I am still reading Les Misérables. I did read Daylight and Nightmare, The Hogfather, and The Club of Queer Trades while in the middle of Les Mis so that is part of the reason it is taking me this long to read. That and the fact it is twelve hundred pages long.

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.

Freddy’s Cousin Weedly by Walter R. Brooks — 281 pages
This would be a few more books from my to-read list, I used to read each of these books as soon as we purchased them but I fell behind a few years ago. Now our collection is complete and I’ve only read 1/2-3/4 of them. I am now re-reading them all (and in order, haha.) All of these books are pretty much excellent, obviously children’s books but fun and entertaining.

Freddy and the Ignormus by Walter R. Brooks — 282 pages
I noticed a little mistake in this one, near the beginning they talked about how the old Grimbly house was so old that if you managed to get up to the attic you would probably go crashing through all the way down to the cellar. Then, later, a whole troop of animals goes through the place none too carefully and Hank goes crashing up the stairs and does antics in the atic. Something not quite right?

Freddy and the Perilous Adventure by Walter R. Brooks — 243 pages

Freddy and the Bean Home News by Walter R. Brooks — 228 pages

Freddy and Mr. Camphor by Walter R. Brooks — 242 pages
Poor Freddy….

Thus Far: 3,270

Horrible Histories: The Measly Middle Ages by Terry Deary — 124 pages
I think I have, sometime between reading this one and the last one I read, out grown these books. I did not enjoy it as much as I otherwise would, I just kind of raised my eyebrow at it.

Heartsease by Peter Dickinson — 221 pages
This book reminded me of the movie The Village and the book The City of Ember. I thought it was well-written and pretty interesting. I did not, however, like the ending. It was kind of disappointing and sad.

Living by Fiction by Annie Dillard — 175 pages
My feelings of this book are: it was okay. I mean, maybe it was great but I have a really hard time reading non-fiction. I didn’t enjoy it and had a hard time paying attention to it.

Thus Far: 1,511

Hehe, Alyosha. You cannot get rid of me that easily. I didn’t think Kit Pearson was that great, either, I didn’t notice the quality of the writing so much when I read her books (I think) but I did think the plot was a little off. Sebastian was a little freaky. I mean, I can’t say a whole lot about how good of an author she is, I just recall that her book wasn’t my cup of tea.

I am currently reading Ethics: An Early American Handbook. It is a reprint of the book A Primer of Ethics which was originally published in 1890, I think. So far it is, um, convicting. I have very poor ethics.

Aww. I like the cover.

Long time, no post. I’m currently reading War and Peace, the book I’ve been working on for the last 3-4 months. I’m a wee bit over 80% through it. (SPOILER! SPOILER! I just read the part where Prince Andrew dies.) I really like it! I’m a fan of those authors that really put themselves into their books. It seems now a days you don’t need to do much to get yourself published, you just need to write an interesting tale. Old classics are books with a created tale, that seems so much more realistic. It’s a tale that is more like the life around you and you can so easily live as you read along.

Or something like that.

So, I just spent an hour in the teeny nearby Borders. I bought nothing.

My guyfriend got me a gift card for Christmas and I’m at a loss for what to get! Anyone got any recommendations? I thought about Wicked or Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, but I don’t like Maguire enough to actually purchase one of his books. I also considered Pride & Prejudice and Zombies because my guyfriend tells me it is hilarious, but the cover and zombies are a wee bit disgusting. I don’t want a classic because my parents ownmost of the classics so I can just borrow any of those from them.

So. I don’t want to just pick a book off the shelf and buy it, I’d have the vast probability of disliking it. I need some recommendations of your favorite history or fiction books that would likely be in a Borders shop. Okay? Fire away!

Oh, wait, it’s “madding” not “maddening.” Not cool any more. Off to find something better.

(Don’t judge a book by its title, you say? Well, just hush your mouth, I say. )