the not-so-good

Continuing from yesterday's post, here is my take on the two books from that list that sort of let me down:

Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem – some dude. Peter somebody.

I’m starting to feel that I may have exhausted the public library. I mean, I’m sure that I haven’t…but still. Sometimes I feel that way. I checked this one out because I’d been at the library for a while without finding anything and my lunch break was almost over. It looked like a potentially good mystery…but then it turned out to be one of those true (I think) historical accounts of murders. Well, if it wasn’t true, then I don’t understand why it was written. And if it was true, then it’s one of those books meant for a specific audience (the people interested in historical accounts of things) and I am not a part of that audience.

Song of Stone – Iain Banks

This guy is really hit or miss with me – either I really love his books, or I just hate them and feel sullied and besmirched afterwards. I pretty much skimmed the last half of the book, because I’d gotten to a point where I was pretty sure it was irredeemable, but I wasn’t sure. It’s a potentially good premise, and then it just crashed and burned. I had to watch an hour of The Backyardigans afterwards - have you heard of that show? John’s parents burned a bunch of episodes onto a DVD and they lent it to me – DANG but I LOVE the Backyardigans! 5 little animals of various cultural and ethnic backgrounds who have adventures in their imaginations each week that always involve songs and dancing - and I have to say the music is really good and so are their little dances. Oh those Backyardigans. They are so…hypnotic. I do not recommend this book. But I do recommend the Backyardigans.

Summertime, summertime, sum-sum-summertime

Well, the cold season has broken, and after a few rainy days we are moving on in to the hot season. Hooray!

Still haven’t replaced laptop or camera, although plans are in the works for getting a new camera. But in the meantime, yes, I am continuing to read! So let me try to remember the past few months and see if I can reconstruct a list of the good (and not so good) reading times.

Middlemarch – George Eliot
The Fall of Hyperion – Dan Simmons
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – JK Rowling
Julie & Julia – Julie Powell
Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem – some dude. Peter somebody.
The Witches – Roald Dahl
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – JK Rowling
Fantastic Mr. Fox – Roald Dahl
a boy of good breeding - Miriam Toews
Song of Stone – Iain Banks
Endymion – Dan Simmons
Ghost Children – Sue Townsend

All in all, I'd say it's been a pretty good run! Just a few dullards. More details on these books later - I am currently somewhat at work.