I will soon write about the great Ben Folds concert that we attended last week, but I need to upload the pictures first--what's the point of writing a concert review these days without pictures?! So, since I haven't bashed/reviewed a book in a while, I'll get caught up.

After my Last Templar experience I moved on to a book entitled Katherine, by Anya Seton. As I've mentioned, I'm a fan of historical fiction, especially English history. It was on sale, so I ordered it. It's about Katherine Swynford, lover and eventual wife of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster. It was a bit slow going at times, but I honestly attribute that to its copyright date, 1954. The more recently published and written historical fiction is geared toward the reader who is easily bored and needs constant plot advancement (or, in lieu of plot advancement, sex). But Seton's 500+ pages are well written with elegant descriptions (even of unpleasant situations) and well researched details. Overall, pretty good. I enjoyed it.

Next was Marley and Me, which my mom lent me. I haven't watched the movie yet, so don't tell me how it ends. :) John Grogan is hilarious, and I laughed out loud throughout the book. His descriptions are vivid and clever, showing off his wonderful style and obvious intelligence. I literally cried through the last 20 pages, but the book is completely worth reading despite this inevitability--I know that some potential readers will be turned off to the book because of its sadness at the end just like they are turned off to movies with sad endings. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but just skip the last 20 pages if you don't like to cry. It's really a good read.

Then I read Susan Cooper's Over Sea, Under Stone. It's young adult sci-fi, so it was a pretty quick read. Unfortunately, it was formulaic and therefore really, really predictable. Just call the children Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. It's very Lewisian in formula but lacks the joy and wonder of Lewis' fiction. This is probably because the book takes place in Cornwall rather than Narnia, but my judgment against it stands. Puzzlingly, I will probably eventually read the other books in the series, and I think this is because of the mysterious Great-Uncle Merry, the Drew children's (whose names are actually Simon, Jane and Barney) secretive, not-really-an-uncle uncle. I think that the second book in the series, The Dark is Rising, is being made into a movie--eek! I generally hate it when they do that, but in this case, there isn't that much to ruin by making a crappy, expensive movie of it.

I've moved on to Firstborn, the last installment of the Time Odyssey series that Steven Baxter co-wrote with Arthur C. Clarke (one of my favorite authors). I doubt the late Clarke had much to do with this novel, however. So far, 80+ pages in, it's quite dull, but I'm attempting to reserve judgment.