43: "Ferris" by Kate DiCamillo: | * * * * |
First, you have to understand that I think DiCamillo's "Tale of Despereaux" is the greatest children's book of all time. Despereaux was so impossibly good that even the very, very good movie couldn't do it justice. And after Despereaux, DiCamillo couldn't quite get back to the pinnacle she had reached with her tiny, brave mouse.
Until now.
"Ferris" is an absolutely beautiful book. Where Despereaux was epic and grandiose, Ferris is simply, minimally beautiful and true. The sentences are short. The chapters are short. The dialogue is perfect. The narration is stripped to the absolute fewest words possible that can convey the emotion she's after in any given moment.
And it's all just perfect.
I read it in one sitting, and then gave to my daughter immediately, telling her it was the best children's book I'd read all year. Which was a lie. It's the best children's book I've read in a decade. If you have a child, this is your next bedtime story.
44: "Leopoldstadt" by Stoppard | * * * |
This play by Tom Stoppard has lived on my mental "to-be-read" shelf for a while. I read it at last because the wake of the October 7th has included a rise in public displays of antisemitism, so I thought the moment was ripe for me to read it.
It's Tom Stoppard, so it's very good. However, because it's Tom Stoppard, "very good" feels a bit like a letdown somehow. I have no doubt that it's well-crafted. I suppose in the end, plays are meant to be viewed, and this one would likely be wonderful live — but I found it a bit flat on the page alone.
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