What I've Read Lately - January

Well, for somebody who ambitiously checked out 23 books at a time, I sure didn't spend nearly long enough reading, because I only managed to get through six and a half books this month.  I just had so much to do, that I hardly spent any time reading.  Hopefully next month I'll do a lot better!

Berserker, by Emmy Laybourne, was different from what I've been coming across lately.  I chose it because I really enjoyed Laybourne's Monument 14 trilogy.  This one is a historical fantasy, I guess you would say, because it takes place in the 1800's and has a set of Norwegian siblings fleeing to America where they hire a cowboy as their guide.  The reason they have to flee is all tied up in a bit of Norwegian mythology, by which some of the siblings have special powers.  So, it reads like historical fiction, yet at the same time it is a totally original take on the teens-with-special-abilities story.  At first I wasn't sure I was going to like it because the writing was done in a somewhat boring way, especially the dialogue which sounded kind of 'formal' I guess you could say.  Interestingly enough, though, after a little while it wasn't bothersome anymore because the family members were all supposed to be new to speaking English and it seems like a lot of westerns are written kind of like that anyway, so it just seemed to fit.  Goodreads shows that this is part one in a series, and I will definitely read part two because I liked the concept and I liked the characters, but if there isn't another installment, that is fine, too, because the book ended in a way that was just right for a stand-alone as well.  (Reading Level: ?/ Middle Grade+)

The Hanging Girl, by Eileen Cook, was pretty good.  I can't really tell you much about it without giving too much away and ruining the surprise parts of the book, but I can tell you that it has a girl who gives tarot card readings to her classmates at school but isn't really psychic, and it has a girl who goes missing, and it has a bit of a murder mystery, and it has a lot of people keeping secrets.  The writing was good, with some of those fantastic lines that I like to copy onto sticky notes and put up on my refrigerator because they are either so deep, so inspiring, or so funny that I like to see them when I'm going about my day doing the things I do in the kitchen (which seems to be a large part of my day).  Anyway, the main character makes some pretty dumb decisions, but somehow she didn't annoy me anyway, and the book has enough suspense that it is hard to put down.  A nice start to the new year.  (Reading Level: ? / Middle Grade+)

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum, by Mary Hooper was a big disappointment.  Not only was it not as good as the other historical fiction by the same author that I've read, but I have been waiting more than a year to get my hands on a copy and was really looking forward to it.  It is about the Bubonic Plague outbreak that swept through London in 1665, and it was boring, boring, boring.  I swear it spent almost the whole time describing 17th century fashion, furniture, sweetmeats (basically candy) and how they are made, the symptoms and treatment of the plague victims, and a multitude of remedies provided by apothecaries.  The characters and their relationships were very underdeveloped, as was the plot.  And the ending was so abrupt, I thought I had accidentally turned more than one page.  This was shelved under juvenile fiction, although I don't know why, because the main character was like fifteen years old, and it was a pretty high reading level for a non-adult fiction book.  Not to mention how boring it was.  I doubt many younger readers would stick with it long enough to finish it.  (Reading Level: 6.2 / Middle Grades)

I'm not really sure what to say about The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman.  First off, I didn't finish reading it. Not that I have completely abandoned it, but more like maybe I will try it again at some later time, like when I don't have twenty other books sitting around waiting to be read.  I got through page 32 out of 449 pages, and it took me three days to get that far.  I actually enjoyed the writing - the characters, the premise, the style itself.  What I didn't like was the whole 'daemon' thing (I haven't read his previous novels.  Those of you who have will know what I'm talking about, because apparently we are supposed to be familiar with them, thus the total lack of explanation as to what they really are exactly.) I just wasn't into the concept.  I also wasn't sure I was going to be completely interested in where the story seemed to be going, and, although the accelerated reader website gives it a reading level of only 5.4 and it has a lexile level of HL770, it felt like it had a much higher reading level, like upper 6's into the 7's at least.  Which, of course, means it is not going to be a super quick read like a book in the 4's and 5's.  (It is recommended for high school age readers, although in the portion that I read, it seemed much more like a book you would read to a middle grade child for a bedtime story.  A very, very long bedtime story.  Like it would probably take months to finish.) At 449 pages (of a volume 1 book), I just wasn't up for it right now.

I just loved First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirowy.  Which is kind of ironic, because I wasn't particularly impressed with her previous  novel, The Creeping.   You can find out what I did and and didn't like about it by reading my post here.

It's been quite a while since I've read a book intended for younger readers, so I thought it was about time I reviewed some.  Monstrous, by MarcyKate Connolly is the first one I gave a try.  It was pretty good.  For younger readers.  It was a nice fantasy story, with a girl who is reminiscent of Frankenstein, a wizard, a dragon, a curse, a king, and a bit of a mystery.  I don't think I would have made it through if it wasn't for the reanimated girl.  (Dragons just are not my thing.)  It would make a good bedtime story, not just because of the fact that fantasy books make good bedtime stories, but also because it had a nice story-book feel to the writing.  And it would be an especially good choice for a gifted child, because there are a lot of clues leading up to a realization that they would enjoy picking out.  I thought about purchasing a copy, but I am short on bookshelf space and I didn't really care for the ending so much, so I decided against it.  But if you have plenty of bookshelf space and a kid who likes bedtime stories, this might be a book you should buy.  (Reading Level: 4.7 / Middle Grades)

I'll get straight to the point here.  I did not like On the Free by Coert Voorhees.  It is about a group of juvenile delinquents who go on a wilderness hike to get straightened out, but there is a disaster and then they are just trying to survive.  It is told in three parts, by three different characters, with some of the events retold in the different perspectives.  But it is told in this weird mix of third person and (maybe?) first person. (It was very strange.  I don't want to waste any more time on this book by going back and looking at it.  It mostly felt like first person until all of a sudden you notice that it is in third person for a while.)  The characters were pretty much being themselves, and then they would do something that makes you say what?  That doesn't make sense.  The lead female character is boring and annoying.  And the ending?  Stupid.  It was so abrupt that it felt like the author just got tired of writing and quit.  There wasn't really any closure.  Don't bother reading it.  Find something else off my book lists with the keyword survival instead.