What I've Read Lately - July

July was a big reading month for me.  My son was off school, so life was just all-around less hectic, and I had a lot of free weekends.  I even took a trip to the library in the neighboring city to check out the list of books that I'd been wanting to read, but are held by neither my own city's library system nor any of the branches in my county system.  Some of these titles had been on my to-read list for a very long time, so I was eagerly anticipating the reading enjoyment I would soon to be experiencing.  Alas, although July was a big reading month in terms of quantity, in terms of quality it was just about the worst month EVER.  Which was really sad, since I had so much time to read and all that.

So here's a rundown once again of the good, the bad, and the ugly, if by ugly we mean it is so incredibly bad the library needs to get it off the shelves to make room for something better (Now I know why the other two library systems didn't carry those books . . . .)

The Plague, by Jennifer Dahme, was the first of the set that I sat down with.  I thought the book sounded really interesting - girl looks so much like the princess that she lives at the castle and acts as her stand-in.  Then the princess dies of the plague and said girl is forced to take her place and continue with the plans of her arranged marriage.  Hmmm.  This is a young adult novel, but it reads like a juvenile fiction book.  A BAD juvenile fiction book.  It was like, girl does this and then does that and then says this and then goes over there and then thinks some small thought and then does this and then her little brother does this and then he does that and she says this and then the little brother does that and then something else bla bla bla.  It was very simplistic and very boring and why does the story have so much about the little brother if it is supposed to be a young adult novel?  I abandoned it by about Chapter 3.

Banished, by Sophie Littlefield, is about a neglected, white trash kind of teenage girl who discovers that she has the power to heal, and even bring people back to life.  And then her mysterious long-lost aunt shows up, and they are attacked by these thuggish assassin types, and there is a long buried secret and running for their lives and all that good stuff.  Should have been a great book.  And it was, a really good book in fact, until about the last 20 percent, when it got kind of stupid and unbelievable (like the super stupid and totally unbelievable ending) and that just ruined the whole thing for me.  Another perfect example of a book running off the tracks and ending up a trainwreck.  (Reading Level: 5.5/Upper Grades)

Ask the Dark, by Henry Turner, was a good one.  Here's the blurb from the book cover:

Billy Zeets has a story to tell.
About being his neighborhood's prime suspect for vandalism, theft, and other kid's bloodied noses.
About missing boys, butchered bodies, and a mysterious, elusive killer.
And about what happens if a boy who breaks all the rules is the only person who can piece together the truth.

The book is nicely paced, interesting, and a quick read.  Still appropriate for upper middle grades despite the subject matter. (Reading Level 4.9/Middle Grade+)

What can I say about Stray, by Elissa Sussman?  I wanted to like this book.  I really did.  And I should have, too, because it goes and puts a unique twist on fairy tales, and I really like that kind of thing.  It is about a royal girl who doesn't control her magic and so she has to become a fairy godmother and serve a different royal girl who is doing a better job of controlling her own magic.  Sounds like an interesting concept, but reads about as interestingly as the words I just typed.  The characters were flat, the plot was flat, the story was slow and at times confusing.  The entire thing was completely underdeveloped and, as I think back about it now, just plain awful.  I could barely finish it and, needless to say, will not be bothering to read the next book in the series.  I don't even care what happens to the heroine, not one little bit (which about says it all). (Reading Level 5.6/Middle Grades+)

Look at that picture there.  The Book of Bad Things, by Dan Poblocki, should have been awesome.  And it might have been awesome if I were twelve years old.  Or ten.  I don't know.  I just can't read most juvenile fiction anymore.  It doesn't have enough depth to keep me interested.  And even though this book was shelved under teen fiction, it is most definitely NOT a young adult novel.  I only had to read two chapters to figure that out.  And I only had to read two chapters before I said, This book is not for me, and quit reading it. (Reading Level 5.4/Middle Grades)

Blackwood, by Gwenda Bond, is a book I had been wanting to read for ages.  It is about the mystery of Roanoke, and seeing how I love history and really enjoy a good mystery, I was really looking forward to this one.  Well, it was just a mediocre book.  It had some very unique and interesting concepts, but it also had its share of unbelievability (you know, stuff that makes you say, what - really?  That is so stupid.)  Anyway, if you don't read very much you might enjoy this one.  Or you might not.  It was definitely better than some of my other July picks, but I am still waffling on whether I really want to recommend it or not.  (Reading Level: ? / Middle Grade+)

I actually had Ashfall, by Mike Mullin left over from a June library trip, but I read it in July so I will talk about it here.  The book is about a teenage boy who goes looking for his family after the fallout from a massive volcanic eruption basically ends life as we know it.  He meets some people along the way, and goes through harrowing experiences and barely survives over and over again.  The book is kinda cheesy at times.  Not just the dialogue, but also the plot.  I mean, how much trouble can this guy get into?  How many critical injuries can he sustain, and then survive?  It is pretty unrealistic at times, but it is action packed and full of suspense.  And it is actually a pretty quick read considering how thick the book is.  So if you like post-apocalyptic literature told from a boy's perspective with lots of harrowing survival stuff going on, you should give it a try.  (Reading Level 5.0/Upper Grades)