Book Round-Up

A Rare Murder in Princeton by Ann Waldron: This volume is part of a series centering around a journalist who solves murders at Princeton, in this case the murder of a book collector who promised to leave his collection to the University. The writing, especially the dialog, was surprisingly awkward. So were the characters, but that's not so surprising given they are academics and bookish sorts.

Wildwood by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis: It's rare that I don't finish a book, and yet here we are. It's a middle-grade fantasy with lots of imaginative, intriguing parts, but the story never coalesces into a whole. Worse, the reaction of the parents to the kidnapping of their baby was, frankly, absolutely off-putting. I understand the point -- get them out of the way so the older sister can go on her quest -- but there are far more credible ways to do that.  The novel was especially disappointing given how much I love Colin Meloy's songwriting as part of the Decemberists.

The Stories of English by David Crystal: A thorough and detailed look at the development of the English language, with a particular focus on all the contributions -- vocabulary, syntax, pronunciation -- from other languages. I find this sort of stuff fascinating, although I will admit my interest petered out towards the end, when he was discussing the English language in the 20th century.

Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey: As you might guess from the title, basically a rom-com in book form. This is the author's first adult novel, and I did find the story a little too antic and juvenile for my tastes, but the characters were fun and the reason for the heroine's obsession with romantic comedies was touching.

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin: This retelling of Pride & Prejudice, set in an Indian Muslim community in Toronto, was wonderful. Unlike other Austin fans, Jalaluddin does not feel the need to slavishly copy the characters and plot points of the original, instead developing her own story. She also understands that the social commentary of P&P is just as important as the romance.