Alison Reads

The fifth in the Thursday Next series, and just as inventive as the first four. Thursday has only a few days to convince her son Friday to join the ChronoGuard and invent time travel, or time as we know it will cease to exist. Meanwhile, she is having trouble with two of her bookland alter egos who want to become JurisFiction agents. Great fun for those who love literary humor. I read the British edition, which was missing all its footnotes, but an “upgrade” can be printed from Fforde’s web site, which is well worth investigating.

The last in a series of five books about 12-year-old Gregor’s adventures in the Underland below New York City. Not for the squeamish, this book contains graphic descriptions of battles and death, but it also addresses moral questions about right and wrong and standing up for one’s own values. Each child in the Underworld, no matter how young, has an important job to perform and a real contribution to make to society. This is a wonderful series and I’m sorry to see it end. I especially like how Gregor always looks after his little sister, Boots, who also contributes significantly to the plot although she is only 3. For grades 4-6.

A Richard Jury mystery. Jury goes into a bar and is told a fantastic story by a stranger about a missing woman and her son. Jury is caught up in the story and investigates it, only to discover that it is much more complex than he at first thought. It helps to have read the previous books in the series, because prior events are mentioned. Not my favorite Grimes, but intriguing.

Ten-year-old Zoe hears Vladimir Horowitz on the radio and wants to learn to play the piano; in fact, she wants to be a child prodigy. She begs her parents to buy her a piano and instead she is presented with a wheezy organ. Zoe perseveres, however, and with the support of her parents and a weird boy named Wheeler, she triumphs. A quick read and lots of fun. Recommended for grades 3-5.

I picked up this book because books by Kidder are always worth reading. Among Schoolchildren, a year in the life of a fourth-grade teacher, is his best-known book, but he has written several others on diverse subjects and they are all excellent. Mountains Beyond Mountains is a profile of Paul Farmer, a Harvard-trained doctor who spends much of his time in Haiti running a hospital and clinic in the desperately poor central plateau. Farmer’s mission in life is to provide excellent free medical care to those who can’t afford it. He started a small foundation, Parners in Health, which has grown and spread to finance projects in several poor countries. Inspiring.

I inhaled this book over the Labor Day weekend. It’s a fascinating book (by a woman, by the way) about a married woman who is tempted to kiss a man she meets one night. Alternating chapters cover the next five years of her life. In one reality she gives in to the kiss and leaves her husband for the other man. In another reality she resists temptation and stays with her husband, but always wonders what might have happened. The two lives that Irina, the main character, might experience are very different, but they both seem absolutely real. Every decision has long-reaching consequences, and no relationship is perfect. Highly recommended.

The third in an unconventional vampire series, this book finds Bella torn between her love for Edward the vampire and her friendship with Jacob the werewolf, since the two species are bitter enemies. They band together, however, to face a horde of vampire zombies from Seattle. Not as silly as I’ve made it sound, this is a compelling series. Does Bella get her heart’s desire and become a vampire so that she can be immortal like Edward? Read the book and see.

I expected to like this book, but I didn’t. It’s a creepy book about a strange young forensic pathologist who is convinced that she was cared for by gorillas as an infant. She investigates a series of suspicious crib deaths and ends up learning more about her past. I didn’t like the character or the topic, though certainly the book was well written.

The subtitle of this book is “the accelerating pace of human evolution”. The author discusses forms of natural selection and evolution in humans and proto-humans and chimpanzees and gorillas. He argues that natural selection is still going on today, at an accelerated rate because of the accelerated rate of change in our environment. An interesting and accessible book.

In this third book in a projected series of five, half-god half-mortal Percy and his friends search for missing Aphrodite, whom they must rescue within one short week before the winter solstice and an important meeting of the gods on Mount Olympus. As good as the first two. Now we’ll have to wait until the last two books are published to find out what happens. For upper elementary and middle schoolers. The more one’s knowledge of Greek mythology, the more enjoyment will be had.