two books read, two books returned unfinished

[snugglekitty]

Last week, I read chienne_folle's suggestion, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax. I liked it a lot. My only complaint is that it was too short. Well, and there are some things that I found hard to believe that a senior who wasn't physically active would be capable of, but then, we do often surprise ourselves. Four stars, and I was laughing aloud while reading it.

This week, I read Moon's Web by CT Adams and Cathy Clamp, sequel to Hunter's Moon. I liked the first one better, but still pretty good. The revealing of the villain towards the end was... disappointing. I had better plots dreamed up in my head by that point. Still, it was engaging and enjoyable. I'm glad they were able to make it good for a second book. We'll have to see how the third turns out. Three and half stars.

I'm returning to the library Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife. I started out thinking, "How charming! It's about a rat that lives in a used bookstore and loves to read!" But it was very bleak and dragged on a lot and I decided not to finish it. It wasn't charming after all.

I'm also returning to the library Back from the Dead: One Woman's Search for the Men Who Walked Off America's Death Row, for much the same reasons. I thought it would be heartwarming, or at least hopeful, but it was bleak bleak bleak.

Currently in progress: Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear - an unusual read from the prolific author of the Hammered series, as well as The Price of Blood and Honor by Elizabeth Wiley, which I'm having a hard time getting into.

Comments

[opn.livejournal.com]

I think I have the entire Mrs. Pollifax series. I've been reading them since I was a child (one of them might have been in the Reader's Digest Condensed books my mother had stacks of). I love the characters. :)

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

It was so much fun! I love how this and the Miss Melville series both talk about the invisibility of older women, and how that can be used to advantage.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so glad you liked Mrs. Pollifax! I found out about her through chienne_folle here at your journal, and I've just adored reading about her. Definitely one of the things that has kept me going this year.

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you enjoyed Mrs. P. I've learned about so many fabulous books through reading your journal that I owe you! I find the Mrs. Polifax books especially good when I have a cold or am otherwise not playing with a full deck. They're light and fluffy, which is not too taxing for a sick person, and they also have this sense that anything is possible, which is especially good for the times when I'm not playing with a full deck.

There are lots more. It pays to read them in order, since she changes, and her relationships with people change, over time.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

I'm happy you feel like you've gotten so much out of my book reviews. :) That's awesome.

I will keep reading the series in order. I'm pretty fanatic about that sort of thing, anyway.

[coraline]

i read the mrs. p books loooooooooooooooooooong long ago. i should re-read them sometime.

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

Have you read The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde? (Yes, really, two f's.)

The book is set in a world where time travel is a fact, though strictly controlled. Literature is taken very seriously, to the point that there are things like vending machines scattered about the city, but what they do when you put a coin in is recite some Shakespeare. And, if the writer's copy of a novel is destroyed, all other copies of that book cease to exist. Ah, and there's where the plot lies.

Our heroine is an agent for a branch of the government that deals with literary crimes. Usually this is a fairly dull job, but when somebody steals the writer's copy of Jane Eyre and threatens to destroy it, something must be done.

It's a weird and whimsical book, the first in a series of four (so far). I love them, and I think a former librarian might like them, too.

You don't have to have read Jane Eyre to enjoy the book. I'd read it long ago but didn't remember that much of it, which worked very well.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Yes, I read The Eyre Affair. I actually didn't really like it. It was just too... overdone? for my tastes.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.