"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" by Rachel Cohn and David Levithin was a surprise! Who would imagine that Tris could turn out to be a fairly cool character? Except for the kissing thing in the ladies' room - that was a little weird but edgy and I can see that readers younger than I might find it ...intriguing. Tris's reasoning behind breaking up with Nick made perfect mature sense and when a reader is set to hate a character it is delightful to find out that the character is multi-dimensional.

"The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan : an Enola Holmes mystery" by Nancy Springer was a worthy addition to this series. Those books are too short for me. In this installment, Enola rescues a young friend from a dastardly arranged marriage with a little help from her brother, Sherlock. Her other brother, Mycroft, is quite put out. Stay tuned. The next book is due out in the Spring of 2009.

I've discovered another medieval murder mystery series that I want to explore. "The Fool's Guild Mysteries" by Alan Gordon explores the lot of fools and jesters in the early 13th century, a time when such nonsense was frowned on by the Church. I read "The Moneylender of Toulouse", the most recent book in the series, and it was entertaining and educational. Gordon doesn't try to mimic the speech patterns of the time which is just as well since English as we know it didn't exist. And the book takes place in Toulouse where English in any form would be rare. So, at first, I found modern contractions and phrases to be disorienting but only for a short while. The characters are fully realized. The mystery had enough meat to it. What kept me going was the historical setting and how it influenced daily life and political practices. Now I must go backwards and read the earlier books.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope to be a more faithful blogger in 2009.