Shadow Spinner

We finished up the book Shadow Spinner last week. It was great fun and quite suspenseful in parts which made for a quick read. The premise behind the story is based on Sharazad from The Arabian Nights (which I know very little about, but hope to read some of soon). Basically, Sharazad was taken into the Sultan's harem to be his most recent wife during a time when he was killing his new wives each morning. Sharazad, in order to save her life, began an interesting story each night and left off at an exciting part to continue the following night. This proved to work and she lived as queen for a long time. Shadow Spinner picks up as she is running out of stories to tell. A girl named Marjan (really the main character) comes on the scene with a new story. She enters the politics and intrigue of harem life (I think I skipped two lines in the story that referred to how the ladies were dressed). A tangle of events leads her to secret adventures in the city streets and in the palace itself.

The great thing about this book is just what you would think...secret passageways, an evil empress mother, disguises, who can you trust?, people who aren't who they seem to be, etc. Hannah, at one point, said it was her favorite book.

Even though it was an exciting book, I wouldn't particularly say that it has any real redeeming character values or moral point. I guess what I got most out of it was a peak into royal life in ancient Persia and the skill of storytelling.

Exciting things were also afoot in the Weber household this evening.
Bobby (Josh's chick) had an impromptu birthday party. You'll notice that
lots of friends were invited and treated to a variety of random
small objects for food. Josh made a Pin-the-Tail on the Donkey game
to play with prizes conveniently taped to the wall nearby. :)