Rebecca DeLaTorre read and liked piraterie's review of Summers at Castle Auburn:

"This is one of those books that makes me wish you could give half stars. I put four, but three and a half is what I would give if I could.

It's not that it's not a totally enjoyable read, because it is. I love Sharon Shinn, and this book...more This is one of those books that makes me wish you could give half stars. I put four, but three and a half is what I would give if I could.

It's not that it's not a totally enjoyable read, because it is. I love Sharon Shinn, and this book is no exception. But it is very predictable (but sort of in a comfortingly familiar way, although I hadn't read it before). And while I like Corie very much at times, at other times she really doesn't click with me. I think less of her for ever thinking well of Bryan; this might be more a problem with how he is written because he's just so obviously horrible from the very first time we meet him, and I don't feel like any amount of hotness would completely blind someone to his many faults, even if she is just 14.

Actually, now that I think of it, Corie's blindness to various things is exactly what annoys me about her. Her blindness to Bryan's faults, her blindness to Kent being in love with her (and being willfully blind here with all the convincing herself he's in love with Elisandra when it's so so obvious that he's not), her blindness - before anyone states a different opinion - to the plight of the aliora. The last annoys me more because, while I can understand her taking them for granted at the beginning and certainly agree with her freeing them at the end, I would have liked to see her change her opinion about them on her own instead of only coming to realize that their slavery was wrong after she found out other people believed that. It just feels like a lot of the time she comes to her opinions based on other people's opinions, and she would be a stronger character if they were based on her experiences. If that makes sense.

I did really love Elisandra though and the delicious moral ambiguity of her actions. Because, dude, I absolutely can't fault her for doing what she could to take care of the problem of Bryan being her husband and being king. On the other hand, she freaking murdered him and - not only that - could have potentially killed a bunch of other people, had the plan gone awry. LOVE IT.(less) "

Rebecca DeLaTorre read and liked James's review of Cruddy: An Illustrated Novel:

"I loved this book!! I've been meaning to read Barry for awhile and came across a copy of Cruddy and went for it. I don't know where to place this book. It's the story of a girl named Roberta who may very well of had the most miserable existence an...more I loved this book!! I've been meaning to read Barry for awhile and came across a copy of Cruddy and went for it. I don't know where to place this book. It's the story of a girl named Roberta who may very well of had the most miserable existence anyone could conjur up, and it unveils itself in a stream of off the wall disaster and heartbreaking realizations. Two narrative rn parallel to each other as Roberta accounts both from her "restricted life;" she's grounded. One narrative is the story of how she got grounded, due to ditching school and partaking in a 24 hour LSD trip that takes her all through her "cruddy" hometown and ends in a fatal disaster. The other takes the form of a viciously horrific tale of five years prior when Roberta, then 11, is kidnapped by her father and brought along on a homocidal road trip in search of a denied fortune and easily the most distubing and terrifying father daughter bonding vacation anyone could conjur up.

The LSD tale strangely follows a Wizard of Oz like structure as she journeys in a psychedelic confusion with her colorful cast of teenage acquaintances: the Turtle, the Stick, the Great Wesley, the Monkey, and Vickie Tallusoj ("The Violent One"), the j is silent. The father story is so much like the Hobbit or Treasure Island but is also one of the most traumatizing and terribly brutal stories I've read (I think ever). You will cringe, you will hate everyone Roberta comes in contact with, save maybe one person, this story will make you despise humanity as this brutal and gruesome account of the murderous grifter father and his enlisting of his 11 year year old daughter as an accomplice unfolds. It is an ungodly tale, but completely impossibe to put down.

Read this book, and though its near certan that the book will ruin your day, its brilliant storytelling, awesome illustrations, and poignant realizations make it more than worth the heartache it will induce. Lynda Barry might be a genius.

"Twinkle twinkle little star. You are nothing. You've been dead for a thousand years..." (less) "