Sunday, January 09, 2011

2011 books 13, 14, and 15

Kevin Wilson's The Family Fang
The description on the back wants to compare the Fang family to the Royal Tenenbaums, but the Fangs are dysfunctional in a less literary way (if that makes any sense). Parents Camille and Caleb are performance artists who stage public events--starring their children--intended to shock and/or amaze (a precursor to flash mobs?). Now grown, children Annie and Buster--an actress and a writer, respectively--are faced with life crises and both decide to come home. But as the famous saying goes, you can never go home again, and life just gets more complicated for them once they do. Great characters and ending. A-.

Gail Carson Levine's A Tale of Two Castles
The latest from the author of Ella Enchanted isn't as charming as some of her earlier works, but the story of a young girl who ends up apprenticed to a dragon and trying to figure out who's trying to get a local ogre is pretty entertaining. B+.

Joseph Monninger's Wish
This isn't an ARC--it's the book I was reading on my Kindle when I got distracted by all my ARCs. :) But I figured I'd finsih it on the way home. It's about teenager Bee and what happens when her beloved younger brother--who has cystic fibrosis--goes on a dream trip to see great white sharks. Their relationship is the heart of the book and is very well-done. A-/B+.

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