2008 books 165, 166, 167

Trenton Lee Stewart's The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey
I had to reread the first one to fully appreciate the second, which features the same band of gifted children on a quest to save their benefactor. I really enjoy these characters, but if this series keeps on there's a real danger it'll get more and more outlandish. The sequel was just outlandish enough.

Charlaine Harris' Dead After Dark
I really can't believe HBO is doing a tv series based on this book and its sequels. It's kind of poorly written (the heroine is always saying things "tartly", sometimes on multiple pages in a row), for one thing, and for another, it's just really silly in a lot of ways. On the other hand, it's a great beach read--a psychic waitress starts dating a handsome and chivalrous vampire and they're trying to find a killer who may be after her. As always, I prefer the third corner of the requisite love triangle over the too-wonderful-to-be-believed vampire love, but at least this isn't nearly as chaste as the Twilight books. I'll read the sequel and see how it goes. (My mom brought both books for me as vacation reads.)