Love, love, LOVE Gunnerkrigg Court. Liz also loves it and is anxious for the next book, (wait til I tell her she can read all the Antimony and friends that she likes online…) Brilliant story. Brilliant characters (I’m a fan of Kat, myself.) Brilliant graphics. Great Cybils selection, I can see this winning. In fact I hope it does win. I’m tempted to buy these, that’s how much I love the first book.
Jasper Fforde is a wee bit crazy. But it’s a good kind of crazy. The Thursday Next books are a lot of fun. The Nursery Crimes are amusing, too. But with Shades of Grey, Fforde has carried is own brand of crazy to a new level.
We listened to this one on audio, and at first we thought it was just a wee bit convoluted for us. We turned it off after the first 15 minutes because we just couldn’t follow it – we had no clue what was going on and we didn’t feel like we’d ever figure it out. We turned it on again, a few days later, and within a few minutes we were chuckling. There are moments when it’s difficult to follow but that’s ok, it’s just part of the crazy, brilliant, funny. It’s ok to be confused, Fforde’s characters often are and that is part of their charm.
I hope this is going to be a series – I think it will be an even better series than Thursday Next.
The first graphic novel from the Cybil’s list and it was a fun one. Joey Fly Private Eye is everything you’d want in a private eye – if you wanted a private eye who is an insect. His assistant is pretty annoying though. Scorpions are like that, I guess. Joey Fly will be a great graphic novel series for the younger crowd. Not a teen sex/drug scene in the whole book. Kind of refreshing.
Joey Fly, Private Eye: Creepy Crawly Crime Read More »
Debbie B discovered I have a thing for YA fiction and mentioned of hers from high school had just written a YA book. I asked her the title, discovered it was a self published book so it wouldn’t be available at my library. I waited about 30 seconds and said what the hell, I’ll just buy it. And I did.
The Practice Room arrived shortly before my trip to California. I figured it would be an easy airport (and hotel room) read so I took it with me. Unfortunately, I also took Joe Hill with me – and I was super busy while I was there and pretty much just slept when I wasn’t working. So… I didn’t even pick the darn thing up until this week and I read it pretty quickly – not as quickly as I expected because it wasn’t super compelling.
It was kind of cute and was an interesting way to teach kids about music. In fact, with some polishing, it could be a really good way to teach kids about music. “Music-morphing” into another world is a good concept for a YA book, though I think this is really more middle grade fiction than YA. It just needs a wee bit more personality and a good editor to boost it along.
Joe Hill ROCKS. I think he’s better than his father. I really really do. Not nearly as prolific but that’s ok – he has time – and it’s also ok if he never produces that much work, as long as he keeps writing stuff like Heart Shaped Box and Horns.
Horns —- brilliant.
Just when you think you’ve seen every horror storyline you can see, you get this. Fresh. Fresh. Fresh. And HOT. I think Satan would approve.
Finally! George and Bess make their appearance. Ned is in “Europe” and we hear a good bit about him, off and on — also found a mistake. At the beginning of the book, Nancy tells George that she’s knitting a sweater for her dad. But at the end, she’s knitting a sweater for Ned. Also… no boating mishaps. Being in the dessert helps – though of course there was that river flood issue but Nancy was on a horse, not in a boat. Here’s my copy:
The Secret of Shadow Ranch Read More »
Nancy Drew should stay out of boats. The first four books have had boat accidents – and no, not all of them have been boat accidents with Helen. It’s Nancy – she’s bad luck in boats. This is my copy. The binding isn’t happy. Sniff. How much does it cost to have the binding repaired on a Nancy Drew book? 
The Mystery at Lilac Inn Read More »
