Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Benedictine mystery.

I love to read. I'll read pretty much anything I can get my hands on. Growing up, I would read the text on cereal boxes at the breakfast table!

Sadly, lately I've not been reading as voraciously as I used to. Before I was laid off, I spent more than ten years commuting daily to New York City from Long Island. I always had a book with me on these trips, and managed to fly through many good (and a few bad) books of fiction, biographies, memoirs, satire, science, cultural studies... At home I'd always have a book of lighter substance to read at bedtime, when my mind was drifting off to sleep. Now when I'm home I spend way too much time looking at the 193 blogs that I currently follow, or flipping through magazines, or dozing in front of the television. Not very stimulating (well, the TV dozing isn't), or productive.

I joined a book club a while back, partly to get out and meet people, and partly to get myself back reading on a more regular basis. I'm now in between books for the club, having finished Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner (more in the light substance category) a couple of weeks ago and waiting to pick up my reserved copy of You Lost Me There by Rosecrans Baldwin for the next meeting--I definitely can't wait to read that one! So last weekend at the library, I was perusing the list of books to read that I always keep in my little Filofax, and came across The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. This is a book intended for 5th to 9th grade children, but I must say that's it's got me hooked. I won't go into the plot here; you can find out more about the book and the next two in this series on its website (full of fun logic puzzles, book excerpts, and more) or by clicking on the Amazon link in the book's title above. All I'll say is that I'm about 200 pages in and find it flying by. Children being relied on to save the world from an evil-doer, a great theme.


Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the incredible illustrations by Carson Ellis on the cover and each chapter heading! They really add to the story.




PLEASE NOTE: All images in this post are copyrighted and owned by Hachette Book Group.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, I LOVE the illustrations! I am going to have to read this, for sure!!!

xx
Rebekka

Mallory said...

I love reading children's books (despite being in my twenties)! I just finished the second book in the Mysterious Benedict Society series, and it was just as awesome as the first. Now, on to book three!