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.