Book club read: The Mysterious Benedict Society

Oh boy, what a fun ride! This book was definitely up my alley since I like puzzles and I like solving puzzles. One of the many reasons that I bought this book (besides the fact that I had a birthday present gift card) was the quiz at the back of the paperback copy. (By the way, Ann, Emily, Kyle, and I took said quiz and I got 10/10. :) I'm not geeky.) The other reason was due to the artwork. I know, I know, you should never judge a book by its cover, but seriously--this art is cool.

I really liked the themes of family, friendship, and belonging. The main characters have lost their parents in some way or another. (Question: how did Constance Contraire was an orphan? I can't remember.) So in some ways, this book explores how the children make connections with each other and how they learn to trust each other on their top-secret mission.

I just loved the many different, zany characters. For some reason I thought that S.Q. was a spy all along. He was a bumbling, kind of spacey character who worked for the bad guys, but he was endearing in a way. And perhaps he do learn about his past in the later books. He just seems too nice of a guy to really be bad. Constance was a riot. Mr. Benedict was weird at first, but I grew to like him. Mr. Curtain was such a great bad guy, driving around in his wheelchair. Milligan was a secret favorite, even though he was depressed for most of the book.

This book is a nice fun read. I'll probably read the other books in the series . . .  when I have time. :)

The Good Earth . . . and other news

 

When I finished listening to The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, I felt a little bit more knowledgeable about of Chinese culture. This book is a Pulitzer Prize winner for a reason: it is really, really well written. Not having read Pearl S. Buck before now, I went in without having any expectations. And I was surprised how much I liked this book even as it tackled such topics of marriage, culture versus nature, and the role of women. There are other themes, of course, but these struck me the most. This is the kind of book that makes people think and evaluate their own lives. I recommend it.

In other news, I'm doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and have written over 15,000 words in 10 days. Boo-yah! And in the meantime of that, I'm also reading a book for my sister's book club (it's one I chose, which makes it even better.) And I'll be helping to write a blog about our experiences as a book club as we discuss the book. This is going to be good. :) If you're interested in checking it out, I'll be promoting it as soon as we create it. My sister and I are interested in hearing other people's opinions about books. You never know what you'll learn. 

And in other, other news, I'm running a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. Please, oh please, don't let it be freezing!

Till next time!

Melly

Book Club Read: The Wikkeling

This is one strange little story that left a lot of questions unanswered and left me wishing I could know more about the backstory. Focusing on Henrietta and Gary, two children who live in the Addition, this book describes a world filled with plastic and garbage, of regulations and growth.

As my fellow book clubbers (Ann and Emily, at this point) gathered to discuss, we all felt that The Wikkeling had a lot of interesting points:

1) the education system
2) the monster itself
3) the constant barrage of advertisements
4) the overprotectiveness of society
5) the mysterious wild housecats
6) the history of Old Town and the Addition
7) garbage men

I was somewhat dissatisfied because I wanted my questions to be answered about why the monster was the way it was, why the town chose to develop so quickly, and why the Wikkeling affected our heroes the way it did. Those questions are left to a sequel, I suppose. Overall, the book was beautifully designed and the pictures went right along with the story--kinda dark and not overly filled with detail. I give this book 3 stars out of 5.