I had jury duty today, which somehow was even more boring than I imagined (mainly b/c it consisted of sitting around waiting to hear if my name was called, which when it was, meant I had to sit around for an extra couple of hours for what turned out to be no reason whatsoever--probably I'd have minded less if I hadn't finished all three of my books shortly after 12:30. Next time I'm bringing meatier tomes).
Anyway:
Bennett Madison's Lulu Dark and the Summer of the Fox
The sequel to the rich and glamourous teen girl detective book I read last week was just as cute as its predecessor, yet somehow even more farfetched. I did like the whole middle-aged actresses as terrorists motif, though. B+
Nora Gallagher's Changing Light
Ah, 1950s New Mexico--a place where a Czech Jewish scientist can flee in horror from his work on the A-bomb and meet up with a feisty Georgia O'Keefe-esque painter fleeing from her own crappy marriage, and immediately fall in love. Seriously, why do fictional characters form long-lasting love-type feelings for characters they've only known for five minutes? Were they that sexually repressed or something? I guess the two characters were interesting, but I really didn't buy their sudden romance. Also, the pseudo-villains (a really annoying spy and a jealous priest) were pretty lame. B-.
Anjali Bannerjee's Maya Running
This is the sort of YA book I don't like much. Of course you all know I'm interested in themes of outsider-ness, so you'd think I'd like a book about a teen Indian girl in Canada in the 1970s, who's the only non-white kid in her class and is trying hard to fit in, balance her two worlds, etc. Unfortunately, this book had absolutely no subtlety, and when things suddenly take a turn for the mystical, I was rolling my eyes on just about every page. Way to throw anvils on heads, Ms. Bannerjee! It was like a badly written moralistic fairy tale. C.
