Familiar and Haunting

This is a large collection of Phillipa Pearce's horror short stories. The problem is after 392 pages it's a bit too much and they start to feel samey. I liked it though. I would have given it a 3.5 on goodreads but they don't do half stars for some reason. What amazed me about the book is that some of the stories are a little too violent for children like "The Rope" and "Mr. Hurrel's Tallboy." The ones I liked the most were "Still Jim and Silent Jim" and I liked the one about the horrible aunt who puts a mice trap in a barrel to punish her overweight niece. That woman was such a villain. But really Pearce's masterpiece was Tom's Midnight Garden which I'll review next week.

Minnow on the Say

This was Philippa Pearce's first book. The first part of the book involves two boys of different classes becoming friends and canoeing. The second part of Minnow on the Say concerns them looking for treasure. You might say that the plot of two boys looking for treasure has been done to death but I felt Pearce added an enthusiasm that made it worthwhile. It was cute. It's not Tom's Midnight Garden. She got better but I do recommend it.

Waiting for Godot

This is famous for being a play about nothing. It kind of reminds of "My dinner with Andre" where nothing much happens, just a lot of talking, but you feel that something important has happened. Two characters wait for a figure called Godot. As the play goes on, you realize that Godot is flawed and not a saint, maybe not worth the wait. Messenger boys come which give the characters the sense that Godot will arrive. The reason why I read it is because the actors behind "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are doing a revival. I keep seeing ads on Facebook for it. I don't have the money to fly out to New York but that would be fun to watch. Reading it I guess is the second best thing.

Brazilian Mythology

I don't know why Brazilian mythology is not better known. There is some pretty interesting folklore here. I read more about botos. They are weredolphins (aka encantados). (I wrote a story about them once.) There's also a bit about their boogeymen. I also want to read Monteiro Lobato's Saci even though I heard that there's much to be desired with the English translation. If you want to delve into the mythology of a culture that is not really talked about here is the way to go.

Nine Inches

I read Election in high school and liked it so I thought I would revisit Tom Perrotta. This is a book of short stories about a bunch of Suburban losers. The two stories I liked the most concerned the mother chaperoning a graduation party and getting along with a cop who had recently pulled her over. My favorite would probably be the teacher who confronts the kid who gave her a negative review on a rateyourteacher website. The ending was funny. Half the stories concerned high school. There were mixed feelings on others like the pediatrician. I liked his love for music but I couldn't look pass his infidelity. I gave this a 3/5 on goodreads. The crudity was really why but that's typical of adult books published nowadays. It's why I stick to children's books and classics.

Up a road slowly

I liked this girl's coming of age story. One person on goodreads said the characters were stereotypical. But I think the characters in the book represent people you can meet in real life like the spinster aunt and the drunken uncle who dreams of being a writer. The boyfriend jock who takes advantage of her academically yeah there are jerks like that in real life too. There was a coziness to the book. I think this was even better than Across Five Aprils. Irene Hunt was a talented children's writer. The only bad thing about the book is the cover. My sister asked me if I was reading a romance.

Iphigenie

This was a play written by Jean Racine who was heavily influenced by Euripides. This is a play about a father sacrificing his daughter. Even her fiance falls for someone else. All is looking doomed for Iphigenie but there is a twist at the end. I thought it was all right. It was different than my usual reading. I needed a break from all of the children's literature I've been reading lately. 3/5