Thpbt!

Ice, by Sarah Beth Durst. I am really carried away by this author's storytelling style. It falls apart a little, though, when I step back and say "hey, wait a minute..." Despite being captivated while actually reading, the plot is, basically, a poor romance novel without the titillating bits. This will be a big circer, I'm sure, and it's not "bad" (not swears, no sex descriptions) but it's not as well-written as her earlier work. It's rather a let-down, really.

Carnival Games: MiniGolf, by 2K Play. We played this at 2/3's Library Arcade. It didn't totally suck. The kids enjoyed dressing up their little men in stupid golfing outfits. The rules aren't quite like regular minigolf: in addition to, you know, aiming for the hole, you can also try to get coins and other bonuses. I'm not entirely sure how you win. The kids played the Prehistoria course and it looked a little involved to me

Mort, by Terry Pratchett. Love! I read it only a few years ago and my opinion is the same. Everything is making a little more sense, now that I'm reading them in order.

The Fall of Eden, by Richard Michaels. I usually enjoy a good post-apocalyptic work; unfortunately, this wasn't a good one. The main character is a wet ponce and entirely unlovable; there's no emotional connection. The character's dad and brother are completely opposite, too violent, too man-of-action-no-thoughts-here to be sympathetic. I can't read a book if I can't care about a character.

Naruto: Rise of a Ninja, by Ubisoft. This was 2/10's Library Arcade game. It's becoming difficult to find multiplayer games that will hold the kids' attention, but this one was alright. It's only 2-player (4 would have been better) but most of the kids were familiar with the characters so they wanted to play their favorites. I'm not familiar with the manga series, but it didn't seem like the story was an important part of this game; it was just a fighting game, like Mortal Kombat, and the characters just happen to be from this other series. There may by more manga-related material in the single-player story mode.