The City of Sparks ~ Jeanne DuPrau

Book two in this series.  Another two and a half out of five, for all the same reasons.

WARNING, this review will be a spoiler if you wanted to read book one!

SPOILER ALERT
Okay, so the kids manage to rescue the townspeople, who were unwittingly living in a cave.  Now that everyone is free from the cave, though, they have to find somewhere to go...  can you guess???  Yes, the city of Sparks finds itself inundated with hundreds of refugee "cave people."  They do their best, or not, well, maybe they hold a little back, but they have to look out for number one, and it's not as though they owe those people anything at all!  So, the people of Sparks sort of help the people of Ember and then grudges build up and they all relearn the lesson that we all need to get along.

On second thought, maybe I shouldn't have rated this one so high, but really, if you have nothing better to do you can read this in a day or so and it must be somewhat interesting, because I'm reading another in the series right now.

The City of Ember ~ Jean DuPrau

This is the first in a series.  I give it two and a half out of five.  It's not complete junk, it is interesting, as far as I know it's a new idea, but it's still young adult, so really fluff.  The city of Ember exists in darkness.  The people live in periods of day and night, controlled by electric lighting throughout their city.  The problem is, the city is old.  Supplies are running out and the generator is breaking down constantly.  Two young adults (12-year-olds) find "Instructions" and with them they hope to rescue their city.

Again, it's a neat little book.  A short read, interesting, but it was easy to figure out what was going on.  Not bad if you have some time to kill.

Two-Part Invention ~ Madeleine L'Engle

This book was simply incredible.  I love the Wrinkle in Time series and have always had a deep affection for Madeleine L'Engle, because of those books.  This book is the fourth in an autobiographical series.  Unfortuneatly, our library did not have the other three available, but they're on my must-read list as of today.

There were connections all over the place for me while reading this book.  First, Jean Kerr, author of Please Don't Eat the Daisies an old favorite of mine, is a friend of L'Engle.  Then, there's the trip to Chicago, when they stay on Lake Shore Drive.  That is where Jurgis, of The Jungle, meets the owner of a large part of the packing district.  Add to that the incredible difficulties L'Engle faces through this book and her words of wisdom, so pertinent to where myself and many of my friends are at this time, and you have a book that I could not have read at a better time.

If you are ever at a loss for how to respond to another's grief or trials, this book will help you.  If you're facing grief or trials, this book will help you.  If you loved 'All My Children,' this book is about Hugh Franklin (L'Engle is his wife).  If you're a writer, a mother, a child, a human being, this book will touch you.  I've laughed, I've cried, I've lived about a million years since starting this on Saturday.

My next step will be to order all four from Amazon. 

5 out of 5, if I was my son I would put 6.  This is such an incredible book.

Reading list for 52 books in 52 weeks!

I was reading the 52 in 52 blog and she lists the first five of each genre from "The Well-Educated Mind" recommendations.  I borrowed that from the library, but as of yet cannot afford to get my own copy (so 52's list is uber helpful).

Part of the challenge of 52/52 is a classic a month.  Here's what I'm hoping my classics will be:

1.  Alexander Pope "Rape of the Lock"
2.  Sir Walter Scott "Ivanhoe"
3.  Charlotte Bronte "Villette"
4.  John Bunyan "Pilgrim's Progress"
5.  Oscar Wilde "Picture of Dorian Gray"
6.  Mark Twain "The Tragedy of Puddin' Head Wilson"
7.  Mark Twain "The Autobiography of Mark Twain"  My review.
8.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "The Hounds of Baskervilles"
9.  James Joyce "Ulysses"
10. Virginia Woolf "A Room of One's Own"
11. Upton Sinclair "The Jungle"        One down!  Here's my review.
12. Jonathan Swift "Gulliver's Travels"

(Had to add a few thanks to Tonia  and her wonderful reading lists)

13. Herman Melville "Moby-Dick"
14. Harriet Beecher Stowe "Uncle Tom's Cabin" In Progress :)
15. Gustave Flaubert "Madame Bovary"
I may not read in that order, but those are my classic goal books :)

Okay, I'm compiling a list of other books I want to read.  The titles are followed by the reviews of other bloggers that brought the book to my attention.

16. The Geurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and the review that hooked me  My review
17. Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven and the review
18. Mistress of the Art of Death and the review
19. Free: The Future of a Radical Price and the review
20. The End of the Alphabet and the review
21. No Country for Old Men and the review
22. The House at Riverton and the review
23. Freakonomics and the review (except it is for Superfreakonomics)
24. Magic Kingdom for Sale and the review
25. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt and the review
26. The House at Sugar Beach and the review
27. Your Kids Are Your Own Fault (no review)
28. The Quickening Maze and the review