Young Reader in the Making

Young Reader in the Making

Friday, December 15, 2017

Book 581: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dalh, illustrated by Quentin Blake, Penguin, 1964.

Of course this book is brilliant.  Of course this book is funny.  Of course it is sharp and quick-paced.  But it is also creepy and unsettling -- and I mean that in the best possible way.

The movies based on this book are good, even great, but do not come close to reaching the level of this book.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Book 580: Rest in Pieces

Rest in Pieces, by Rita Brown, Bantam Book, 1992.

This book was both quite good and quite bad. 

First the good:  The characters were quirky enough to be interesting, but not so quirky that they turned into cartoon.  The writing was solid, the pacing was good, and the mystery was intriguing.  As a stand-alone book, this book would have been fine.

Then the bad:  This book follows almost exactly the plot of Book 1, from the creepy, anonymous postcards, to Little Marilyn's bad choice for a life-mate.  The plot was so close, I forgot which book I was reading at times.