Latest Kindle Reviews

I am still loving my Kindle—as I mentioned before, it has introduced me to a world of books that I might not have encountered otherwise.  To start the year off properly, I have an update list of the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Sorry for the trite movie-title cliché—it couldn’t be helped. Well, to be fair, I suppose it could, but I am too lazy to come up with a better one at the moment.

The excellent:

• ·         “The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic” by Emily Croy Barker.  Halfway through and very impressed thus far.  Kind of an “Alice in Wonderland” meets “The Perilous Gard” combination.
• ·         “The Light Princess” by George McDonald.  Charming, delicate prose.  I realize now why this is a classic of YA literature.
• ·         “Five Children and It” by E. Nesbit.  I stumbled across this series thanks to Ms. Pamela Dean, author of the gorgeous “Tam Lin”.  For fans of C.S. Lewis and Roald Dahl.
• ·         “Spindle’s End” by Robin McKinley. A fresh and lively take on the “Sleeping Beauty” premise.  Well-written and fascinating with solid characters and superb prose.

The good:

• ·         “Sea of Secrets” by Amanda DeWees.  A lovely, if predictable, Edwardian mystery and romance.  Well-written with likable characters. 
• ·         “Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy” by Helen Fielding.  This is the long-anticipated sequel to the hilarious, irreverent series.  It had much of Fielding’s trademark humor.  The eponymous lead character is as slapdash, clueless, and lovable as ever. Spoiler alert: I DID hate that Mark Darcy wasn’t in the picture anymore.  It kind of colored the entire book negatively for me. Good beach read, but a bit of an unsatisfactory finale.
• ·         “The Bookman’s Tale” by Charlie Lovett.  After reading A.S. Byatt’s “Possession”, this book feels a little unoriginal. (If you haven’t read Ms. Byatt’s book, go get it!  Fabulous.  Don’t bother with the movie.)  I did love the combination of literary mystery, ancient family feud, and murder mystery.  As an avowed Stratfordian, I also enjoyed his take on proving Shakespeare’s authorship.  His characters, particularly the women, seem clichéd and shallow.  On the whole a good read but not innovative.

The bad:

• ·         “The Program” by Charlie Lovett.  As I did enjoy the aforementioned novel above, I decided to give this one a shot.  Blech.  The formatting on the Kindle version was completely cattywumpus and the entire book felt like it had been penned by a high-schooler.  The guy just cannot write believable women.  The idea behind the novel was unique but the writing, unfortunately, was not.  In the hands of another author this might have been outstanding.