I decided to join a friend in the 2010 book challenge, which means that I need to read 50 books this year. I also decided to combine this with my current blog (this one) and with drawing/painting. So here you see illustrations/alternate covers of the first three books I have read this year.
A little warning: the quality sucks, because I had to use a camera instead of a scanner.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

For a summary of this novel, check
this link.
I liked this book. I'm kind of fed up with the whole WWII theme, but this book is well written, gripping, beautiful and inspiring. I like how it is written from the point of view of a young boy, who doesn't understand it when his mother is cheating on his father or when his sister is so obviously in love. The only thing I didn't like was the end of the book. It was too abrupt. I like the unexpected, don't get me wrong, but this was all so incredibly sudden that it was weird. Still, I do recommend this book to anyone, even those who don't like the theme of WWII.
The Book Thief by Mark Zusak

For a summary of this novel, click
this link.
Though I liked the novel and the concept (despite its WWII theme), I thought that the style of writing was a little too post-modern. Not so much the illustrations, but the way it is written. It is hard to explain. Maybe Death isn't that much of a narrator. I don't know. It has also been a while since I read it, so I apologize. Following posts on the Challenge will be fresh from my memory.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

For a summary of this novel, click
this link.
I really liked this novel, despite its post-modern feel. As with
The Book Thief, I thought that the writing style was sometimes too confusing and too hopscotch. Other than that, however, I really liked the idea of observing how a family copes with the death of a loved one. I also thought it was realistic in the way that it does not go too well and that the parents drift apart. I know a little about the subject (as in, first hand experience) and I am glad that my own parents did not fall into this pit, for my family would have looked so much different then.