The Empty Chair: Book Review & The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie: Book Review

[amanda_in_pajamas]

Title: The Empty Chair
Author: Jeffery Deaver
Number of Pages: 416
Genre: Mystery
Book Number/Goal: 49/50 in 2009

Review: Another thriller - very suspenseful and full of twists and turns, though I could have done without the last "surprise". I thought that was a bit much. Other than that, I thought it was another fantastic read. I especially enjoyed the character development and the insight of both Rhyme and Sachs that we are privy too.

*~*~*

Title: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Author: Muriel Spark
Number of Pages: 150
Genre: Fiction
Book Number/Goal: 50/50 in 2009 - New Goal: 75 in 2009

Review: I recently read a quote from an interview with Dame Maggie Smith where she said that Minvera McGonagall was Miss Jean Brodie as a witch. Not having read or seen The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, I immediately put it on my to-read list. I have not yet ...seen the movie, but I did enjoy the book. The part that stuck me the most was Brodie's theory on education..."To me education is a leading out of what's already there in a pupil's soul." This is definitely a novella that I will come back to and read again (and again).

Jupiter Williams by S.I. Martin

[torachan]

Title: Jupiter Williams
Author: S.I. Martin
Number of Pages: 218 pages
Book Number/Goal: 46/75 for 2009
My Rating: 5/5

Fourteen-year-old Jupiter is a rather spoiled rich boy at the African Academy in Clapham, England in 1800, ignorant of the reality outside his comfortable bubble. But then his younger brother get kidnapped by slavers and everything changes.

I really enjoyed this a lot. The writing is great and didn't have that typical YA feel to it at all, and Jupiter is a great (if not very likable) character. In many ways it's a typical "riches to rags" sort of adventure story, but it's made unique by the fact that the hero and most of the other main characters are black (while still being historically accurate; the African Academy really did exist).

I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.

Mooch from BookMooch.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman/The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

[bobafeis]

Title: The Graveyard Book (re-read)
Author: Neil Gaiman
Number of Pages: 307
Genre: Middle Grade fantasy
Book Number/Goal: 3/50

Review: Bod Owens, orphaned at a very young age, deals with growing up in a graveyard and has a whole string of wonderful adventures. I might be a horrible Gaiman fangirl, because this is the only one of his MG books that I really liked. He usually gets a bit sparse with his stories for younger audiences, but he fills this one in perfectly. I can definitely see why this one the Newberry.

Title: The Magician's Elephant (ARC)
Author: Kate DiCamillo
Number of Pages: 208
Genre: Middle Grade fantasy
Book Number/Goal: 2/10 (ARCs)

Review: Awww, it's adorable. A fortuneteller tells an orphaned boy that an elephant will lead him to his long lost sister. Soon after, a magician accidentally summons such an elephant. It's a lot more kidlit than the Gaiman book, and it sometime verges on being twee, but it's actually got some substance and overall, it's fantastic.

Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock

[shanaqui]

Title: Maid Marian.
Author: Thomas Love Peacock.
Number of Pages: 97.
Genre: Classic.
Book Number/Goal: 9/10 (for the week). List here.

Review: Here.