City of Light: 05/11/08
City of Light is a historical drama set during the time that Buffalo New York was converting to electricity with the building of turbines at Niagara Falls. I read the book primarily for the setting and I loved the way Buffalo and Niagara Falls were described. It is in the building of the setting that Lauren Belfer excels.

Peal away the interesting history and what is left is a rather dull and obvious Agatha Christie type mystery mixed together with a Victorian melodrama. Louisa Barrett, the head mistress of a local girls school finds herself in the middle of a series of murders related to the new power station at Niagara Falls. As the father of her god daughter is the owner, she feels compelled to solve the mystery to protect the people she loves.

If the mystery wasn't enough, there is also Barrett's own personal tragedy and the truth behind her fondness for her God daughter who appears to be clinically depressed after the death of her mother.

The relationship between Louisa Barrett and Grace is where I started to lose interest in the book. I know I was supposed to feel empathy for Louisa for all the heartbreak she has suffered but I never really connected with her. Her personal story is buried under all the historical descriptions and the clues for the mystery to such a degree that it doesn't make sense for the novel to end on her personal tragedy because it feels like an after thought.

Read the reviews at Random Reflections, BookFix, Miss Keeks.

I read this book for the Themed Challenge.

books | mystery | fiction | lauren belfer

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Childhood Books: 05/11/08
This week's challenge comes from Samantha who asks us to write about our favorite childhood books.

With two young children of my own I've been spending a lot of my reading time reading my old favorites to them. In turn I blog about the books I read. Rather than write a lengthy post about books I remember reading, I'm going to list the books I have reviewed on my blog.

• Arm in Arm by Remy Charlip
• Fortunately by Remy Charlip
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming
• The Boy Who Wanted to be a Fish by Le Grand
• Manhattan is Missing by E. W. Hildick
• The Lion's Own Story by Crockett Johnson
• Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel
• Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel
• Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel
• Small Pig by Arnold Lobel
• Uncle Elephant by Arnold Lobel
• Jane of Lantern Hill by L. M. Montgomery
• Pat of Silver Bush by L. M. Montgomery
• Animals That Live in the Sea by National Geographic
• The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit
• Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit
• Little Lost Puppy by Margaret Glover Otto
• The Best First Book Ever by Richard Scarry
• Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
• The Ebb-Tide by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne
• The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
• Commander Toad and the Voyage Home by Jane Yolen

weekly geeks | books | meme

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