Sleeping in Flame by Jonathan Carroll

Walker lives in Vienna and falls in love with a beautiful girl.  But, slowly, mysterious things are happening to him and he is remembering incidents from past lives.  How does this related to the mysterious Papa and what will happen to Walker's girlfriend as someone seeks to destroy Walker and his life? 

"Loving someone brings you peace."
"Nope.  It makes life interesting and alive, but it doesn't bring much peace."
p.96

Walker begins to develop some new magical powers - clairvonce and phoetic dreams and the like and he doesn't know what to do.  As he dreams of old lives, he starts to wonder at who he really is and he starts on a trek with a shaman to find out more.  But tragedy strikes whenever Walker looks for answers, but when he finally figures out what is going on, then the story takes on an interesting fairy tale aspect.  

Written in 1988, this was one of my favorite books though it's been 14 years since I last read it.  It is a bit dated as some of the references to computers and technology are laughable now.   But that is a sign of the era in which it was written.   I still love this book.  It is so beautiful.  The questions Walker and his girlfriend, Maris, ask each other and the philosophy intoned in each page.  Lovely.  It's written as a narrative so it's like Walker is speaking right to you. Sleeping in Flames is a Rumpelstiltskin re-telling and it is definitely an adult book.  I see more in it now than I did when I was younger.  Of the things that the Rumpelstiltskin character addresses and the solution that Walker comes up with.  The how and the why and the who are so much more beautiful and sad.

Hogwarts: Transfiguration
Library

The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

From Goodreads:
What if love refused to die?

Haven Moore can’t control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother’s house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.

In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves¸ before all is lost and the cycle begins again.

The very first night she heard her parents arguing, she had whispered one last goodbye to Ethan and then set to locking him out of her head.  p.24 ARC

If this isn't the best book I've read this year, then it is at least one of them.  While I'm not a believer of soul mates and destiny, this book made me want to believe and I love the idea that people will be drawn to each other in every life that they live.  I was really struck by the idea of the Ouroboros Society and how people can remember past lives and even bring skills over from them.

The mystery surrounding Haven and Iain was a good one and I liked the tension Miller built into the book surrounding the two of them and the Ouroboros Society.  Haven was a good strong character though I did have one problem with her that I will discuss in the spoilers section that was resolved nicely.  It was more my impatience to find out the truth than a fault of the book itself.  This book is definitely the must read of the year.


*(highlight for) SPOILERS*

Haven and Iain are so sweet and I was rooting for them throughout the book.  I was really intrigued by the idea of the Ouroboros Society and how people can remember past lives and even bring skills over from them.  I love that Iain always remembered Haven in every life and looked for her.

Throughout the book, I kept thinking that Haven was really wishy-washy and, frankly, stupid because she would be with Iain and everything would be fine and then she would go out without him and immediately begin doubting him.  I'm pretty sure this was the influence of Rosier who I wish had been explained more.  I guess that is the point of his nature, but he was the one true immortal in this story, the one who never changed or aged or died and I wanted to know more about that.  Was he really the devil or an agent of the devil or chaos embodied?  I didn't expect his character to turn out like that and I really enjoyed the idea of it.*END*

Provided by Traveling ARC Tours
Publish Date August 24, 2010
Hogwarts: Arithmancy
YA

The Dust of 100 Dogs

Once Emer was a precocious six year old in Ireland, but after Cromwell took over Ireland, a series of unfortunate events leads her to becoming a bloodthirsty pirate out for treasure. Then she is cursed to live 100 lives as a dog. Now that she's back to being a human again, Emer is ready to find the treasure she buried long ago.

This was an interesting book. It's told from a couple of perspectives, mainly Emer/Saffron. Saffron is the reborn Emer. She has all the memories of Emer's life (lives, she remembers the dog lives too) and it's hard to tell if they are really the same person or if Emer just lives in Saffron. If you had memories from the day you were born of a life you know you lived, but you didn't specifically live it yourself, how would that work...?

Anyway, Saffron is born with Emer's knowledge and she knows that when she is old enough she is going to go and find the treasure Emer buried 300 years ago. There are a lot of flashbacks that show how Emer went from a simple Irish girl to a pirate and how she wound up being cursed. There are also sections on some of the dog lives that provide lessons on dogs. Some are funny, some are sad, and at least one made me angry, but I wish there had been a few more. The one thing about this book I didn't understand was the Frenchman. He is obsessed with Emer and I never could figure out why.

This was one of my favorites so far this year and will definitely be a re-read at some point. I don't rate because I'm afraid I would be extremely generous no matter what, but if I did this would be a 5/5 or 10/10 or whatever. 5 stars