Book Recommendations from Benton

I wound up at work fairly late last night and did not get home until almost 9:00. The house was quiet. I wandered into our bedroom to find Julie and Benton curled up in our bed reading their respective books.

Benton has really gotten into the Children of the Lamp series. It's about 12-year-old fraternal twins -- brother and sister, actually -- who discover that they are "djinn." Meaning, they're genies, basically. Benton read the first book and thought highly enough of it that he wanted someone else to read it. So, I am currently wrapping up the first book while he plows through the second. It's entertaining -- Harry Potter-ish...but more in the vein of mixing some historical facts regarding ancient Egypt and other places with some "explanations" (how they are djinn-induced) of the sorts of things that go bump in the night.

Benton commented that the book he is reading is the sequel to the one I'm reading, which, "must be good, because it says here it was on the New York Times bestseller list." I asked him if he had any idea how many books fall in that category. Not that I know...but I made a comment that there are thousands of books, and just because it sells well doesn't mean it's a great book. Doing what I can to turn him into a cynic as early as possible. It does make me want to browse the list of books that have been on that list and find ones that I think are stinkers. Have any ideas? Add a comment!