Gwendy's Magic Feather (The Button Box #2) by Richard Chizmar

 

Maybe in the end I was a bit disappointed, but while I was reading it I did enjoy Gwendy's Magic Feather. I was probably just waiting for some twist that never really came about. Unlike the first book nothing really bad actually happens to Gwendy and she never seems particularly tempted to push the buttons on the magic box. Basically she just gets super stressed out when the box reappears and helps solve a missing child case through some type of magical means that isn't fully explained. Maybe all will make a bit more sense in the next book. Since it was short and there's still a chance that this was all a set up for the final book in the series I'll go easy on the grade and say B.

The Fallen Star (Star Wars: The High Republic) by Claudia Gray

If I counted correctly, The Fallen Star is the 300th book I've read since starting this blog. Really that means nothing but hey, just figured I'd mention it. Anyway - these Star Wars High Republic books keep coming out and I keep reading them. Are they great? No, not really but now I'm somewhat invested in them. My qualms are the same... just too many random Jedis and aliens with weird names and it is difficult to keep track of them. And how are there not more workers or engineers on their space station? Did they hire a staff for this place? And the lack of a linear reading path somewhat bothers me. I'm supposed to know these characters that only appeared previously in a children's book? ARGH. I guess it is a B

Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami

 I'm not exactly sure how a short story that takes maybe half an hour to read (and has little to no plot) is transformed into a three hour film... as is the case of the story "Drive My Car" in the collection of stories by Haruki Murakami, Men Without Women. I guess I'll have to watch the movie now. Overall I enjoyed all of the stories. Since they're written by Murakami there are of course disappearing women, mysterious cats that seem to know more than they let on and numerous mentions of jazz albums. Ask me in a year if I recall any of these stories and I probably wouldn't be able to, but still it was a nice read. B

Mystery Book # 12- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

 Well I wasn't able to guess "who did it" by the end of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. And yet all the clues were there and in the end it made complete sense. So without doing any research this book seems to be like the standard English murder story set in the countryside with a houseful of suspects that the odd detective has to investigate and in the end sits all the suspects down and says "I know the murderer is in this room"... but was this book the first like that? Or just one of the best? It all felt very cliche (yet entertaining) but these things have to start somewhere and this book is fairly old. So let's say an A.

The Christmas Pig by J.K. Rowling

 Well this took forever....I started reading The Christmas Pig to my daughter sometime before Christmas, and only am just now finishing it. I can't say I really recommend it. First off - it is way too long. The story is aimed at small children but is like 350 pages long. And the story is way too padded out and repetitive and there isn't much to interest or charm adults either. Harry Potter this is not. C

The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah by Stephen King

I read the first six Dark Tower books within the space of a year. And now almost five years later I finally picked up the next installment. I'm not sure what took so long. And for a book that's 400+ pages not really that much happens. Roland has a long conversation with the author of the book and Susannah finally has her baby. I enjoyed it but it seemed to mostly be setting up the final volume. B