Thursday, May 25, 2006

E.L. Konigsburg

The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place (2004) is in the book fair, so I picked it up. It was okay, but I don't think I will buy it. I can't think of any students who want to read about a girl staying with her quirky uncles and trying to save the folk art towers in their back yard from destruction. I must also say that it's been long enough since I've read Silent to the Bone (2000) that I didn't get why this is a companion book. They both took place in Boston? Oh, well.

That being said, I loved From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967). Who wouldn't want to run away and live in a museum? Didn't hurt to have Lauren Bacall in the movie version, either.

That said, I'm not a big Konigsberg fan. A View From Saturday (1996) didn't resonate with me, although it was better than some of the early stuff like Father's Arcane Daughter or The B'nai Bagels, or even The Dragon in the Ghetto Caper.

I guess if I could write even one good book, that would be an accomplishment. But I didn't have a lot of fun reading through the shelf of her work.

No comments:

Post a Comment