books

I have been really stressed out lately, so I have turned to some serious escapism reading. This post is about two books I loved as a child, and two I would have loved as a teenager, had then been written then. I still loved them now, but my love would have been more immense back in high school.

41. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
42. The Story of the Amulet by E. Nesbit
These are the old favorites. Everything Roald Dahl has written is genius. I love the irreverence and the strange situations that are just accepted as normal. In this one, James lives with his terrible aunts until a peach in the garden grows to huge proportions, then he and some giant insect friends have adventures.

E. Nesbit is another old favorite. This book is part of a series that also includes Five Children and It and The Phoenix and the Carpet. This book was written in 1906, but I think it still holds up today. Great, magical story about siblings adventuring through time together.

43. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
44. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
The Sweet Far Thing is the last in Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy. In this one, Gemma and her friends are in their last year of school and about to make their debuts. They start to wrap up their adventures in the magical realms, and learn how to make their real lives what they want of them. This was the best of the three books -- I really think each one was better than the one before. This is a good coming of age story, with plenty of drama, some scary scenes and some romance.

Cassandra Clare's book is also fantasy, but based in modern day New York. My GoodReads friend who I heard about it from described it as Harry Potter meets Star Wars and I would agree and throw in some Buffy the Vampire Slayer as well. Basically, Clary, a 15 year old girl, runs into some demonhunters and realizes nothing about her life was as she thought it was. Again, plenty of drama, teen angst, witty remarks during battle scenes and a twisty plot. Very good and fun. I am looking forward to the rest of this series.