Monday, October 16, 2006

Football?


I have this feeling that everyone and their grandmother has read this by now and loved it, but here I am, talking about it anyway. Dairy Queen was up for a Quill award against Eldest, Book Thief, Elsewhere (prior to blog), and King Dork. Eldest won, probably because of the public voting portion. Having, coincidentally (well, Dairy Queen got pushed up b/c of the nomination), read all of them, I was pulling for Book Thief.

But this is about Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (can I say that I love that name? It has a nice ring...). D.J. isn't big on communication. She flunked English and she barely talks to anyone - especially not about her father's injury, how much she misses her older football star brothers or how tough it is running a family farm all by herself. Not only is she burying her thoughts, she's sacrificing her own interests for the farm. Then she starts training the opposing team's quarterback and figures out exactly what she wants - to play football.

This was great fun. A little predictable, but the characters were excellent. D.J. had a very distinct voice and everyone was well filled out. I won't forget these people soon; they all seemed so real. Very Good.

Incidentals: Other Quill nominees/winners I've read: Julie & Julia, John, Paul, George & Ben, which I loved, but did not include in the blog, and A Breath of Snow and Ashes (yes, I love me some Gabaldon - read prior to blog).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I loved Dairy Queen, but jeez -- could they have created a cover that was more unlike the book? I doubt it.

Jackie Parker said...

Yeah, what's up with the tiara? I know the title has "queen" in it and all, but seriously? It had nothing to do with the story. In fact, if it weren't for all the rave reviews I read, I would have been less likely to read it b/c of the cover. But that's taste.t