The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

It is that time again to start thinking about reading for the Battle of the Books (BOB). The competition will be in May. We will be forming groups at Los Cerros soon. The first book I read for Battle of the Books (BOB) is The Thief. I will review other books for BOB as I read them. See the complete list of books at the end of this blog.

My first thought about this book was Aladdin as a thief set in Greece. However, the more I read, I realized this story setting was more European than set in one of the Arabian countries. After reading the author notes at the end, I found that I was kind of right. The setting is in an alternate universe, but similar in geography to Greece. Some of the areas are very dry and arid, while others lands are more cultivatable.

The main character, or thief, isn't what he seems and the story is full of twists and turns involving Gen. The story contains its own mythological stories shared by Gen and magus on their trip to steal and artifact from a neighboring country. The artifact is rumored to have magical powers and is a gift from the gods. Gen has boasted that he is the best thief ever, is he?

For me this was a great story and I may read the entire series, because I found it that good. I rarely will read an entire series unless I really enjoyed the first book. Other series I have not been able to stop is Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Keys to the Kingdom, Bloody Jack, Sabriel series, and a few others. Ask me about them if you are interested!

Battle of the Books Titles
Mystery:
The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Sci Fi/Fantasy:

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Vampire High by Douglas Rees
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel


Historical Fiction:
Blood on the River: James Town 1607 by Elisa Carbone


Realistic Fiction:

Notes from the Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick
Alabama Moon by Watt Key
Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass

A Crooked kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

"A piano is glamorous, sophisticated, worldly. Is is a wonderful thing to play the piano." Unfortunately, Zoe Elias doesn't get to learn to play the piano. Her father buys her a Perfectone D-60. An organ!

Zoe really wants to fit in and be part of the "in" crowd. Her best friend is becoming part of the in crowd and has begun to ignore and avoid her. The "in" crowd plays piano not organ.

But, she finds a new friend in Wheeler Diggs. She sees him as some one who comes over every day to hang out with her agoraphobic dad and eat. In fact it was her dad who accidentally buys her the organ, instead of a piano.
Her mother works constantly as the controller for the the State of Michigan. Her mother wants Zoe's dad to help out more, but he mostly takes classes at Living Room University. Wheeler begins to work with her dad on his courses. For her 11th birthday Wheeler helps make a piano out of marzipan for the cake Zoe's dad bakes.

She continues to obsess about pianos, however, she begins to find that she actually enjoys playing the organ. The climax of the story is when she enters a competition at the urging of her organ teacher. Her future as a piano and organ player, as well as, her family's future is decided during the competition.