A combo book review

I know, I know--you've grown weary and despaired of me ever finishing the books for the contest. Who knew it would take me SOOOOO long to finish a mere 10 books? Pathetic.

But lately I have recommitted and I have been busy. And I have just 2 left. Here are my thoughts on those I have finished but not yet reviewed:

Princess Ben--read over the Christmas break. I enjoyed it, but don't remember too much about it now. Oops.

Midnight's Children--my first Salman Rushdie book. I really couldn't decide how I felt about this book. The writing was beautiful. Then it felt overdone. The plot was intriguing, convoluted and masterful. Yet I never could really care what happened to the main character. I am still a bit confused by it all. Perhaps I am not cerebral enough for this book. But it is long, and I did get through it quickly, so I can't say I didn't enjoy it.

Precious Bane--I have heard many recommendations for this book and have begun it more times than I could count. But I was always bored by about page 10 and put it down. So when I had to read it for the challenge, I was excited. Normally, this is my kind of genre. But the accents were so thick, I had a hard time wading through them. The plot took FOREVER to fully develop to the point where I was actually interested, and I couldn't ever get a fix in my imagination for the setting and characters. It all remained in a mist in my brain. I did, in the end, truly love moments of it. Maybe the last third I would say is excellent.

Tales of Despereaux--Loved it. I began reading it to Chatterbox one evening. Late that night was the first of her vomitous evenings, so when she had to miss school the next day, we took every opportunity we could to read it. I could hardly wait for her, really. We finished it in a day, loving every descriptive, adventurous, and suspense-filled moment. I hear it is very different from the movie. I highly recommend this, even if you don't have a child who will listen just yet.

The Double Bind--This is a pretty interesting one. Originally, it came from the library as a cd set. I had accidentally ordered it as such. D and I listened to a fair amount of it (maybe the first fifth) in the car on the way to Utah at Christmas time. We were confused and I ended up with a bad taste in my mouth. I was kind of dreading picking it up again. But I did, and it was much MUCH better reading it myself. In fact, this is one of my favorites of the bunch. It has some serious plot twists. It helps if you've read The Great Gatsby. :) I just finished this one tonight, and really couldn't put it down toward the end.

So, there are just 2 books remaining, and I am partway through both. I *hope* to finish in the next couple of days. Don't give up on me!