Cleaning up: Unreviewed books of 2011 Pt.1
Attempting to start 2012 with a clean slate.
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
October Readathon. This was not only the perfect readathon book, but the perfect 5am-start-of-readathon book. It was sweet, it had pictures, and it made me tear up at the end.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Another October Readathon book. THIS WAS SO GOOD! So much better than the movie, and I really like the movie. The letters between Ella and the Prince were so very wonderful, I’m getting all goofy smily faced just thinking about them.
French Milk by Lucy Knisley
Yet another October Readathon book. This was perfect for mid-to-end readathon, when my eyes were all “PLEASE! NO MORE WORDS!” It wasn’t amazing, but my brain was thankful for all the pictures.
The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy
Yes – another Readathon book. But I could only read half of it that day before deciding all the stories were Too Much of a Good Thing. I love Simon Van Booy’s writing and have realized recently that I really like short stories (perfect for my short attention span), so together they are a perfect combination. “Some Bloom In Darkness” was my favourite of the bunch by far. Simple and haunting, it was everything I want from a short story.
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
And one last Readathon book. It was fun and light and all together enjoyable. However, I didn’t realize that the movie is based on more than just one book, so I was surprised at how little happened in this one. So…
Princess in the Spotlight by Meg Cabot
… I quickly moved on to the next one. I didn’t like Princess in the Spotlight quite as much as Diaries, but it was still a fun read. It seemed like a couple things changed after the first one. Like, in the first one Mia just thought her friend’s brother was a cool guy and by the end she thought he might like her. But in Spotlight she’s suddenly all “I’ve always loved him! But he just thinks of me as his kid sister’s friend.” So, that was weird.
What Happened to Serenity? by PJ Sarah Collins
Dystopian YA that asks the question “what would society look like if we weren’t allowed to ask questions?” The whole idea of the book was really very interesting.
I’m going to add “The Secret Lives of People in Love” to my reading list. Sounds awesome.
I know I read Ella Enchanted when I was a kid so definitely want to reread it as an adult to see how much I still like it.
I really need to read a Meg Cabot book soon! It’s made a number of “best of” lists this year!
Oh! Tiny reviews! What a great idea, I might have to borrow it at the start of 2012 because even my mini-reviews are time consuming!
I didn’t even know that Ella Enchanted was based on a book until very recently. I will have to correct that and read it!
i love ella enchanted!! both the book and the movie. ohhh! i have the secret lives of people in love sitting on my bookshelf. hopefully i’ll get around to it in 2012.
I’m trying not to look at my bookshelf. I need to get reading so that I can attack my TBR list.
Ann
Aw, Ella Enchanted! Nothing Gail Carson Levine ever wrote thereafter lived up to Ella Enchanted. The movie doesn’t come close to doing it justice. Actually, I’m going to reread that right now! It’s been years since I read it.