He does this to me all the time!

My husband. He does this to me all the time. He buys me books, cheap, that look interesting, things he finds when he is out and about. Usually he does well, finding things I would never have picked up. Then, either to make him feel good about his thoughtfulness, or just because it is the nearest book, one day I will pick up a book he has chosen. Inevitably, it will be a part of a trilogy, or it will be a book that was an ARC and is lacking essential maps, or some silliness as that. Either way I'm hooked and sunk all at once.





The latest trap:

I could tell, he was proud of himself. He knows I enjoy reading YA to preview books for my children, make suggestions to our library director, and because some of them have been very good. He also knows that my heart belongs to the classics. "This is a young-adult book, written in a Dickensian style, it says on the jacket," he tells me with a grin. "I thought you might like it."

I look at it and shrug, thinking to myself, "Probably not Dickensian in style. Probably not something I want to read, it is about a print shop!" But then he looked crestfallen. I had disappointed him. I added the book to my bag, but first managed to read Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Darkside by Beth Fantaskey, and Fang by James Patterson. Then I thought I'd better tackle the book hubbins brought home.

Well, it has some aspects that remind me of Dickens. The feeling of the desperation of London at that time; Dickens was really good at weighing his readers down with the bleakness of it. Bajoria accomplishes that same sense of understanding of the filth of London both figuratively and literally, and the injustice served upon the children who were poor or orphaned. We follow the story of Mog, a 12-year-old printer's apprentice, which is commonly known as a printer's devil.

Mog is a bit too curious and gets tangled up in an intrigue of drugs, criminals, and the London subculture that lurks in the shadows and most would like to ignore. There are many twists and turns which required me to go back and re-read passages to discover a clue I had overlooked or to reacquaint with a character I had dismissed. This story held me captivated. The bravery of Mog never ceased to impress me.

I am sick today, too sick to go into work, and ended up in bed most of the day. When I was not sleeping, I was reading this book. I got to the end...and...was...left...hanging. Darn. He did it to me again. It is part one of a trilogy. I ordered the next book from ILL and now I wait. I recommend reading this one, but having book two waiting before you are done, you will want to pick it up and keep going. I know I wanted to.

It's Monday, what are you reading?

**NOTE TO LIBRARIANS**

I was intrigued enough that I mentioned the book to the librarian who does the purchasing. I looked it up in the catalog to find it is categorized both as J-Fic and as YA within our system. I would maintain the subject matter of working children, child abuse, drugs, murder, and intrigue put this solidly within the YA, and I would go out on a limb and say it could hold its own categorized as Adult Fic.