Review: Fifty Shades Darker

Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. James

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Once again, I would have preferred to give this book three and a half stars. And once again, the comedy in the book is what swayed my hand from three to four when deciding which way to go.

There is still sex in the book, but the sex scenes seemed less graphic, and less prevalent. This book was less about Christian's dominance over Ana and more about her figuring out a way to tell him how she feels without it causing both of them to shut down.

I am not loving these books, and I don't find them to be particularly erotic, but I am enjoying them.



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Review: One Eye Laughing, the Other Eye Weeping: The Diary of Julie Weiss, Vienna, Austria, to New York, 1938

One Eye Laughing, the Other Eye Weeping: The Diary of Julie Weiss, Vienna, Austria, to New York, 1938 by Barry Denenberg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I enjoyed the character of Julie because she reminded me a lot of myself at that age (12). She frequently mentions how much she loves to read, and how important books are to her. One quote in particular really jumped out at me:
"I HATE borrowing books from the library. I don't like being compelled to return them by a certain, specified time. . .All last night I imagined I could hear the book loudly ticking away as I tossed and turned, vainly trying to go to sleep.

TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, READ ME NOW, OR TAKE ME BACK"

As someone who frequently has fines at the library due to keeping things past their due dates - this really resonated with me - as well as making me laugh.

I do question her name, though. Julie does not strike me as an Austrian name. It seems to me a name chosen specifically so that during the story, someone can make fun of her and use her name to point out the fact that she is Jewish by calling her "Jew Lee."



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Review: The Wheel on the School

The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Strangely enough, I had been thinking of this story only a month or so ago - trying to remember more than just the story of a little Dutch girl who wondered about storks. Then I was at the library and it caught my eye on the shelf. I just could not resist picking it up and reading it again.

I think the version I read as a child must have been a condensed version - possibly in an elementary-level Reading book. I remembered some but not all of the children's adventures as they look for a wheel, and usually once I re-read something, I remember having read it before. In this case, portions of the story were new to me.

This will be a book I read to my children some day.



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