Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

I only finished two books this week because I started and abandoned three. I also had one stolen by the SO that I would have finished. Now I have to wait until he’s done.

It turns out that this week is an all e-book week.

Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson – I was reluctant to read this one. I love the author’s blog but I’m not a huge fan of the books. Since I read the blog I know about her life and the writing of the books so I really want to like them. I tend to like either the beginning or the end of her books.

This book’s main character was introduced in gods in Alabama, a previous book. It isn’t absolutely necessary to have read that but I think I would have been confused if I hadn’t. Rose is told by an airport fortune teller that she needs to kill her abusive husband before he kills her. She ends up going on a cross country quest to find answers to the questions in her life. I had a hard time getting into this book. I probably wouldn’t have kept going if I wasn’t trying so hard to be positive about the book. I liked it from the middle to the end though.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde – This is a re-read for me. This is one of the most creative and unique books that I’ve ever read. I bought the iPad version so I could re-read it since I found myself thinking of it occasionally.

At least 500 years ago Something Happened. Since then people have evolved with constricted and fixed pupils so they can’t see at night. They also can see only one color. The class system in this society is based on your color. There is also a very strict system of rules that can not be broken even if they are highly illogical, like the ban on the manufacture of spoons. Eddie Russet is sent to a frontier town as punishment for trying to improve the system for waiting in lines. Once in this town he starts to see things that shake his faith in the system that he’s been raised to believe is infallible.

This book is a very funny satire. If you like any of Jasper Fforde’s other series – Tuesday Next or Nursery Crimes – you know that he makes up complete worlds that are original and delightful. This is the first in a series but unfortunately it doesn’t look like the next two are scheduled to be published yet. His next book is a new Tuesday Next novel. I’m excited to read that but I really, really want to know what happens now in the Shades of Grey universe!