was a prairie dog hill. :lol: I also loved that Indy went home empty-handed as he did in the others. (I was worried the movie wasn’t going to stay consistent with the others in those two respects.) I also loved seeing the ark! :D I enjoyed the story, I enjoyed seeing old friends (Marion Ravenwood from Raiders), I enjoyed how Marcus Brody’s and Henry Jones’s characters were put in the movie, and I especially enjoyed realizing that my prediction of Mutt being Indy’s son came true. All in all, I really liked the movie and I’ll watch it just as much as I have watched the original three.

I can’t wait for the fifth one! :D Yes, they’re making another one. The Indiana Jones movies were always meant to be a five-movie set; it just took a little longer than they hoped to get the fourth one out. (Now if Lucas will just make the last three Star Wars movies, my life would be complete. :lol: ) Who knows? Maybe, they’ll make more Indiana Jones movies and keep passing the character down to new actors. :D

Saturday’s Signing and After Party

Saturday’s signing for The Host was at Highland High in Salt Lake and it started at 11:30 am. We had been waiting in line for about an hour to an hour and a half when the doors opened at 10:30. We got seats about ten rows back, but it was a perfect view.

Waiting in Line Waiting in Line

Like we did at Friday’s signing, once we got settled in our seats, we started to have fun by talking to other people at the signing and taking pictures of us everywhere. We even had our picture taken by the Desert News, but it didn’t end up in the paper. However, Danylle and Lori did end up in the paper! :D

SLTA

Stephenie MeyerJust like Friday’s signing, Stephenie Meyer came out to a standing ovation and lots and lots of enthusiastic screams! Before she started to sign the books, she answered a few pre-submitted questions, dealing mostly with The Host. She answered most of the same questions on Saturday as she did on Friday, but she did answer a few more as well. It was pretty cool! :D

My Signed New Moon BookOnce she was done answering questions, she started to sign books. I only said, “Hi,” and “Thank you,” to Stephenie when I had her sign my books this time around because they were making an announcement just as it was my turn. I was disappointed at first. But, I realized it was okay because I already had a great interaction with her and I had my book signed by her. :roll: Since I already had The Host personalized, I had her personalize one for my friend Ali. I also had her sign my New Moon book and Ali’s Twilight book.

After the signing, we had our closing social. :lol: We ate taco salads, played games, said good-bye to Lori and Laura, and watched Lori on the news.

Emily, Angie, Me, & Shauna Rachel, Alysa, Shauna, Michelle, & Laura Alysa, Cami, Holly, & Christie

All in all, it was a great three days! I’m sad that it’s over. ;)

Friday’s Signing and After Party

Friday’s signing for The Host was at Thanksgiving Point and started at 7:00 pm. Our group met at the dinosaur museum around 4:00 pm to get ready to be let into the Show Barn at 4:30 pm. While we were waiting, Kayla painted “souls” on our necks for the signing.

My Soul: Many Shades of Crimson

Walking into the Barn at Thanksgiving PointWe were going to start camping out around 8:30 am. However, thanks to Nancy, we didn’t have to camp out to get good seats. We were let in the Show Barn around 4:30 pm, even though the doors didn’t open until 5:00 pm. Because the staff wanted to give the people who’d camped out in the sun all day the front few rows, we ended up in the fourth and fifth rows. We were so stoked! Thank you, Nancy! :D

Once we got settled in our seats, we started to have fun by talking to other people at the signing, taking pictures of us everywhere (one of them was even with Stephenie Meyer’s camera :D ), and meeting and talking to Stephenie’s older sister Emily.

The Group

Lori was interviewed by Fox 13 News and made it on the 5:00 news. Some of the rest of our group even made it on the 9:00 news. (Too bad they didn’t pan up just a tad, so I could’ve made the news too. :lol: )

Stephenie MeyerStephenie Meyer came out to a standing ovation and lots and lots of enthusiastic screams. Before she started to sign books, she answered a few pre-submitted questions, dealing mostly with The Host, although she did talk about the Twilight movie as well. :D She said she’s excited for the movie and thinks the cast and crew are doing a great job. She really likes Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.

Once she was done answering questions, she started to sign books. Because there were so many fans, we weren’t allowed to take pictures with Stephenie. (She would’ve been there until next week.) Our group took pictures of each other getting our books signed, so we could “sort of” have a picture with Stephenie.

Stephenie Meyer Signing My Books

Our names were written on a Post-It note and put on the page opposite of where she would sign The Host, so Stephenie could personalize it. When it was my turn, she said, “Hello Jennifer,” and smiled at me. :D I almost died right there! But, after I said hi back, I was able to tell her she was the reason I read. She was really excited about that and told me not to stop. I also told her I was almost done with my first Jane Austen novel, Mansfield Park. She answered, “That’s one of my favorites!” I was very excited about that and told her thank you for signing my books, so I could moved on.

I didn’t freak out while I was on stage with her, which is a miracle. :lol: However, because I had so much pent up adrenaline, I screamed at the top of my lungs as soon as I was out of the Show Barn.

My Signed The Host Book My Signed Twilight Book My Signed Eclipse Book

Laura (Pel)After the signing, we had an after party. We ate ice cream, talked about the signing, and made a game plan for the next day. We also gave Lori and Laura a bag full of things from Utah to thank them for coming out and going to the signings with us. Some of the things in the bag included: a bottle of fry sauce and honey, a bag of salt water taffy, a package of green Jell-o, a Utah quarter, a BYU baseball cap, a Book of Mormon, and some other things too. Laura was a good sport when she pulled out the BYU cap and Book of Mormon since she isn’t LDS. Lori’s LDS, so Laura has been around her enough to know we were joking with her. They both laughed a lot. ;)

Stephenie’s older sister and cousin Melanie–the name sake of Melanie in The Host–came to our party for a little bit. :D Emily told us she may want to join our group because of the opportunity to have a girl’s night out once a month. Danylle gave Emily her e-mail address and phone number. We’re all very excited and hope she does decide to join. :D

Me, Emily, & Shauna Debbie, Me, Melanie, & Michelle

Stay tuned for a post about Saturday’s signing.