6/10 middle - high school (coming of age)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
(Flavia de Luce #1)
One Sentence Summary:
A precocious young girl solves a murder in her 1950 town.
Review:
Review:
I really enjoy the character of Flavia, however she will not be for everyone as she is a very precocious child. Bradley's writing style brings to life the setting but sometimes lacks in the character development end of things. The story in this novel, while not the most believable is still enjoyable.
8/10
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
(Flavia de Luce #2)
One Sentence Summary:
Flavia uncovers another murder, this time of a traveling puppeteer.
Review:
Flavia really came into her own on this story, and so did Bradley. His writing reached a stride that eliminated the distracting loss of rhythm that was in the first. Again the plot was rather unbelievable but so were all of the characters so it seemed to flow better than the first one.
8/10
A Red Herring Without Mustard
(Flavia de Luce #3)
Review:
I Am Half Sick Of Shadows
(Flavia de Luce #4)
Speaking from Among the Bones
(Flavia de Luce #5)
this is not out yet, will be out in 2013 apparently
Notable Quotes:
"I gave her a partial smile and kept the rest of it for myself..." -The Sweetness...
"...silence is sometimes the most costly of commodities." -The Sweetness...
"I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life" -The Sweetness...
"I wanted to shake the stuffing out of him; I wanted to hug him; I wanted to die." -The Sweetness...
"Experience has taught me that an expected answer is often better than the truth." -... Hangman's Bag
"If you remember nothing else, remember this: Inspiration from outside one's self is like the heat in an oven. It makes passable Bath buns. But inspiration from within is like a volcano: It changes the face of the world." -... Hangman's Bag
"She consumed books like a whale eats krill." -... Hangman's Bag
"There's a lot to be said for being alone. But you and I know, don't we, Flavia, that being alone and being lonely are not at all the same thing?" -... Hangman's Bag
"I remembered that Beethoven's symphonies had sometimes been given names... they should have call [the Fifth] the Vampire, because it simply refused to lie down and die." -... Hangman's Bag
"I was learning that among friends, a smile can be better than a belly laugh." -Red Herring...
"The very best people are like that. They don't entangle you like flypaper." -Red Herring...
"Whenever I'm with other people, part of me shrinks a little. Only when I am alone can I fully enjoy my own company." -Red Herring...
"Spare us the pout, there’s enough lip in the world without you adding to it." -Red Herring...
"Thinking and prayer are much the same thing anyway, when you stop to think about it -- if that makes any sense. Prayer goes up and thought comes down -- or so it seems. As far as I can tell, that's the only difference." -Red Herring...
"Books are like oxygen to a deep-sea diver," she had once said. "Take them away and you might as well begin counting the bubbles." -Half Sick...
"Either way, the whole thing was a pain in the porpoise." -Half Sick...
If you enjoyed this you should read:
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chavellier
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Flavia uncovers another murder, this time of a traveling puppeteer.
Review:
Flavia really came into her own on this story, and so did Bradley. His writing reached a stride that eliminated the distracting loss of rhythm that was in the first. Again the plot was rather unbelievable but so were all of the characters so it seemed to flow better than the first one.
8/10
A Red Herring Without Mustard
(Flavia de Luce #3)
One Sentence Summary:
Flavia uncovers another murder, this time of a traveling gypsy.
Review:
I like Flavia even better now, in this story she comes to terms with her life, the death of her mother and the distraction of her father. And Bradley's writing is still on the upswing.
8/10
I Am Half Sick Of Shadows
(Flavia de Luce #4)
I finally got my hands on this one, it was even better than the earlier ones. I recommend sticking it out with the series. Flavia grows even more as a character as she faces the trials of a Christmas with her family, her sisters also develop more and become almost likeable in this instalment.
Speaking from Among the Bones
(Flavia de Luce #5)
this is not out yet, will be out in 2013 apparently
Notable Quotes:
"I gave her a partial smile and kept the rest of it for myself..." -The Sweetness...
"...silence is sometimes the most costly of commodities." -The Sweetness...
"I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life" -The Sweetness...
"I wanted to shake the stuffing out of him; I wanted to hug him; I wanted to die." -The Sweetness...
"Experience has taught me that an expected answer is often better than the truth." -... Hangman's Bag
"If you remember nothing else, remember this: Inspiration from outside one's self is like the heat in an oven. It makes passable Bath buns. But inspiration from within is like a volcano: It changes the face of the world." -... Hangman's Bag
"She consumed books like a whale eats krill." -... Hangman's Bag
"There's a lot to be said for being alone. But you and I know, don't we, Flavia, that being alone and being lonely are not at all the same thing?" -... Hangman's Bag
"I remembered that Beethoven's symphonies had sometimes been given names... they should have call [the Fifth] the Vampire, because it simply refused to lie down and die." -... Hangman's Bag
"I was learning that among friends, a smile can be better than a belly laugh." -Red Herring...
"The very best people are like that. They don't entangle you like flypaper." -Red Herring...
"Whenever I'm with other people, part of me shrinks a little. Only when I am alone can I fully enjoy my own company." -Red Herring...
"Spare us the pout, there’s enough lip in the world without you adding to it." -Red Herring...
"Thinking and prayer are much the same thing anyway, when you stop to think about it -- if that makes any sense. Prayer goes up and thought comes down -- or so it seems. As far as I can tell, that's the only difference." -Red Herring...
"Books are like oxygen to a deep-sea diver," she had once said. "Take them away and you might as well begin counting the bubbles." -Half Sick...
"Either way, the whole thing was a pain in the porpoise." -Half Sick...
If you enjoyed this you should read:
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chavellier
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
I want to read The Red Herring Without the Mustard!
ReplyDeleteEloise