I finished The Mysterious Benedict Society tonight. I was completely enchanted by it. It was fun to read a YA book with an interesting plot and fascinating and likable characters.

I hesitate to bring up this comparison, because I did not like the Series of Unfortunate Events books much, but The Mysterious Benedict Society is sort of in the same spirit, yet much more smartly executed. The plot is more interesting, the characters are actually lovable, and it ends before it gets annoying – and ends very satisfactory as well. I enjoyed the puzzles throughout the novel; the last one from Mr. Benedict to the reader was especially fun.

Now I’ve just begun The Double Bind. I trust Barnes and Nobles book recommendation series completely, and I’m interested to see what this one is like. Also, its ties to The Great Gatsby fascinate me, I’m interested to see how it fits in. I have a feeling I’m going to desperately want to re-read F. Scott’s best work after I finish this novel. It’s been a while.

Endnotes: Today I found out that MIT offers free online classes (not for credit, of course). No registration is required. This is absolutely the nerdy sort of thing that I adore. I haven’t had a chance to explore this much, but here is the link: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

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