June Book List

64.  The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers- (***)  I'll admit this book took me a LONG time to get through. 2 weeks?  Not my favorite Lord Peter book so far.  There was a lot of things going on in the plot and I think I would've followed it much better if I could've gotten through it in a shorter amount of time.  Say, my usual 3 or 4 days instead of 2 weeks...  Anyway, it was still good.  And I still love Lord Peter.

65.  The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis- (****)  When I first read the Chronicles of Narnia, The Silver Chair was not one of my favorites.  But, this time around I like it a lot more.  Who couldn't love Puddleglum? 

66.  The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye- (*****)  I absolutely love this story.  It's becoming a comfort read for me.  When I'm feeling a little blue and need a pick-me-up, I can polish off The Ordinary Princess in 2 hours and feel much better about life in general. 

67.  The End by Lemony Snicket- (*****)  Oh, so sad that the series is over! 

68.  The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis- (*****)  I absolutely love this book.  It's spiritually inspiring to me.  Further up and further in!

69.  All About Spiritual Gifts by Gordon Lindsay- (*****)  Very insightful and informative.  Clearly written and explained. 

70.  At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie- (****)  Kind of weak plot and the mystery isn't particularly in-genius.  Actually, it's very unbelievable and highly improbable. :-) Somehow, though, that doesn't matter.  I still polished it off in two days.  Couldn't put it down.  The same plot written by anyone else probably would've failed as a book altogether.  But, as usual Agatha Christie can make anything work. 

71.  Murder in Retrospect by Agatha Christie- (*****)  This was a really good Christie!  Normally I'm less interested in mysteries that are old.  Like, the murder actually took place 15-20 years earlier and Poirot comes in to solve it long after the fact and long after the convicted murderer died.  But, did she really do it?  That's the question.  So, like I was saying, ordinarily these kinds of mysteries are not as exciting as the edge of your seat can-the-detective-out-think-the-murderer-before-he-strikes-again type.  But, this one was really well handled.  I enjoyed it. 

72.  Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens- (*****)  I love Nicholas.  What can I say?  This is one of my all time favorite Dickens novels.  I have very fond memories of a certain trip to Florida in Dad's Explorer with the engine threatening to overheat.  We had the heat on full blast trying to get the heat off the engine, all of the vents directed up towards the sunroof.  We were sweating bullets and I was reading Nicholas Nickleby outloud.  For 22 hours.  And I still love this book.  Now that's sayin' somethin'!!!!  Favorite Characters: Smike (*sob*), Fanny Squeers ("I do SO palpitate!"), Mrs. Nickleby, Kate, Mr. Vincent Crummles, The Infant Phenomenon (who has been ten for the past 8 years), Pyke and Pluck ("Change the subject Pluck"), Newman Noggs, The Brothers Cheeryble, and of course NICHOLAS!  Duh!  Seriously, though.  One of my favorite ever Dickens novels.  I love this one.  Of course I also love Great Expectations... and A Tale of Two Cities... um...  ok, I love them all.