Book Banter -- Book of a Thousand Days

Title: Book of a Thousand Days
Author: Shannon Hale
Length: ~220 pages
Genre: YA fiction
Plot Basics: Dashti becomes a lady's maid to Lady Saren, right before Saren is imprisoned in a tower by her father. Saren's father's plan is to imprison her in a tower for seven years as punishment for Saren refusing a rising war lord as her suitor. Dashti and Saren begin their imprisonment hopefully for the tower is stocked with food and built over a well. But as the days stretch on, the food goes too fast, Saren drops farther and farther into an unreachable melancholy and Dashti must figure out how to keep them both alive.
Banter Points: Word Nerd is so glad she stumbled on to this title. Walking around the YA section at her library, she spotted this book on the shelf and thought it looked intriguing and was it ever. Hale's resetting of this little-known Brothers Grimm tale into the steppes of Mongolia is a surprising but clever choice. Her language is picturesque and poetic in creating a fabulous story.
Bummer Points: Word Nerd can't really find one here, other than perhaps the fact that this book didn't get an award.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Get to the library or bookstore and read this one. For any parent wanting to give their teenage daughter a book that's not of the "Gossip Girl" variety, check this one out.