Shutter Island

Shutter Island is a good read! Finished it in a day, just in time to see the movie when it comes out on Friday. Creeeeee-pppppyyyyy! I saw the movie preview at the theater when I went to see Up In the Air. My well-read friend, Lisa told me about the book—by Dennis "Mystic River" Lehane—and that it had a twisted, Sixth Sense kind of ending. Ooooh, I was hooked and had to get my hands on a copy. All I could round up from the library was the large print edition, but that's okay; I enjoyed every super-sized minute of it!

The setting of the book is creepy perfection, a prison/hospital for the criminally insane on a remote island off the coast of Massachusetts during the 1950s. The suspense is excruciating, even if the writing style is pure, pared down, detective novel prose. The intricate plot includes references to Nazi Germany, mental illness, and the nefarious history of psychiatric treatment, with a little bit of B-movie sex thrown in for good measure. The characters grew on me, and though I wouldn't necessarily have cast Leonardo DiCaprio as U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels, I'll reserve judgement until after I see the film.

And, given my newfound fascination with asylums, I added two more must-reads to my book list: The Bell Jar and Girl, Interrupted.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

LEXILE 950

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. Don't be fooled by the scrawling font or the 950 LEXILE rating, this is a quick read. In two nights—less than 4 hours total—I read two books in the series. These books are amusing, and they definitely capture the perspective of a middle-school-aged boy, albeit a quirky one. Gregory Heffley, our protagonist, isn't embarrassed to ride a girls' bike or to admit he requested a Barbie Dream House for Christmas one year or to have a super-quirky best friend named Rowley.

The writing and the cartoony drawings are witty; no wonder it has been made into a movie which is coming out next month. After reading two volumes of Wimpy Kid, I don't feel compelled to read another, but at least now I understand the appeal for so many fifth grade students. I learned a lot about this series searching for an image of the jacket cover for this blog post. For instance, I didn't know that the author originally published it in daily installments on Funbrain. Or that Jeff Kinney is the creator of Poptropica.

Shades of Simon Gray

LEXILE 900 young adult

When my eighth-grade son was assigned Shades of Simon Gray by Joyce McDonald, my 18-year-old daughter and I were intrigued, so we decided to read it too. She completed it in a day, and I almost gave up when I was halfway through. In a nutshell: interesting storyline wasted on uninspiring characters and humdrum writing. And, the plot has nothing to do with Dorian Gray. I wish it did.