KateKintail's November Reading Log

[katekintailbc]

This is a recap of my November reading, for a swap-bot swap I signed up for. I chose to post it here so that I can format it the way I want. See below for a very brief recap of what I thought of the books along with a link to read more about my thoughts, if you so desire.

Here's a list of books I read during the month but didn't finish (or haven't finished yet):

• Star Wars Jedi Apprentice: The Evil Experiment by Jude Watson
• Redshirts by John Scalzi
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton lee Stewart

Here are the books I finished this month:

1. Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/152677.html
   A cute juvie mystery I read because it was on a list of books recommended to local kids. As an adult who likes to follow rules, I had a huge problem with the amount of law breaking the main character does in order to solve the mystery. I guess there's a fine line between empowering kid main characters in books and encouraging them to break big laws and put themselves in danger. The mystery was complex and fun to figure out. And the play within the story was a nice subplot and metaphor. Enjoyable, but hard for me to handle, as an adult.
2. Vader's Littler Princess by Jeffery Brown:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/153034.html
   Clever AU-type take on what might have happened if Darth Vader had raised Princess Leia. Everything from them having a tea party together to Vader freezing Han Solo because he kissed his daughter. Jeffery Brown has written other books with this general concept; I can't wait to read those too! And I might have to give my dad this book for father's day next year.
3. The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/153256.html
   Incredibly charming. One of the best books I've read all year. Great adventures, great characters, great emotions. I adored this book and can't wait to get my hands on others with the same characters.
4. The Deadly Hunter (Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice, Book 11) by Jude Watson:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/153538.html
   Obi-Wan spends this book being hungry, despite the fact that he's in a lot of restaurants. Qui-Gon spends the book trying to help a friend. And the ending leaves both the friend and Qui-Gon in jeopardy.
5. Rules by Cynthia Lord:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/153658.html
   A great teen book about a girl with an Austistic brother and a friend who's in a wheelchair and can't talk. She slowly discovers she doesn't really want a normal life after all. But the way she discovers this is so honest and realistic I really enjoyed every second of this book.
6. Things That Are by Andrew Clements:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/154245.html
   I didn't realize this was the third book in a series, so I missed book number two. I enjoyed this story, told from the point of view of a blind character. But I definitely didn't like it as much as the first book, told from the point of view of a character who one day wakes up invisible. In this story, the ramifications of that incident are still coming back to affect his family and his girlfriend's family.
7. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/154564.html
   I've read this book a number of times before, but not in at least seventeen years. All the charm and darkness of the story came flooding right back. It was neat to see how much I'd remembered and what parts I had forgotten. Such a great book; I'm glad I re-read it!
8. Allergies by T.A. Chase:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/154827.html
   My first T.A. Chase novel. It wasn't fantastically written. But it was light and fun and pushed a lot of my buttons. Three cheers for sexy gay werewolves :-)
9. Marvel Adventures- Iron Man: Armored Avenger by Fred Van lente, Jeff Parker, Paul Tobin:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/155289.html
   A collection of four great Iron Man stories. Even though each was quite different, I actually enjoyed all of them. There was also a really useful bonus drawing in one of the comics that came just at the right time for me to understand something about one of Iron Man's adversaries.
   

That's my November! I was doing NaNoWriMo, so most of my free time was spent writing, not reading. And one of my 101 Goals in 1001 Days is to read a certain fanfic that's more than 2,000 electronic pages long. So I haven't made as much progress in books as I'd have liked. Still, 9 books finished in a month isn't too bad at all.

Happy reading, everyone!