Challenge #27 - a book you can finish in a day

[Jessa]

Post the title, description, and your opinion of the book you read.

[Katherine]

The Chosen One

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams is a heart-breaking novel that explores the world of polygamy and cult life. The main character, Kyra, lives a simple life on a compound with her father, mother, two sister wives, and a multitude of siblings. Her world is turned upside down though when the compound’s spiritual leader promises her to her 60-year old uncle. Torn between duty and disgust, Kyra must also worry about the futures of her sisters and any retribution her family might receive if she refuses. This novel kept my attention as it explored a world I knew very little about, but it was a rather depressing read.

[Liz]

The League of Beastly Dreadfuls by Holly Grant

After her father and her hold a funeral for a venus fly trap, Anastasia is late to school. While sitting in class, she gets this feeling that something terrible is going to happen. Sure enough, a few periods later, she finds herself face to face with two old aunts she's never met and the news that her mother and father have had a terrible accident and are now dead. Now her aunts have whisked her away to their old "authentic Victorian" home, which used to serve as an insane asylum. Now Anastasia must figure out why her aunts lock her in her room before sundown every night, why there is a lunatic gardener with a cage on his head, why she has this sudden desire to eat moths and how the heck she can escape this dreadful place.

Not going to lie, my book description for this novel is more than weak. That being said, I'm sure we all get the gist of what this book is about, if not, I apologize!! But anyway, on to my review:

I am a sucker for any book which deals with A. Orphans, B. Old asylums C. Mysterious accidents and D. Unknown creatures. League of Beastly Dreadfuls looked like it was going to have all of the above, and I was stoked. In fact, within the first few chapters, the first of which was entitled "A Splendid Day for a Funeral (just my kind of chapter heading), I found myself silently comparing it to Coraline and was eagerly anticipating every direction this book would go. That being said, I was utterly disappointed. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for something to happen, but it never truly did. The story lacked any real turning points, any real action and wasn't all that interesting. Sure it was a page turner, but only because I kept thinking there has to be a big twist coming, which never did. Hopefully the second will be better ? Although I won't be as eager to get my hands on it when it comes out.

[Christina]

I think Me and Earl and the Dying Girl belongs here (If I haven't posted it already. It was quirky and refreshing, and so much better than The Fault in Our Stars. I felt the narrator was interesting and his friends gave the book some good flavor.

I highly recommend going to see the movie- also scripted by the author- becausethe movie the boys make comes to life!

[Ben]

The H.G. Wells classic The Time Machine was a short, intriguing story I read in one day. Scientist creates a time-travel machine. He travels hundreds of thousands of years into the future to a strange civilization that appears to be humanoid. These creatures closely resemble our neanderthal ancestors. The scientist relates his adventure and subsequent return to a few other, at that time, luminaries.

It's a brisk, engaging ride that reminds me of Jules Verne, primarily his lightly descriptive approach. The focus is on the science, the adventure, and the characters, which makes this a wholly enjoyable read. I encourage this as a one-day read because you will feel like you are right there in the scientist's estate hearing this amazing story and waiting on every detail. Ultimately, this is a simplistic story about scientific discovery and the basic human need to share and experience.