The Fifth Horseman by James Patterson & the co-writer of the moment

(Women’s Murder Club, Book 5)

Rumpelstiltskin by James Paige

A short story, from James Paige’s “The Dubious (But True) Tale of My Death (And Everything That Preceded It)” .

I love fairy tales, and had never before read “Rumpelstiltskin” done from the perspective of the little man, so I enjoyed it for that.

Overall, I think it was a good story. I liked the little man’s ability to be sympathetic to the heroine yet still ruthless.  I also liked the fact that he never clarified whether or not he was a bad fairy or merely an indifferent one.  I was a bit disappointed that the author, given the opportunity, never answered the question of why the little man wanted the child.

The writing was, at time, a little amateurish (comma usage is a problem for Mr. Paige).  My biggest issue with the story was spelling errors.  They could be played off, largely, as missed letters from someone typing quickly, but they were still missed.  Others seemed deliberate, a choice to use incorrect grammar to express fey speech patterns.  I can respect that choice, but it still jolted me from the narrative flow since it was not used consistently.

4th of July by James Patterson & some other person

( a Women’s Murder Club mystery )

Am I the only one starting to wonder if James Patterson even KNOWS that he is supposedly writing all these books?  Seems like everything I’ve seen with his name on it except the Alex Cross books for a while now has been co-authored by some heretofore unknown person.

Having said that, I enjoyed this one.  It’s been so long since I read the 3rd in the series that I don’t really remember where it left off, but it wasn’t really relevant, this one stands pretty well on its own.

Magic Spell by Linda Chapman

(My Secret Unicorn #1)

Can you tell I have a horse-obsessed 5yo?

Bleeding Heart by Susan Wittig Albert

(a China Bayles mystery)

I saw right through the long-lost brother plot point long before the story ever got to it, but enjoyed the rest of the story, as always.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Am I the only person who wonders (since childhood no less) if his parents just flat forgot the “n” between those vowels?

As for the book… I had not read it in years and my daughter read it in class at school and asked me to read it again.  It was, as I suspected it would be, a bit darker than either of the bubblegum-pop movies based on it.  I have to say, quite honestly, that while most of the children in the story are indeed reprehensible little snots, Charlie’s plight by comparison seemed caricature-like.  Even if many children do live in poverty that would make a sensible person weep, the extremes of his life compared to the rest of the book are just a bit much to my grown-up self.  And Willy Wonka is not particularly likeable either.

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

I read this for my book club and enjoyed it enough to order the sequel from the library, but was a bit annoyed by it.

There was huge, tremendous LOADS of time spent setting up the early portion of the novel.  Not the end of the world, I’ve read a lot of that.  Then, what seemed to be as though it SHOULD have been meat the novel was glossed over fairly quickly.