One-Eyed Cat

 

I remember reading this when I was a kid and liking it so I felt like revisiting the book. One-Eyed Cat is about a boy who lies about borrowing a gun and possibly accidentally shoots a cat. The cat hangs around an old man called Mr. Scully so the boy befriends him. The book mostly is about the boy's guilt over the possible kill and the adults that surround him in his life for example the stern housekeeper.  This is more like a character study than a children's book.  I recommend this because the character's real and sometimes in children's books I feel like writers condescend the adolescent experience. This one doesn't thankfully. Paula Fox also wrote a few books for adults which I'm curious about.

Still Life with Iris

 

This was an ok children's play by Steven Dietz. Apparently, there are two versions of Still Life with Iris. One is shorter. That's what the library told me, and I went with the two act edition. This play is dreamlike. It's about a girl who lives in a place where they make everything in the world by night. All of your memories are kept in a coat and the girl loses hers. She is adopted into a family without her memories present. Yet she is determined to get back home to her original family. I originally had read Becky's New Car and liked it. I was more impressed with that one.  It stayed with me longer but this one was all right. 

The Merry Wives of Windsor

 

This was a pretty effective Shakespearean comedy. It's about Falstaff who tries to seduce two married women sending them the same letter. But the joke is on him for the women scheme to bring about his downfall. It's interesting how even the minor Shakespeare plays are worth reading. I bought a complete works two years ago and I'm surprised by how many I've read. I need to be more adventurous and go about reading the works like this which aren't as famous as say Romeo and Juliet. 

Hadriana in all my dreams

 

Goodreads raved about this during their Halloween reads. This certainly sounds like it would be awesome. A Haitian book about a woman who becomes a zombie on her wedding, and it talks about Vodou as well. I thought it was ok. I just wasn't wowed by it. Maybe I came in expecting more than I should have. The love story just wasn't compelling enough for me. I also thought it was trying too hard to shock at parts.