A Weekend's Worth of Book Reviews

This weekend I was determined to get in a lot of reading (by my standards, at least). I was pleasantly surprised that it actually happened in the midst of a lingering work project, a road trip (audio books are so helpful), and family craziness! Thank goodness for three-day weekends!

I woke up early (for a holiday) on Friday expressly to finish The Gargoyle (Andrew Davidson); I had scarcely been able to put it down for about a week, and fell asleep each night reading it. Jen over at Devourer of Books recommended it to me, and even went to the trouble of having a copy sent to me. She promptly scared me off by telling me not to read the opening chapter late at night, due to its fairly graphic nature. But when I finally started, I couldn't stop. As Jen described in her review, in reading this I became one of those people that slow down to gaze intently at the accident or oddity at the side of the road, completely enthralled at what I was seeing.

I was continually astounded that this is Davidson's first novel. Though the genre is not something I generally choose - historical fiction meets fantasy meets something-I'm-not-quite-sure-of-yet - the writing was so engaging that I forgot I wasn't really supposed to get into it. I was never quite sure where the story was going to end up, but was more than happy to ride out the journey. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that feels like getting lost in a fantastic story.

This weekend I also read my first book for the LOST Books Challenge: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume. I can't quite believe that I have not read this before. Seriously. Reading it now was the great experience of fantastic Young Adult literature that reminds me of all the things that I worried so deeply about when I was 11-going-on-12. Though written more than three decades ago, its subject matter still rings true for pre-teen girls all over the world. What is it like to kiss a boy? When will I start to "grow"? Am I old enough to make adult decisions for myself yet?

Blume's timeless story of Margaret Simon is still a must-read for any young girl (or any mother of a young girl, or anyone who remembers being an 11-year-old-girl...).

Finally, during the driving portion of the weekend, I finished listening to the audiobook of Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers. Downloaded from Librivox.org (great place!), this was my first Lord Peter Wimsey detective story, by an author I can't believe I just discovered. Sayers is amazing: she can write pointed, entertaining essays as well as completely engaging detective stories with strong characters and great matters of intrigue.

In this mystery, Lord Peter faces both an unidentified dead man found in a bathtub and a missing nobleman. At first the two do not appear to be connected... but things are seldom as they first appear. After the fun of this novel, I am looking forward to reading more Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries!