Ah, two Agatha Cristie fans! My dad loves her books. 

Hi! I'm currently reading the City Spies series by James Ponti, the Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera, the Magician by Michael Scott, and I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys. 

No spoilers, I'm really into these books right now, although I have a bad habit of reading multiple at the same time... I just have so much to read over break!! :D

I've just been reading two plays by Henrik Ibsen - A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler. A Doll's House was kind of nice, but I thought part of the ending was very unrealistic. I don't think Ibsen understood women, particularly mothers. Still, both plays are entertaining to read.

As for Gaudy Night, which as you may remember, I was reading earlier -  I take back what I said. It gets much more interesting toward the end, and the amount of detail actually makes it seem more like you're living in the book.

@Hex, I think it's great that you're reading War and Peace! That's one of the books which I feel like I should read, but I don't know if I'll ever have the time.

I am now reading The 48 by Donna Hosie and Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements. The 48 is a scifi book about time traveling assasins who visit Henry VIII's court. It will never be the same again. The 48 is told from multiple viewpoints. Things Not Seen I'm kind of reading for school. My literature teacher assigned that over break we have to read a book (that she will read too) and then we meet for about an hour over Zoom to discuss it. I looked around the library and it seemed like a cool book so that's the one I picked. It's about a 15-year-old boy who turns invisible. I haven't gotten very far through it so I guess I might give and update when I read more. 

@Hex you inspired me to start reading classic books to say I read them. I started reading the first book of The Lord Of The Rings. Even my literature teacher, who told us to read the hobbit, has said that she has steered away from reading it because Tolkein takes up entire chapters with descriptions. "There's only so much you can do to describe a tree." 

update: I've finished Skyward and Neverwhere, and now I'm reading Pride and Prejudice, and I also read An Emotion of Great Delight. Jane Austen is a lot more interesting than I thought she would be, but unfortunately Pride and Prejudice is so famous I already knew what happened before I started reading it. but Elizabeth is pretty cool. An Emotion of Great Delight, which is by Tahereh Mafi, was pretty good, but I had some trouble figuring out what was going on, since it kept switching back and forth between two time periods. well-written, though.

Well. I have just made a WONDERFFUL book discovery, and the amazing thing is that this book is so little-known.

Frances Hodgson Burnett, as is generally known, wrote The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, and those books are pretty good. But I discovered that she also wrote another book, The Head of the House of Coombe. I think it was one of her latest novels. And it's so good!! Better than A Little Princess, if you ask me. It has wondefully drawn characters; you care about them and they're all interesting and very deep, like real people. The heroine is really nice, like someone you would like to know. As for the plot, it's a little slow at first, but it gets awfully exciting pretty soon, and eventually it gets all mixed up with spying and international intrigue and whatnot :) At the point I'm up to, Robin (the main character) gets into a TeRrIbLe position... I actually skipped several pages to see how she would get out of it. 

The book is also beautifully written, in that the style makes it really absorbing and just a joy to read. I would completely recommend it! (Although I haven't read the end yet, so I don't know if it ends well or badly... I kind of want to save the rest of it.)

Sorry for going on and on, I just love this book :)

Right now I'm reading Merci Suárez Changes Gears, which is the 3rd book in the Merci Suárez series. It's very fun and chill so far, the kind of book you just can relax with.

Also, short rant: the first book in the series (which won the Newbery) had a really nice cover; I think it was done in pastel. It had nice colors, and depth, and looked fun but not little kiddish. Then, and I don't know why this happens but I think it's evil publisher tactics, the artist switched! So the rest of the books are done in this sort of lazy digital art style--and don't get me wrong, digital art can be really cool, but it kind of looked like it was done in 20 minutes by someone who didn't know how to use the drawing app very well. And then the artist changed AGAIN, and now all the characters' faces give uncanny valley vibes (which is not pleasant). Anyway. Long story short, one of my main pet peeves is when book series' cover artists change mid-series. It drives me nuts. But the books are good despite the bad covers.