#10 "The Secret Seven" by Enid Blyton

The Secret Seven is the first of a series of British children's mystery novels. It's beautifully written in the same style as Nancy Drew and The Horse Masters. Simple, but clever. Though they are children's books, intended for an 8 year old, and written in 1973, I enjoyed this first book immensely. For what it was. I would love to read this book with an advanced reader of a younger age, someone who will laugh out loud at the funny bits and be genuinely thrilled when the mystery is solved.

Thanks to Blyton I will also be adding "delumptious" to my wombination vocabulary.

#9 "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" by Stephen King

I've never read Stephen King before, having always supposed that the man who thinks up things like Misery must write nothing but nightmares. However this book was easy to read, non-threatening, and honestly a little boring. Knowing what you do about the minds of children it is easy to remember when Trisha was fantasizing and when she was not, thus breaking the thriller aspect. If and when I pick up King again, it will be for something with a reputation for thrill, not just a random novel I found on the book case.

#8 "The Cuckoo's Calling" by Robert Galbraith a.k.a. J.K. Rowling

Okay, admittedly I started reading this after it came out it was Rowling under a pen name. I'm not much of one for murder or crime novels. Except for "The Thief Lord" which was more fantasy than crime, my experience with the genre has been limited to what my mother chooses for books on tape.

Despite this Cuckoo's Calling was engaging enough for me to read it quickly, and several hundred pages at a time. That's all due to Rowling's style. But where I was completely enthralled with The Casual Vacancy, really concerned that all of my favorite characters made it out alright, I read Cuckoo's Calling because it was easy and I felt obligated to. Solid B+ effort from Rowling in my opinion.

#7 "Anna, Ann, Annie" by Thomas Trebitsch Parker

I didn't like a single character in this book. If it wasn't for my tight timeline and my neurotic compulsion to finish every book I start I never would have made it to the final chapters. Parker's portrayal of Anna, or Ann, or Annie, which ever you want to call her, is a terrifying look at a woman with no self will and no definition of self. Let alone self confidence. She is a horrible character to be at the center of a novel, who ruins her life and the lives of everyone around her by never once making a sound decision.

I do not suggest this novel.

#6 "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

This is the second time I've read The Help, and though I knew the story this time, it was just as good. Reading it this time I was trying to decide who this book is best for: young readers, older readers, biography readers, fantasy lovers, Americans, internationals, men, women. I think the one unfortunate part of the book is that it does hit a certain demographic: mature, female, Americans. That doesn't mean it's not worth while for the other sects. Heck the copy I read belongs to my German host. But without a lot of male voice, playing on emotion of being a mother and a caregiver, relying on an understanding of female dynamics, and set in a time when understanding the history is vital, as a book it is aimed a specific readership.

#5 "The Vow" by Kim and Krickitt Carpenter

I read it because of the picture of Channing Tatum on the cover. Luckily it went fast. But it wasn't worth the time.

Buy a poster instead. Or maybe, watch the movie?

#4 "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult

I avoided reading this book for years, it seemed so mainstream, and the hint of religion bothered me in years past. But reading it now it's not the soft style or the predictable plot twists that drive me crazy, it's the fact that a book with English like this has become so popular. Yes, it's the rant of my week. I hate that intelligent media reinforces typical grammar mistakes, and most of all that editors don't catch or correct these things. What would our world be like, how strong would our language be if we insisted that every book editor take a grammar course every three years?

But anyways, as for the actual book: everyone who has ever insisted I read this book has focused on the Anna-Kate story line. Two sisters, one conceived to provide medical donations to her older sister, sick with essentially terminal cancer. But the reason I read this book in two days has nothing to do with Anna. I made my decision about what I would do in her situation 20 pages in, as soon as her mother started remembering that they designed their third child to be a donor. I think we all can make that decision pretty quickly, and for me the moral dilemma simply isn't that delicious because, while I know exactly what I would do, I don't believe in forcing my decision on anyone else, so reach your own conclusion.

No, what kept me reading was the Campbell-Julia love story and wanting to figure out the little mysteries. I felt the whole book like I was reading the Bye Bye Birdie novel equivalent. Everyone who read this book because Oprah told them to is worried about Kim and Hugo ending up together, while the people paying attention know it's all about Albert growing up and finally marrying Rosie. Just like Birdie isn't about Conrad at all, I never felt like this book was actually about Anna. And that drove me crazy. That being said, in the last 20 pages, your decision already made, your mind certain of every outcome, it's Anna who will make you cry because the book is written to her, about her, surrounding her, so you care that it's sad and that it hurts, and that it's killing everyone, and that's because of Anna (how's that for improper grammar?).

If you're getting on an airplane, pick up a Picoult book, they're total brain candy. Plus you're likely to bawl your eyes out in public which is always awkward. But if you want to read a story of moral dilemma, I'm sure there's something more challenging out there for you. Pretty much anything that has a Lady or the Tiger ending.

#3 "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" by Rachel Joyce

I kind of devoured this book. After weeks of bogging myself down with the scant pickings from the local library, and the choice of Roots or War and Peace I allowed myself something a little more mainstream, which comes highly recommended from a few of the German book clubs. Harold was pretty magical, and very engaging, but the ending changes from jaunty to depressing fast with two plot twists that threw me, though one was somewhat predictable.

Overall Harold deserves his chart climbing status as a mystery novel without a murder, written in an entirely British-humor way.