Chapter Forty-Six: Bellwether

Bellwether by Connie Willis is one of my all-time favorite novels!  I love it every time I read it: the fun characters, the ridiculous workplace, the little tidbits of history about various fads--all these elements combine to make an engaging story about two researchers at an absurd corporation who combine projects with fantastic results.  It's not quite science-fiction from an author most known for that genre, but it is fun fiction about scientists!  I heartily recommend this heartwarming story to anyone who wants to restore their faith in humanity and in life in general.

Chapter Forty-Five: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci

I saw this series by Diana Wynne Jones (one of my favorite authors) on the shelves countless times as a kid, but I somehow never read them until a friend of mine sent them to me when she learned of my love of Jones's books.  They are fantastically fun, marvelously magical books!  There are seven in total: Charmed Life, The Lives of Christopher Chant, The Wizards of Caprona, Witch Week, Conrad's Fate, The Pinhoe Egg, and Mixed Magics: Four Tales of Chrestomanci.  As you'll quickly find out, Chrestomanci is a title for a government official who is in charge of controlling magic in several series of related worlds (our own being one of them, but not the primary focus of these stories), and the Chrestomanci is chosen for one important quality: he is a (human) enchanter with nine lives (like a cat, but he's a human).  These are really fun tales of magic running amok and being put back to rights, peppered with Jones's typical humor and delightful characters.  I highly recommend them if you enjoy fantasy novels and having fun!

Chapter Forty-Four: The Mitford Series, The Father Tim Series

Let me begin by saying that I just love these series of books, which are so related to each other that I'm writing about them in one post.  Both series follow the adventures of Father Tim, a middle-aged to elderly Episcopalian priest and his life and work in the hamlet of Mitford, North Carolina (and occasionally his adventures as he travels elsewhere, either for work or pleasure).  The plot is rather thin on the ground in these books, focusing as they do on one man's everyday life; however, this does not make the books any less enjoyable in my eyes.  I definitely wouldn't recommend it if you want fast-paced or intense reading: these books are, however, light reading at their best.  The characters are realistic and delightful; it is the characters that keep me reading this series.  It's a fun, light read.

Chapter Forty-Three: All the Wrong Questions

This book is the first in a new series by Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events, a.k.a. Daniel Handler if you've read any of his work for adults.  I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I enjoyed Unfortunate--it's a little too enigmatic at times, even for my taste.  However, I love Snicket's style, and the plot is intriguing.  If you like mysteries and strangeness and Snicket, check it out.

Chapter Forty-Two: A Sudden Wild Magic

I'm so glad that my local branch of the Boston Public Library has a really solid collection of books by Diana Wynne Jones!  I really enjoy her, but I've had trouble finding a good selection of her numerous works in bookstores and at other libraries.  So now that I have access, watch out for more of her books on my blog in the near future!  Anyway, I'm glad I had the chance to check out this book of hers that I haven't read.  I quite enjoyed it, in large part because of her flair for the odd and her generous helpings of humor.  Moreover,  A Sudden Wild Magic provides a complex plot with many threads that all weave together to form into a fascinating whole.  This book is on the long side, and it's definitely worth the effort to read it in its entirety.  I heartily enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone looking for a funky, funny fantasy.

Chapter Forty-One: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

Now that I've finally had time to join the Boston Public Library, I've been making good use of my local branch to check out some new books.  I was intrigued by the title of this novel by Aimee Bender--what would make lemon cake sad?--and then I was drawn in by the original premise for this story: when she eats food, the protagonist can taste in it the emotions of the person who prepared it.  This book reads quickly, and a feeling of mystery that pervades the plot makes it hard to put this book down until the very end.  The only aspect that I disliked is Bender's proclivity for peppering her otherwise pleasant prose with sentence fragments; this rubbed me the wrong way.  However, overall I enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting read.

Chapter Forty: Tales of the Willows Trilogy

This trilogy (The Willows in Winter, Toad Triumphant, and The Willows and Beyond) by William Horwood is a great extension of Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows.  He stays true to Grahame's Rat, Mole, Toad, Badger, and Otter, and his additional characters and expansion of Portly are delightful.  He also does a pretty good job of staying stylistically close to Grahame's prose in The Wind in the Willows, although a careful reader might notice some differences, and occasionally I detected a whiff of satire in Horwood's prose, although this was not necessarily a problem.  I absolutely love the additional adventures Horwood has created for these characters and the added emotional depth they assume over the course of this trilogy; I almost cried at points during the last book.  These are a great read for anyone who loves The Wind in the Willows and who wonders what might have happened to Ratty, Mole, Badger, Otter, and--of course--Toad after the end of Grahame's classic.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Wind in the Willows

I've always loved this book; its idyllic, pastoral setting and its varied cast of animal characters (or are they meant to be caricatures?) are so lovable.  It's easy for me to see why this story by Kenneth Grahame is still a classic after more than 100 years.  Even though it requires a bit of patience to read some of the slower sentences and passages, this story is well worth the effort.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Tuck Everlasting

What better way is there to pass a hot August afternoon than sitting in the shade with a tall iced tea and rereading this classic by Natalie Babbitt?  After all, this whole book is, at heart, a paean to the end of summer, both in a literal and figurative sense as the narrator draws our attention to the inevitable descent into autumn from August and the descent (which ought to be inevitable) of human lives from the prime of their youth towards death.  Aside from the pleasure of reading a book about August during August, the characters and plot are intriguing, but what really draws me into this text, time and again, is Babbitt's prose.  I can never resist reading at least the prologue aloud: the sound of the words and sentences fits so perfectly with their meaning, and somehow Babbitt manages to create a feeling of great gravity and portent without having the writing seem contrived or corny.  This novella is a delightful way to while away a slow summer afternoon, but even in the dead of winter, this book is worth reading.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Witches

This is another of my all-time favorite Roald Dahl novels.  When I first read this book as a child, Dahl's version of witches scared me more than most other things!  His witches terrified me in a fascinating, almost-plausible, fantastic way.  For a few days I was pretty sure one was going to ambush me while in the shower (even though that would be totally out of character for them).  In addition to his delightfully unique rendering of witches, Dahl includes liberal doses of humor in The Witches (as he does in most all of his writing, which is part of why I love his writing so), and the whole package is rounded off nicely by the saving-children-from-evil element.  In sum: this book is great.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls

Seeing as I'm about to be working with middle-schoolers, when my mom found this book on her shelf, she suggested I read it.  It seemed interesting, and potentially pertinent, I decided to take a break from my steady diet of fiction to delve into this non-fiction text based on the author's own experiences as a therapist working with adolescent girls and their families.  Even though Mary Pipher was writing from Lincoln, Nebraska in the 1990s, I felt that a lot of what she describes in this book matches with my own not-too-distant experiences as a female adolescent and also with what I've noticed while working with middle-school girls as a babysitter and camp counselor.  Reading this book even prompted me to do some self-reflection on how my own experiences as a teenager still influence who I am and how I think of myself today.  On the downside, I often found the content to be rather heavy despite Pipher's explanations of how we can counteract the cultural forces that can make adolescence so difficult for girls, but the subject was so interesting (at least to me) that I was willing to keep reading all the way to the end.  I definitely found this to be a thought-provoking read.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Ella Enchanted

This is another old favorite that I decided to reread, and this was definitely a solid decision.  Gail Carson Levine's retelling of Cinderella is pure fun!  Ella is a great character: she's spunky, strong, smart--and allowed to stay that way!  Prince Char is also pretty great: kind, accepting, intelligent, and heir to the throne--what more could a girl ask for?  Maybe my favorite aspect of this retelling is the addition of the curse of obedience that has been placed on Ella and which she is attempting to break.  Not only does this curse create some interesting plot twists, but it also allows the main focus of the story to be Ella's struggle to free herself rather than a simple quest for a hunky prince.  This retelling of Cinderella is fun, sassy, and definitely worth the time it takes to read it!

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Magic Bicycle and Chasing Time

The Magic Bicycle by William Hill and its sequel Chasing Time are not, alas, as good as I remembered them to be.  Of course, I haven't read them for ten years or so, but still...  I think the problem is that while the plots are decent (I like the plot of the first better than the sequel, but it's a bit depressing for my taste in both), the writing is mediocre and would have benefitted from more extensive editing.  But if you're not fussed about the quality of the writing and you're looking for a fairly original sci-fi/adventure/school story, then you may want to check these out.  The character Murg, a talking cat, also greatly helps these books along.

Chapter Thirty-Three: Matilda

This Roald Dahl novel is another of my all-time favorites, and my old copy is totally falling apart in every way to prove it!  I don't know how many times I've read this book, but rereading it was definitely an excellent way to spend my Saturday night this week.  Make sure to get an edition with Quentin Blake's illustrations--he and Dahl worked together for years, and Blake's illustrations really seem to embody Dahl's text, at least to me.  (Also, their names are Roald and Quentin--what great names!)  But back to Matilda.  Why do I love this book so?  For one, Dahl is simply a great author.  His prose is masterful while also being funny and easy to read.  He also comes up with such zany ideas!  More specific to Matilda, I love a good book with a really brainy heroine, and Matilda herself is certainly that!  She uses her marvelous brain power to punish evildoers--what could be cooler?  (Probably there are things that could be cooler, but using one's brains to do good is pretty high on my list of cool.)  And this book is just so full of far-out stuff!  It's a classic for a reason.  (The 1996 film version starring Mara Wilson as Matilda and Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman as her parents is also pretty good, but of course it isn't nearly as good as the book, so read the book!)

Chapter Thirty-Two: Deep Secret

Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones is definitely a book that should not be kept a secret!  This is one of my all-time favorite, most-often-reread books.  On the broadest level, it is a story about a young man trying to find a replacement Magid (sort of like a wizard, but not really, except in that Magids also use magic) when his mentor dies while also handling a crisis in an empire in another world.  So if you like really good fantasy, this book is certainly for you.  But even if you're only lukewarm on fantasy, it's worth checking this book out, and here's why.  For one thing, there aren't too many fantasy-specific terms, and the ones that are used are pretty clearly explained--and these explanations are brief and fit right into the fabric of the text.  For another thing, the characters are great.  I feel that I would recognize any of them if I ran into them on the street, and I would be happy to meet any of them (except perhaps the villains).  They're so likable while also being realistic and making their share of mistakes and having their fair share of character flaws.  Furthermore, the plot is really excellent: it's original and unpredictable but also not so convoluted that it becomes difficult to follow.  And of course Jones is a master writer.  So, in conclusion, read this book.  It is one of my favorites and I hope it will become one of yours, too!

Chapter Thirty-One: Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron

Let me be clear from the beginning: Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde (he's Welsh) is not to be confused with the recent bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey.  I haven't read the latter, but from what I've heard I feel I can safely say that these books have almost nothing in common.  Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron is a fascinating science-fiction novel about a dystopian future society in which people are categorized based on which color they can see (if they can see in color at all--some people are colorblind, or "grey").  My interest was caught from page one, partly because I wanted to find out more about how this strange society functions (much of this is explained or suggested over the course of the novel) and partly because I wanted to find out more about why the people in it can only see in one color and not at all at night (which is never explained or suggested).  But I was also held by the narrator and main character, whose curiosity fuels the plot.  My only complaint is that, at times, the dystopian element of the society in the novel (ominously referred to only as The Collective) feels a bit overdone or stereotypical of dystopian fiction, but this is a passing and minor issue.  On the whole, I greatly enjoyed this read, and I am eagerly anticipating the sequel, which is still in the works.  If you're up for science fiction or just a weird but good book, it's worth your time to check out Shades of Grey.

Chapter Thirty: Anansi Boys

I've read a few other novels by Neil Gaiman over the years and liked them well enough, but Anansi Boys is far and away my favorite out of the books I've read by Gaiman.  This book is just straight-up FUNNY all the way through--it made me laugh aloud many times while reading it.  In addition to its abundance of humor, I particularly enjoyed this book for its protagonist, Fat Charlie, who has a personality from the very beginning and is allowed to grow actually quite a lot over the course of the novel.  It's a great fantasy novel that also feels mainstream, and I like that I already knew the character of Anansi from American Gods (although I think even not having read American Gods, Anansi and Anansi Boys would be just as delightful).  If you like fantasy and want a book that will probably at least have you chuckling, I highly recommend Anansi Boys.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Silver Pencil

This gentle story about the author's youth in Trinidad, England, America, and Canada in the early 20th century feels a bit dated, but I enjoyed re-reading it nonetheless.  It's a gentle, quiet story, but I found the main character and the settings compelling enough to keep me interested.  It's not amazing, but if you're looking for a soft story about life as a British colonial, it's worth checking out.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Elements of Style

During my travels, I happened upon an illustrated edition of William Strunk and E.B. White's Elements of Style, a book I've felt I should have read for a while now, and between my sense of duty and the handsome illustrations by Maira Kalman, I felt I simply couldn't resist purchasing this book.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was an easy and pleasant read--I tend to forget how much I enjoy reading about grammar!  While I don't agree with all of the rules and suggestions laid out here, on the whole I consider this to be a very useful, handy little book for anyone wishing to write in good English.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves

After reading her more recent collection of short stories, I decided to read Karen Russell's first collection, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.  (What a great title!)  I did not, however, enjoy this collection as much as I enjoyed Vampires in the Lemon Grove.  I felt that most of the stories in St. Lucy's were darker than those in Vampires and the elements of strangeness were also darker and more depressing.  Moreover, most of the stories didn't quite feel finished to me, somehow; I was often left feeling confused about what the point of the story was.  However, they were interesting and well-written, which kept me reading them.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Vampires in the Lemon Grove

Since reading (and being engrossed in) Swamplandia! and hearing Karen Russell at a reading and q-&-a a couple of months ago, I've been meaning to check out her two previously-published collections of short stories. Although I generally prefer novels to short stories, I found myself enjoying this collection, on the whole. Most of all, I really appreciated the strangeness in so many of these stories, from a vampire hooked on lemons to a veteran's extraordinary tattoo (I was reminded by this especially of Roald Dahl's short story "Skin" and in general the collection reminded me vaguely of Dahl's short stories for adults) and beyond. Anyone with a taste for the unusual (and for well-written stories) should definitely take a look at this collection. 

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Ropemaker

This young adult fantasy novel by prolific author Peter Dickinson was definitely worth re-reading. Although it's rather predictable in some of its plot and character elements, there are also a few unique aspects that make it a more interesting read than a cookie-cutter novel of this genre. This novel held my interest pretty well all the way through and was a solid magical adventure story. 

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Artemis Fowl Series

I have read every book in this series by Irish author Eoin Colfer at least once before, except for the most recent and final installment, which was released in 2012. I decided I ought to do the thing properly and re-read the first seven books, most of which I haven't read recently, before tackling the last book. And I'm definitely glad I decided to re-read, partly because I'd forgotten much of the content of the previous books, partly because I love to read book series, and largely because I find this particular series to be both well-written and enjoyable. Although many of the secondary (or even primary but slightly less important) characters are not so dynamic, Artemis (the main character, unsurprisingly) is really allowed to grow and develop over the course of the novels, which is one of my favorite aspects of the series. My main complaint, which is fairly minor, is that the series lacks an overarching story line, instead being comprised of a series of eight adventures that are not so connected to each other aside from sharing the same cast of heroes. I really appreciate, however, the humor that Colfer so liberally includes in his writing and which is, I feel, a major perk to this series. This series is definitely a worthwhile read, especially if you're looking for something a bit lighter. 

Chapter Twenty-Three: Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-Gazer

What an excellent novel!  As you may infer from the title, this book is very loosely based on Herman Melville's Moby-Dick: Or, The Great White Whale, although I feel this novel by Sena Jeter Naslund can very easily be read and enjoyed without having read Hawthorne's whaling epic.  (I've read Moby-Dick, back in high school, but my memories of it are pretty vague, now.)  Anyway, to return to the excellence of Ahab's Wife, I thoroughly enjoyed this long, epic, fictional auto-biography of a woman mentioned only briefly in Moby-Dick.  I absolutely loved the titular character, Una--she is such a strong, resilient, and very real and human character.  She leads such a wondrous life, with both the thrills and terrors of adventures and the joys and sorrows of 19th-century domestic life.  I found it easy to immerse myself in her narration and become absorbed by her recounting of her life.  Moreover, in addition to this stellar narrator/main-character, the plot is fantastically paced, ebbing and flowing like the ocean that so permeates the book, encompassing both fast-paced plot twists and calmer, stiller moments of bliss, sorrow, and acceptance.  To top it all off, the writing itself is beautiful: it is delightfully reminiscent of the best aspects of 19th-century style while avoiding the less pleasant, harder-to-read aspects of it.  This is a fantastic novel, and it is well worth the time it takes to journey through this ultimately uplifting and affirming tale.

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Alchemyst

I bought this novel, the first of a series by Michael Scott called The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, about six months ago while I was home for winter break.  I'm not sure exactly what prompted me to buy it, other than its advertisement as a best-selling YA fantasy sort of book.  Yet after buying it, it sat on the shelf (I didn't even bring it to school with me--why?) until now, when I finished re-reading the Harry Potter series and was too despondent about it to go to the library.  But I felt like reading something new, and here this was, conveniently waiting for me on my shelf.  The first few pages didn't really capture me and draw me in, but I decided to persevere to the end of the book (which only took a day), and I'm not convinced it was worthwhile (nor am I convinced it wasn't worthwhile).  During most of my reading experience, mostly due to my emotional resistance to the main teen characters (it's not that I disliked them, but I didn't find myself caring too much about them) I found myself thinking I wouldn't bother reading the sequel(s).  But in the last third or fourth of the novel, I found that the main characters had grown on me somewhat, and--I'll admit it--I'm something of a sucker for a cliffhanger ending, which this book certainly has.  So I might get the next book from the library (but not immediately).  We'll see if my interest matures with time or not.  In the meantime, I think one of my main issues with this book is that, even though my knowledge of world mythologies (or any mythology) is sadly limited, especially for someone who enjoys fantasy and sci-fi, I felt like, rather than being based on historical and mythological characters, this novel ends up using them as stock-characters, often--the villains, especially, seemed flat in this way.  Basically, even if I do decide to read the sequel, I'll probably donate my copy of this first book in the series and get the next one(s) from the library.  Basically, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.

Chapter Twenty-One: Harry Potter (the whole series)

I deliberated over posting separately for each of the seven books in this series versus posting once about the whole group, but as I really feel they make such a cohesive unit, and as the story line really runs its course from the first installment to the last, I decided to review the series as a whole.  (If you want my thoughts on each installment individually, check out my account on goodreads.com.)

Writing about the series as a whole, I have to say that I love this series whole-heartedly, with no reservations.  I don't know how many times I've read any of the books--why bother keeping count?--but they are superb.  I love the characters and the way Rowling develops them; I'm impressed by the way the larger plot is woven through all of the books so that minor details from earlier books are mentioned again and even become important in later books (this is especially noticeable and pleasing when rereading the series); I notice new things each time I read the books; and there's some quality to her storytelling (I've never been able to figure out what, which is probably part of the books' huge pull over me) that absolutely sucks me in and holds me captive so that, no matter how many times I've read the books, each time I read them I become obsessed with them all over again.  (If I wanted to make a bad joke about Rowling's magical ability to enchant her readers, I'd do it here--but I'll spare you.)

Anyway, I can't even begin to describe how enormous a part of my life these books have been.  I was lucky enough to grow up as the books were being published, so I really feel I've grown up with Harry & co, aging roughly as they aged.  Reading them--and rereading them--and waiting for the next installment, and talking and speculating and wondering about them with friends, and pretending that we were characters in the books--they've played (and, thank goodness, continue to play) a huge role in my life, probably more than any other books.  If you've never read them, I strongly suggest that you do so, because they're solidly excellent.

Chapter Twenty: The Casual Vacancy

I was finally able to get a copy of Rowling's first non–Harry Potter book from the library, and it was well worth the wait. I'm glad I read it now that I'm on vacation because I didn't want to put it down, even after I finished reading it! My only complaint is that, in this fairly dark read, there were a few moments where I felt like Rowling goes a bit overboard in her emphasis of the horrible aspects of life to the point where I wondered if she isn't trying a bit too hard to show that this is a book for adults (whatever that means--and of course Harry Potter has its dark moments as well, but nothing like what's in The Casual Vacancy). However, one thing Rowling does particularly well here, as in HP, is making very real a large cast of primary characters and successfully investing my interest in all of them. They really kept me reading, and I'm still wondering what will happen to them after the end of the story (although I don't expect a sequel and I don't think this story calls for one). 

Chapter Nineteen: The Great Gatsby

I read The Great Gatsby in 11th grade, but I didn't remember it very well so I wanted to reread it before going to see the new movie. I'm glad I did! I really enjoyed reading it--like many others, I really enjoy Fitzgerald's prose. The book was darker than I'd remembered, and the movie was even darker than I'd expected. Nonetheless, I enjoyed both book and movie (unsurprisingly, I preferred the book). 

Chapter Eighteen: Tender is the Night

As a prelude to re-reading The Great Gatsby before seeing the movie, I decided to check out this other F. Scott Fitzgerald classic that I've never read, mostly because I had heard it was set largely in France and had it strongly recommended by a fellow French major.  I'm definitely glad I decided to read it!  Of course, the little bits and pieces in French were fun for me, but I really enjoyed the style of the writing as well.  Most of all, I appreciated how Fitzgerald unrolls the telling of the story and how this affected and changed my perceptions of the novel's major characters.

Chapter Seventeen: Sophie's World

So I decided to class it up a bit and re-read Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder, translated into English from Norwegian.  It's either a novel masquerading as a history of philosophy or a history of philosophy masquerading as a novel... it's hard to tell which, but that's not a bad thing!  I felt like I was learning something as I read (even if I've already forgotten most of the philosophy mentioned!) and there was enough plot interspersed with the philosophy lessons to hold my interest.  Things do get rather funky, plot-wise, toward the very end of the book, so I found it a bit hard to follow right at the end, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Chapter Sixteen: Swamplandia! (and Karen Russell herself)

It probably isn't a children's book, but this novel by Karen Russell about the teenage members of the Bigtree clan sucked me into its swampy world from the beginning.  The story is pretty intense, with a mother dead of cancer, a grandfather suffering from dementia, a largely absent father, increasing financial woes, and of course the regular stresses that come with being a teenager.  The's book's setting is mostly split between the family's gator-wrestling venue deep in the South Florida swamplands and the innards of a truly awful mainland Florida amusement park, and the beauty and physical danger of the wilderness stands in stark contrast to the ugliness and moral danger of Floridian suburbia.  I won't reveal how the book ends, but it held me in its grasp through the last page.

Through a pleasant twist of fate, mere days after I finished reading Swamplandia! I found out that the author was coming to my college's campus, so I had the chance to attend a reading and question-and-answer period during which Russell read from her most recent publication, a collection of short stories (Vampires in the Lemon Grove).  It was fascinating to get to hear Russell read from her other work and talk about her writing process, her inspiration, her own reading list, etc. right after I had finished reading her novel.  She explained how Swamplandia! evolved out of a short story she had written, how her own childhood spent in South Florida had influenced her (and how her own experience differed from her writing), and the influence of the swamp itself on her writing.  It was really interesting to learn a bit about the production of the novel I'd just read, and her reading from another story--as well as her generally quirky personality--definitely make me want to check out her other work, so watch this space for more Karen Russell.

Chapter Fifteen: Better Than Running at Night

Better Than Running at Night, by Hillary Frank, was a random and fortuitous find.  I was really in the mood for some good young adult fiction, and I thought I'd glance at the Bard library's "juvenile browsing" section, which is pretty limited.  Tucked in between bigger books, this little paperback caught my eye as much for its small size as for its colorful cover.  Reading the back of the cover, I was intrigued to find it's about college students, which in my experience is pretty unusual for a children's book or a book for adults.  (When was the last time you read a good novel about college students?  The last time I did was two years ago, roughly.  If you have read any good novels about college students, leave me a comment!  I'd be pleased to check it out.)
Anyway, as for the book itself, I really enjoyed it.  Rather than being divided into chapters, it's in fairly short sections with good titles and even little drawings (which is nice, since the narrator-protagonist is studying drawing at an art college).  I really liked the main character; I could relate to her, and she wasn't written too melodramatically.  She is a reasonable person while being an interesting character, and moreover she's a strong female protagonist, which is always great.  Of course she has her share of problems, but she doesn't whine about them.  And she's got her quirks, to add some spice to the story.  I'm not sure if I would actually think of this as a young adult novel; it's a bit hard to classify, but I heartily recommend it.

Chapter Fourteen: American Gods

Neil Gaiman's American Gods is a book I've been meaning to read for months, ever since Gaiman came to Bard and did a reading of a short piece he was still working on.  Many of my fellow reading-attendees were shocked and dismayed to hear that I hadn't read American Gods, so I dedicate this post to them (they know who they are, unless they've forgotten...).  I am definitely glad that I finally got around to reading this book, although (unlike other Gaiman books I've read) I can't see myself reading it again, at least not any time in the near future. It was a really interesting read, and it definitely kept my attention--I liked the main character and the supporting characters, the mythology was interesting, and the U.S. geography was fun--but on the whole this novel was a little too dark and intense, and Gaiman's characteristic humor was a little too sparse, to become one of my absolute favorites. Still, I would certainly recommend reading American Gods, especially if you're a fan of mystery or suspense. (Although there are elements of fantasy or sci-fi, it felt more like magical realism to me, and I wouldn't recommend it if someone said they were looking for a good fantasy or sci-fi read.)

Chapter Thirteen: Room

Although I was a bit nervous about reading a book that promised to include some fairly dark content (it's about a woman who has been kidnapped, kept in captivity for years, and is trying to raise her son in the small room where they're kept), I found myself really gripped by this novel by Emma Donoghue.  It was hard to put down!  I think a big part of why I found it so absorbing and readable was that Donoghue narrates in the voice of the five-year-old child who has been born and raised in this room: this choice of narration allows a lot of the heaviest information to be filtered, in the sense that the experience of captivity, which seems absolutely atrocious to readers used to living outside of captivity, just seems normal to the narrator, so while his accounts of his mother allowed me to glimpse the horror of the situation, I didn't feel the horror pressing directly on me as I read.  Still, it was a bit of a heavy read, but I liked it a lot.

Chapter Twelve: Three Men in a Boat, to Say Nothing of the Dog

As one might guess from its title, Three Men in a Boat, to Say Nothing of the Dog by Jerome K. Jerome  is a humorous read.  It's not children's fiction, but its flights of fancy, style of humor, all-male cast, riverine setting, and of course all of the messing about--simply messing about--in boats reminded me a lot of The Wind in the Willows, one of my all-time favorites.  This book doesn't have much of a plot, but I was too busy enjoying the narration to mind!  This light, delightful read was able to carry me away from a harsh New England winter into a mild English boating trip, and I was thoroughly pleased!

Chapter Eleven: A Kingdom Far and Clear

It is thanks to my grandmother for giving me a visually beautiful edition of Mark Helprin's Swan Lake trilogy, illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg. (Those of you familiar with picture books may know Van Allsburg from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The Polar Express.) I had never read this story, but apparently it's a classic! Overall, I enjoyed it, but I could have done without the references to God, and although the very end was, thank goodness, hopeful, the final installment generally was rather heavy and hopeless. So I'm not sure if I'll be rereading this book, but I did enjoy reading it this first time through!

Chapter Ten: Welcome to Lizard Motel

This was neither children's/YA fiction nor was it fiction at all!  But I heartily enjoyed this memoir, which I felt was as much about motherhood as it was about an adult's perspective on children's literature.  Of course, given how concerned children's literature is with adult conceptions of childhood, it isn't surprising that author Barbara Feinberg's experiences as a mother ended up being so entwined with her views on children's literature.  I didn't agree with everything she wrote, nor all of her judgments on the specific books she critiqued.  (For example, she disliked Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons, which admittedly I haven't bothered to reread probably since sixth grade, but which I remember liking very much between then and when I first read it, probably in third or fourth grade.)  However, it was truly refreshing to read a published account by another adult validating what I felt as a kid about most of what I had to read for school--it wasn't what I wanted to be reading, and it wasn't enjoyable to read.  (Like her, or rather her son, the books we both dislike are the sorts of books I read maybe in fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades--we didn't read much before that, or at least not as a class, and after that we were pretty much in the realm of (adult) classics.)  I don't know if someone not familiar with the books Feinberg focuses on (mostly written and taught from the 1970s onward) and not interested in children's literature would find this book interesting, but I definitely enjoyed reading it!

Chapter Nine: The Amulet of Samarkand

So, first, my apologies for not having written in more than a month!  I can lamely say that I was busy with school and then the holidays, but I was at least reading for fun, even if I didn't write about it right away!  So, The Amulet of Samarkand, by Jonathan Stroud...  I honestly didn't enjoy this read nearly as much as I'd expected to.  I generally quite like YA fantasy, but something about this left me feeling lukewarm.  I did bother to finish it, and I found the last few chapters more interesting than most of the rest of the book, but I didn't end the book feeling that I absolutely must read the sequels--in fact, I ended thinking that I almost certainly won't bother with the sequels.  I think a lot of my problem with this book stemmed from the fact that I had trouble identifying with and liking the main child character.  He was both cold and whiny, I found, and I had trouble sympathizing with him.  I rather liked the other main character better, who is a wise (or so he thinks of himself) djinn, although I'm not sure how much I was supposed to like him.  The villains weren't compelling enough to really hate or fear, so they didn't help spur me on, either. On the whole, I wasn't terribly impressed by this book, but I've certainly read worse.