What I've Read Lately - February

I spent a lot of time in February updating the formatting in my blog (I hadn't added any links for months!) as well as my book lists (I had to add like thirty books to my master list and then go through all 700+ titles to create the Romance List!).  Oh, and I worked on a couple of new posts, one of which I've published.

So. . . . I didn't get much read. At all.  Here's the rundown:

I finally finished Behold the Bones, by Natalie C. Parker.  I think I'd been at it for two whole weeks, which just might be a record for me.  For a pre-reading commentary on the book, see my post here.  And to find out what I thought about it afterward, see my post here.

Once again, Victoria Schwab doesn't disappoint.  I've liked every one of her books so far, including This Savage Song.  It is about monsters and humans and humans acting like monsters and monsters acting like humans. Or not. It has action, and difficult choices, all kinds of relationship dynamics, and lots and lots of blood.  All with a wonderfully developed theme and moral questions galore.  I shirked all of my chores today except for some laundry, and finished it before I had to pick up my son from school.  Now I'm going to have to run out and pick up the second book so I can see how it all pans out. (Reading Level: 5.4/Middle Grade+)

So I didn't really read When They Fade by Jeyn Roberts.  Well, I did, but only about a quarter of it.  Then I gave up.  I liked the concept well enough, but I couldn't deal with the writing.  There wasn't enough variation with the sentence structure so it didn't flow well. It had this really unnatural repetitive sound to it that was super annoying.  And it was written in some weird third person present kind of tense so it was like "Tatum gets in her car and turns up the radio."  Not good.  At all.  Which was a shame, because I like the author's previous books.  Oh well, I guess on the bright side, it just gets me through my stack of books sooner when I can toss one out after a few hours.

I'd been looking for a copy of Forget Me by K. A. Harrington for ages, and then there it was in front of me one day at the library.  It turned out to be a better book than most that I have trouble finding.  It had a slow start and one of those rushed endings where the bad guy confesses everything and ties it all up in one fell swoop, but the rest of the story was a nicely paced mystery with dialogue that was fun to read.  Nothing spectacular, but not too shabby either.  Definitely better than the previous book on this list! (Reading Level: 4.2 /Middle Grade+)

Frozen Charlotte, by Alex Bell had a good concept and good bits and pieces that moved the story along, but what it didn't have was good writing.  Well, let me clarify.  It didn't have good writing for a YA novel.  As a work of juvenile fiction, it was fine.  Pretty darn good, even.  But it was too simplistic, just a story, but without that special feel to it that master storytellers like Neil Gaiman are able to create.  I mean, the main character is supposed to be 15, but you completely forget that most of the time; she could have been twelve - that's how superficial everything is.  Younger readers will probably enjoy it a lot.  It is plenty creepy and even scary at times.  It may even be the best horror story for the middle grades that I've come across.  (Reading Level: 5.3 /Middle Grade+)

The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde, is a play.  I don't usually read plays, maybe because I never really enjoyed Shakespeare and Greek tragedies and all the stuff they make you read in high school.  Maybe it's because the format gets in the way of the story.  I only read this one because my son was reading it for school and I wanted to be able to help him if he had any questions.  As it turns out, it was actually really good.  Which surprised me because it was written in the 1890's and I don't usually enjoy writing from that time period.  The play was super funny, especially if you understand Victorian attitudes toward marriage and status.  Not a deep understanding, mind you, because I gave my 14 year old son like a five sentence synopsis of attitudes of the period, and he loved the play as well.  There are two versions out there, the original four act version and a condensed three act version.  I read through the overlapping parts of both, and the longer version is definitely better.  Even the long version is only 76 pages, so it's worth picking up a copy even if you don't have a lot of time to read. (Reading Level: 4.5 /Middle Grade+)

I checked out The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons because I hadn't read a good dystopian in a long while.  Unfortunately, I still haven't read a good dystopian in a long while. I couldn't even get through the second chapter of this book.  It was mostly the concept, but also the writing, although I can't quite put my finger on exactly what was wrong with it.  I just found it annoying and boring.  And since I still have nine books that are going to have all of their renewals used up in like, five weeks, there was no point sticking with this one.

What the Dead Want, by Norah Olson started off as a great mystery/ghost story.  Unfortunately, about half-way in, the author was like, white men are the epitome of evil - they hate everyone who isn't a white man - they are responsible for all violent oppression through all time.  Never mind that the guy in the story helping slaves escape on the underground railroad was white.  Never mind that plenty of men of other races have been violent oppressors as well.  Never mind that oppression has as much to do with greed, a lust for power, ignorance, and fear as it does with racial hatred.  And never mind that she took a fantastically creepy ghost story with an important message about racism and messed it up by unwittingly promoting her own racist message.

I saw Blood Red Snow White on the library shelf and checked it out because I really enjoy reading Marcus Sedgwick's novels.  Except for this one.  It was really, really boring.  It is apparently about the Russian revolution, but it moved so slowly I couldn't enjoy it.  Kind of like when I had to read A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich back in high school and after 180 pages I finished the story and I was like wait - that was one day?!?!  Anyway, I gave up on this book after three days of getting nowhere.  If you are interested in reading fiction about the end of the czar and his family, you are better off trying Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap or The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb.


So out of the nine books I started, I only finished six, and only really liked three of them.  Hopefully I'll have better luck in March!