What I’ve Been Reading~ In Which Stories Come In The Shape Of Books

Greetings, my dear friends!

As you no doubt know by now (hopefully), I love stories. Stories make me very happy. Or miserable, but it’s basically the same. And one of the best ways to obtain stories is through little rectangular objects called books. Books and I are the best of friends.

That does not imply that the stories within these books are not often extremely disappointing. I am VERY good at being disappointed by stories. I wish that someone would pay me to do this.

But that just makes it all the more glorious when I come across a book that contains a story that I genuinely like.

In order to spare you the rants, I have decided to make this post about the highlights of my recent reading endeavors. These are the books that I was impressed with. To some extent. If you haven’t read them, go at once to your local library and obtain them. I implore you. You don’t know what you are missing.

Which is why I am here to tell you all about it. You’re welcome.

Let us begin.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

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Even though I am an adult, I rarely read adult books. (Which is perfectly normal, right?) And honestly I think I would have enjoyed this more if it had been written for younger audiences. But nevertheless, I liked it.

Christopher is both an empathetic and a sympathetic character with a unique voice. It’s the kind of story that is written from the perspective of someone who doesn’t see as much as the reader sees, which is a fascinating concept to me. It was ever-so-slightly too depressing for me, (do adults like being depressed?) but overall I quite enjoyed it.

The Ugly Princess and the Wise Fool by Margaret Gray

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Okay, so as you can probably tell by the cover, this book is completely ridiculous. But it’s clever at the same time. I call it Being Stupid on Purpose. Trust me, it really works. There is a princess and a fairy godmother and an incognito wise man, and smoked salmon. For some reason I was particularly impressed by the smoked salmon.

It’s just a short, quirky fairy tale that would be excellent to read by a warm, crackling fire with a plate of boiled potatoes at your elbow and your pet dragon curled at your feet chewing on your enemy’s shinbone…or, erm, a head of lettuce.

See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng

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You know how sometimes I like books so much that I decide I need to adopt them? This might just be one of those books. My sister is the best at finding books like these, bless her.

Alex is a lonely eleven-year-old who wants to build a rocket and launch his golden iPod into outer space. He named his dog Carl Sagan, after his hero.

The formatting of this story is creative and effective. The whole story is told through a series of recordings that are made on Alex’s iPod. Most of them are of Alex himself talking, but some of them are…not. Wow, am I excelling at the descriptions today, or what? (Don’t answer that.)

I don’t really know how to describe how special this book is. Just read it. It’s very special, is all I can say.

Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo

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Kate DiCamillo’s writing style is so beautiful that it makes me want to cry. I didn’t cry while I was reading this, which is disappointing. But I did like it a lot.

Beverly Tapinski can take care of herself. She doesn’t need anyone. And she doesn’t want anyone to need her either. But of course, people happen. And maybe that’s a good thing.

I didn’t like this book as much as most of Kate DiCamillo’s other books, honestly. But I liked it better than most of the other books I’ve read this year. Kate DiCamillo is just that good.

Epilogue

These are my newly discovered books, but most recently I have been rereading The Chronicles of Narnia, which never ceases to amaze me. Here is a brief list of just a few of the amazing things within this series:

1) The Pevensies are constantly talking and thinking about food, 2) Mr. Tumnus serves Lucy THREE kinds of toast, 3) The rabbit is convinced that Uncle Andrew is a kind of Lettuce, 4) Eustace attacks a Calormene soldier with his eyes closed, 5) Puddleglum is ME, 6) Hwin has more wisdom than all of her traveling companions put together, 7) The dufflepuds don’t know how to do logic, 8) The entire series is less than 1% romance.

I just love all the characters so much and I never get tired of reading their stories.

Finally, I will leave you with a cheery quote by a most esteemed and respectable marshwiggle:

“And you must always remember there’s one good thing about being trapped down here: it’ll save funeral expenses.” -Puddleglum, The Silver Chair

What have you been reading lately? Have you found anything that surprised you, or returned to any old favorites? What is a book that you could read over and over again without getting tired of? What is your favorite book that you discovered this year? Tell me all of your bookish news in the comments! And if you know of any more books about smoked salmon, my sponge ears are open.