Puss Reboots: Blog: December 2007: Better Than Running at Night

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Reviews:
Among the Impostors by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Berenstain Bears Accept No Substitutes by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Better Than Running at Night by Hillary Frank
Bleach 5 by Tite Kubo
Bleach 6 by Tite Kubo
Bleach 7 by Tite Kubo
The Bone Man by Frederic S. Durbin
Buy Jupiter by Isaac Asimov
Castro Valley by Devon Weston, Robert Phelps, Lucille Lorge
Cats Are Not Peas by Laura Gould
Chain Letter 2: The Ancient Evil by Christopher Pike
Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
Don't Ask by M. Rickert
Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley
Finisterra by David Moles
Fragrant Goddess by Paul Park
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Happy Halloween Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt
How Big is Your God? by Paul Coutinho
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Jingo by Terry Pratchett
Letters from Iceland by W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice
Miss Bianca in the Orient by Margery Sharp
N is for Noose by Sue Grafton
O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton
Olivia by Ian Falconer
Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer
Osama Phone Home by David Marusek
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Return of the Indian by Lynn Reid Banks
Sleep No More by Greg Iles
Stray by Benjamin Rosenbaum and David Ackert
Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr
The Turret by Margery Sharp
The Twilight Year by Sean McMullen
Two Weeks After by M. Ramsey Chapman
Unpossible by Daryl Gregory
Urdumheim by Michael Swanwick
Who Brought Tulips to the Moon? by S.L. Gilbow

Miscellaneous:
Betrayed by Elmo
BTC Database Complete
The Last Few Days
Neighbor Cats

Previous month

Better Than Running at Night: 12/18/07

Better Than Running at Night turns out to be one of the best books I've read this year. This 2002 debut novel by Hillary Frank covers the first year Ladybug (Ellie) Yelinsky spends at the New England Collage of Art and Design.

Each chapter is short, not more than a couple pages. Each one has a funny title, illustrated by a tiny sketch the by the author.

Hillary Frank created a very realistic, likeable and believable character in Ellie. She's naive in the way that so many new adults are but she also has a strong personal code and even when her experiences at NECAD challenge her beliefs she stays true to herself as she adapts.

If you pick up a copy of Better Than Running at Night, I highly recommend reading it to the music of Sam Phillip's 2001 album, Fan Dance. The two complement each other beautifully.