From: JanetWana_at_aol.com <JanetWana>
Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 17:18:04 EDT

Sunday night: I read the prologue to The Peabody Sisters by Megan Marshall. An article about the book in the NY Times Book Review got me interested in Elizabeth, Mary and Sophia's life story. I had never heard of them before. The prologue ends with the best "hook" I've ever read in a nonfiction book.

Tuesday night I read Gordon Korman's latest: Chasing the Falconers. It is a great book. It should appeal to the "I'll read if I can find a good book" crowd. I knew it was the first book in a set of three (like Dive and Everest) when I picked it up, but I hated to see it end, leaving me hanging until the next book is out. Perhaps Scholastic should put a Lemony Snicket-like warning on the cover: If you like books where there is a conclusive ending, you can still put this one down until books two and three are published.

Then I was on a deadline to read Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini by Thursday night. I finished just in time. Wow. The book group discussion was one of the best we have ever had.

Isabel Allende's words on the cover of the paperback edition sum it up: "This is one of those unforgettable stories that stays with you for years. All the great themes of literature and of life are the fabric of this extraordinary novel: love, honor, guilt, fear, redemption." What more could I possibly add?
 What book could follow it?

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak was my choice. I love the voice, character and story. Is he eligible for the award that Lia Francesca Block won?
(Margaret E. Anderson award)

More on that topic in just a few days.

Janet Wanamaker Neenah, WI
Received on Sat 28 May 2005 04:18:04 PM CDT