Deborah Wood is a journalist who shows dogs, and chronicles a year on the dog-showing circuit. She chronicles the paths of champion dogs from strutting their stuff at small, local dog shows in fields and fairs, to the culmination of the American show season at Madison Square Gardens in New York.

Her writing style is simple and straightforward. The book has the feel of a large number of separate newspaper columns compiled into one volume, which makes it a fast read and easy to pick up and put down and pick up again. A fun read for people who love animals, whether they have a dog or not.

Thorby is a small child who has been captured by slavers, passed from one master to the next, and finally ends up in a slave auction in a far-off star system. A one-eyed one-legged beggar man buys him and raises him as his son. There's much more to Baslim, the beggar, than most would suspect--- and he trains Thorby in all manner of languages and subjects. When Baslim's undercover activities bring the authorities upon their humble home, Thorby undergoes a series of adventures, varying from slave to refugee to merchant trader to intergalactic military man, and beyond.

Sci-fi isn't my genre of choice, but I found Citizen of the Galaxy to be an excellent introduction to the genre. The action moved at a breakneck pace, but it also made you think about what freedom is, what does it mean to have a sense of family or belonging, what sort of responsibilities come with power, and so on. The cultural/anthropological aspects of the book were very well-done, as the characters moved from one society and world to another. It was a very fast read, and I was able to finish it in an afternoon.

The Revolutionary War is still in living memory; the Civil War has not quite happened yet. Rafe is the unacknowledged son of a plantation master and a house slave. Though he has to suffer slavery, he finds himself quite privileged (compared to the field slaves, which he looks down upon) until the master's jealous wife catches him reading and forces him into a life of drudgery alongside the other field slaves. He takes the opportunity to run away and stow away on a ship, but it wrecks upon a small island...

This book touches on slavery and freedom, deceit and friendship, buried treasure, piracy, and more. The characters were enjoyable, each with their own reservations about the others. The action played out in a natural and realistic way; it paid attention to a time period that is often overlooked; and came to a fulfilling conclusion at the end.

Sophie Hatter is doomed because she's the eldest daughter, and everyone knows that eldest daughters are always the first to fail when it comes to seeking fortunes. Her misfortunes begin when an evil witch casts an aging spell on her, and don't let up when she finds herself taking refuge in the castle of the mysterious wizard Howl, who is rumored to devour the hearts of young girls and whose moving castle is powered by a talking fire-demon in the hearth. Sophie must lift her own enchantment, save Howl and the fire-demon from their curses, keep Howl from breaking her sister's heart, and keep the castle tidy on top of it all.

Howl's Moving Castle is a fun read because it pokes fun at fairy tale conventions. Everyone has their own motivations for doing what they do; everyone has their own secrets they're hiding; and no one is who or what they seem to be. You're never quite sure how much they know or don't know about each other, because one of the drawbacks of being cursed is that you're not able to talk about it unless the other person already knows. Add in slime, hair dye, and rugby, and there's even more fun. A wonderfully convoluted, puzzle of a story that nevertheless plays out to a satisfying end.