Reading and Reviewing

I took the boys into our local Marbecks last week; sadly, it is closing down, and they have 50% off all their stock. We chose two stories, and have read them together non-stop since getting home; don’t you love it when random book choices turn out to be so good??!

The first, Squish Rabbit, is the debut children’s book by Katherine Battersby. I love it. Tiny loves it. Pickle smeared apricot jam on the pages, so I think it’s safe to say he loves it too. The illustrations are so simple, yet completely and utterly adorable; I’m in love with Squish and the squirrel. I’d-consider-swapping-my-children-for-them love. Not really. Well…no, not really, but I do love them so.

The second, Anton Can Do Magic, is by Ole Könnecke; Tiny thinks this is one seriously funny book. I’m not sure he quite gets the “magic” yet (I think he takes the words at face value, and hasn’t yet figured out that the pictures might tell a slightly different story…), but he likes the pictures and the characters, and thinks Anton’s magic hat is pretty darn cool. Again, simple illustrations and a simple concept make this a really appealing story. You can read Miriam’s review of Könnecke’s Anton and the Battle here.

As for me, I finally finished Murakami’s Dance Dance Dance. It was okay, but it only grabbed me about three-quarters of the way through, when I felt that familiar where’s-the-crazy-at feeling that is quinessentially-Murakami. It didn’t leave me with the same powerful feelings as Kafka on the Shore, and I think I may be done with Murakami for a while.

And now? Oh, I’ve just inhaled finished one of the best books EVER. Recommended (and lent) to me by someone pretty awesome, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, may just be the book that sells urban fantasy to me. Or not. But whatever, I loved it. LOVED it. The prose, the characters, the setting…it was all just beautiful and fantastical and magical and glorious. I’m itching to get my hands on the second installment.