Finished THE BOOK THIEF

I don't know if I will rave about this book a lot.  It is well-written, and has an understandable theme.  I am glad I read it.

But it is sad and it hits the reader over the head again and again with its theme.  Overkill (literally.)  The narrator is perfect for it, however, and his circumspect involved (in spite of himself) manner tends to, unbelievably, soften the subject matter.

Some books must be read for the conversations they start--both with others and also inside our own heads...this is one such book.  Would I have read it in my classroom?  Maybe in some of my classes when their English teachers were reading The Diary of Ann Frank.  For many, the absorption of this theme might help them get through some of their own tragedies...



I have now started Lost Scriptures by Bart D Ehrman.  I read three similar books before by Elaine Pagels, but these were pretty much all commentary and no actual translations.  I don't know how long it will take me to get through this.  I may divide it into sections the way I did with Morte d'Arthur and the way I am doing with Les Miserables.  I don't expect it to be exciting, but I do expect it to be interesting, albeit perhaps in small doses.

Finished THE HEART OF EVIL

This is the third Krewe of Hunters book I have read...it is second in the series, but I read one out of order.  I've enjoyed them all so far--gentle helpful ghosts, mostly nice people, but of course there is always at least one villain.  Perfectly natural mysteries but with ghosts trying their best to help find the culprit.  I enjoy and relax into these books.




I have now started The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  All of my Goodreads buddies have already read it.  I have saved seeing the movie until after reading the book, but now, just a bit over 100 pages in, I fear I will be greatly disappointed by the movie.  The book is narrated by Death.  I will be very surprised if the movie doesn't lose this marvelous point of view--this unusual voice.  I admit that being a reading teacher for 34 years may help me to love the theme of the book.

Finished THE GAP INTO POWER A DARK AND HUNGRY GOD ARISES

Again, I have no idea why I like these books--no likable character in sight.  However, the characters are complicated and interesting and capable of growth and change (not always for the better.)  The action is only somewhat predictable, the way the characters interact with each other is totally unpredictable!  But, there it is.  I was again on the edge of my seat through most of the book.  I love this author!  I will, of course, be continuing the series.



I am now about to start Heather Graham's Heart of Evil.  This is the second of her "Krewe of Hunters" series that was started with Phantom Evil.

Finished PEOPLE OF THE LAKES

This was the best of the Gear's books yet (to me), perhaps because I grew up in the Niagara Falls area.  Of course, the falls was not the same 2000 years ago as it is today.  The falls was considerably closer to Lake Ontario then.  The island that separated the two falls was considerably longer, but I had seen images of what it probably looked like then, so I knew the danger they were in as they approached the falls.  I also knew the danger they were in as they headed out into the middle of Lake Michigan during a violent storm...from reputation.  A lot of much larger ships are now nestled into the bottom of that lake.  So I was pretty much at the edge of my seat through the second half of the book.  How amazing to see how people with much more primitive equipment than we have today could do what much of our "sophisticated" equipment cannot do now.



I have now started The Gap Into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises, by Stephen R. Donaldson.  This is book three of the five book series and is the only series I am reading which has actually no likable characters.  However, they are all understandable (well, except for Nick, but I suspect we will get more of his back story in this book).  While not likable, they are interesting and seeing how this character navigates through each challenge Donaldson presents is a lot of fun.