Just One Wish by Janette Rallison

( 48 )

I enjoyed this.  It was a quick little read, and I liked the humor.  I was kinda pissed at the ending, but I sort of saw it coming.  The pat religious answer at the end disappointed me, but it tie things up neatly.  That said, I enjoyed the voice and style of the MC and would like to see another book featuring her, though I doubt it will happen.

7/10

We Never Talk About My Brother by Peter S. Beagle

( 47 )

A mixed bag, didn’t like a lot of it, though I wanted to. LOVED the bad poetry battle though, and the lyrical language of chamsail.

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

( 46 ) A Stephanie Plum Between-the-Numbers novel

I enjoy the b-t-n books, but I don’t think this one was as strong as some of the others (loved! the valentine’s one, Plum Lovin’) but it was still a fun, light little vacation read.

6/10

Tithe by Holly Black

( 45 )

After listening to The Spiderwick Chronicles over the last few weeks I went into this a little afraid–I didn’t care for them and was afraid I wouldn’t like Black’s solo projects either.

I was wrong. It got off to a rocky start, but was definitely worth it.  More after book club on Sunday.

8/10

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

( 44 )

This was a re-read for my book club–my choice even.

I have to say, I liked it better the first time.  I realized, when re-reading it, that what I’d enjoyed most about the book was the basic underlying concept. Said concept is outlined in the preface to the book.  Reading the book is like a long, novelized “What-if”. If the concept in the preface is correct, what would it be like…?

It gives meat to the bones laid out in the beginning, but it’s not necessary.  It took me a long time to slog through this second reading–I doubt that there will be a third.

Or it could be that it’s much too deep for vacation reading, who knows?

6/10

Homespun by Nilita Vachani

( 43 )

I wanted to like this, I did, but the jumping through time and perspectives annoyed the hell out of me and made for a less than coherent whole.

5/10

The Spiderwick Chronicles, Vol 1-5 by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

( 42 )

J & I listened to this over a few weeks. We enjoyed them, though not all of it was a surprise since she saw the movie version last year with her Dad.

For me, had I read these individually they would have annoyed the hell out of me.  These were not five books — it was one ong manuscript teased apart into five shorter books so that the length would appeal to the target audience’s age. Well, maybe not, but that was how they read.

Plotting was good, characters were nice, and Mark Hamill’s reading was pretty good.  We had a little trouble distinguishing a few of the characters (they sounded the same) but there were a lot of characters in these books, too, so it’s understandable.

Not bad, all in all, but glad I didn’t buy it.

Story: 7/10

Reading: 6/10