I just finished writing a chapter for Alien Beauty and thought this would be a good time to give an update on that project. This has probably been the most difficult novel I've written. I've had so many setbacks--resulting in my tossing out about 70,000 words since October 2006--that sometimes I wonder if I will ever get it done. In August I had my 21-year-old daughter Christina read the novel, and from that experience I gained some important insights that jump-started my work on it. I have fourteen chapters and just over 89,000 words, which will probably end up being about half the novel. It's impossible to say how long I will need to write the other half, but I can happily report that my progress is good right now and that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. To read a description of the book, go to my Dominion Over the Earth page.

I updated my book list today with three new titles: Pebble in the Sky, by Isaac Asimov; Magnificent Obsession, by Lloyd C. Douglas; and The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis. Added last time I updated were Lorna Doone, by R.M. Blackmore; A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens; Book of a Thousand Days and Princess Academy by Shannon Hale; Under the Greenwood Tree and Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy; Fairest, by Gail Carson Levine; North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell; and The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde.

Of this particular group of books, I had the most fun reading Lorna Doone. Book of a Thousand Days was the one that captivated me so much that I could not put it down. The only book I read twice was Under the Greenwood Tree, and the novel that moved me the most was Far From the Madding Crowd. For those of you who are familiar with Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, Far From the Madding Crowd is a love story in the same vein as the one between Marianne Dashwood and Colonel Brandon, although it contains more tragedy. Bathsheba Everdene is one of the most interesting heroines I've encountered in literature, and the "everyday sort of man" Gabriel Oak is one of the most admirable heroes. I cannot recommend this novel highly enough.

Due to long-standing problems with the domain novaun.com, my husband and I moved Novaun Novels to zerosilver.com in July. I know you're wondering where that crazy "zerosilver" name comes from. I think my husband chose it because we're not making any money on this web site, plus, when it's spelled out, it looks kind of cool. The Padilla men think that "zerosilver" is a better name for the family domain because they hate having to spell out "novaun" to everyone. The Padilla women, on the other hand, agree that "novaun" is better than "zerosilver" because it's a natural fit for the web site. Just this week we recovered novaun.com, so now Novaun Novels is viewable from both URLs and everyone is happy. Because of this move to zerosilver.com, I've been forced to make changes in the copyright notices in all of the web site files. I've taken this opportunity to correct mistakes and do an all-around update.

It's been so long since I've updated Novaun Novels that I've added 20 books to Kathy's Best Book List. You can search through the list to find the new titles if you'd like, but I've decided to introduce additions to the list on this page and tell you a little about them, not in the form of full reviews, but in comments comparable to the "notes" that are already in the list. Since I'm adding so many titles at once, I'll present them over several entries.

The Relief Society in my ward (congregation) has a Great Books Club that I've been involved with for 2 1/2 years. We read fiction and non-fiction classics, and every summer we choose a few children's books to read. In the summer of 2007 we read Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series. I knew about this series as a child but somehow missed reading it. I enjoyed it very much as an adult. I read Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, On the Banks of Plum Creek, By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, and These Golden Happy Years. I left out Farmer Boy, not because there was anything wrong with it, but because I didn't want to lose the thread of the story about Laura Ingalls and her family.

This summer (2008) the Great Books Club read The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter. This is a story about a boy who was raised by Native Americans and then returned to his biological family at age 15. I especially liked the way Richter made the perspectives of the Native Americans and the American colonists equally believable and sympathetic. This is a beautiful, fascinating, harrowing little book that would be a good choice for a middle or high school summer reading assignment.

Speaking of children's books, I have a terrific new link for you: Krystel's Book Blog. Krystel, my daughter-in-law, is a children's librarian who writes reviews for the many books she reads. Her particular interest is young adult fiction. Since she works in a conservative community, she comments on wholesomeness issues. If you are interested in books that are currently being published for children and teens, you won't want to miss this blog.