Castle in the Air: A Princess Story We Can All Get Behind

I wasn't originally planning to read the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle any time soon. One day in November, my husband got a flat tire. We took his vehicle to the repair shop in our neighborhood, and it was such a beautiful day, we decided to take a walk while we waited for the new tire. Our walk took us past the library, so I impulsively suggested we go inside. I simply love to be inside the library, even if I don't have any "official business" there. My husband, however, seemed to think I was there for a purpose, so on the spot, I devised a purpose. I thought of a book I didn't own but that was on my to-read list, and one I knew the library had in its collection. As a result, I finally read a second book by Diana Wynne Jones.

To discuss this book, I must mention some spoilers. Don't read any further if you don't want to be spoiled.


Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a clever story. All throughout the first half, I kept waiting for the Howl, Sophie and Calcifer I knew and loved from Howl's Moving Castle to show up. I saw the Miyazaki cartoon first, and then I read the novel. They're different animals, but both very good. I love Howl and Sophie as a couple, so I was excited to read more about them. I knew going into this book that Howl and Sophie aren't the main focus of the book, but show up at the end.

The main character in this volume is young Abdullah, an incorrigible daydreamer. A mysterious stranger shows up a his humble stall in the marketplace, where Abdullah sells carpets, and offers to sell Abdullah a magic flying carpet. Abdullah can't seem to get the hang of the carpet at first, but it seems to take him places while he's sleeping. On one of these nocturnal voyages, he meets and falls in love with the beautiful, witty, educated princess Flower-in-the-Night. To his horror, Flower-in-the-Night is stolen by a winged djinn.

The djinns in this book are something like angels, although angels appear in the story as well. They're powerful beings, usually on the side of good, but with the capacity to do evil, sometimes against their will. The novel features two djinns who are brothers. Hasruel is basically good, but is forced to serve his brother Dalzel because Dalzel stole and hid the piece of Hasruel that keeps him alive. Dalzel isn't terribly evil, but he is terribly greedy.



Abdullah's adventures culminate in the discover of many princesses, of all shapes, ages, sizes and colors. But first, he acquires a genie in a bottle, is transported to the land of Ingary (Sophie's homeland), meets an old soldier who becomes his companion, and adopts a mother cat and her kitten (even though Abdullah cares much more for dogs than for cats).

It turns out Howl, Sophie, and Calcifer were there almost from the beginning, just in different forms. First, Abdullah meets a witch named Lettie. Lettie is married to one of the king's wizards, Wizard Suliman, and is very pregnant. (At the end of Howl's Moving Castle - the novel, anyway - Wizard Suliman, a.k.a. Ben Sullivan, asks Lettie if he can take her on as his apprentice. Their marriage and impending parenthood is news.) Lettie recognizes the black cat as her sister, Sophie. Sophie then returns to her human form.

It seems that Howl turned Sophie - also pregnant at the time - into a cat while they were having an argument. (Howl and Sophie are always arguing - it's how they express their affection. They're a loving, but proud and stubborn, couple.) Then the djinns stole their moving castle from them, and Sophie was magically thrown from the house. She gave birth to her son, Morgan, while in cat form. Morgan has only ever been a black kitten, and does not take to being a baby human immediately. The now-human Sophie is pleased to be reunited with her sister, but doesn't know where Howl is.

The old soldier uses a wish from the genie to transport himself, along with baby Morgan, to the castle in the air. In what used to be Howl and Sophie's home, Dalzel is hoarding every princess in the world, intending them all to be his wives. Abdullah, Sophie, and the soldier collaborate on a scheme to free the princesses, rescue Flower-in-the-Night, and return baby Morgan to Sophie.

Howl and Calcifer, it turns out, have been hiding in plain sight throughout most of the book as well. Howl is the genie in the bottle, and Calcifer is the flying carpet. Flower-in-the-Night releases Howl from the genie bottle, Howl gets to hold his baby son for the first time (declaring him "ugly" and "a chip off the old block"), the princesses get to return to their lives, and Abdullah is now free to marry Flower-in-the-Night, who's only slightly upset with him because he hasn't tried to kiss her yet. 

It would be wonderful to see this as a Hiyao Mizayaki movie like the Howl's Moving Castle. Castle in the Air would be a princess movie with real diversity of princesses, and heroines valued for their intellect and not just their beauty. I wouldn't quite go so far as to say it's as good as the first book, but it's definitely worth a read for lovers of Howl and Sophie.

The message I got from this book was, "Daydream all the time, because the more you daydream, the more your dreams will come true." I approved this message.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Guest Post: Is It Possible to Reunite After a Breakup? by Paul Smith #Relationships

It is always a hard thing to save the relationships when there is a critical stage of them. The first thing you shouldn’t do is to let your emotions to control you. Try to be calm and assess the situation from outside. If the breakup is inevitable, think whether you want to reunite with your significant other. You should wait some time, don’t call him/her – it is the wrong decision if you think this is the best first step you can take. Otherwise, you, being still in a heated state of thoughts, can say the wrong things – I think it is not a good idea.

If the time passes, and you still want to reunite with your boyfriend/girlfriend, then take into consideration the advice expressed below.

Reuniting after the breakup can be the most awful or the most joyful experience in your life – it is up to you to decide. The one thing you should realize is whether your intentions are serious. If so, then don’t call your ex and beg for the reuniting – it is the wrong way out. Staying at home for the whole day, eating the ice-cream, watching romantic movies and crying is not a good decision either. The way to reuniting should be planned; you should have some strategy to help your relationships exist in a new, exciting way. So, I propose to you several steps to be taken to achieve the wanted result.

Control your emotions

Analyze what have happened and why it is happened. You should accept the break up with all the unpleasant feelings it has caused – it is a necessary thing for your recovering from a break. You can think over the reasons why that everything had place in your relationships and what to do now. At this stage you can think about those couples that have already reunited. Love is a magic thing – it is able to forgive everything. Very often we forgive cheating, betrayal and other most stupid and hurtful things because we are in love. And if you want your ex to come back you shouldn’t claim that it is only his/her fault – the breakup is always caused by the both partners.

Give your ex spare time and space

Stop calling and sending text messages – it won’t make you good. Besides, remember about the power of the word – it can give life or lead to the death. Talking to your ex after a break, you can unconsciously say the wrong thing, deceive your significant other and compound the existing situation. Think over it – how can your partner miss you if you keep surrounding him by your presence? Give spare time to realize the situation and consequences and give him/her the possibility to come to the same conclusion as you do.

Be honest with your ex

After the mentioned above steps have been taken, and both of you start talking about the reuniting, don’t blindly apologize for all the wrong things in your relationships and don’t promise that everything will be different this time. It won’t solve the problems, and, as a result, you will return to the same state of things. The problem should be solved, both of you should admit the mistakes and try to behave in a different way. You should understand that the successful reuniting is a new wave in your relationships, the new way of your living, new experience and the new attitude to your significant other. Treat him/her with respect and honesty, accept all the pretensions and avoid conflicts. The relationships mean a lot of efforts from both sides, and you won’t change anything to better them – be ready to survive one more breakup.

Making up a conclusion, I want to say, that the key to success in reuniting after a break is a mutual desire for it. If the intention is unilateral, there won’t be any success. You will just spoil the possible friendship and make an impression of annoying person forever. Take everything into account, make sure that there are some favorable moments for reuniting and then act. Be consistent, confident and responsible – the effect depends upon your great desire and needed possibilities.

About the author: Paul Smith is a well-known writer, who noted for his professionalism and works of high quality. He writes about the nature, literature, music, films, books and fashion. He is a person who always opens to communicate. Contact with Paul: Google+|essay writer service.

The Hanukkah Hotness, Night 8: Zoe Kravitz

Like yesterday's Hanukkah Hottie, Tony Goldwyn, Zoe Isabella Kravitz is in the Divergent movie; she plays Christina.



The first time I noticed her was as Tempest (Angel Salvador) in X-Men: First Class.



For a while, she was dating co-star Michael Fassbender; I'm not sure if they're together or broken up at the moment. Despite playing Jewish mutant Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto in the X-Men films, Fassbender is all European. His dad is German and his mom is Irish.



Zoe Kravitz has some mighty big legends to live up to; she's the daughter of rocker/actor/Cinna Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet (a.k.a. Lilakoi Moon), two bonus Hanukkah hotties.



Lenny Kravitz has a Jewish father and an African-American mother; Bonet is the daughter of a Jewish mom and an African-American dad. Zoe, then, is what I am - Jewish through the motherline. Her mother is Jewish because her mother was Jewish because her mother was Jewish, and on and on back to Sarah the matriarch.



But what is Zoe Kravitz known for more than anything? Style.



Alexander Wang seems to be a special favorite of hers.





Hmmm...maybe Christina really is Cinna's daughter.

My secret wish: that Taraji P. Henson and Jim Caviezel will make a movie together, in which they play a couple, and Zoe could play their daughter. Said movie must, absolutely, have a happy ending, to make up for this nonsense. 

Cover Reveal: Shadowboxer by Cari Quinn

About Cari:

USA Today bestselling author Cari Quinn wrote her first story—a bible parable—in 2nd grade, much to the delight of the nuns at her Catholic school. Once she saw the warm reception that first tale garnered, she was hooked. Now she gets to pen sexy romances for a living and routinely counts her lucky stars. When she’s not scribbling furiously, she can usually be found watching men’s college basketball, playing her music way too loud or causing trouble. Sometimes simultaneously.

Cari’s Links:

Website: http://cariquinn.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CariQuinnAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CariQuinn

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3372702.Cari_Quinn

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/cariquinnauthor/

Word Wenches: https://www.facebook.com/groups/346424552124487/

About SHADOWBOXER:

She's in for the fight of her life...with the man who only wants to be her lover.

Fighter Mia Anderson has faced the dark side of life and survived. But just getting by is no longer enough. To fund her new life with her baby sister, she’s determined to beat the reigning king of the male fighters in New York’s underground MMA circuit, Tray “Fox” Knox.

Tray refuses to fight a woman, until he learns Mia’s tougher than anyone he has ever known. He soon realizes he wants more from her than blows and blood, and he’s willing to hit below the belt to get it. He’ll fight her, but if he wins, she spends the night in his bed. All night long, his rules. No tapping out.

Mia agrees, certain that he’ll lose. What she doesn’t realize is that Tray loves to fight dirty…and that this match may end up being the most important one of their lives.

**A NOTE** No men actually hit any women in this book, in the ring or out.

Read an excerpt here: http://cariquinn.com/shadowboxer/

Cover designed by Hot Damn Designs

Coming February 2014

The Hanukkah Hotness, Night Seven: Tony Goldwyn

Tony Goldwyn is the grandson of Samuel Goldwyn of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) fame, but the family named itself after the studio, not the other way around. I read this story in Bill Bryson's Made in America (a book you will find fascinating if you're any kind of amateur or professional etymologist).

Bryson writes, "Some understandable confusion exists concerning Samuel Goldwyn and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Though his name accounts for the middle initial in MGM, Goldwyn was never part of the company. In 1924, he sold out to the Metro studios and Louis B. Mayer, and was astonished to discover that they took his name with them. But then that was no more than Goldwyn himself had done. The Goldwyn Picture Company was not in fact named for Goldwyn, but rather he for it. His real name was Schmuel [also sometimes spelled Szmuel] Gelbfisz, though for his first thirty years in America he had called himself - perhaps a little unwisely - Samuel Goldfish. Goldwyn was a portmanteau of the names of the studio's two founders: Samuel Goldfish and Edgar Selwyn. It wasn't until 1918, tired of being the butt of endless fishbowl jokes, that he named himself after his corporation. After the MGM takeover, he had to go to court to win permission to continue making movies under the Goldwyn name."

public domain image

Apparently, he won. I can proudly say that the Gelbfisz family came from Warsaw. Poland, the same place as my ancestors, the Templin family. My grandmother's grandmother was named Antonia Templin.

At one time, I knew Tony Gelbfisz/Goldfish/Goldwyn primarily as the villain in the Patrick Swayze-Demi Moore romance Ghost. Now he's playing the U.S. president on Scandal...



...but perhaps (since I don't watch that show) I'd like him even better as Andrew Pryor in the film version of Veronica Roth's Divergent.



I'm sorry, Tris Prior, but your dad is a complete DILF.

This is what Tony Goldwyn looks like dressed casually.



This is what he looks like dressed formally.



This is what he looks like with no shirt on.



He's not technically a Jewish Disney prince, but he did provide the voice of Tarzan in the Disney cartoon.



Having a happy Hanukkah so far? Good. There's one more night to go.

Christmas Lites III - Anthology to Benefit the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

The Christmas season is upon us yet again. Yes, my friends, it is a time of giving, loving, and sharing. Within these pages is a way you can help many people desperately in need of love, support, and goodness: the victims of domestic crime. By purchasing this anthology, you are sending every last dime made off this book to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. 

The NCADV is an amazing charity that saves these people and lets them know there is still hope, still goodness, and still a reason to carry on.

Twenty-one authors have joined in this year, giving their time and their stories to these people – and to you. We all hope you enjoy our holiday tales captured in bite-size pieces. Whether you read this on the bus, before bed, or snuggled by the fire, please, do read – and share.

Authors in this anthology:

Addison Moore

A.F. Stewart

Amy Eye

Angela Yuriko Smith

Ben Warden

Cassie McCown

Elizabeth Evans

J.A. Clement

JG Faherty

Jonathan Tidball

M.L. Sherwood

Monica La Porta

Ottilie Weber

Patrick Freivald

Phil Cantrill

Robert Gray

Ron C. Nieto

S. Patrick Pothier

Tricia Kristufek

Vered Ehsani

*Brandon Eye bonus story

Editor/compiler: Amy Eye of The Eyes for Editing

Cover Design Kyra Smith

Or purchase on Smashwords

Link to the charity: www.ncadv.org

The Hanukkah Hotness, Night Six: Natalie Portman

Put on your kippahs, it's still time for Hanukkah! Yeah, I prefer the perfectly good Hebrew word kippah to the Greek word yarmulke - no offense to the Greeks. The Greeks aren't exactly the heroes of the Hanukkah story, but we'll let the historians debate over whether the Maccabees' revolt was against the Seleucid Empire led by the Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes or against a philosophy within Judaism itself that favored embracing Hellenistic culture.

So, about tonight's Hanukkah hottie:

There are about a million billion reasons to love Natalie Portman.



- She was born in Jerusalem and is a U.S.-Israeli dual citizen. She went to high school in Syosset, New York. I like to say "Syosset" because it sounds like it's in Parseltongue. Outside of her professional life, her family name is Hershlag.

- Her great-grandmother, a Romanian Jew, was a spy for the British during World War II.

- She has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Harvard.

- She was the producers' first choice to play Juliet in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, but eventually lost the part of Claire Danes because she was too young.



- She played Evey in V For Vendetta.

- She said this awesome feminist thing:

"I want [female characters] to be allowed to be weak and strong and happy and sad - human, basically. The fallacy in Hollywood is that if you're making a 'feminist' story, the woman kicks ass and wins. That's not feminist, that's macho. A movie about a weak, vulnerable woman can be feminist if it shows a real person that we can empathize with." Preach, sister.



Natalie Portman starred with Night 4 Hanukkah Hottie Kat Dennings in Thor and Thor: The Dark World, and with Night 5 Hanukkah Hottie Mila Kunis in Black Swan. (She was also in Your Highness with James Franco, but I didn't see it.)



But honestly, I've been impressed with Portman ever since Luc Besson's Leon, or The Professional. It was her first movie.



The next time I took note of her was as Amidala in the Star Wars prequel. I was obsessed with Star Wars when I was a kid. Now, I was born the same year the original film - Episode Four now - was released, and I was only 6 when The Empire Strikes Back come out, so I probably didn't see any of the movies until later in the '80s, when we got cable and/or a VCR. (Before that, we did have Episode Four on a projector reel, but it didn't have sound.) I do remember my R2D2 Underoos and being jealous of my friend Mark because he had plastic light sabres - we were probably fans of Star Wars without even having seen the movies when we were very young.



By contrast, when my niece Eira was four or so, she told me the entire story of Anakin Skywalker, from his birth to his death. She used to watch a Star Wars movie or two every night while she was falling asleep.



So in 1999, I was excited to see Episode One: The Phantom Menace, more from nostalgia than from anything else. How could it not be great? But then when my brother and I went to see it in the theater - meh, not that great. But that was not Natalie Portman's fault.

At one time, Portman was slated to play Elizabeth Bennett in the film adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but she has since dropped out. :( It is really too bad, because she would have made an awesome ninja Lizzie.