October 2013 reading....

I was a slacker in October, but I did read a couple of good books...here is the full selection with comments and (hopefully) a link to the book on Amazon.  There were only 9 books this month and 4 of them were on CD in the car...hmm.

1.  43 Old Cemetery Road: Hollywood Dead Ahead by Kate Klise.  Written for pre-teens, took about an hour to read.  It is number 4 (5?) in a series that The Girl started a couple years ago and never finished, but I became fascinated with...so I read each new one each October.  Worth the read, especially if you've read the others.

2, 3, 4, 5....  The 39 Clues, by various authors.  So the link here will actually take you to the 39 Clues website.  Whoever came up with this series was a genius--several young adult authors write the series and have managed to make it flow despite their different writing styles.  The reader for the audio addition is actually quite good--not as good as Jim Dale, mind you, but who is?  Follows two children on an international "clue hunt" as they try to figure out how to beat all their (crazy?) relatives to a treasure. A good "read" for in the car with the kids!

6.  United We Spy by Ally Carter  The long awaited 6th book in the Gallagher Girls series.  These are young adult novels about a group of girls who attend a boarding school and have a secret.  No, they're not vampires.  I loved books 1-3, 4 was ok, 5 made me seriously wonder what was up...this one was great--a satisfactory ending to the series, left it open in case she ever wants to write more, but tied things up well enough if she doesn't.  The Girl owns books 1-5, probably will receive this one for Christmas, if I remember to order it.  Then I just have to get her to read them.  Sigh. There is also allegedly a Disney movie deal in the works...we'll see if they can get it done and do the books justice.

7.  Al Capone Does My Homework by Jennifer Choldenko  I think this is the 3rd book in this series--again written as a middle school age novel--are you sensing a theme to my reading lately?  If you know the other books, this one is much the same--the children of the Alcatraz staff find a mystery and try to solve it with the "help" of the convicts, all set in 1930's Alcatraz.

8.  The Whole Enchilada by Diane Mott Davidson You may (or may not) remember my night out to hear Mrs. Davidson speak (you can read it here if you missed it).  This is the millionth (ok, maybe only 10th?  15th?) book in a series about a caterer in a fictional Colorado town who solves mysteries.  Always reminds me of the old tv show "Murder She Wrote"...I mean, every time this caterer does an event someone dies..um, I wouldn't hire her, would you?  It does make fun reading though.  This book didn't disappoint.  I was worried that I would feel like I was lost, since I haven't read the middle 5 (10?) books, but I was able to pick up and understand.  The ending was a bit odd, but not disappointing, just wondering where she is going to go next or if this is meant to be the last book.  I guess we'll see.

9.  In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez  A fictionalized account of the lives of the Mirabel sisters, who fought against the 1950's dictator in the Dominican Republic.A link to the museum honoring the real sisters can be found here.  I'm looking for more about this family, maybe biography vs. fiction, but this was a very good read, I enjoyed it as much as one can enjoy a book about a revolution.

There you have it...October's reading.  Stay tuned ..in November I'll fill you in on the long awaited "Revealed"....