Lost Cousin: The London Eye Mystery

As a parent of a child with Aspergers syndrome, I have a tentative relationship with books centering around kids on the autism spectrum.  On the one hand, I love reading books with kids that mirror my wonderful son, especially when those kids are happy and successful.  On the other hand, I hate didactic books so if I start feeling like I'm learning something I get antsy, even when the author isn't really trying to teach me things.  So I seek out this kind of fiction but then I don't look forward to reading it.

Luckily for me, Siobhan Dowd's The London Eye Mystery was pure fun to read.  I saw it on my way through the D's (my Reading My Library quest for the win!), and I remembered it from many recommended lists all over the place.  So this was my chance to finally read it.  I didn't come close to solving the mystery, but I can blame that on my stop-and-go reading style -- my younger son stole the book from me for a month while my bookmark languished in the middle.

By the way, he kept my bookmark safe the entire time.  I couldn't do that, and his older brother is notorious for losing all bookmark slips instants after he comes in contact with them.

But it's a fun family story about a boy and his older sister, and his mom and dad, and the cousin who briefly comes for a visit.  Ted narrates, and he explains that he uses a different operating system for his brain, but this is just part of his personality and identity, not a special after school moment.  The parts about living in London seem more exotic than the parts about his social skill oddities.  And any book that entices P to pick it up and read more wins my heart almost immediately.

Temple Politics, Texas Style: Which Big Giver Stole the Chopped Liver?

Sharon Kahn's Which Big Giver Stole the Chopped Liver showed up on my TBR list, although I haven't the foggiest memory of how it got there, or who recommended it.  Perhaps I saw the title and found it outlandish enough to investigate.  Of course, it turns out to be one in a series of cosy mysteries featuring Ruby, the rabbi's wife, although technically she's no longer the rabbi's wife since she's a widow and they found a replacement.  Now I think she does something involving a bagel restaurant.

Anyway, she's still friends or enemies with most of the bigwigs at the temple, including the new rabbi and both the major donors, who are throwing a huge reunion event as part of an enormous fund-raising event. Most of the attention is on Ruby's life, her friendships, courtships, and family, with occasional glances at the murder victim found face down on the chopped liver platter.  Ruby's courtships help with these glances, since one beau is the detective and the other a hungry news reporter.

As a cosy, it was entertaining, with small but sharp glimpses into Ruby's microsociety.  As a mystery, it lacked suspense, because even though this book is the middle of a series it was obvious which characters would be coming back and so were ineligible as suspects.  So the arrow of guilt was fixed before any clues appeared, and the final action sequence was as incoherent as it was illogical.  I probably won't seek out the rest of the books about Ruby, but if I find myself trapped in a hotel room with them I won't complain.

Love Books Month

Despite the silence on this blog lately, I've still been reading about a book a day.  I've just been finishing them too late to turn on the computer to record anything.  For a brief moment, I had my currently reading pile down to a mere ten books, but then I saw a few shiny covers and the moment passed.  The dreaded TBR Dare has kept my library list short, though.  Well, shortish.

This is my take meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.  What I read, what I'm reading, and a peek at what I'll read next.

This week I finished:

• The Romeo and Juliet Code, Phoebe Stone.  From my TBR list.
• Because of Winn-Dixie, Kate DiCamillo.  For the school book club.
• Ancient, Strange and Lovely, Susan Fletcher.  RML -- surprise final book in a series I like.
• Twenty Palaces, Harry Connolly.  Probably the last book in a series I love.
• The Secret Duke, Jo Beverley.  They ended up getting married!
• A Lady Awakened, Cecelia Grant.  These guys as well.
• Anna and the French Kiss, Stephanie Perkins.  Cybils.  Fun YA love story.
• Lover Unleashed, J.R. Ward. I laughed out loud many times.  These are supposed to be funny, right?
• Twin Spica 03, Kou Yaginuma. Usually I order the next one after finishing a series, but now I have that pesky book ban going on.  Hmm.
• The Shattering, Karen Healey.  Cybils YA fantasy book.  Powerful.
• The London Eye Mystery, Siobhan Dowd.  I snuck it out of my son's room while he was at his dad's and I finished it.  Good mystery.

I've also read some more of the Cybils picture books, but this year I'm not keeping track of my picture book count. For example, I Feel Better With a Frog in My Throat was very popular.


I'm currently reading twelve books, but I don't expect confusion.  I've got environmental dramas, science fiction, historical fanfiction,  and problem books.  Well, most fiction books have problems, but the problems range from neglected children to the ability to fly to getting trapped on the moon.  I'm even reading a sports book!  The Cybils and my Reading My Library quest bring me interesting books.

• Christmas Angel, Jo Beverly.  My librarything Santa present.  Lord meets widow, so far.
• The Girl Who Could Fly, Victoria Forester. Problems I would have loved to have. RML.
• Operation Redwood, S. Terrell French.  Meanest aunt & uncle pair in San Francisco. RML.
• Among Others, Jo Walton.  Re-reading to decide which library to donate the extra copy to.
• Stupid Fast, Geoff Herbach. NOOK.  Cybils YA finalist.  Seems to be about football.
• Enchanted Glass, Diana Wynne Jones.  Audio book for when the kids are in the car.  English accents are fun.
• The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Laurie King. (reread). Audio book when kids aren't in the car, and also this month's book club book.  
• Smart But Scattered, Peg Dawson & Richard Guare.  My reward book -- I read a section whenever I finish a book.  I think I'll put books I read for parenting in this slot.
• The Same Stuff as Stars, Katherine Paterson. Reached grandmother's house, thank goodness.
• The First Men In the Moon, H.G. Wells.  Giant slug-things are on the moon.
• Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott. I like how she realizes that "no" can be the answer to a prayer.
• The End of Racism, Dinesh D'Souza.  Shocked at how some people define racism, he redefines it for them.

What will I read next? I've got four Cybils books waiting, a handful of library books left from the beginning of the year, and the mountains of stuff I have lying around.  The library books probably still take priority. The TBR Dare is in full effect, although I have a few book club matters to complete.

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 20/80.  I need to start responding to the shorter stuff.
2. What's In a Name?: 5/6.  Need a topological feature, but I don't think the London Eye counts.
3. Where Am I Reading?:  7/50. Needed 5 by the end of January, so I'm good. 
4. TBR Double Dare.  7. Rereads count, right?  
5. Science Book Challenge: 1.1/3.14159.  I officially signed up again.
6. Comment Challenge.  I finished!  And I won!
7. Reading My Library: Need to get the next batch; I'm heading for the Hs in children's fiction.

Library Strength

Again I show unexpected strength and determination at the library -- I only checked out the tiny stash of books at the hold shelf.  I did cheat a tiny bit by talking N into getting a few Easy Reader books, one for himself and one for P, but they honestly were for him and P.  In fact, P already read Dodsworth in Paris and I still haven't.

My excellent library really doesn't make this easy, though. Their Interesting Picks display is square in the middle of the entrance hall, with several enticing books coyly winking at me.  And the wall of New Books in the children's section also had many temptations.  Humph.

(I'm doing the TBR Dare, which means no new books. Argh! That includes library books!)

Thank goodness for the Cybils, an official exception.

• I Feel Better With a Frog in My Throat, Carlyn Beccia.  A Cybils nonfiction PB.  Hugely popular already.
• Dragon Castle, Joseph Bruchac.  Cybils MG fantasy.

This brings me to a total of 37 items out on my card, which includes a few things I've finished but I'm hoping the kids will try.  No overdues, but next week might be a different story.  Everything fits neatly in my library bookshelf.  I'll go share my Library Loot at the event co-hosted by Claire from the Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader, where all the library addicts compare their treasures.

Wee, we, oui: Anna and the French Kiss

My amazing library has the first few Cybils YA fiction finalists available in the ebook side, so I've started with Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins.  It's a story of a girl sent away to boarding school for her senior year by her mean dad, whose meanness is a bit undercut by the location of the school -- Paris!  Poor Anna is dragged kicking and screaming from her Georgian life to an exclusive American school in the heart of gay Paree.  Actually, I did have sympathy -- the last year of high school is a hard time to switch schools, especially if the kid is given no choice or even a preference in the matter.

Some nice folks befriend her, and she settles in various ruts for her senior year, only to find herself ruthlessly tipped out of them in the second semester.  Communication is hard, and slamming up against secrets causes much amusing teen aged angst -- throwing a temper tantrum at a bowling alley when your maybe-boyfriend brags from the stage about his sexual antics with your best friend, who somehow forgot to mention this new development.  Or having a crush on a perfect boy who is sadly already taken, and missing connections with him through a variety of Magi Gift types of misunderstandings.

In general the beats of teenage romance felt absolutely true, although Etienne is perhaps a bit too wonderful.  Anna makes plausible mistakes but handles the stress of a completely unexpected year with incredible aplomb.  Since she tells the story in first person, we can see reasons for the missteps, and sympathize with the blunders that slow the path to true love.  At the end the two hearts beat as one, which admittedly left my stodgy old heart a bit concerned with how seriously these two rather emotionally immature teens are taking their romance.  I mean, even Bella Swan knew better than to get married right out of high school.

Replaceable Dads: The Romeo and Juliet Code

I admit that the cover of Phoebe Stone's Romeo and Juliet Code baffles me; the modern day sneakers have absolutely nothing to do with this story of a British refugee staying with her distant relatives in Maine.  But I have a fondness for WWII stories, so I started to get into the story of the ever-so-English girl adjusting to life without her parents and with her quirky Maine family.  But little things kept niggling at me.

First, the twee sound of Felicity/Fliss's voice.  I'm sure there really were English kids who constantly said "ever so" and other huge sign posts so nobody forgot they were British, but they tend not to appear in the British books about World War II that I read.  Also, she immediately gets a crush on the only local boy, Derek, and I find crushes ever so terribly boring. But in spite of all this the book moves along well, with a touch of mystery as the kids try to figure out the secrets the adults keep and meanwhile Fliss finds that she now has a real family, unlike when she lived with her parents who of course neglected her because her mother worked.

But the end really bugged me.  I can accept that Felicity expected all the adults to keep secrets from her; after all, no one even told her in even the vaguest terms why her parents never wrote, so of course she didn't bear a grudge about this even though I did.  But the final secret, the one that made Felicity radiant with joy that she truly belongs in the family, was one that I would expect most kids to receive with a bit of ambivalence -- her uncle is her biological father.  When Fliss receives this news with unmitigated delight, I lost all respect for her.   And I guess now we are supposed to hope that her parents get killed in action, so that there's no awkward moment when she has to go back to living with her mother and her dad? Or maybe since Fliss is also the kind of kid who had no objection to this new family saddling her with the nickname Flissy this sort of emotional confusion would be beyond her depth.

This book is already overdue, so I can't offer it to my kids.  I suspect they'd like it more than I did, though.

Science Book Challenge 2012

The photograph is by Todd Tyrtle (source),
 used under Creative Commons License.

For the past few years I've been participating in the Science Book Challenge, which is simply a way for people who enjoy reading science books to compare notes and get recommendations.  The challenge is to read pi books about science in 2012.  You can round down to three, but I figure the children's books I read through the Cybils picture book and YA nonfiction categories give me the decimals point to more closely match the goal.

I've been planning on signing again, and I think I just finished the first qualifying book, so this is my official joining post.  Three science books a year seems like a tiny goal, so here's hoping I do a bit better than the minimum.  After reading a book, I add it to their Book Notes, which is also a good place to go to find interesting books.  They also have a Facebook page, which contributes to my TBR list problems.

The woman in the image is safe within a Faraday Cage, by the way.

Science Book 2012:

1. The Male Brain, Louanne Brizendine
2. Delusions of Gender, Cordelia Fine

• .1 I Feel Better With a Frog In My Throat: History's Strangest Cures,  Carlyn Beccia
• .04 Planting the Wild Garden, Kathryn O. Galbraith.
• .001 The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs, Sandra Markle
• .0005 Fossil Identifier, Scott Weidensaul