It can be difficult to delineate a single genre to some books

I find it difficult to categorize the genre which will fully describe The Thurber Carnival. It is humor with a generous helping of autobiography sprinkled with cartoons. There's short stories such as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty which I mentioned previously. There are also twists on fairytales (of which you know I'm overly fond). It was obvious from the preface that this was going to be an interesting read because Thurber wrote the preface himself in the third person. O_O A contemporary of E.B. White (remember Charlotte's Web), Thurber was a well-known essayist, humorist, and cartoonist of his time (early to mid 20th century) and was one of the leading voices of The New Yorker. He's considered the Mark Twain of the 20th century in fact and I'm sad to say I had never heard his name before I had watched the Ben Stiller film (thanks, Hollywood!). I found the anthology to be quite good but I do caution you all to remember the time it was written in as it's definitely not politically correct (sexism, racism, etc). If you're looking for a quick, fun read that features some rather interesting cartoons this is probably the book for you.

You might remember a few months back when I reviewed a cookbook from the Mystery Writers of America. Well, they've collaborated on something else...a mystery anthology set in Manhattan to celebrate the founding of their organization 70 years ago. The book is titled Manhattan Mayhem and it's a selection of stories from some really fantastic mystery writers such as Mary Higgins Clark, Ben H. Winters, Lee Child, and so many more. I can't wait!!

Well, I'm sure you've all heard of the book I just finished up: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.  It's written exactly like a journal of a young boy complete with cute cartoons.  It was an extremely quick read.  I read it in about an hour and a half today.  If you're looking for something light and funny, this book would definitely deliver.

I volunteer at the American Museum of Natural History and today I dropped by to get a look at the new Spiders Alive! exhibit which I'm going to be working in on Saturdays.  I picked up some label copy to familiarize myself with all of the spiders inside.  I read that on the train back home and if I could put that into a book for you all to read I would.  It was THAT good, ya'll.

Now onto the next delightfully named young adult book: Cut by Patricia McCormick.  Yep I'm pretty sure it's exactly what it sounds like.  I'll be sure to let you know for sure though!

Edit: I finished up Cut and I liked it.  Well, as much as you can like a book that is so painful.  However, it's good for young adults because these are definitely issues that they're facing.  It helps to read a realistic piece that doesn't hold back on sensitive topics.  It makes the reader (if they're going through the same things) feel as if they're not alone.  Well-written and a quick read.  I'd recommend it!