The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

This was part of a large donation from an alumni.  Mrs. Taylor had read it and thought I would like it.  She said it was similar to the Langdon series by Dan Brown in that there was much historical mystery and medieval symbology.  While that was in fact true, and I liked the premise, I did not like the novel overall.

Two Princeton roommates are attempting to decipher the codes and riddles of a Renaissance text.  Paul graduate thesis is based upon the work, and Tom is the son of an expert on it.

What follows is in fact a Langdon-esque quest to solve the puzzle.  The two men and their other roommates, though, are thoroughly unlikeable.  There was nothing about any of them that made me care if they lived or died.  I was underwhelmed by the character development and the interpersonal relationships.  The story is also told in flashback and flashforward with no delineation telling the reader we are in the past or present.  It muddled the plot significantly.

Not a book I'd recommend.

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All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

This was an incredibly moving book.  For being only 166 small pages, there was tremendous emotion and character development.  I read this in about an hour, but it has really stuck with me. 

Hollis is a child of the foster care system.  She is a habitual runaway, never staying in one foster home too long.  Her case manager sends her to spend the summer with a family to "get some fresh air" in their summer cabin in the woods.  The small family (Mom, Dad, brother Steven) decide to adopt Hollis, but a tragic accident makes Hollis run again.  Her next foster is a former teacher, who is showing the beginnings of dementia.  Josie seems to forget Hollis has to go to school which suits Hollis just fine.  When the case manager decides Hollis needs more structure, she and Josie run.  Hollis gets them to the cabin, the one place Hollis felt was "home". 

I don't want to spoil more of what happens, but it's really a hard look at the way foster care kids are treated.  For Hollis, it will be a happy ending. 

The story is told in flashback and flashforward, between Hollis's time with the Regans and Josie.  Hollis is an artist, and the descriptions of her work help the reader to see her perspective as to why she does the things she does.

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Camp So-and-So by Mary McCoy

I could NOT get into this.  I tried and tried, reading through the first "act".  It felt like a hodge-podge of Caraval and Illuminae. And it didn't work. 

I pretty much disliked every character and the basic premise up to that point. 

Sorry, not much nice to say at all!

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Boundaries by Sally M. Walker

If you've followed this blog a while, you know I'm a fan of American history, especially the Civil War.  The tagline on the cover of this book? How the Mason-Dixon Line settled a family feud and divided a nation.  If you aren't familiar with the Mason-Dixon Line, read up on it before proceeding!  However, much of this book was devoted to HOW to Mason-Dixon Line was drawn by two surveyors.  I just happened to be married to a surveyor.  We ended up looking at many of the charts, illustrations and photos together.  This was a really nifty look at how these two surveyors worked.  Today's surveying is nothing like it.  This is a particular niche that won't hold everyone's interest, but those curious about our nation's history in the colonial period and the Civil War era, as well as those considering careers in boundaries/drafting/surveying will definitely like it.

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All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.