4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie

I loved this murder mystery. The conceit is really quite wonderful: a little old lady watches a murder being committed but can't do anything about it because she's on a different train at the time. Although this novel features Miss Marple, she does less solving than usual (Lucy Eylesbarrow taking on much of the legwork) and is actually on the scene, so it feels a little more like a Hercule Poirot mystery than usual. Of course, there's a wonderful, decaying family home, and the usual limited number of suspects scenario. I really enjoyed this mystery.

The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket

The third installment finds the Baudelaire children by Lake Lachrymose. There are still great literary puns to find, and Aunt Josephine is great--she's afraid of everything and a grammar maven to boot.

The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket

This second novel in the Series of Unfortunate Events carries on the promise of the first. Count Olaf shows up again, ruining what looks like a fun trip to Peru and a developing relationship between the Baudelaire orphans and their Uncle Monty. I could see this series getting repetitive, but it's still innovative.

Night Train to Bolina by Nilo Cruz

This play was intriguing. I was interested by the youth of the protagonists and the magical realism. A short read.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

I found this book very enjoyable. Like the Harry Potter books, it is a children's book written with witty jokes and asides enough to entertain adult readers (although at this point, the story is not nearly so complex). The narrative voice is a very smart construct; the author has written a gothic novel in which (almost) nothing good ever happens for children, and the narrator is very self-aware. I also happen to find Sunny Baudelaire, who asserts her personality by biting and in single word phrases (helpfully translated by the narrator), very amusing.

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

I found this collection of short stories rather uneven. Some of the stories, like the title story (also the longest story in the collection) are quite creative returns to classic fairy tales. Others seem to lack direction and leave me feeling sort of muddled. The stories are dark and spooky.

Pudd'nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins by Mark Twain

I found this book highly enjoyable, if troubling in some aspects. There's an over-indulgence in twinning, and the Italian twins (who started as conjoined twins) seem to retain some vestiges of their conjoined past (for some reason they were circus freaks after their parents died). This book explores carefully both race and identity; while the fingerprints bit is gimmicky, it also affirms individual uniqueness. Although Twain shows how circumstances affect the "white" baby (when he regains his place in society, he's unfit to occupy it), he also makes a point of letting the "black" baby's "natural viciousness" come out. I was also struck by the way that the story explores the limits and bounds of a mother's love. Roxana and Pudd'nhead are the most sympathetic characters in the story. Finally, Pudd'nhead's calendar (the aphorisms from which head each chapter) is fantastic.