Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes; The Last Little Blue Envelope, by Maureen Johnson

[rachelmanija]

17-year-old Ginny idolizes her eccentric artist aunt, and feels drab and boring in comparison. When her aunt dies, she leaves Ginny thirteen little blue envelopes. The first envelope contains $1000, and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London and not to open the second little blue envelope until she lands. The second little blue envelope

Comments

[spectralbovine]

That does sound like a fun premise! Damn you, Rachel, where do you find all these cool books?

[rachelmanija]

You would really like them! They are right up your alley.

[tool_of_satan]

Admit it, your goal is to increase my to-read list to the point I will never get through it.

[rachelmanija]

Right back at you!

[tool_of_satan]

It's a fair cop.

[jinian]

Actually I liked the first book better! I felt like Ginny's character was awfully thin to carry any dramatic or comedic weight in the second book, while in the first she was a viewpoint vehicle in a way that worked better for me. And Oliver was too much the Brooding Guy Who Broods not to annoy me. I definitely appreciated the awkwardness, though, and the perfectly reasonable consequences to trying to pursue anything beyond the moment with a careless guy.

[rachelmanija]

I thought Ginny was helped a lot in book two by having three people to interact with, all of whom she had some degree of conflicting feelings about.

I can't help liking Oliver. He was such an utter and complete jackass at the beginning, and I enjoyed seeing the "pass the jackass baton" going on between him and, um, whatsisface.

[fadethecat]

I loved the first one, bought the second as soon as it was released, and never finished it; I found the blackmailer such an unpleasant character that I was angry every time the narrative stopped to insist I should find him endearing and sympathetic. And once I realized I would have to spend the entire book in his company, I gave up reading entirely. But I did find the first one utterly charming, all the more for that sort of dreamy travelogue feel broken up with the stark (not gritty, just utterly plausible) realism of the actual practicalities of travel.

[tool_of_satan]

13 Little Blue Envelopes was fun. Light on the character development, as you say, but fun nonetheless. Although I cannot resist noting that I doubt it possible to get far enough north from Copenhagen to see the midnight sun in a few hours sail in a houseboat.

The book does not seem to need a sequel, but I will read it. My library system doesn't have The Bermudez Triangle, sadly.

[rachelmanija]

Oh, I'm glad you liked it!

I didn't think it needed a sequel either, but I liked the one I got. The Bermudez Triangle is worth a purchase.

[tool_of_satan]

Actually, it turns out the library has it after all. Which isn't to say I won't buy it, but I already have so many excess books... one of these days I will finally get some kind of e-book reader, but not today.

[tool_of_satan]

So you are right, and the sequel is definitely better. And The Bermudez Triangle is very good. I thoroughly enjoyed it, with one minor quibble - I was expecting and hoping to see a scene where the band played the bar gig, but despite the fairly lengthy set-up for that, no dice. (I wonder if it was originally there and cut for length, or something.)