If you're still mourning the end of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events books, you might want to check out his literary twin - Pseudonymous Bosch. It took a little Internet sleuthing for me to believe they aren't actually the same person. I mean, c'mon, they write under fake names and tell their stories via anonymous, secretive, and overly-protective narrators. Both warn readers not to pick up their books, ensuring that they would, in fact, become bestsellers. Okay, okay, there aren't many similarities between their respective stories, but still ... twins, I tell ya.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself, although The Name of This Book Is Secret may not need much of an introduction. Most of you have already read it. For the two of you who haven't, it's the story of Cassandra (Cass), an 11-year-old "survivalist," who embraces the Boy Scout motto ("Be Prepared") with fervor. Although she's never experienced an actual disaster, she's always ready in case one should descend. And so it does, in the form of a mystery that comes knocking on her door. Not literally, but in the form of an odd box brought into her grandfathers' junk shop. Labeled "The Symphony of Smells," the box has been rescued from the home of a recently-deceased magician. Upon examination, Cass and her friend Max-Ernest discover a message which leads them to an even bigger discovery. It's a find that will attract the (very unwelcome) attention of a strange couple, who are intent on stealing it for themselves. Not only do Cass and Max-Ernest need to protect the magician's secret, but they also need to figure out exactly what the secret is - before it's too late.

This story is so fun and inventive that I don't want to give any of it away, thus the bare-bones plot description. I'll just say that it's quirky in a Lemony Snicket kind of way, but without all the doom and gloom. It's different, it's original, it's thoroughly enjoyable. Read it. Warning: You might want to hide it away until you're done, though - I'll guarantee your kids will be fighting you for it. Yep. It really is that good.

Oh, I almost forgot. Two quotes I love from the book:

"Generally speaking, books don't cause much harm. Except when you read them, that is. Then they cause all kinds of problems" (from the introduction).

"Only bad books have good endings.

If a book is any good, it's ending is always bad--because you don't want the book to end" (314).

Grade: A-

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG for some mildly scary scenes (may be too frightening for the under-8 set)

First off, thanks so much to everyone for answering all the questions I've been throwing out lately. It's been fun to see all your recommendations. I'm going to compile all the suggestions into a list and let it be my guide! Keep 'em coming - I'm loving all the comments.

Secondly, Darcie, you won a copy of The Lost Summer by Kathryn Williams. I would love to sent it out to you, but I need your address. It's been almost a week - if I don't hear from you by midnight tomorrow, I'll draw another name. So, please contact me! My email is blogginboutbooks[AT]gmail[DOT][COM].

That's it. I'm still in the middle of The Name of This Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch. It's lots of fun. I should have a review up by tomorrow or Wednesday. In the meantime, happy reading! I'm off to bed. Getting up early to get my kids off to school is killing me (they leave for the bus stop at 7:20). *Yawn*

Things are not going well for Veronica Van Holten. For starters, she hates her job. It's bad enough that she's a junior and still living in the dorms, but as a resident assistant, she's in charge of controlling the drama on her floor. She doesn't have time for her neighbors, she has no car, she's barely keeping up in her pre-med classes, and she's devastated over her parents' impending divorce. Veronica does have a very nice boyfriend, which is wonderful until he asks her for a little more commitment. Now, she's freaking out. While I'm Falling by Laura Moriarty is Veronica's coming-of-age story. It's also a novel about family, about mothers and daughters, and about how to cope when one's life is falling apart at the seams.
For our heroine, everything collides one fateful morning on a deserted highway, leaving her shaken. Her cries for help prove just how much her family has disintegrated. Veronica's frayed nerves lead to a string of remarkably bad decisions, landing her in a heap of trouble. Then, just when she needs her mother, who's always been her biggest support system, Natalie Van Holten shows up at her daughter's dorm - with an overnight bag, an arthritic dog and all of her worldly belongings sitting in a minivan in the parking lot. Can things possibly get any worse? This is Veronica Van Holten we're talking about - of course they can. And they do. Along the way, she has to figure out how to pick up the pieces of her broken family life, her fledgling future, but most of all, herself.
Veronica's crises aren't exactly original, and neither is she for that matter, but you know what? It doesn't matter. She's authentic, so real that my heart ached for her. Physically. I was so engrossed in her story that I felt actual dread balling up in my chest. I had to keep telling myself, "It's only a book. It's not real." That's how strongly I identified with her. The thing that drew me to her, I think, is the following passage. I'm pretty sure I've had this conversation before:

I don't know if you've noticed, but I seem to be getting a little paranoid in my old age. Yesterday, it was sci fi/fantasy books I missed out on as a child; today, it's book blogs. I've been around the book blogosphere for awhile now, but I'm still finding new ones. I love it. I'm just stressed about all the wonderful blogs I might be missing out on. I know you're wondering, "Doesn't she have anything better to worry about on a Sunday afternoon?" Well, I stayed home from church with my sick 10-year-old; my husband took two of the others to church; the baby's asleep; I have ground beef thawing in the microwave so I can have dinner ready by the time the hubs gets back; I'm caught up on reviews, so no ... I guess I don't have anything else to worry about on a Sunday afternoon.

Last week, my Microsoft feeder went all wonky on me, refusing to update and such. So, I showed it by converting to Google's reader. I'm sure there's a way to export feeds from one to the other, but I haven't the foggiest idea how, so I typed in each and ever one of my blog URLS manually. I have hundreds. It took hours. The good news is I have all my favorites together and Google's working fabulously for me. Since I was overhauling my feeder, I also cleaned up the links on this blog. So, would you do me a favor and give the list a glance? It's on the bottom of the left sidebar. If you write a book blog, make sure I haven't forgotten it. Also, tell me which ones I'm not reading that I should be reading. I just don't want to miss anything. See what I mean about paranoia?

Oh, and if you haven't commented on yesterday's post, I'd love to hear your recommendations :) And, yes, some day I will post an actual book review.