Your Heart Belongs To Me

by Dean Koontz

This was the first real letdown I've had reading a Dean Koontz novel. The book just never took off. Finally, at page 200 I began to be interested, but interest was soon replaced with the 'ho hums.'

A very disappointing book.

The Tenth Case

by Joseph Teller

The number one advise I hear for writers is to write about what you know. That's what Teller has successfully done. He was a criminal lawyer for 35 years before retiring and writing his first novel featuring defense lawyer Harrison J. Walker, better-known as Jaywalker.

The Tenth Case is a top-notch debut with the second in the Jaywalker series planned for release in 2009. That is very good news to me. I thoroughly enjoyed this court drama, meeting the intense Jaywalker, learning so much more about court 'footwork' than I already knew, and wondering clear to the end of the book who the guilty party was.

There were two main characters: Jaywalker and the case, more than the woman, he was defending. I found Jaywalker to be very likable. He is excellent at his job, preparing and working out every wrinkle that may present itself in court. He is obsessive in his desire to win each case, but he's also willing to put in the time to do so.

As the book begins Jaywalker has just been suspended for using "creative" tactics and receiving "gratitude" in the courtroom stairwell from a client charged with prostitution. He convinces the judge to let him complete ten of his cases. It's his last case that truly tests his abilities - and his acquittal record.

The tenth case is defending a young , petite and sexy woman accused of stabbing her 61-yr-old, billionaire husband. The major part of the book deals with Jaywalker's methods in solving this case with it's overwhelming evidence against the defendant. We learn much about Jaywalker as he deals with the ups and downs, the twists and turns, and the defending of such a case.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves mystery, court drama, and good writing. This is an author you are going to be hearing good things about. I think he'll be in the bestseller category real soon.

Sisters of Misery

by Megan Kelley Hall

I picked this book off the shelf on Halloween day so I could get a little dose of 'SPOOKY' this season. It was a good choice.

Hall's first YA mystery/thriller is set in a small town near Salem, Massachusetts with witch stories to rival those of Salem. There are the 3 faces of the Pickering sisters who keep mysteriously showing up on the Insane Asylum's wall even though it's been plastered and rebricked.

Maddie doesn't believe in witches, but she still won't look at the pictures. She begins to question their authenticity after her beautiful, but eccentric cousin moves in with her family. Her close girls friends don't like Maddie's cousin and try to make things miserable for her.

The title of the book comes from an agreement that select, popular girls make on the Island of Misery. This sisterhood is older than their mothers and grandmothers. The big question is how far is Maddie willing to go to protect her claim to the sisterhood.

I wasn't sure I was going to like this book when I started reading. It was obviously aimed at a high school/college age group and there was the regular bits about not feeling as good as the other popular girls, along with the problems of mother/daughter relationships. Once the cousin and her mother enter the picture the book becomes more intense. The story builds upon unanswered questions, devious schemes, mysterious people, and hidden secrets - very gothic and good. I am anxiously looking forward to the next installment of the Sisters of Misery.

Photographer's Guide to the Oregon Coast

by David Middleton & Rod Barbee

I don't usually purchase books to help me plan my trips because I feel like the internet provides more than enough information. In a moment of weakness, however, I order this book and Walking Portland and I'm so glad I did. Both were so helpful.

Photographer's Guide to the Oregon Coast provided helpful tips on picture taking, places to see, and directions to get there. Some of the spots are off Hwy 101 and would normally be missed by tourists. The one that comes to mind is the Maxwell Mountain Rd. It's a single lane road that winds up the mountain through a small town right on the coast. The view from the top was spectacular.

(Run-on sentence alert--->)Sitting in my family room during the middle of Oct planning our trip, I had about decided to not drive down the North Fork Yachats River and see that cute little covered bridge again, but as I read the authors' description of the bridge and the setting I grew nostalgic. Needless to say we did go a second time and I was thrilled to death to be standing under that huge spruce and walking through that little cute bridge again.

I wanted to focus on the David McCullough bridges, most of which are on the National Historic Registry. This book helped me locate some that I didn't know where they were and how to get to them.

We had already decided to decided to drive up to the top of Cape Perpetua, but without this book I would not have known about this cute little rock shelter that is just a short walk from the parking lot.

I highly recommend Photographer's Guide to the Oregon Coast for those planning to visit the coast or for those who live there, but don't know all there or close by is to know about the coast (that'll be me some day!).

Walking Porland

by Sybilla Avery Cook

I bought this book to help me know what buildings I was looking at when I visited Portland at the end of Oct and to help me discover other interesting sights. I didn't have any intention of walking very far because my knees are bad and my 86-yr-old mother was with us on that trip. (Truth be told, she could have out walked both Candleman and I!)

Walking Portland was very helpful and I'm very glad I bought it and used it to plan our time in Portland. There are descriptions of older buildings and tidbits about the architecture. For example, one of the architects hoped to make Portland a white city because he was fascinatedby the "City Beautiful" ideas displayed at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and Columbian Exposition. Having read The Devil and the White and then visited Chicago that bit of information was interesting to me.

There were helpful hints on how to get a good picture of Portlandia, the 2nd larges hammered copper statue in America (the largest is the Statue of Liberty) and where to find lots of parks, both big and small.

There are pictures, but I would have liked many more. I realize if there were more pictures the cost of the book probably been more than I would have spent for this book.

All-in-all, I am very pleased with Walking Portland and I hope I get to refer to it again and again as I plan future trips.

Note - How hard is it to hold the camera so the picture doesn't come out at an angle? Good grief!

Cassandra & Jane: A Jane Austen Novel

by Jill Pitkeathley

I have mixed feelings about historical novels. One the one hand I usually thoroughly enjoy them but on the other hand, they can manipulate reality, providing us with a false idea of how a person really was.

I enjoyed Cassandra and Jane and realize the book probably wouldn't sell as well if it was about totally made-up sisters - calling it a Jane Austen Novel is what grabbed my attention and I'm sure that worked for other readers as well. There is something about Jane Austen that draws our attention.

Pitkeathley is a great Jane Austen fan and has studied her well. With what little is known about Jane, Pitkeathley has told a captivating story about her and her relationship to her sister, Cassandra. The book is told in Cassandra's voice which allows for personal interpretation of Jane's character, motives and actions; even a sister doesn't totally know everything. If the story had been told in Jane's voice I don't think it would be as acceptable to the reader due to the amount of supposition the author had to employ.

I enjoyed the feeling the book successfully portrayed of the time period. It mentions when Jane was born that Cassandra (3-yr-old) was brought to the family home to see the baby by her village mother. Shortly afterwards, Jane took Cassandra's place in the village family and Cassandra moved home to live with her parents and 4 brothers. I need to do some further research to learn more about this practice. This is the first time I'd heard of such a thing. Another interesting view of the times was when Cassandra was older she discovered that her mother nursed the children herself until they were weaned. A practice that embarrassed Cassandra. I guess the practice was to give the child to a wet nurse?

I look forward to more books by Pitkeathley; her writing is both beautiful and easy to read. This was a lovely book and I highly recommend it.

Don't Know Much About Anything Else

by Kenneth C. Davis

This author's first book was Don't Know Much About History. Since then he's added several more titles to his fun and factual Don't Know Much About books.

I received 'anything else' from Harpers to review. The timing was perfect because I was leaving in a few days for a road trip to the lovely, beautiful and memorable state of Oregon. I took this book along and each day read a few entries to Candleman and my Mom.

The chapter headings include Famous People, Exceptional Places, Historic Happenings & Civics, Holidays & Traditions, Everyday Objects & Remarkable Inventions, Space & the Natural World, Sports, Entertainment, And More! Each chapter has 20- 60 pages with an entry on each page. The entry starts out with a few paragraphs about the topic followed by several questions. The answers to the question are on the back side of the page.

The first page under Famous People was about Clara Barton. Candleman, who knows something about everything (I thought), had never heard of Clara Barton. There were six true or false questions. Try your hand at one: When the Civil War ended, she led the effort to locate missing soldiers.*

We had lots of fun doing this each day while driving. Sometimes we think we're kind of smart, but this book humbled us. It was fun to learn the interesting tidbits, though. I plan on reading a couple entries everyday and then buying another of Davis' books. You all know about my sad memory, but I hope everything I put in that little mind will be there in the hereafter. In the meantime, learning provides good exercise for the brain.

The Map Thief

by Heather Terrell

Mara Coyne is hired to find a stolen artifact that may prove that China discovered a way around the southern tip of Africa before Vasco de Gama and the map would also show the Chinese discovered America in the early 1400s.

The book jumps back and forth between 3 time periods, telling the story of the mapmaker, a navigator for de Gama and Mara's search for a map stolen from an archeological dig in China. I thought this was an effective way to tell all three stories, even though it was a bit confusing at first to keep track of the main players.

I always like a book that keeps me interested and teaches me at the same time. I 'felt' the time periods and identified with the feelings of the main characters. The bigger story, that of finding the map, was all the more interesting because of the struggles that went into making the map and preserving it. I wanted the map to be found and the right thing done with it.

I liked this book well enough that I bought Terrell's first book, The Chrysalis. I would definitely recommend this to others who like historical fiction.

Admit One

by Emmett James

I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir of a young British boy who grows up with the desire to be a movie star. Emmett James grew up loving the movies and looked forward to seeing one every Saturday. Each chapter opens with the title of a movie that correlates to an incident from his own life. Here's a quote from the introduction:

I wrote this book under the guise that the key to experiencing film, without losing relevance and meaning, is context. The environment, mood, personal history and circumstances in which a person sees a film changes that film in a necessary, unique and exciting way. It creates a whole new story - a living, breathing film. The film of one's life.

Interesting. We could say the same thing about experiencing a book, couldn't we?

It was interesting to read about a young boy growing up in England in the 1980s because it was so different from my life growing up female in the 60s in America. And yet going to the movies was a highlight for us both. His movies were Jungle Book, Grease, ET; while mine were Old Yeller, Big Top, and West Side Story.

I loved running across British terminology and wished I'd made a written note rather than only a mental note of all the fun words as the mental note fades so fast. The only word that comes to mind right now is nick, meaning to shoplift.

When Emmett moves to LA he receives quite the culture shock and makes some interesting comments about things that I take for granted as part of the American life style. He talks about the sunny climate and that the only season in LA is the Oscar season and what a big change there is in throughout the whole area in getting ready for it. He had many interesting experiences trying to land acting jobs. Poor guy!

All-in-all, an enjoyable book with some nuggets of insight into life. I liked it.

Odd Hours

by Dean Koontz

I'm finally getting around to writing a review for this book that I finished in June. It took me a month. A whole month! to read a Koontz novel. That's unheard of for me. I thought reading a Koontz would definitely shake me out of my reading lull, but it didn't. I'm still being a slug.

I thoroughly enjoyed Odd Hours, which is book four in the Odd Thomas series. Odd has taken up temporary residence in a small ocean side town where he feels there is something he needs to do. He meets some interesting people and prevents a catastrophic event.

Unfinished Challenges

Wow, there's three. I started out with good intentions on these challenges, but then I hit a major reading lull. This hasn't happened to me in years. The deadline has come and gone, so here's my final wrap-up on my unfinished challenges.

Series Challenge: I read 11 out of the 12.

Dec 1, 2007 - May 31, 2008

1. We Shall Not Sleep

2. The Bleeding Dusk

3. Messenger of Truth

4. The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog

5. River Secrets

6. Goodnight, Irene

7. Thursday Next: First Among Sequels

8. The Light Fantastic

9. The Hippopotamus Pool

10. The Silver Chair

11. The Last Battle

12. The Sign of the Book

My favorite was We Shall Not Sleep by Anne Perry. It was the final book of 5 in her WWI series. Loved the final books in the Narnia series. Immensely enjoyed The Bleeding Dusk by Colleen Gleason, Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear and Goodnight Irene by Jan Burke. Always a pleasure to read Elizabeth Peters and Terry Pratchett. All in all, a very rewarding list. Can't believe I haven't read Thursday Next: First Among Sequels yet. All was not in vane, however. The books I read were great.

Numb3rs Challenge: YIKES! I only read 2 of the 5.

1. Book of a Thousand Days

2. A Thousand Days in Tuscany

3. Sixpence House

4. Thursday Next: A First Among Sequels

5. Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing

My favorite of these two was Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, but I thoroughly enjoyed Sixpence House, too.

Once Upon a Time II: Another poor showing - only 2 out of 5.

1. River Secrets

2. Wintersmith

3. Light Fantastic

4. Yarrow

5. Singer of All Songs

My favorite was Light Fantastic. I enjoy Pratchett's writing, sense of humor and great stories.

Did I Expect Angels?

by Kathryn Maughan

When I received this book in the mail, I looked at the cover for a long time and had all sorts of different thoughts and questions - Someone was mad, angry, depressed, hopeless when they scribbled over that angel; Why the head and eyes?; Is the fact that the angel is playing music pertinent?; It looks like a Christmas ornament, will that be meaningful to the story? You get the idea. Anyway, I love when a cover is that engaging. I always hope the book with a great cover will live up to it.

Did I Expect Angels? did live up to the cover. The story moves from the present to the past and from one point of view to another of the two protagonists. Sounds a bit confusing, but Maughan did an expert job of telling their stories and keeping my mind unjumbled.

On several occasions Jennifer has met Henry who is the greeter at the local Discount Store. Henry came to the United States from Costa Rica and appreciates that Jennifer will talk to him briefly in Spanish. That's all there is between these two until one fateful night when Henry becomes a bit intrusive. Jennifer tries to give him the brush-off, but is unsuccessful. That's all I'm going to tell you about the plot. I didn't know that much starting out.

I also didn't know that I was going to be pulled into Henry and Jennifer's lives like I was. Even though I have not personally experienced either of their personal trials, I felt so in tune with some of their feelings. I think Maughan has a strong skill as a writer and I look forward to reading all of her future books.

The Secret Scroll

by Ronald Cutler

The comparison has to be made to Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code because their is quite a bit of similarity in plot. A religious artifact is discovered that could have worldwide reverberations in the Christian world, if the artifact is indeed authentic and if knowledge of it is made public. There is a fanatic sect that are willing to do all manners of evil things to stop that from happening.

Through visionary dreams and happenstance Josh Cohan is led to a cave where he discovers a scroll that may have been written by Jesus Christ. I could have bought into that premise if the writing on the scroll had any magnificence to it. If Jesus was an ordinary man, as purported in the scroll, he would have shown some brilliance, charisma - after all he was a great leader and persuaded masses of people to follow Him. Instead the scrolls revealed no show of inner character. Basically, Jesus wrote in the scrolls that he was an ordinary man who argued a lot with his parents who always loved his brother James more. He also argued a lot with James. He experienced the ways of the flesh as a teen, but later chose a life of celibacy.

The book lost its credibility as soon as parts of the scroll were presented. I realize it's a novel and is not trying to prove the scrolls are real, but the author needed to convince me of the efficacy of the scroll for me to buy into the premise of the novel.

There was adventure and mystery as to who was leaking information to the fanatic religious sect. This was the author's first book and I think he shows promise. All-in-all, I would only rate this book as average.

The Light Fantastic

by Terry Pratchett

Pratchett is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. His books are pure delight - besides being witty and imaginative, they are well-written, have a great storyline and include full-bodied, whimsical characters. The Light Fantastic is Pratchett's second Disc-World novel and is a direct continuation of the story presented in The Colour of Magic.

Favorite characters include Rincewind who is the main protagonist. While attending wizard school he got a powerful spell stuck in his head that seems to have made lesser spells afraid to lodge there, thus he has never been good at magic. His companion in both books is a tourist named Twoflower who has a rosy way of looking at things. I really like Twoflower. My 3rd favorite character is Luggage, with his multitudes of tiny feet and definite attitude. Luggage is just that - luggage, a trunk in fact. He belongs to Twoflower and is fiercely loyal.

"Twoflower was a tourist and fundamental to his very existence was the rock-hard belief that nothing bad could really happen to him because he was not involved."

Chuckled at this description: "He moved in a way that suggested he was attempting the world speed record for the nonchalant walk."

"She picked him up by his apron straps and glared at him eye to eye. Torn though her dress was, disarrayed though her hair was, she became for a moment the symbol of every woman who has caught a man with his thumb on the scales of life."

House of Secrets

by Jeffery S. Savage

"Shandra Covington simply assumed her grandmothers' house was sold after her grandmother hastily moved in with Shandra and her mother two decades ago. Yet, here it was, deeded to Shandra in her grandmother's will.

Shandra, single, aggressive, and an accomplished journalist, has tender memories of the time spent as a young girl in the old house on the hill, and her curiosity and sentimentality lead her to a final visit to the forgotten home. What she discovers shocks Shandra to her very core. Not only is the house still filled with her grandmother's old belongings, but there is also a body, long since dead, and covered with the same thick layer of dust as the rest of the items in the house.

Returning with the sheriff and his handsome deputy, Clay, they find the body missing. In its place is another body—this one dead less than 12 hours. And all evidence points to Shandra.

Desperate to clear her name and uncover the truth behind these troubling mysteries, Shandra puts her journalistic training to use. Between the reluctant townspeople, ominous warnings, and physical threats, Shandra learns the truth, little by little—knowing full well that someone is determined to keep old secrets buried, even it means burying Shandra as well . . ." -Deseret Book description

House of Secrets is part of the Shandra Covington mystery series. I'm not sure if it's book one or two in the series that presently includes four books. I plan to read the others because Savage writes crisp, fresh and cunning mysteries. Lots of surprises and hard to answer situations kept my interest throughout. I've found another new-to-me author than I suspect will become one I return to often.

Garden of Beasts

by Jeffery Deaver

Oh, WOW! I loved this suspense/mystery. I think I've discovered a new favorite author. It may be premature to say that after one book, so I'm starting on a second Deaver to make sure. I loved this book. The plot, the characters, the setting of Nazi Germany in 1936 were all topnotch.

The book's hero is a mob "button man," or hit man, Paul Schumann, who is caught in the act in New York City. His captures offer him an alternative to the electric chair - to go to Berlin undercover as a journalist writing about the upcoming Olympics, in order to assassinate Col. Reinhard Ernst, the chief architect of Hitler's militarization, seen as a threat to American interests. A German spy onboard Paul's transatlantic liner grows suspicious and sends a warning to Germany before Paul discovers and kills him. Then in Berlin, Paul, en route to meet his contact, kills a second suspicious man who may be a storm trooper, setting Insp. Willi Kohl of the Berlin police on his trail.

Deaver weaves the three manhunts—Paul after his target, Kohl after Paul and the Nazi hierarchy after Paul—with a deft hand,.

One of my favorite parts of the book was the look at the frightening life of 1936 Berlin, a city on the brink of madness. Top Nazis, including Hitler, Himmler and Göring, make colorful cameos, but it's the smart, shaded-gray characterizations of the principals that anchor the exciting plot.

An affecting love affair between Paul and his German landlady goes in surprising directions, as do the main plot lines, which move outside Berlin as heroes become villains and vice versa.

How have I missed reading anything by Deaver before now?! Garden of Beasts is a stand alone novel; not part of Deaver's Lincoln Rymes series, which I've added to my list of new series.

Hippopotamus Pool

by Elizabeth Peters

Book eight in the mystery series featuring Amelia Peabody is much like the previous books - enjoyable, satisfying, informative, humorous and cozy.

This season (1899-1900), the Emersons are greeted in Cairo by a mysterious Mr. Shelmadine, who tells them a tale of reincarnation and a queen's tomb before disappearing. The tomb he wants them to excavate is at Drah Abu'l Naga, the tomb of Queen Tetisheri. Despite Emerson's annoyance at the melodrama, his interest is piqued, especially after a corpulent and ruthless antiquities dealer named Riccetti mentions their visitor in a veiled warning.

While trying to find the exact location of the tomb, as well as the vanishing Mr. Shelmadine, the Emersons meet up with David Todros, a young apprentice to an accomplished forger of antiquities. David is Abdullah's grandson, who scorns the "Inglizi" and wants nothing to do with Abdullah, until he himself becomes a target for violence connected with the Emersons' quest.

Evelyn and Walter Emerson come to join the work as well, and Ramses, Nefret, and David begin what is to be a beautiful friendship.

Book Awards Challenge Completed

Thanks to 3M for hosting this challenge. I read some books that were new to me and some that I probably wouldn't have without the challenge. Here's my finished list of books I read:
1. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
2. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4. Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
5. Bones by Jan Burke
6. Jonathan Strange and Dr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
7. The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia McKillip
8. The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston
9. Shipping News by Annie Proulx
10. Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
11. Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan
12. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

My favorite: To Kill A Mockingbird
The one I liked the least: Shipping News
All the others I really liked and enjoyed reading them.

The Colony of Unrequited Dreams

by Wayne Johnston

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. The novel is about Newfoundland and centers on Joseph Smallwood, the real-life political figure who ushers the country through confederation with Canada and then becomes the first premier.

In writing a work of the imagination in part inspired by historical events, Johnston wanted “to fashion out of the formless infinitude of ‘facts’…a work of art that would express a felt, emotional truth... Adherence to the ‘facts’ will not lead you safely through the labyrinthine pathways of the human heart.” Johnston was 19 when he met the real Joe Smallwood; he was just starting out as a journalist, and Smallwood was less than complimentary about Johnston’s reporting. Although the politician died only in 1991, little was written about his life before the age of fifty, allowing Johnston some license to imagine his formative influences.

“I wanted to write a big book about Newfoundland in scope and in vision. I couldn't think of a bigger character whose life touched on more themes, involved the whole of Newfoundland more completely than Smallwood did.” Smallwood saw Newfoundland in terms of “unrealized talent and unfulfilled ambition”; his life was somehow emblematic of the land. Moreover, says Johnston, “He was so prone to making mistakes and so fallible, and he combines so many contradictions in his personality. His quest, like that of many great literary figures of the past century, is to overcome these divisions.” The completely invented character of Fielding, meanwhile, “is like me”, says Johnston. “I share her view of Newfoundland.”

The title of the book, Johnston says, evokes “the nostalgia Newfoundlanders have felt for the possibilities of the island, and that they still have for the future. Joe is always searching for something commensurate with the greatness of the land itself, but he can't find it, and it's driving him mad…Newfoundland is that kind of place. It makes you want to live up to the landscape, but on the other hand it offers you no resources to do so. There's always this constant yearning that at least for my part helped me to start writing.”

You can read more of Johnston's essay about Unrequited Dreams by clicking on the link.

Johnston creates a larger-than-life character in Sheilagh Fielding who counterbalances Smallwood's smaller-than-life personality. It was their relationship that most engaged my interest. I was happy to discover that Johnston has written a whole novel about Fielding, titled The Custodian of Paradise. Next to Newfoundland itself, Fielding was the most complex character. She had depth, mystique, struggles and strength. Whereas Smallwood lacked all those traits. And yet, on the surface he appears to be an upstanding citizen and she a retrobait.

Most of the book is told in the1st person narrative with sprinklings of personal letters, Newfoundland history, and newspaper articles written by Fielding. I thought this was a very effective way of helping the reader understand Newfoundland better and to provide other views of events and people than just Smallwoods.

I would love to sit in on book discussion groups all across Newfoundland when they are discussing this book. The treats would definitely take a back seat to the lively and emotional discussion. To many in Newfoundland Smallwood is a hero and to the rest he is a traitor. I can understand both sides. Actually, I would welcome a good discussion of this book with any bookclub.

I would like to have had a map of Newfoundland with major areas and cities highlighted and also a map of St. John's included in the book. I lived in St John's when I was little and visited there this summer, but was unfamiliar with the area called the brow. I am assuming it's the peninsula of land where Ft Amherst Lighthouse is located.

I highly recommend this book. If you have any connection to Newfoundland it's a must. If you don't, I think you'd still be immensely satisfied.

The Carpet People

by Terry Pratchett

The appeal to me was first, the book was written by Terry Pratchett; second, it was first published when Pratchett was 17-years-old, and third, it was revised by Pratchett, age 43, when the book was re-released.

Pratchett said in 1992 when the book was republished, "I wrote that in the days when I thought fantasy was all about battles and kings. Now I'm inclined to think that the real concerns of fantasy ought to be about not having battles, and doing without kings." That was my final summarizing thought when I finished the book - This book is about battles.

Pratchett's humor is evident and the story was okay, it just wasn't one of my favorite. I can see how it may be interesting for someone in Jr. High.