Speed Blogging

Since I'm so behind in posting and have several books that I don't have a lot to say about (like some of the books I read during the readathon), I thought I'd do a "speed blogging" post. It's sort of like speed dating but with books. :)

The Virgin Blue:
I've really enjoyed the other Tracy Chevalier books I've read - The Girl with the Pearl Earring and The Lady and the Unicorn. The Virgin Blue on the other hand didn't quite stand up to her other works. The story was weak and the ending didn't really make sense. I'd skip this one unless you're a big fan who just wants to read all of her books.

While My Pretty One Sleeps:
In high school, I graduated from RL Stine and Christopher Pike to Mary Higgins Clark (although Pike and Stine were actually more gruesome). I have a couple of her books still hanging around from those days that I never read. I really enjoyed this one but two weeks later I don't remember anything about it. So...it's a good rainy day read if you're looking for an easy-to-read mystery with a gripping story that won't make you think.

Pretty Little Liars:
Why am I admitting I read this? Well, I've really enjoyed watching The Lying Game (I started watching because I like several of the actors, don't judge) and so I thought I'd try reading Pretty Little Liar, which is by the same author, when I saw it as an ebook through the library. I think ebooks are why I've read more YA lit lately - I don't usually go to that section in the library, but I usually stumble across it when looking for books for my Nook. The book itself was okay, decent enough that I might read on if I'm craving something light, but nothing to make me rush forward.

The Bridge to Terebithia:
I had never read this and so I remedied it that during the readathon. I was very meh about this. It's not a bad book, I was just bored with it. I don't see why it's award winning.

Big Stone Gap and Big Cherry Holler:
I liked Big Stone Gap and had read it about 10 years ago, but hadn't read the sequels. I read Big Cherry Holler and didn't like it as well - it jumped forward in time too much and didn't let you grow with the characters, so they seemed to just be acting weird. I got a little bored with the story too. I'm still going to try the third one, Milk Glass Moon, but these will all be heading to Half-Price Books to be sold back rather than hanging around my shelves.

Dragonfly in Amber:
I got over my disgust with some of the things in Outlander and let my love of Jamie carry me on. I enjoyed this book and it didn't have the same type of issues as the first one. I still think Diana Gabaldon has a rather sick mind and that came through in a few places, but I really enjoyed it overall. I immediately checked out the ebook version of Voyager after finishing this one and am now working my way through it. That's the nice thing about my Nook - if I don't have the next books in a series, I can usually get them immediately from the library and didn't even have to leave my living room!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children:
This was another Nook book from the library and an another YA title. It's got a great concept - the author find a bunch of old, odd photos and wrote a story around them. There's time travel and interesting occurrences, a touching relationship between a boy and his grandfather, elements of WWII and an original story complete with real-life photos. I thought this was a good read that kept me hooked.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond:
Yet another YA title! I loved this one. It's a historical novel about a young girl accused of being a witch in Massachusetts back in the 1700s. She's not from the area and doesn't realize how strange her actions seem. There is a cast of likeable characters (and plenty of not likeable ones) and good details about life back then, but not nearly as many as sometimes crowd adult historical fiction. Near the end I was flying through the pages to find out what happened. I think this would be a good book to teach junior high kids - it's interesting and is a good precursor to The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible.