A Bibliophile’s Pile (as in TBR pile) is a new feature for 2017. It’s going to be very similar to my Mini Review posts, but instead of theming each post, I’m just going to list what I’ve read in the past week. Easy peasy.

Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School by Herman Parish (audiobook / library / with kids)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amelia Bedelia is funnier as a child, because her mistakes make sense, and aren’t as frustrating.

Amelia Bedelia’s First Valentine by Herman Parish (audiobook / library / with kids)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amelia Bedelia’s First Apple Pie by Herman Parish (audiobook / library / with kids)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

AB’s Grandma is certainly patient, lol. I love seeing AB learning to bake, as it ties in nicely to the original books.

Amelia Bedelia’s First Field Trip by Herman Parish (audiobook / library / with kids)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Bookstore Valentine by Barbara Maitland (physical / library / with kids)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I book about a bookstore should be right up my alley, but I was a little bored.

The Very Fairy Princess Follows Her Heart by Julie Andrews Edwards (physical / library / with kids)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Of course a book by Julie Andrews is going to be delightful!

Consider Love by Sandra Boynton (physical / library / with kids)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Adorable! This book is deeper than most of Sandra Boynton’s books, but it still has the hilarious illustrations she’s famous for.

The Clairvoyant Countess by Dorothy Gilman (audiobook / library)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don’t read many paranormal books, especially Cozies, but I needed a paranormal Cozy for a challenge. So, I was pleased to find this book from Mrs. Pollifax author, Dorothy Gilman. Madame Karitska is charming, even if I don’t believe any of her hooey. The story is extremely episodic, with a thin thread to tie the chapters together – almost like a season of a television show. Fun, but nothing special.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer (ebook / library)
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book has serious issues with pacing, and is in dire need of editing!
The beginning is pretty good, with some interesting characters and decent world building (admittedly building off of an established world).
Then it becomes muddled by too many “inspirations”.
There’s the nursery rhyme “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater”, Poe’s “The Raven”, the “weird sisters” from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the almost parody of the basilisk fight in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and bigger on the inside magic (which could be from Doctor Who, Harry Potter, or Mary Poppins). Was Carroll’s wildly imaginative Wonderland not enough?
This muddled mess drags on for *hundreds* of pages until the action *finally* starts at the 85% mark. And then everything happens in extremely rapid succession, and then it ends.
Also, how are lemon yellow eyes attractive?! Just, *how*?!

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie (audiobook / library / re-read)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a good one. I loved the devise of having the suspects write out their own versions of events. It felt like a particularly psychological mystery. I always enjoy the denouement when Poirot gathers everyone together.

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai (audiobook / library / with kids)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m so glad we decided to listen to this in audiobook format. The narrator was able to properly pronounce Vietnamese words that I would’ve mangled had I read it aloud. I loved that the story was told in verse, yet was completely comprehensible.

Christmas Caramel Murder by Joanne Fluke (audiobook / library)
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This series has really gone downhill. Why is all told in flashback? Why did it go paranormal for this book? *Why* doesn’t Lisa just *talk* to Herb? Ugh.

Challenges

GOODREADS

48 of 260

AGATHA CHRISTIE READ ALONGS

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

CLASSICS CHALLENGE

None

BACKLIST READER CHALLENGE 2017

None

CRUISIN’ THRU THE COZIES 2017

Paranormal (witches, vampires, etc.) – The Clairvoyant Countess by Dorothy Gilman

POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE 2017

A book by a person of color – Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
A bestseller from 2016 – Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is “Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For The Second Half Of The Year (since we did a topic about the releases we were excited about for the first half of 2016 back in the beginning of the year).”