Monday, March 7, 2011

The Swan Kingdom by Zoe Marriott

I read this book over the weekend as another "in-between" read to a couple other books I'm part-way through. While it was a nice diversion to the less exciting books I'm reading, it wasn't really that fabulous of a book. I really enjoyed the story; it's a sort of fairytale with magic and princes and princesses. Actually, now that I'm looking at the back cover, it's based off the Hans Christian Andersen tale "The Wild Swans," which I have never read or heard before. So while I thought the story was fun and interesting, even including a charming love interest, my biggest problem with the book was the writing style the author used. It was all written in a passive voice, making even the most exciting action parts of the book seem boring. There were also several parts where she gets put under a spell and it got really confusing and difficult to follow what was going on. Just in general the writing style didn't really work for me. I think it could have been a really great book because the story is solid and interesting, but the writing style really detracted from the overall quality. Still a fun read, and I don't regret reading it, but I don't recommend this one as quickly as I do many others.

2.5 out of 5 stars

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde


We read this book in my book club (that I've only recently decided I want be social enough to start attending) and I LOVED it. I watched this movie years ago but I didn't really remember what the story was about until I was about half-way through. It is a very short play and it was an absolutely delightful read. I loved the humor that was throughout all 3 acts and the characters were a whole lot of sarcastic fun. Definitely recommend this one!!

4.5 out of 5 stars