Book Logging
Oct. 7th, 2011 11:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckFirebirds Soaring - I've never bounced off of an anthology before. I expected to like this because I've enjoyed the previous anthologies in the series, but I found myself counting pages on each story and almost always skipping ahead, even when the story was quite short. I suspect that I'm simply not in a short story mood. I gave up about halfway through the anthology. I wasn't having fun. I'll make a note of the book so that I can come back to it some other time when I might actually do the stories justice.
Jinks, Catherine. Evil Genius - I wanted to like this book (and not just because the library has three further volumes in the series). Unfortunately, I didn't find the main character particularly interesting. I didn't even make it to the main plot of the book-- I got hung up in the several chapters of backstory and simply didn't care. I made it through about seven chapters on the strength of the creepy mentor. I found myself wondering what the main character would be like if someone-- anyone-- else had managed to connect with him.
Jonell, Lynne. Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat - Emmy's parents are constantly away, and her nanny is one of the most truly awful people on the face of the earth. Her teacher and classmates ignore her. Life is miserable. Then she finds out that there are rodents that have the power to change people, to make people grow hair or forget things or be able to understand the speech of rodents. Emmy makes friends and figures out how to make her world a better place. It's a lot more fun than it sounds like.
Landy, Derek. Playing with Fire - This is the second book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series. I had a little more trouble reading it than I did the first. I'm not sure why one potential apocalypse should be more stress inducing than another, but it was. Perhaps it was that more of danger was aimed specifically (as opposed to incidentally) at the main character. The humor is still present and makes me look forward to book three.
Landy, Derek. Skulduggery Pleasant - I expected to bounce off this one. The cover and title led me to expect a skew into horror. I can't say that there wasn't a bit of one-- There were certainly monsters and hints of Elder God type things, but the humor carried it for me. I liked the title character, and I liked Stephanie, the point of view character. Their adventures were just scary enough. I've put a hold on the next book in the series.
Leavitt, Martine. The Dollmage - When I saw how short this book was, I expected to breeze through it. Unfortunately, I had trouble with the narrative voice and couldn't get very far. The story is framed as being told by an old woman (the previous Dollmage) who is trying to talk the people of her village out of stoning the main character. I didn't find a character to connect with. The narrator is deliberately making herself unsympathetic by confessing her short comings and wrong doings.
Lindgren, Astrid. Ronia, the Robber's Daughter - I wanted to like this book better than I did. To be clear, I didn't dislike it. I just wasn't crazy about it. I think that, if I'd read it when I was Delia's age, I'd have adored it. I like that Lindgren didn't make living in the woods much easier than it would be (I have some doubts about milking a wild mare) and that she didn't pretty up what the robbers do for a living. The robbery isn't a focus of the book because the main character isn't involved, but it's there.
McCall Smith, Alexander. Akimbo and the Baboons - This is the last of the Akimbo books that the library has. I don't know if there are others that the library doesn't have (I don't care enough to check). This is another brief book focusing on Akimbo learning about animals and about being out in the bush. This time, he and his cousin accompany a scientist who's observing baboons.
Naruto 52 - There might actually be something other than Sasuke and Madara. At least, the last part of this volume seems to promise something else. I'm still kind of reading out of habit, but maybe that will change in the next volume. Maybe.
Ouran High School Host Club 15 - I've forgotten a lot of the details of the previous volumes of this series. I remember the general shape of them, but the specifics are gone. I'm not sure I'm dedicated enough to go back and reread the series (assuming the library still has it all). I seem to have gone off manga for the time being-- They read so fast that it seems barely worth bringing them home from the library, and I have to put holds in if I want to get the volumes in order. At any rate, this volume has actual plot developments, just in case I needed more reasons to dislike Tamaki's grandmother. I'm curious to see where it goes.
Vernon, Ursula. Dragonbreath: Attack of the Ninja Frogs - I'm not sure what else to say than that this was charming and fun. The main character was just as crazy as he was in the first volume. My only remaining question is-- How does one cheat at Trivial Pursuit? The main character's great-grandfather is known for doing it, and I can't figure out how that would work.
Vernon, Ursula. Dragonbreath: Curse of the Were-Wiener - The hero's best friend gets bitten by a hotdog and starts turning into a mind controlled monster. The whole thing still manages to be light and funny. I particularly like the potato salad. It's a nice case of something from an earlier book coming back and being important.
Vernon, Ursula. Dragonbreath: Lair of the Bat Monster - This is the fourth book in the Dragonbreath series. This time, the hero and his best friend travel to Mexico to learn about bats and discover a legendary monster. I must confess that I want access to the bus system that the characters use to get around. It can go anywhere in the world within a couple of hours and without, apparently, crossing all the distance in between. Even better, it's there to get the characters home again afterwards. I don't know that I'd travel far with it, but it would be nice to have the possibility. This book is still light, funny and charming. I recommend the series.
Wood, Maryrose. Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: the Hidden Gallery - I may not go on with this series. I'm curious about all of the mysteries that have been set up, but I suspect it will take forever for any answers to come. I don't enjoy these books enough to fight my way through many of them. In this volume, the governess and her three semi-feral charges go to London.
Jinks, Catherine. Evil Genius - I wanted to like this book (and not just because the library has three further volumes in the series). Unfortunately, I didn't find the main character particularly interesting. I didn't even make it to the main plot of the book-- I got hung up in the several chapters of backstory and simply didn't care. I made it through about seven chapters on the strength of the creepy mentor. I found myself wondering what the main character would be like if someone-- anyone-- else had managed to connect with him.
Jonell, Lynne. Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat - Emmy's parents are constantly away, and her nanny is one of the most truly awful people on the face of the earth. Her teacher and classmates ignore her. Life is miserable. Then she finds out that there are rodents that have the power to change people, to make people grow hair or forget things or be able to understand the speech of rodents. Emmy makes friends and figures out how to make her world a better place. It's a lot more fun than it sounds like.
Landy, Derek. Playing with Fire - This is the second book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series. I had a little more trouble reading it than I did the first. I'm not sure why one potential apocalypse should be more stress inducing than another, but it was. Perhaps it was that more of danger was aimed specifically (as opposed to incidentally) at the main character. The humor is still present and makes me look forward to book three.
Landy, Derek. Skulduggery Pleasant - I expected to bounce off this one. The cover and title led me to expect a skew into horror. I can't say that there wasn't a bit of one-- There were certainly monsters and hints of Elder God type things, but the humor carried it for me. I liked the title character, and I liked Stephanie, the point of view character. Their adventures were just scary enough. I've put a hold on the next book in the series.
Leavitt, Martine. The Dollmage - When I saw how short this book was, I expected to breeze through it. Unfortunately, I had trouble with the narrative voice and couldn't get very far. The story is framed as being told by an old woman (the previous Dollmage) who is trying to talk the people of her village out of stoning the main character. I didn't find a character to connect with. The narrator is deliberately making herself unsympathetic by confessing her short comings and wrong doings.
Lindgren, Astrid. Ronia, the Robber's Daughter - I wanted to like this book better than I did. To be clear, I didn't dislike it. I just wasn't crazy about it. I think that, if I'd read it when I was Delia's age, I'd have adored it. I like that Lindgren didn't make living in the woods much easier than it would be (I have some doubts about milking a wild mare) and that she didn't pretty up what the robbers do for a living. The robbery isn't a focus of the book because the main character isn't involved, but it's there.
McCall Smith, Alexander. Akimbo and the Baboons - This is the last of the Akimbo books that the library has. I don't know if there are others that the library doesn't have (I don't care enough to check). This is another brief book focusing on Akimbo learning about animals and about being out in the bush. This time, he and his cousin accompany a scientist who's observing baboons.
Naruto 52 - There might actually be something other than Sasuke and Madara. At least, the last part of this volume seems to promise something else. I'm still kind of reading out of habit, but maybe that will change in the next volume. Maybe.
Ouran High School Host Club 15 - I've forgotten a lot of the details of the previous volumes of this series. I remember the general shape of them, but the specifics are gone. I'm not sure I'm dedicated enough to go back and reread the series (assuming the library still has it all). I seem to have gone off manga for the time being-- They read so fast that it seems barely worth bringing them home from the library, and I have to put holds in if I want to get the volumes in order. At any rate, this volume has actual plot developments, just in case I needed more reasons to dislike Tamaki's grandmother. I'm curious to see where it goes.
Vernon, Ursula. Dragonbreath: Attack of the Ninja Frogs - I'm not sure what else to say than that this was charming and fun. The main character was just as crazy as he was in the first volume. My only remaining question is-- How does one cheat at Trivial Pursuit? The main character's great-grandfather is known for doing it, and I can't figure out how that would work.
Vernon, Ursula. Dragonbreath: Curse of the Were-Wiener - The hero's best friend gets bitten by a hotdog and starts turning into a mind controlled monster. The whole thing still manages to be light and funny. I particularly like the potato salad. It's a nice case of something from an earlier book coming back and being important.
Vernon, Ursula. Dragonbreath: Lair of the Bat Monster - This is the fourth book in the Dragonbreath series. This time, the hero and his best friend travel to Mexico to learn about bats and discover a legendary monster. I must confess that I want access to the bus system that the characters use to get around. It can go anywhere in the world within a couple of hours and without, apparently, crossing all the distance in between. Even better, it's there to get the characters home again afterwards. I don't know that I'd travel far with it, but it would be nice to have the possibility. This book is still light, funny and charming. I recommend the series.
Wood, Maryrose. Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: the Hidden Gallery - I may not go on with this series. I'm curious about all of the mysteries that have been set up, but I suspect it will take forever for any answers to come. I don't enjoy these books enough to fight my way through many of them. In this volume, the governess and her three semi-feral charges go to London.
