My Busy Night

Owly: Flying Lessons, by Andy Runton. LoveLoveLove! I could not actually describe how marvelous I think these are. Buy them: buy them now! I annoy my coworkers with shoving these toward them and their children. I finally got my husband to look at them, and he loves them, as every sane person does. They are gorgeous. The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams. ARC. I picked up this ARC in Denver and couldn't really get excited about it, despite the hype on the listservs and such. I've got to say, however, that this was actually worth all the ado. I liked how it felt, as a reader, like we were swinging through time: farming and cooking like it's 1840, but reading Harry Potter in a tree, driving to town in a beat up old van. There is a sense of time and place, but it feels fluid. There are lots of things to talk and think about in this book, if you look for them. The main character's family is happy, but many wives in the community are not satisfied or pleased by the arrangements made for them. The circumstances of the novel raise the question of how much, or whether at all, the community leaders believe in what they are doing, or if they realize they can manipulate people with it. Kyra comes to realize that her situation is not her father's and mothers' fault, but that they bear some culpability by doing nothing. The ending was not as hopeful as one may expect from the rest of the book, but it was not entirely bleak. My system has 2 copies of this book, and it circulates well, as it should. Every young girl can identify with how Kyra feels. Rashomon Gate, by I.J. Parker. I had recently ordered yet another installment in this series, which looks very interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try. I had to quit though. After 60 pages, there should be less set up and more getting to the point. The cast of characters was too large and unwieldy; the characters list in the preface was nice, but having to constantly flip back and forth makes for awkward reading. I'm glad my patrons seem to like this, but it isn't for me.