2011 Book Reviews

Books are rated on a 1-10 scale,
with 7.5 and above being a book
that I solidly recommend.

Bex Favorite Books

2010 Book Reviews

2009 Book Reviews
2008 Book Reviews
2007 Book Reviews

2011 Totals

• 47 books
• Pages: 16,826
• Favorites: Wildwood, The Prize-Winner of Defiance, Ohio, The Beekeeper's Apprentice (the 2nd time was even better than the first), The Nicholas Flamel series and the King Raven Trilogy

Wildwood was one of my favorites from 2011

47.  11 Birthdays (2011.12.28)
By: Wendy mass
Genre: young adult / best friends / coming-of-age
Pages: 267
Bex Rating: 8.5

I recommend Wendy Mass' books to anyone who is looking for a clean tween read--her characters are usually between 11 and 16, and she really knows her subject matter.  I personally think it would be a difficult age to write about, but she does it so well.

Amanda and Leo were born on the same day, and have spent each birthday together since age one.  But Leo hurts Amanda's feelings on their tenth birthday, and they don't speak for a year.  Their eleventh birthday parties are miserable without each other, and when they wake up the next day, each discovers that it's still his or her birthday.  After four or five repeating birthdays, they figure out that they are both experiencing the same thing.  They have to work together to make the day stop repeating itself.

I love the movie Groundhog Day for this idea of a day that repeats itself over and over, and Mass does a good job of making it fun, with an original, Middle School age take.


46. Matched (2011.12.26)
By: Ally Condie
Genre: dystopia / coming-of-age / science fiction
Pages: 344
Bex Rating: 9

Great new futuristic young adult novel!  I couldn't put it down!  Recommended to me by Cori and Kristine, and I am on my way to the library to get the second book in the series, Crossed.

The story starts with a girl named Cassia heading to her Matching Banquet on her seventeenth birthday, where she will receive the name and ID card of the person to whom she is "matched" and will be married to eventually.  She is surprised and delighted that she ends up being matched to her childhood friend, Xander--everyone else is usually matched to someone in another province and they can only communicate on the teleport until they are wed.  But when Cassia gets home and inserts Xander's ID card into her teleport, it shows the face of another boy she knows, a boy named Ky who can't ever be matched because he is an Anomaly.

It's a great original take on the dystopia novel, and the writing is excellent.  I love the idea of the Society only keeping a hundred poems, a hundred songs, a hundred paintings, etc, so that they wouldn't feel "cluttered and overwhelmed" with too many choices.  Here are two of my favorite passages:

• "Snow?  In June?" the woman asks.
  "It's can't be."
  People twist, turn to the windows, looking agitated.  Can something wrong be true?
• I don't want my life to be samples a scraps.  A taste of everything but a meal of nothing.

45. The Warlock: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, book 5 (2011.12.20)
By: Michael Scott
Genre: young adult / fantasy / mythology / adventure
Pages: 380
Bex Rating: 8.5

Holy cow.  This one has the most cliffhanger ending of all of them.  I have my copy of the sixth and final book (The Enchantress) pre-ordered on Amazon, but it's not coming out until May 22nd!

This book is set in San Francisco and back in time on the city-island of Danu Talis (Atlantis).  The final showdown between good and evil is about to take place, and it's totally exciting.  Sophie and Josh reunite at the very end of the book, but Josh is still in the thrall of the evil (and mad) John Dee.  I can't wait for the last book--I really recommend the series to anyone who loves a great story.


44. The Necromancer: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, book 4 (2011.12.10)
By: Michael Scott
Genre: young adult / fantasy / mythology / adventure
Pages: 385
Bex Rating: 8.5

These books move along at a breakneck pace--I don't think I've ever read anything more fast-paced and plot-driven in my life.  Sophie and Josh are finally back in San Francisco, but distrustful of Nicholas Flamel and his wife, Perenelle.  We get to meet Prometheus, Virginia Dare, and Quetzalcoatl.  And the end is a nail-biter, Josh is deceived into turning his back on Sophie and joining the dark elders.

The prison island of Alcatraz is a central location in all of the books so far, and the afterword of this book has a lot of cool info about Alcatraz (which was named for the Spanish word for pelicans: los alcatraces).  I am glad the sixth and final book is coming out soon.


42.  The Sorceress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, book 3 (2011.12.01)
By: Michael Scott
Genre: young adult / fantasy / mythology / adventure
Pages: 483
Bex Rating: 8.5

Once again, I couldn't put it down once I started.  This one is set in England, and we get to meet the immortals William Shakespeare, Gilgamesh, Palamedes the Saracen knight, and Billy the Kid.

The Author's Note in the back has a lot of information about Stonehenge (of course) and Point Zero (a place in Paris of which I knew nothing about, but apparently many large cities have "point zeros").


41. The Magician: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, book 2 (2011.11.27)
By: Michael Scott
Genre: young adult / fantasy / mythology / adventure
Pages: 464
Bex Rating: 9

Second book in the series and I am loving it.  Incredibly fast-paced fantasy set in present day, Michael Scott's writing really reads like a movie.  I know the movie rights have been bought, and I seriously doubt the movies will be any different than the books, because you can't improve on this kind of action.

This book is set mostly in France, and introduces some new characters: Jeanne D'Arc (Joan of Arc) and The Count of St Germain. One thing I loved reading in this book and in the first one is the author's afterword, where he tells you all the things that are real.  He did a ton of research on the catacombs in Paris--the entire city is built on top of a network of tunnels and mass graves and it's a really great setting for an action/adventure novel.  Loved it!


40. Inheritance (2011.11.24)
By: Christopher Paolini
Genre: fantasy / dragons / adventure / epic
Pages: 860
Bex Rating: 7.5

This is allegedly the last book in the Inheritance Cycle (originally the Inheritance trilogy, but the author got a little carried away and still had this 800-page fourth book to add), but it left a lot of questions unresolved and it seems as though there could be another one in the future.

Even though Eragon (the first book) was not particularly well-written, I still love the story and even love the movie (which doesn't follow the book very closely).  I read Inheritance because I wanted to see how it would end.  The final confrontation with the evil emperor, Galbatorix, was Paolini's very best writing--it was exciting and surprising and well-done.

But I hate all the battle scenes, and I think Roran Stronghammer (Eragon's cousin) is seriously lacking some depth or believability.


39.  Every Soul a Star (2011.11.10)
By: Wendy Mass
Genre: young adult / coming-of-age / astronomy / teen life
Pages: 322
Bex Rating: 9.5

I loved this book, and have now added Wendy Mass to my list of must-read authors.  The whole plot centers around a total solar eclipse, and each chapter is told by one of the three main characters from their perspective.  Ally is a home-schooled nature girl whose family owns a campground where eclipse-chasers from all around the world will be coming to see the solar eclipse.  Bree is a beautiful and self-obsessed girl who is embarrassed by her scientist parents and smart little sister.  Jack is an overweight and awkward boy who accompanies his science teacher to the campground instead of doing summer school.

I never would have thought that I'd be longing to see a solar eclipse myself, but Mass describes the anticipation of the event and the actual eclipse so well, and so beautifully--I can't wait to see one!  I got to see a total lunar eclipse just a few weeks after I read this book, and it was so beautiful.  The afterword was filled with resources and information about eclipses and it is truly fascinating stuff.

Not only did the author choose a really original and interesting event to base the novel around, her character development is believable and compelling--and she nailed so many of the awkward, embarrassing, difficult aspects of teenage-hood.  Wow.

Most of my favorite parts were when Bree was telling the story.  Here is an example:  "Everything will change.  I'll talk to trees for company, and Claire will become best friends with Lara Rudy, who's been trying to worm her way between us since the fourth grade.  My hair will lose all of its sheen by being subjected to harsh outdoor conditions.  I'll lose my sense of style and will start wearing pink with red and last season's shoes.  Meanwhile, Claire will discover deep conditioning treatments and get her nose fixed and she'll be prom princess instead of me."


38.  The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, book 1 (2011.11.05)
By: Michael Scott
Genre: young adult / fantasy / mythology / adventure
Pages: 375
Bex Rating: 9

Before I was halfway through this book, I got in the Internet to order the next one.  There are five books in the series, with a sixth one coming out in March 2012.  The best part about this book is that the action starts from the first page and doesn't stop--it's completely engrossing.  It's three days later and I'm still thinking about it.

Twins Sophie and Josh have their world turned upside down when a mysterious figure named John Dee turns up at the book shop where Josh works with three golems, men made of clay.  Nick Fleming, owner of the bookshop, reveals himself to be none other than the immortal Nicholas Flamel (an actual historical figure, which I didn't know--John Dee is a real historical figure, too).  Sophie and Josh join Nicholas  in a quest to keep John Dee from getting the last two pages of the Book of Abraham the Mage.

I loved it.  It's totally riveting, and full of well-researched mythological and historical information.  I will be devouring the subsequent volumes forthwith.


37. Wildwood (2011.11.01)
By: Colin Meloy
Illustrated by: Carson Ellis
Genre: young adult / juvenile / fantasy / coming-of-age / mythology /
Pages: 541
Bex Rating: 10!!!

Wow.  A new take on childhood adventure.  Reminiscent of Narnia and Harry Potter, but wholly original and beautifully illustrated.  Oh, I didn't want it to end!  And it's not over--there are two more books coming from this husband and wife author/illustrator team.

The story begins when Prue McKeel's baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows while she is babysitting him in a park in Portland, Oregon.  Prue dares to leave the safety of the world she knows and ventures into the Impassable Wilderness to rescue her brother.  She is followed by Curtis Mehlberg, a backward boy from school, and the two are soon embroiled in a battle between the birds, beasts, and bandits of Wildwood.  It's dark and moving and perfectly written.  I especially delighted in the descriptions of the clothing the animals wore.

Favorite Passages:

• (When Prue leaves her baby brother in a wagon outside the library) "Excuse me, miss!  This is very unsafe!  To leave a child!  Alone!  Do his parents know how he is being cared for?"
  "Who, him?" asked Prue as she climbed back onto the bike.  "Poor thing, doesn't have parents.  I found him in the free book pile."
• "My brother was kidnapped by birds.  My friend was captured by coyotes . . . And I nearly forgot: my bike is broken.  Sounds like a country song.  If country songs were really, really weird."
• An open fire roared in the hearth below and ornate wooden mantel at the far end of the room, and its light projected whirling shadows against the towering ceiling.  The walls were lined with high bookcases, the thousands of book spines lining their shelves giving the illusion of a multicolored tapestry.  The draping on a framed portrait above the mantel had fallen to the side a little, revealing the figure of a blue jay in an austere robe, and it struck Prue that the room exuded a kind of cozy melancholy."

I picked this book up in Barnes and Noble because it. was. beautiful.  There are black-and-white illustrations throughout, and old-fashioned color plates, too.  Carson Elis is also the illustrator of The Mysterious Benedict Society, which book I also picked up because I was drawn to the cover.  The author, Colin Meloy, is a singer and songwriter for the band The Decemberists . . . which band I know from my Sondre Lerche playlist on Pandora.  I love the song "The Crane Wife 3."  I definitely want to check out more of their music.

However long it takes for the next installment is too long.


36. Tuck (King Raven Trilogy, book 3) (2011.10.22)
By: Stephen R. Lawhead
Genre: adventure / fantasy / legend / Robin Hood / young adult fiction
Pages: 443
Bex Rating: 9

This is the last installment in Lawhead's excellent King Raven trilogy, and told with Friar Tuck as the main character, in third person.  It's fast-paced and full of adventure.  I was sad to end the series.  Makes me want to check out more of Lawhead's books--maybe his Arthur series?


35. Juniper Berry: A Tale of Terror and Temptation (2011.10.16)
By: M.P. Kozlowsky
Genre: young adult / fiction/ fantasy / moral tale
Pages: 227
Bex Rating: 9

A chilling page-turner by a first time novelist.  I think I would let my 10-year-old read it, but there are some parts that would be scary/disturbing for younger kids.

This is the story of Juniper Berry, a young girl whose famous parents are starting to notice her less and less.  She sees them sneak out of the house one night, disappear behind a tree and emerge later holding balloons.  She and her friend Giles who also has famous parents, start investigating what their parents have traded in exchange for fame.

I like this book because it had a lot to say about what is real, and what is a facade, especially as it relates to being distracted by and addicted to media and technological devices.  It dealt with very complex  and poignant childhood feelings: loneliness, neglect, desire for approval and love, and standing up for what's right.  Here are my favorite passages:

• [Juniper] thought the computer was the most boring object in the house . . . There was information to be discovered, for sure, but none of it came to life the way it did in the backyard of her mind and home.
• It occurred to Juniper that, as much fascination as these people had for her family, they had an equal amount for themselves and especially their phones.  Some hardly ever glanced up.  She couldn't understand why they wouldn't, with so many people around to talk to . . . Seeing all this day after day, everything these people had, all they could do and experience, the entire world waiting to be explored, Juniper wondered why they wasted their time hoping for a brief glimpse of a family doing something so dull and ordinary as advising a gardener on a certain shrubbery or walking from the front door to the car.  Why were these the moments to capture?
• "The only truth is the one we create.  It's the rest that is a dream . . . the truth is fantasy.  give up trying to make sense of it all.  It isn't what lies deep down that matters but rather, what you show to the world.  Don't you understand, the world wants to be fooled.  Flash the colors!  Make a fuss!  Puff your chest!  There's nothing beneath the surface, nothing hidden or out of sight; everything you need to know is all right before you.  What is there to understand but how much you're missing?
• "Just click on the Industrial Revolution icon and it will carry you straight on through it, highlighting all the fun and interesting stuff in no time at all.  You'll feel like you're actually there!  By the time you're done, you'll know everything you need to know.  Ah, technology.  I'm telling you, Juniper, quick and easy!  It's the way to go.  You won't even feel like you're learning!  In the mean time, I've got a few phone calls to make and the restroom to use," and off Mrs. Maybelline went, muttering the rest of her errands until Juniper, much to her delight, could not hear them anymore; "e-mail to read, I have to update my mood and status, blog then vlog, check the gossip sites . . . "

34. Scarlet  (King Raven Trilogy, book 2) (2011.10.11)
By: Stephen R. Lawhead
Pages: 474
Genre: adventure / fantasy / legend / Robin Hood / young adult fiction
Bex Rating: 9

The second book in the King Raven trilogy, this one told in first person from the point of view of Will Scarlet, one of Ri Bran y Hud's (Robin Hood's) devoted followers.  This one was a lot more tense than the first, and the grellon (merry men) risk everything to save Will Scarlet from hanging, and to restore Bran to his throne in Elfael.

I am so glad I started this trilogy after all three books were finished, because I can't wait to read the third!


33. Mountain Born (2011.10.09)
By: Elizabeth Yates
Pages: 106
Genre: young adult / Newbery Honor / juvenile fiction
Bex rating: 8

• "It's good feed that makes fine wool."
  "I wish all shepherds heeded that," the shearer nodded.  "Some will let the sheep eat brush and scrub and then wonder why the wool doesn't weigh more."
  "They'll eat brush and scrub," Andrew agreed, "for there's no better way to keep land clean than with a flock of sheep, but they need rich pasture, too, and hay in the winter and grain in the spring.  they repay care more than double, as most growing things will."
• Mary clapped her hands delightedly.  "With red buttons on it, Granny please?  As shiny red as cranberries in a bog?"

32. Pirate King (Mary Russell, book 11) (2011.09.26)
By: Laurie R. King
Pages: 300
Genre: mystery / adventure / Sherlock Holmes / historical fiction
Bex Rating: 7.5

What happened, Laurie?  Why have your last two installments in the Mary Russell series been lacking your signature blend of incredibly descriptive language, gravity in the plot and character development, and loyalty to the original Holmes canon?  I mean, I still enjoyed Pirate King, but it was so silly (and over-inflated with parenthetical observations).  It's easier for me to notice the difference in style since I have been re-reading the series and recently finished the fourth book (this is the eleventh). 

This book sets Russell and Holmes on a movie set in Portugal and Morocco, filming an adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance.  I was actually in said musical in high school, and though it was fifteen years ago, the songs still ran through my head the entire time I read the book (the chapter headings were all lines from the musical).  I wonder what someone unfamiliar with The Pirates of Penzance thought of this story?  I think it would have been hard to follow and much of the humor, I mean, humour, would be lost.

Still, do I want Laurie R. King to stop the series?  Er . . . no.  Eleven books in one series is a lot, but I can't help wanting more.  The title of her next book, Garment of Shadows, doesn't sound like it belongs in the Russell series, so hopefully she'll come back after a break with some freshness.

Favorite Passages:

• An Arab mare with a bobbed tail and denuded mane, daubed with spots and hitched to a rag-and-bone cart, wouldn't have had her beauty more thoroughly hidden than this boat.
• But, as things stood, I was the sole protector of a score of British females . . . The most urgent order of business, therefore, was to claim a bed before all the good ones were taken.
• It is one of my favourite sensations, that of stepping out of doors without leave.  the very air smells sweeter--as every child knows and most adults forget--whether in London or Morocco.

31. Heart of a Samurai (2011.09.16)
By: Margi Preus
Genre: young adult / historical fiction / Newbery honor
Pages: 320
Bex Rating: 8



Definitely this book deserved the Newbery honor. Tons of research went into writing about the life of real-life Japanese boy named Manjiro, one of the first Japanese people to set foot in America during the 1800s, when Japan's harbors were closed to the world.  Manjiro risks alienation from his people by daring to learn English and travel the world with "foreign devils" on a whaling boat.  Adopted by an American sea captain and his wife, Manjiro eventually plays a major role in opening lines of communication between Japan and the Western world.

It was intersetig timing to read this book right after one about the Japanese internment camps in America during world war II.  Both books give insight into the idea that much of the mistreatment of (and prejudice toward) others is completely due to a lack of effort to understand other peoples and cultures.

30.  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (2011.09.08, book club)
By: Jamie Ford
Genre: historical fiction / WWII / Japanese internment camps / coming-of-age
Pages: 500 (large print version)
Bex rating: 9

I loved this book club pick!  It's always a treat when the book we read for my fabulous book club is one that I know I wouldn't have picked up on my own, but I end up devouring it.

This is the story of Henry and Keiko, two Asian-Americans who are sent to an all-white Seattle school during WWII.  Though Henry is Chinese, he receives just as much prejudice and abuse from classmates as Keiko does for being Japanese while America is at war with Japan and Germany.  The two kids are drawn together in a very well-written and well-researched book about a very difficult time in our nation's history.  Now I have got to plan a trip to the Minidoka Internment Camp National Monument here in Idaho


29.  Hood  (King Raven Trilogy, book 1) (2011.09.04)
By: Stephen R. Lawhead
Genre: adventure / fantasy / legend / Robin Hood / young adult fiction
Pages: 479
Bex Rating: 9

A great recommendation from my friend Melanie! Perfect book to get me back into reading following a four-week break after having my sweet baby, Calvin :).

This is a re-imagining of the Robin Hood legends, and Stephen Lawhead sets the story in 11th-century Wales, a generation after the 1066 conquest of modern-day England by William the Conqueror.  Lawhead makes a great argument for his choice of setting in the novel's afterword, when he informs the reader that although William conquered 80% of England in his initial invasion, and all of England within a few years, it took two hundred years before Wales was conquered. 

I loved the story and can't wait to read the next two books in the series!  It's slightly on the violent side, but I consider it to be perfect young adult adventure.

28.  The Moor (Mary Russell, book 4) (re-read 2011.08.15)
By: Laurie R. King
Pages: 369
Genre: mystery / adventure / Sherlock Holmes / historical fiction
Bex Rating: 8.5

I liked this installment in the Russell/Holmes series better this time than I did the first time I read it.  This volume has more references to an original Sherlock Holmes story (The Hound of the Baskervilles) than any other in the series, and it showcases Laurie R. King as a totally excellent writer.

Two particularly enjoyable passages:

• "The conversation moved . . . [to] the possible meanings behind the avenues of standing stones (which personally I had decided were the result of near terminal boredom on the part of the natives, who would have found heaving large rocks in to upright lines an exciting alternative to watching the fog blow about)."
• "This particular specimen of the clergy before me did not suffer from brevity of speech, although he compensated by displaying a considerable brevity of both wit and learning.  The stout, sweating man beside me was kept from snores only by the sharpness of his wife's elbow."

27.  Lost and Found (2011.08.09)
By: Andrew Clements
Pages: 160
Genre: young adult / school life / twins / coming-of-age
Bex Rating: 8

I always enjoy Andrew Clements.  I think I would recommend any of his books to 10- 12-year-olds above the books of any other author.  He really gets elementary and middle-school aged kids. 

This book is about identical twins, Jay and Ray Greyson, who decide to take turns going to their new Middle School without letting anyone know they are twins.  It's an interesting take on being an identical twin, because Jay and Ray are both sick of not having a singular identity, and they stunt the pull allows them the freedom to be an individual instead of part of a matched set.  I wonder if any twins actually feel this way?  Anyway, it was a quick, fun read and one I think most kids would enjoy.


26. A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal (2011.08.07)
By: Joan W. Blos
Pages: 145
Genre: Newbery / Newbery Medal / Young Adult / Historical Fiction
Bex Rating: 7.5

This won the Newbery Medal in 1980.  It was obviously very well-researched, and it was a quick, authentic read . . . but not very exciting or plot-driven.  It's a great book for someone who wants a glimpse of what life was like in New England during the 1830s.  But I'll take Little House on the Prairie over this one every time. 


25. A Letter of Mary (Mary Russell, book 3) (re-read, 2011.08.04)
By: Laurie R. King
Pages: 315
Genre: mystery / adventure / Sherlock Holmes / historical fiction
Bex Rating: 9

Oh how I love the Mary Russell series!  It's been such a pleasure to read it for the second time, because I don't remember too much of the stories and I am able to savor Laurie King's deft writing and fun historical surprises (this book has Russell offhandedly remarking that she met and interesting old man named Tolkein while digging around at Cambridge).

This installment has Russell and Holmes investigating the death of Dorothy Ruskin, a female archeologist who had discovered a letter on an ancient papyrus that looks as if it was written by Mary Magdalene.  It is also the first of the Russell series in which Holmes and Russ are a married couple, instead of partners.  Time to re-read the fourth . . .


24.  The Prize-Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less (2011.07.28, book club)
By: Terry Ryan
Genre: Nonfiction / inspirational / memoirs
Pages: 351
Bex rating: 10

I saw the movie that was based on this book four or five years ago, and am glad that I had that long for the story to be as fresh and clever as the movie was.  I recommend BOTH the book and movie. 

This is the totally true story of Evelyn Ryan (written by her daughter), who almost single-handedly raised her ten children by winning "jingle-writing" contests in the fifties and sixties.  Married to an alcoholic (who made $90 a week and spent $30 of it on liquor) Evelyn did more than earn extra money: she endowed all her kids with a sense of humor, a strong work ethic, and a desire to make their own way with courage and optimism.  I loved the movie, and I adore the book.

Favorite passages:

• My mother didn't like to hear profanity, and she certainly never spoke it.  She always told us that profanity was the sign of a lackluster vocabulary and, worse, a stunted imagination.
• We knew our mother would never describe her life or ours as wretched.  Her delight in living, reflected in her poetry and contest entries, rose out of bed with her every day.  It was the one thing Dad couldn't drink away.
• Mom [gave] Dick a four-leaf clover she had found in the yard that afternoon.  "Thanks, Mom, I need all the help I can get," he said as he slid it into his pocket.  "Oh, she said, "That's not why I gave it to you--I just thought a four-leaf clover might enjoy being in the pocket of the winning pitcher."
• We knew that as long as we used our brains, we were not victims.  By striking out to write our own ticket, we would grow up to be like our mother, winners.
• "So you were meant to have ten kids?" [I asked my mom].
  "I feel that I am doing exactly what I am doing in this life.  I've never doubted it." 

23. The Extra Mile (2011.07.25)
By: Pam Reed
Genre: running / training / autobiography / motivational
Pages: 257
Bex rating: 7

Not nearly as good as 50/50 or Born to Run.  Mostly because it was hard for me to identify with Pam Reed, who won the 135-mile "Badwater" race across Death Valley two years in a row, beating men and women alike (among numerous other ultra-running distinctions).

She talks extensively about her anorexia and her extra-marital affair in this book, and I thought I would be reading a book about running.  Something to motivate me, not bring me down, or that seems to attempt justifying destructive behaviors (more than once she says that her anorexia helped her to be a better runner).  One telling quote was this one:  "I'm raising my children, but I am still a kid myself in the sense that kids tend to put themselves first."  It's hard to hear a mother of three say that she puts herself first.  At least she's honest.


I didn't love the "autobiographical" information, per se, but I love reading motivational descriptions of races and overcoming difficult challenges.  Here are some excerpts I liked.

• I once talked with a woman who believed she could never be a good runner.  She said, "I tried it.  but the whole time I was running all I could think was 'When will I get to stop?'"  And I thought, "I feel that way lots of times, and I just keep going."
• Here are some final thoughts on anorexia.  I'm not an expert, and I don't have much faith in the experts on this problem.  When I was in the hospital, the basic approach was to cast patients as victims . . . I really didn't find this method acceptable.  I believe that I am responsible for whatever I do. If I feel guilt for my actions, I just have to live with it instead of trying to make my actions the fault of someone else.
• Tip number one for any distance runner: savor the milestones.  Only once will you run your first 10K, your first half-marathon, your first full marathon.  When you do experience a first, I think that it's really important to stop and think about how great it feels.
• Killing yourself for a sporting event is just stupid.  If your mind is urging you to drop out of a race . . . try your best to overcome it . . . On the other hand, if your body is urging you to quit--let your body win.

22. A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell, Book 2) (re-read 2011.07.19)
By: Laurie R. King
Genre: mystery / adventure / Sherlock Holmes / historical fiction
Pages: 367
Bex rating: 9.5

I hate the title of this book--it's so cumbersome.  But I love the second installment in Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series.  This particular volume has my favorite ending, and it's got a pretty engaging plot.  Plus, Mary turns twenty-one and comes into her inheritance, and it's always fun to read about people spending tons of money :).


21. Theodore Boone: The Abduction (2011.07.16)
By: John Grisham
Genre: law / crime / young adult fiction
pages: 217
Bex Rating: 8.5

Not quite as good as the first Theodore Boone, because the first one has a cliffhanger ending that is not even addressed in this second book.  But I still liked it, and it's nice to read a John Grisham without all the foul language of his adult books.


20. A Jane Austen Education (2011.07.14)
By: William Dereseiwicz
Genre: nonfiction / literary essays / self-help
Pages: 255
Bex Rating: 9



Wow.  This is the first time I feel really committed to finally reading some Jane Austen.  William Dereseiwicz is a professor of English at Cambridge and he writes about each of Austen's six books parallel different stages in his life.  He also does a masterful job of portraying Austen as a peerless writer, who deliberately writes against the conventions of her time.

I have never read a single Jane Austen novel.  Every time I pick up Pride and Prejudice, I realize once again that I have seen every movie version of the book, because it's so darn familiar.  I love the movie versions of Emma and Sense and Sensibility.  I have never seen Mansfield Park or Persuasion or Northanger Abbey, so I'm glad I'll get to read those without picturing Colin Firth or Emma Thompson or Gwyneth Paltrow.


The only question is: which one should I read first?


20. The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Mary Russell, book 1) (re-read 2011.07.11)
By: Laurie R. King
Genre: mystery / adventure / Sherlock Holmes / historical fiction
Pages: 346
Bex Rating: 10

Fiction at its best.  I love this book so much.  It's the story of Mary Russell, a recently-orphaned teenager who is forced to live with her British aunt until she turns twenty-one.  Her aunt is cruel and miserly, and the brilliant Mary escapes her by traipsing around the Sussex countryside in England, her nose in a book.  The story opens when she meets a tall, thin, aging man who is observing bees.  The man turns out to be Sherlock Holmes, and he and the unlikely Mary instantly form a friendship. 

King's writing is every bit as good as Arthur Conan Doyle's.  Only more modern, crisp, and thoughtful, since Russell is the real protagonist, not Holmes, and the woman's point of view lends, I think, the final touch of sophistication to the Holmes canon.  These books are all set in the twenties and thirties, and the eleventh installment is due out this September (I have already pre-ordered mine).  Each sequel contains mountains of historical research, and all of it fascinating.  I am excited to read them all again for the second time . . .

19.  The Penderwicks (2011.07.06)
By: Jeanne Birdsall
Genre: coming-of-age / family / summer / childhood
Pages: 262
Bex Rating: 8

If you like Anne of Green Gables and Little Women, then you'll love this book.  Four girls and their dad take a summer vacation in the eastern United States, where they rent a cottage on a vast estate.  The owner of the estate is an appalling woman, but her son finds real friendship with the Penderwick girls.  There are lots of misadventures and comic situations, but it's written with real charm and I especially enjoyed leisurely reading it outside in my hammock :).


18. Pathfinder (2011.07.02)
By: Orson Scott Card
Genre: fantasy/science fiction
Pages: 662
Bex Rating: 7.5

Waste. of. time.  The writing was good, and Card does dialogue better than most anyone, but this book was difficult to follow, had no conclusion, and no clear over-arching message.  It was more like a vehicle for Card to show how philosophically he can argue.  I am usually a fan of his work, but this one was just as dumb as his last dumb novel, Homebody.


17.  How Right You Are, Jeeves (2011.06.15)
By: PG Wodehouse
Genre: social satire/humor/contemporary fiction
Pages: 206
Bex Rating: 9

I love a good Bertie and Jeeves book--this one was as fun and witty as the rest.  Here are my favorite passages:

• One learns, as one goes through life, to spot goofiness in the other sex with an unerring eye, and this exhibit had a mild, sort of Soul's Awakening kind of expression which made it abundantly clear that while not a supergoof like some of the female goofs I've met, she was quite goofy enough to be going on with.  Her whole aspect was that of a girl who at the drop of a hat would start talking baby talk.
• I made no attempt to break the n. gently.

16. Hattie Big Sky (2011.06.01)
By: Kirby Larson
Genre: historical fiction/young adult
Pages: 304
Bex Rating: 7.5

Hattie moves to Montana to try to "prove up" her late uncle's homestead claim.  Set in the 1910's, Hattie learns how to work hard to conquer the harsh Montana weather, and the harsher attitudes of some of her neighbors, who harbor anti-German sentiments and use the Great War as an excuse to take advantage of neighbors.


15.  Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic (2011.05.25)
By: Jennifer Niven
Genre: nonfiction/historical/survival
Pages: 394
Bex Rating: 8


There was something about the Arctic once you had experienced it, Maurer and Knight told young Galle, something indescribable that nagged at you, even if you had seen and nearly tasted death and vowed never to return.  Something about having gone there once--just once--that made you unfit for anything, or anywhere, else on earth.


14. Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (2011.05.22)
By: John Grisham
Genre: young adult/crime/mystery
Pages: 263
Bex Rating: 8.5

I haven't read anything by John Grisham in about ten years.  This was his fun and fast-paced first novel for young adults.  I really liked it.  All the excitement of John Grisham without the language and graphic descriptions.  It's like an Encyclopedia Brown book for teenagers: more believable, more serious, better-written.

The ending is kind of a cliffhanger, so I was pleased when I got online to look up information about the sequel that it's coming out on June 6th.  I suppose that I can wait for two weeks.


13.  Enchantment (re-read 2011.05.18)
By: Orson Scott Card
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale/Contemporary Fiction/Time Travel
Pages: 390
Bex Rating: 9

I am pretty sure this is my fourth time reading this book.  I loff it. 

12.  The Buried Pyramid (2011.04.26)
By: Jane Lindskold
Genre: adventure/Egyptian mythology/fantasy
Pages: 498
Bex Rating: 6.5

This book was pretty good for 385 pages.  Set in the 1800s, it's the story of a young American girl who went to live with her uncle in England after her parents were killed.  Once in England, she finds that her uncle, a retired British army officer, is planning a secret expedition to Egypt, to see if he can find the location of a secret tomb. 

It was pretty well-written and exciting . . . but at page 385, suddenly the god Ra appears to the group of explorers, along with other mythological Egyptian deities.  Each member of the party ends up facing "judgment" by Nefarankhotep, and I think the many pages devoted to this "judgment" were trying to be an exercise in philosophy . . . but they fell short by virtue of my disbelief and disgust.  Lame.

11. To The Rescue: The Biography of Thomas S. Monson (2011.04.13)
By: Heidi S. Swinton
Genre: Biography
Pages: 528
Bex Rating: 9


10.  My (Not-So) Fairy Tale Life (book club 2011.04.05)
By: Julie Wright
Genre: LDS Fiction/contemporary fiction
Pages: 296
Bex Rating: 7

It's not a book I would have chosen to read, but it wasn't as bad as I expected.  It's the story of a 22-year-old girl who gets pregnant after years of boozing and partying.  She is kicked out of her house by her abusive mother and travels across the country to live with her Mormon brother.  While living with him and his new wife, she matures and ultimately decided to give her baby up for adoption.  The adoption scenes were very touching, and it was definitely a fast read.  

9. The Case of the Missing Marquess: an Enola Holmes Mystery (2011.03.18)
By: Nancy Springer
Genre: young adult/mystery/Sherlock Holmes
Pages: 185
Bex Rating: 8.5

I love all things Sherlock Holmes.  Nancy Springer has come up with a new spin on the legendary detective: his much younger sister decides to starts doing some detective work of her own.  In this first installment (I think there are currently six Enola Holmes mysteries), 14-year-old Enola escapes the demands of her older brothers that she go to boarding school and searches for their missing mother, instead.

It certainly lacked the depth of Laurie R King's Mary Russell & Holmes novels (my favorites, which are about Holmes' young, brilliant wife), but it's a young adult book, and was pretty entertaining.


8. A Red Herring Without Mustard (2011.03.10), sequel to The Weed That Strings The Hangman's Bag
By: Alan Bradley
Genre: mystery/British/coming-of-age/humor
Pages: 391
Bex Rating: 9.5

I almost started crying when I got to the last twenty pages.  Not because the book was sad, but because it was almost over, and I don't want to wait another year for more Flavia de Luce.


This is Alan Bradley's third Flavia de Luce novel--she's a precocious and unsupervised eleven-year-old who is obsessed with poisons, chemistry, and solving murder mysteries.  This one was even more delightful than the first two, and that's saying something.  The writing is as witty and perfect as anything I've read.  You can't help loving Flavia even though she's bratty and dishonest.  The plots are always intriguing and fast-paced, and the entire content of all three books is just so . . . smart.  Bradley is an incredibly intelligent and gifted writer.

One of my favorite things in all three books (which I wrote when I reviewed The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie in 2009, number 31, and The Weed That Strings The Hangman's Bag in 2010, number 44) is how completely horrid Flavia and her older sisters, Daphne and Ophelia, are to each other.  From the very beginning of this book, Flavia describes her oldest sister: "[Ophelia] was seventeen, and ranked herself right up there with the Blessed Virgin Mary, although the chief difference between them, I'm willing to bet, is that the BVM doesn't spend twenty-three hours a day peering at herself in a looking-glass while picking away at her face with a pair of tweezers."

Some more of my favorite passages:

"If there was one thing in the world that I understood above all others, it was withholding selected snippets of the truth.  It would not be an exaggeration to say that I was an Exalted Grand Master of the craft."


"Sorry to hear you forgot your purse," I said.  "If I'd known sooner, I could have brought it to you.  It would have been no trouble."
     This was called "storing up credits," and it operated on the same principle as indulgences in the Roman Catholic church, or what the shops in London called "the Lay-away Plan."

I recommend all three of these books to anyone who loves mysteries, or colorful characters . . . or to read.  They're some of my favorites.

7.  Mockingjay (2011.02.24)
By: Suzanne Collins
Genre: science fiction/dystopia/action/young adult
Pages:398
Bex Rating: 8.5

***Plot Spoiler Warning*** I know a lot of people liked the third book the least, but I thought it was great.  At the very beginning of the book, I realized that I wanted Katniss to get with Peeta, and not Gale, so I'm glad it ended up that way.  I feel like they deserved each other.

This book was much more "real" in the sense that it was all about war and warfare--not just an imaginary "hunger games" scenario.  Many of the battle scenes were as horrible and true-to-life as a scene from any war zone.  The end was especially gruesome and sad.

I think reading this kind of book has real merit.  Of course it is a fast-paced, exciting work of fiction . . . but it definitely addresses many true-life situations gives the reader insights into war and how children in particular are affected by war: it's always the women and children who suffer (has there ever been a case, in the history of the world, that women and children are the ones who started a war?)  I also loved the in-depth look at how wars are "spun" by the media.  The many scenes of Katniss being "prepped" by makeup, wardrobe, and camera crews would be funny, if they weren't so horribly true.

6. Catching Fire (2011.02.19)
By: Suzanne Collins
Genre: science fiction/dystopia/action/young adult
Pages: 391
Bex Rating: 8.5

Definitely it was as fast-paced and unpredictable as the first book.  The only reason it got .5 less is that some of the sequences were very hard to follow.  I love Katniss and Peeta.  I do feel bad for Gale, because Peeta is definitely the better guy of the two. 

This installment has Katniss and Peeta fighting for their lives in the Hunger Games only a year after they won, because the Capitol doesn't want them alive to flaunt their defiance.  Instead of battling other teenagers their own ages, they are up against experienced winners from previous Hunger Games.  I didn't actually think they would fight in the Hunger Games until it happened . . . I thought they'd find a way to escape and try to find the mythical District 13.  But they are back and fighting for their lives against terrible opponents.  (I wonder if Suzanne Collins got any of her ideas from Survivor?)

I'm glad I didn't read the first two before the third book came out.  It had to be agonizing waiting a year after the cliff-hanger ending.  I've heard from people who have read this trilogy that the third book isn't as good, but I'll be the judge of that . . .

5. The Hunger Games (2011.02.09)
By: Suzanne Collins
Genre: science fiction/dystopia/action/young adult
Pages: 374
Bex Rating: 9

I finally read it. My sisters and friends have been telling me to read these books for, literally, years (sorry, Bonnie--I should have bought it the first time you mentioned it!). The plot is totally engrossing, and the characters are very compelling, too.

This is the story of a 16-year-old girl named Katniss, a girl "chosen" to fight to the death on live television against 23 other teenagers, in the cruel world of the Capitol, a nation risen out of the ashes of what once was America. Every time I heard this summary of the plot, I was turned off--it sounds cold and violent. Definitely the book was violent, but the characters are warm and human, and the government is cruel and cold.

I love a good "dystopia"--a work of fiction about the supposed "perfect" government of the future: books like The Giver, Fahrenheit 451, and 1984. The Hunger Games falls into that category, but the thing that sets it apart is its fast-paced, exciting plot. I couldn't put it down, and am looking forward to reading the next two books in the series.

4. The Shack (2011.01.31, book club)
By: William P. Young
Genre: Christian fiction
Pages: 248
Bex Rating: 6

I guess going from a 1 to a 6 is a pretty good jump up, but still, I didn't love this book. I put off reading it for as long as I could, but then dove in and read it in a day. It's the story of Mack Phillips, who turned his back on God after his daughter was abducted and murdered. Then he receives a note from God, asking Mack to meet Him at the shack where his daughter had been killed. Mack goes, and there meets and spends the weekend with God (in the form of an African American woman named Elouisa), Jesus (as Himself), and The Holy Spirit (in the form of an Asian woman named Saryu).

Of course a little of my dislike for the book stems from the clashes with my personal beliefs, though there were a lot of passages I found interesting and many that brought up good insights. But mostly, I found it saccharine and poorly-written. One of the author's main points seems to be, "Stop presuming to know Who God is or how God loves," but then proceeds to tell you exactly those two things within parameters of his own beliefs.

One message I did like and agreed with (though it was far from earth-shattering) was the recurring theme that love is not forced, and that God would never force us to do His will. Doing His will and accepting/sharing His love are voluntary choices.

3. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011.01.23) DID NOT FINISH
By: Stieg Larsson
Genre: corporate thriller
Pages: almost halfway
Bex Rating: 1

I have read all the hype about Larsson's third book in the series which just came out, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, and was intrigued about this international bestselling trilogy from Sweden.

It started out pretty slow, but I quickly became interested. And then . . . it was horrible. I've never read anything worse in my life. I literally felt like throwing up for days after I read the most horrible, violent, graphic scene. I asked my husband to give me a blessing to help me get the filthiness out of my mind. I threw it in the garbage. I do not recommend this book.

2. The Vanishing of Katharina Linden (2011.01.19)
By: Helen Grant
Genre: contemporary fiction/German mythology & fairy tales/thriller
Pages: 304
Bex Rating: 9

I was first drawn to this book by its wonderfully attractive cover. I saw it when I watched the 2011 American Library Association book awards. It won an Alex Award, which is given to 10 adult books that are appealing to young adults. I like this award because it (mostly) means that the books will be fairly clean.

The book grabs you from the first sentence: "My life might have been so different, had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded." It's an amazing first novel about a girl named Pia, who lives in the (real) German town of Bad Münstereifel. When Katharina Linden, a girl Pia's age, suddenly vanishes, Pia and her friend Stephen try to find out what happened . . . discovering along the way that Katharina is not the first (nor last) girl to vanish from their town.

The book is filled with real German folklore, has been advertised as "a modern fairy tale that would make the Brothers Grimm jealous," and was quite a page-turner. I especially loved the glossary in the back with all the translations of the German terms the children use.

There was a fair amount of swearing, and some truly scary/creepy parts--I personally wouldn't recommend it to anyone younger than 16. But I loved it.


1. The Shadow Rising: Book 4 of The Wheel of Time (2011.01.13)
By: Robert Jordan
Genre: fantasy
Pages: 680
Bex Rating: 7.5

The most confusing book in the series so far, and that's saying something. Robert Jordan has too many separate threads--I felt dizzy from jumping around among the characters so much.

Favorite things in this book: Perrin and Faile, of course. I love their sweet marriage at the end of the book, and the writing is always great between these two characters. I loved finding out that the Aiel and the Tuatha'an are the same people--that really was a surprise twist. The descriptions of the Aiel and their customs were pretty good, if hard to completely understand (and I don't feel like reading the glossary after wading through 680 large pages of small type). I wanted more information about Moiraine and her journey to Rhuidean.

I will keep reading the series, but hope that I don't feel so mired as I did in this one. Time to take a break from The Wheel of Time.