Heist Society by Ally Carter

cover image by LibraryThing

Not my favorite.

This book moves along like a movie script - scene by scene.  That works in a movie as you watch the characters and you learn about them by seeing them interact and grow.  I don't think it works as well as a book.  I constantly felt like I was missing something.  There were back stories and forshadowing and it was really hard to keep it all on target.

The basic story is about Katarina Bishop, a regular old boarding student.  Yet - as the story begins she is in the process of getting expelled from school for putting the headmaster's car on top of the fountain in the middle of campus.

But she didn't do it.

The school is her attempt at leaving her crime family and becoming a normal teenager.  And it quickly ends as she is framed for a great prank that her friend Hale actually carried out to get her out of school and back with her family.

Turns out her art heisting dad is being accused of a crime he didn't commit by a madman who will stop at nothing to get his paintings back.

Then the madman contacts Ally and makes a deal with her to let her get the paintings back to save her dad.

Seriously???

A ruthless criminal known around the world by his reputation of killing and mayhem is willing to make a deal with a 15 year old girl.

Seriously???

Oh yeah and she just happens to have a millionaire for a best friend/boy friend.

See the problems?

This may be a hit with the middle school crowd - but I really didn't like it.  Too predictable and too movie like and too...well just too much!

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

I'm not sure this is the best book to break my reading haitus.
I wanted to like it.
I wanted to love it.
I wanted to see the beauty and the elegance in this.
But, instead it felt as prickly as a porcupine - not a hedgehog.

The story takes place in Paris. Renee is the dumpy, invisible conceierge in an upscale apartment building. She is also a closet snob and incredibly intelligent. Her whole theory is that she grew up as a poor, ugly woman and that is what she will remain..no matter what.

The other member in the house is Paloma - a 12 year old who has decided to commit suicide before 13. She believes that the world is a sad and unhopeful place one that she doesn't want to experience as an adult. But, she is also a very intelligent girl who decides to look for hope jsut to mae very sure that she is making the right decision.

The story follows these two women through a period of time. Then a new tenant moves in - Mr. Ozu a Japanese gentleman. Life in the building changes and the circles of these two intersect with Mr. Ozu.

The basic story is appealing and interesting - but there is so much other narrative about art and beauty and intelligence and blah blah blah...clearly I am not a part of the intelligent society.

So - I found myself skimming and scooting hoping for the story to open up and draw me in. Instead I just kept plodding along until it ended. I wanted to like it. I wanted to be in the know...but I've decided this proves that I am really not in the know!

Oh well!!!