January 2009: Book List

[bellawilfer.livejournal.com]

( Cut for length )

Total Books for January: 16
Books Read in 2009 so far: 16

books of a new year!

[sonneta.livejournal.com]

Erratum by Walter Sorrells- Jessica Sternhagen's life gets pretty strange after she finds a book that features her as the main character. This is a pretty fast read & a fun mystery/suspense story. As long as you are OK with hand-wave-y science (it's... the 29th dimension! yes, that's it!), this is a good little fantasy.

The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher by Rob Stennett- Real-estate agent Ryan Fisher tries to become the next big megapastor... even though he's not a Christian. I kind of love this author, now. He uses meta-references, footnotes, and appendices along with his sarcasm to craft a style all his own. Stennett is able to point out a lot of the flaws of modern Evangelicalism in the U.S. while at the same time telling an interesting story. I don't love the ending, as a lot of threads are left loose, but maybe that's part of the point.

Something Rotten by Alan Gratz- Modern spin on Hamlet, in which one Horatio Wilkes goes to visit his friend Hamilton Prince and tries to figure out who killed Hamilton Prince Sr. I admit I went into this book unsure whether or not I would like it (I've read a lot of bad YA spins on Shakespeare), but I ended up loving it. The novel isn't exactly the same as Shakespeare's tale, but it retains enough of the original to keep it recognizable to those who know the story. The novel focuses on the mystery aspect of Hamlet, and modernizes it for a teenage audience. It is fun and funny, and there are a lot of fun Bonus Shakespeare References from other plays for the nerds out there (and I am definitely one of them), like the fact that Horatio has sisters named Miranda, Rosalind, and Desdemona (among others).

( four more under the cut )