23 December 2010

A WRINKLE IN TIME by MADELEINE L'ENGLE

There are several reasons why I chose to read this book at this point in my life. First, I had always heard that it was a good book. Second, I had never read it. Third, it was on the monthly shelf for my Pick-a-Shelf group here on Goodreads. Fourth, my sister recommended it as a good read. I have to caveat here, also, and say that I am one adult who really does enjoy young adult fiction. That said, I ended up feeling that this book was a little to young for me. I enjoyed it, but I think that I would have enjoyed it much more if I had read it when I was the appropriate age. 

I found it interesting that this book was originally published in 1962, way before the current craze of books that deal with time travel, magic, and paranormal abilities. In fact, I could see pieces of several currently popular books in this one. It was not hard to see some of the current authors being influenced by this wonderful classic. For, although it did not transport me the way that some of the newer books have, I think it is just a matter of timing. Not only timing as to my age, but also timing as to which book I read first. 

With the above said, I am giving this book a 3 star rating for me, but I would actually give it a 4 to 5 star rating as a book for older elementary school students, and definitely put it on my "highly recommended" list for this age group. I hope it will, and think it should, continue to be a classic for that age group.

A FAINT COLD FEAR by KARIN SLAUGHTER

I am so far behind in my reviews. I think that I have missed about 5 books. 

This is the third book in a series that I started reading with a bunch of friends in one of my Goodreads book clubs. I liked the first two, thought they were pretty good thrillers, but I have to say, the ending of this one totally blew me away. I think that is why I liked it the best of all of them so far. I really did not see the ending coming, and it left me with a lot of questions. Not sure if they will ever get answered, but I am really anticipating what might happen in the next one. 

As she has in the first two books of this series, the author was able to keep me guessing as to who the villain was. Interestingly, I had picked the villain at one point, but then decided that character was a red herring. Another plus to her writing is that, even if I would have stuck with that character, the motive for the villain's behavior was something that I never would have guessed. Another plus for this type of book. 

As this book is part of a series, there is another criteria that it has to fill for me to keep reading. Do the recurring characters become more interesting as time goes on, do I care about them more with each book, or do the get stagnate. I am happy to say, that the characters in this series are definitely not getting stagnate! In fact, at the end of the first book, I liked the central characters, but thought the story was a lot better than the character development. I can now see why. The author was saving the character development for future books to keep us interested. At this point in the series, there are a few things going on with the central characters that really have me anticipating the next installment in the series, which I will be reading in January. In fact, the character that I liked the least of all in the first book is fast becoming my favorite character. The author has done an excellent job of making the characters multi-faceted and interesting. 

All in all a good thrill ride, and I can't wait for the next one, which I will be reading in January.