April 9, Saturday: Marking Period Ends!

Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just wrote a really carefully developed rave review of this wonderful book and then the computer burped and it disappeared. I am very sad.

However, it is a rare and lovely book: controlled, wry, funny, heart-breaking, and insightful. It's beautifully written--even the cover is gorgeous!--and I want to go buy myself a copy to keep. Evans manages to take us into Vee's and Noel's worlds, and she creates unprepossessing characters who eventually win our hearts. I plan to read her other books, too!

Two great passages are on page 200 (about Vee's lazy son) and page 243 (where Vee reassures Noel about his guilt). . . but I haven't the heart to type them out again.

Please, though, go buy a copy of this book, read it, and then give it to someone you love.

The Other Daughter: A Novel by Lauren Willig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Welllllll. . . .it was okay. The reader was a bit breathy and excitable, which might have dimmed my appreciation, but overall, it was predictable and trite. I kept wondering why Vera/Rachel didn't just go talk to her father--the character waffled between strait-laced probity and moral outrage leading to dubious behavior. There were also a lot of dropped plot threads, but overall it was a bit more substantial (a bit, just a bit) than many of Willig's recent works. I did listen to it all, and I did wonder how it would end: surely those are good signs!

View all my reviews

Well, it's the end of the marking period, and though I worked hard all week long, I ended up having to spend 5 hours working today and will spend at least as much time tomorrow to be ready for Monday's due date. However, I knew it was coming, so I scheduled myself: two hours in the am, then a two hour "do what you want!" break, then (I hoped for two, but ended up with ) three hours in the afternoon. AND all my major correcting is done. Whew! Inputting and comments tomorrow. And planning. And church, and food shopping, and . . . . but it feels great to be home and not heading anywhere for any reason.

Also: I won an art lesson!
And I made lemon cupcakes for Grace's b'day on Wednesday!
And we have one week till vacation!!