One imperfect letter, one missing page

7. My Man Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse (audio book)
First totally legitimate audio book. I'd actually wanted to read this, but after listening to it, I'm glad I didn't. I'm not sure I would have liked it, because it is all rather hilariously silly. But listening to it, and especially with the reader the Overdrive mp3 version of the book had, it was one great story after another. There were a couple I liked especially well -- the ones with Jeeves and Wooster were the best, but there was another that took place on a beach that was fun as well. I am eagerly looking forward to more Jeeves and Wooster audio books.

8. Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
I've put enough space between reading the books in this series, that it keeps things fresh. I like Laurence and Temeraire quite a bit, so reading of their adventures is always fun. This book is probably the slowest of the three, but that didn't deter me. In fact, I enjoyed the battle scenes, though sometimes they verged on confusion. But what I really liked was both the way Laurence interacts with Temeraire, but also how they both interact with the different types of dragons. This book was good, a nice middle section of the story. I will eventually keep reading the series, but for now, I like what Novik's done integrating dragons with the Napoleonic era.

9. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
I did not really like this novel, and I think it's for a number of reasons. One of them is that I spoiled myself by reading Looking for Alaska first. John Green's book is a brilliant look at boarding school life and it's both elegantly written and profoundly heartbreaking. Prep is none of those things, and for that reason alone it was a disappointment. But I think, even more than that, it was Sittenfeld's writing style that turned me off. I did not like how the book was written in such a way that you knew things would turn out all right (maybe not immediately, but eventually) because the story was being told from the point of view of an adult. Often, this is well done and I've read several books over the past year that handle this quite well. I think Sittenfeld tried too hard to get us to care about his characters, but I didn't feel anything buy annoyed. I think that if he'd written it differently, with a different tone, I might have liked it, but the only reason I finished it is because I was curious about what big event charged so much of the narrator's telling of the story. And, again, it was just another letdown. Perhaps I shouldn't use John Green's writing (and writing style) as a comparison to Sittenfeld's, but I can't seem to help it. Prep was a mildly entertaining way to spend a few days of reading, but I have no desire to read it again -- or anything else by Sittenfeld.

9 / 100 books read. 9% done!

1. Mind the Gap: A Novel of the Hidden Cities by Christopher Golden & Tim Lebbon
This was a much better book that the previous Christopher Golden book I'd read (Myth Hunters), probably because it was co-written with Tim Lebbon. Mind the Gap follows the story of Jazz, a young woman who ends up uncovering the 'real' United Kingdom under the metro. The story is fast paced, Jazz is literally on the run through the whole novel. She was raised to trust no one (her mum instilled a strong sense of paranoia in her and it serves her well) and she finds that this is almost always the case. Golden and Lebbon create an alternate universe, filled with ghosts, magic and answers to questions Jazz didn't even know she wanted answered. As her mum tells her, there are no such things as coincidences -- something that rings true throughout the book as well. It's a good book, a fun read, though I was expecting something a little different. The 'hidden cities' subtitle is a bit misleading, but makes sense in an abstract way. Hidden cities doesn't mean a city within in a city, more that the city has secrets. I am curious as to what the next books in this collection will be about.

2. The Stone Murders by Matti Joensuu
A man is found, not quite dead, and the Finnish police must find the attackers. The man dies, and then another, and it's up to Detective Timo Harjunpaa to figure out how the cases are connected. Joensuu's novel is, at times, a fast paced an exciting novel about two young boys who end up at the center of a murder investigation. The story is told from two points of view, first, that of one of the boys involved and the second that of Harjunpaa. Through these, Joensuu allows us to be drawn into the story in such a way that surprising, if inevitable, conclusion will break our hearts. He holds nothing back, exposing us to a side of Finland rarely discussed. The Stone Murders is a sad and suspenseful book that will please any Scandinavian mystery fan, even though it's over twenty years old. Though it's sad, the story and characters are strong. I only wish my library system had more of his books.

3. Looking For Alaska by John Green
This is an extraordinary book about extremely smart teenagers. That doesn't quite sound interesting, but John Green's writing turns it into something beautiful. The first half of the book, the 'before' section, is full of teenage angst, romance, and the best kinds of humor. But in order to prepare us for what happens just over halfway through the book, there's this foreboding air where you obviously know something's going to go wrong. I figured it out, just before it happened, but couldn't believe that Green went there, though obviously it's a crucial part of the book. The 'after' portion of the book is no less beautiful, but it's beautiful in the sense of heartbreak, loss, guilt and a million other emotions relating to death. Green's writing is brilliant, witty and I felt he took great care of how his characters behaved -- all of them, main and minor. A lot of reviews talk about how they think Green tried to wrap the novel up at the end, with Miles' essay, I disagree. I think Miles tried to explain how he felt, that it would be okay, without ever being okay. I thought it was a good ending, strong and yet still heartbreaking. I felt Green was trying to say that while everything wouldn't be okay, it would just because we do move on.

3 / 100 books read. 3% done!