3 books

Well, I knocked out 3 books this weekend.  I am a reading machine.

I finished up "Anatomy of Murder" by Imogen Robertson.  This is the 2nd in the Crowther and Westerman series I talked about in my last post.  Seriously, if you like murder mysteries and 18th Century England, this series is a must.  "Anatomy of Murder" follow Mr. Crowther and Mrs. Westerman as they try to unravel the mystery of a dead man found in the river, strangled with his legs tied to a cement block.  He was an employee of His Majesty's Opera House and the the investigation takes Crowther and Westerman into the world of the opera.  There is a parallel story about a woman, Mrs. Bligh, who reads tarot cards and is quite famous at it.  She reads the cards for a young woman and they are bad.  The woman doesn't want an explanation, but Mrs. Bligh is compelled to help her.  The stories eventually come together nicely.

It did take me a minute to get into this book, but I think that was because the first book had a lot of excitement right off the bat and it didn't really let up.  This one had a slower pace starting out, but picked up.  Imogen Robertson is a great author.  She does a great job of building the tension and the characters are very likeable and well-developed.  My only complaint is that there are a lot of characters and sometimes it's hard to keep track, but that's not that big of a deal.

"Lulu and the Brontosaurus" is by Judith Viorst.  I am a huge fan of Judith Viorst. She wrote the classic "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day".  I love her writing style and she has a great voice thats fun to read aloud.  "Lulu and the Brontosaurus" was a quick read.  Lulu is a brat.  A spoiled brat of the worst kind.  Her parents never tell her "no".  For her birthday she wants a brontosaurus, which her parents obviously can't provide in spite of all of her tantrums and screaming.  She declares she will have a brontosaurus and sets off into the forest.  She is selfish and inconsiderate as she tromps through the forest, disturbing all of the animals.  Against all odds, she finds a brontosaurus, however the brontosaurus also tells her no.  In fact, he declares that Lulu will be HIS pet and thus begins Lulu's transformation into a polite, soft spoken girl.  I am excited to read this to my children.  Judith Viorst has a really wonderful way of teaching life lessons.  This book is about not acting like a brat when we don't get what we want and learning to be flexible and able to compromise.

Kate DiCamillo is the author of "The Tale of Despereaux", which I have not read, but I am a sucker for a beautifully designed/illustrated book cover.  I initially started reading "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" to my kids, but they weren't quite following it.  I finished reading it yesterday and I'm glad we didn't get through it.  It's kind of deep and I'm sure my kids would not quite get it.  Edward Tulane is a china rabbit who is very arrogant and vain.  He doesn't talk, can't move his limbs or eyes (he's a toy after all and his eyes are painted on), but he thinks.  He is owned by a little girl, Abilene, who loves him to pieces.  Her family goes on an ocean voyage and some bullies end up throwing Edward into the ocean.  This begins a journey for Edward.  He ends up passing from person to person and with each person Edward learns a little more about himself and what it means to love.

I did not love this book.  I thought it was interesting and there are some poignant moments, but it felt a little "self-important" to me, similar to the way I felt about "The Alchemist", although not quite as bad.  It just felt like she was trying too hard to make a point.  Having said that, I did't hate that.  It was alright.  My favorite part was the fairy tale Abilene's grandmother tells her about a vain princess who gets turned into a warthog.  In fact, that was the only part that my 5 year old listened to with rapt attention.


I am now trying to get into "Flying the Dragon" (another juvenile fiction) but it's not going well.  I'm also trying to get into a biography on Elizabeth I.

Happy reading!