The Darkest Hour (Warriors book 6), by Erin Hunter – 315 pages
Midnight (Warriors: The New Prophecy book 1), by Erin Hunter – 303 pages
Moonrise (Warriors: The New Prophecy book 2), by Erin Hunter –

Running Total – 11324 pages

I pushed yesterday to finish the book I was actively reading, so my total pages of completed books for June is over 1000!  Yay!

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgon Burnett – 347pg

Bible reading from the month of June –  53pg

Running Total: 1,131pg

A Review of The Secret Garden:
In classic Burnett style, the gently-paced drama of The Secret Garden weaves a memorable cast of characters with their curious surroundings and circumstances.  The lovable characters are the highlight of this novel, each person unique and queer and pitiable.  Many of Burnett’s favorite themes appear in this book, including reference to “Magic.”  Unlike some of Burnett’s other works, the essence of “Magic” in this tale goes beyond childish ignorance to a sort of religious observance; even the adults accept it, one going so far as to state that it doesn’t matter what you call it – Magic, God, or Big Good Thing.  This emphasis on magic suffocates the ending, where an abrupt shift in viewpoint is made.  Additionally, the book very tediously handles the issue of adult authority, encouraging children to lie about their games to adults.  As such, I could not recommend this book for a young or immature soul who did not have a good grasp of these concepts.  It is, of all Burnett’s books, perhaps the least engrossing to me.

“When Christ Comes” (Lucado), 207 pages

“Letters from Egypt” (Whately), 192 pages

“Up from Slavery” (Washington), 332 pages

“Nights in Rodanthe” (Sparks), 212 pages

“Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning” (Wilson), 215 pages

“The Sun Also Rises” (Hemingway), 247 pages

“Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?” (Maybury), 191 pages

“Chasing Fireflies” (Martin), 342 pages
Total: 11,174 pages.

The Dutch Shoe Mystery: Ellerey Queen: 375 pages

The Finishing Stroke: Ellery Queen: 354

Random Commentary: Read that many Ellery Queen book in a row and even I’ll get tired of them…

Running Total: 4309

Dawn (Warriors: The New Prophecy book 3), by Erin Hunter – 335 pages

Running Total – 11,659 pages

River Rising, by Athol Dickson- 303 pages
True North, by Kathryn Lasky- 266 pages

Running Total: 2,096 pages

Wow, I can hardly believe just how busy this sumer is! Freddy and the Magician by Walter R. Brooks — 256 pages

Brooks is exceptional for rolling out a series two dozen books and keeping them all in the upper notches. It seems like a good many other authors of big series of books (or small ones) see the quality of their books go downhill rapidly. (Example: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)

This is another good one, I felt bad for Zingo–he was bad but weren’t they just a little hard on him? According to Leo, I am a softy.

 

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde — 383 pages

Excellent book! This was written for adults and Fforde does not exactly keep his language clean. (That is my one complaint: the language, it got on my nerves.) This book was well-written and fun. I had great fun spotting his what-do-you-call-’ems (such as, Lord Peter Flimsey or Sophie Muppet).

I dare say I am not meant to me a detective of any kind, I was on the wrong trail for 300+ pages. The ending was a wee bit confusing but it’s probably just my un-intuitive brain.

 

Freddy Goes Camping by Walter R. Brooks — 256 pages

This one has always amused me. You can’t say a whole ton about these, they’re all good.

 

Freddy Plays Football by Walter R. Brooks — 263 pages

 

Freddy the Cowboy by Walter R. Brooks — 231 pages

 

Freddy Rides Again by Walter R. Brooks — 238 pages

 

Freddy the Pilot by Walter R. Brooks — 245 pages

I loved the ending of this book, it was so happy!

 

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Stetterfield — 406 pages

This is an interesting book, it’s got a good, well-written story and enjoyable to read. The story is a odd one, it seems like there is a lot of underlying gossip, wives’ tales, and superstition–also mental illness. I really liked the conclusion of Aralius’s story.

 

Freddy and the Space Ship by Walter R. Brooks — 260 pages

Excellent, as always. Funny, too.

 

Freddy and the Men from Mars by Walter R. Brooks — 244 pages

Definitely a favorite.

 

Making Money by Terry Pratchett — 404 pages

This came to me as a loan from a friend, after he found out I’d read a few Pratchetts and liked them he has been loaning me books from his collection on and off. At first I thought this one was a little too similar to Going Postal but I’ve since decided against that. It’s similar but only as much as a sequel should be. I could of wished there was more of the post office in this, I liked the post office and I think it would have been good for the story, maybe. Also, Cosmo was so disgusting. I noticed a spelling error on pg. 3–shameful.

 

Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli — 208 pages

Very sad book. It was good, well-written, sad but didn’t quite hit the spot for me. It didn’t…end right, I guess. Uri reminds me of Raol (that’s his name, right?) from The Sound of Music.

 

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell — 183 pages

Well-written, entertaining book! It is very sweet.

I cannot decide if I like the book or movie better, some of my favorite bits of the movie were only just mentioned in the book or were relatively unmentioned. Both have there excellent qualities, I think I may like them both equally or maybe the movie just a little more.

 

Hitch by Jeanette Ingold — 265 pages

Top-notch book–interesting, motivating/inspiring, well-written. I thought it was good.

I’m not sure what I think about how the government handled the Great Depression but I don’t know enough about the Great Depression to have a truly educated opinion.

I felt kind of bad for Maggie and Beatty; that was kind of selfish of Moss, don’t you think? He had an excuse, I know, but still.

Now I’m curious to know what that one boy’s complaint was, I mean the kid in the end. I guess I’ll never know.

 

Thus Far: 7,804

EDIT: Sorry this post is such a mess! I don’t know why it looks like it does, it looks fine in the editor.