40-50. End of Year Quick Summary Part 1

40. Wickham's Diary by Amanda Grange
This is a prequel to Pride and Prejudice told from Wickham's viewpoint. It's interesting to see how someone can become the bad guy. I think Amanda Grange is one of the better authors in Pride and Prejudice fan fiction universe. I liked this one.

41. The Salamander Spell by E.D. Baker
I love all of her books and this was just as good as the others. It is a prequel to her Frog Princess series. It explores Grizelda's life before she was turned into a witch by the family curse. I would highly recommend it for a fun fairy tale/fantasy story.

42. Shredderman 3: Meet the Gecko by Wendelin Van Draanen
Wendelin Van Draaned is another author that I would recommend anything she writes. Shredderman strikes me as her "boy" series and is aimed at a younger audience (2nd-4th grade) than her Sammy Keyes series. They're still good mysteries though and I really enjoyed this one where Shredderman meets his movie star idol and is able to help him solve a mystery on set.

43. Shredderman 2: Attack of the Tagger by Wendelin Van Draanen
I read this series in reverse order. It was silly but it really didn't matter. This one is great also. Shredderman tries to solve the mystery of who is vandalizing his school and local playgrounds. It is a good look at the issue of tagging. I liked it.

44. Pride and Prescience by Carrie Bebris
I love these books. This is the first book in the Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mysteries series. They're fun and true to the original characters. And they are good mysteries. I also like that they entertwine other characters from the original Austen books, for instance, Caroline Bingley in this one. This is the fourth time I've read this one. I still like it.

45. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
This is a great book that deals with environmentalism in Florida. It's very well written and interesting. The movie is pretty good but the book is better. Mary picked it for her bedtime story and we all enjoyed reading it together.

46. Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance by Marthe Jocelyn
This is a book I picked up randomly because of its great title and cover. It is just as good as its cover. It is a really cute story, told in journal format, of a young girl who leaves home for the first time to go with her sister to a frontier town and teach school. It explores the issues of women's suffrage in the early 1900's. It's funny and clever and a really quick read. I loved it.

47. The Trolls by Polly Horvath
My girls picked this book to read for our mother-daughter book club. We had previously read the book in the library's club. It is a cute book about some kids who have their aunt come and babysit them while their parents go on a trip. This is the first time they've met the aunt and she begins to tell them stories about when their father was a boy. The stories range from being really funny to being really scary. It is a good book to talk about how our actions affect other people in our family, whether we realize it or not. It is a good, fun discussion book.

48. Mudshark by Gary Paulsen
This is a hilarious book by a really good author (he wrote Hatchet). Kate chose this as a bedtime story because she'd read it at school and thought the other kids would like listening to it. She was right. We laughed a lot while reading it. It's the story of a boy nicknamed Mudshark who can solve any puzzle but comes up against his match when erasers start disappearing out of every class in his school. He also meets a parrot who is just as good at solving puzzles and becomes his arch rival. It is super funny and very short. It's well worth the time and works really good as a read-aloud.

49. Bobby the Brave (Sometimes) by Lisa Yee
This book is hilarious too. It's about a boy named Bobby who's father is an ex-pro football player. Since Bobby is small and scrawny, he feels like he's nothing like his father and a complete disappointment. It takes all his courage to confront his father about their differences. It is a really cute book. This is an author I found out about by going to the library's teen book fest. They were right: she's a great author.



50. Dragon Princess by E.D. Baker
This is the 6th book in the Frog Princess story. This book is the story of Millie, the daughter of Eadric and Emma (the original frog princess). She has a small problem. Whenever she gets upset, she spontaneously turns into a dragon and her grandparents hate dragons. She decides to run away and go to see a mysterious witch who is supposed to know how to help her. It's a fun adventure/fantasy story. I love this author.

28.Mr. Darcy's Great Escape by Marsha Altman

These books are some of my favorite Pride and Prejudice spin-offs. John told me after we went to see a Jane Austen play, that nothing ever happens in them. I think lots happens, but whatever. But I have to admit that this series is fun precisely because lots of things happen. Mr. Darcy gets trapped in a Turkish prison and Elizabeth has to rescue him. But it is not just the action that makes these books my favorites, it is that the characters are all likeable. I still like Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, even though they have flaws and weaknesses. They're not unrealistically good, and thus, boring. Nor are they so crazy that they are unrecognizable as Jane Austen's original characters. These are just fun sequels and I really enjoy them. I think this is the third in the series and I've enjoyed them all and would recommend them.

52. Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford

I know I'm silly but I thought this novel was hilarious. It is totally making fun of the vampire and the Jane Austen crazes. The premise of the book is that Jane Austen is still alive and living because she is a vampire. She owns a book store in rural Connecticut and is really bitter that every one is making money on her book but her. And to make things worse, she's written another novel, but no one has wanted to publish it in the last 100 years. Getting published can be rough, even for Jane Austen. And with a little Byron and Bronte thrown in, you've got a hilarious story. He's writing a sequel and I can't wait to read it. There was a little language and little sex. But on the whole I really liked it. I love clever takes on old stuff.

40.Emma and Knightley: Perfect Happiness in Highbury by Rachel Billington

This novel is a sequel to Jane Austen's Emma. It starts a year after the original story ends. Emma and Knightley are still living at Hartfield. Everything is perfect, so perfect that it is a little boring to Emma. Then things go crazy. Jane Churchill (formerly Fairfax) dies in childbirth and John Knightley goes bankrupt. Suddenly Emma is forced to deal with things she never imagined and her and Knightley's love is tested. I liked this sequel because I liked that it showed how hard marriage can be, even between people who love each other, and how important communication is in a marriage. A good read.

38. Edmund Bertram's Diary by Amanda Grange

The first time I read Mansfield Park I stayed up all night to finish it because I just couldn't believe any man could be as clueless as Edmund. Finally, in the end, he came to his senses so I guess it was worth it. This novel is a retelling of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park from Edmund's point of view in his diary. It almost succeeded in making Edmund seem strong. Edmund is still clueless, but at least you can read his thoughts and know he is honestly clueless. I'm a little sad that this is the last of the books in the series for me to read. I've liked them all and recommend them to anyone.

37. Colonel Brandon's Diary by Amanda Grange

This is a rewriting of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility from Colonel Brandon's viewpoint. But the first half tells the story of Colonel Brandon's early life. I really like these books. It is kind of like watching different movie versions of the Jane Austen's books. I think it is fun to see others imaginings of the story. The author does a really good job of bringing the characters to life and staying true to Austen's original portrayal. In this novel, I almost forgot that Colonel Brandon is so much older than Maryanne. It is a great, fun read.

28. Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange

This novel is for all you Twilight fans out there. Wasn't Edward modeled after Darcy? So what's better than Darcy as a tortured, love stricken vampire? I liked this book. I like the author's style of writing (better than Stephenie Meyer's actually, sorry). And I don't really mind that the novel is relatively bloodless, and that you know Darcy is a vampire and Elizabeth doesn't. I actually like to read books where I know part of the ending, but that's just me. And it is definitely less silly than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It's an interesting twist that I think works as a sequel.

26. Captain Wentworth's Diary by Amanda Grange

I think this is one of my favorite Jane Austen retellings that I've read recently. It is a retelling of Persuasion from Captain Wentworth point of view via his diary. It is a fun, quick read. It actually starts before Persuasion does and tells Anne and Wentworth's backstory, when they originally met and fell in love (kind of a prequel to Persuasion) and then follows the story line of the original book. Wentworth seems very likable and the extra characters used to fill out the story are interesting and likeable too. Amanda Grange is great capturing the original story but making some interesting additions of her own that make the whole thing exciting to experience again.

24. The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater

This is not my favorite rewriting of Pride and Prejudice. This is not my least favorite version (there have been some that I had to put down because they were pure trash). There were glimpses of interpretations that were interesting. But mostly everything was taken too far. I just can't buy Darcy as a frequenter of whore houses. Sorry. That would make him not respectable in my eyes and ruins his whole aura. I did like that Darcy felt sorry for Lydia and that Wickham was evil. But I really didn't get or like the whole Byron side story. What was that? And Georgina wasn't really likable at all. I don't know. I wouldn't really recommend this book. It was interesting, but may not be worth your time. There are better retellings out there, if you're looking for that.

21. Mr. Knightley's Diary by Amanda Grange

This is a retelling of Jane Austen's Emma from Mr. Knightley's point of view. It is told in the form of Mr. Knightley's diary. I really like it. It is a very quick read. I think the diary format lends itself to that. I also think it is fun to see the story from a different view point and this author I think does a pretty good job. She's true to Jane Austen's original story and characters, but adds a few of her own that are interesting. I think anyone who likes Emma will like this novel.