Last Olympian and Beyond the Grave

I finished The Last Olympian. It was an enjoyable, satisfying ending. There's plenty of room for Riordan to bring back the series if he so desires. I can't imagine that those five books are going to satisfy the fans of the series, but we'll see.

I also read the newest 39 Clues: Beyond the Grave. It was much stronger than the last two books and I really enjoyed it. I do have an affinity to the topic of Egypt, so perhaps that is why it struck me as so interesting. But I do think that it was better paced and had a stronger storyline than the last one. There are glimpses of real heart in characters we maybe weren't expecting. I'm very intrigued to see how this series is going to progress. Just how are we going to end up with 39 Clues in 10 books? We have about a year left to find out!

I also picked up The Composer is Dead by Lemony Snicket. For some reason, my book company said the publisher was out of stock indefinitely, but I had been seeing it on the shelves in the stores. So I bought it at a book store. I sort of wish I had read it first. While I think the way the information about each instrument is presented is neat and enjoyable the message in the last several pages just kills the whole book for me. I guess for a children's book I would prefer a message about enjoying playing music even if you are not very good. This seemed to say that butchering music is not o.k. (even though we have to put up with it to get to good music). I'm not quite sure....I was left pretty underwhelmed by it.

I still have several state awards books to read, so look for more updates soon!