48-Hour Book Challenge: Update #4

My update:
Hours of reading: 11.5
Hours of listening to audiobooks: 2.5
Books finished: 3
Books in progress: 2

Kate's update:
Hours of reading: 9
Books finished: 1
Books in progress: 1

Paulina's list of finished books:
- Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
- Say What? The Weird and Mysterious Journey of the English Language by Gena K. Gorrell
- Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Kate's list of finished books:
- The Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Eyes are starting to get a bit sore now, but I'm still persevering. Kate went to bed an hour ago, but managed another hour-and-a-half of reading. She is near the end of Natale Ghent's No Small Thing now. Needing some instant gratification after Come, Thou Tortoise, I've turned to young-adult books and include below a couple of short reviews.

Fantasy set in the world of Faeries is not really my thing, but I decided to try Lesley Livingston's Wondrous Strange for several reasons. She is a Canadian author that had been recommended to me, the Shakespeare element seemed appealing and the book cover really is gorgeous. (Shallow, I know, but it does have an effect.) The novel is about how 17-year-old Kelley Winslow, understudy for the part of Titania in Midsummer Night's Dream, gets caught in the intrigues and battles of the Otherworld. The story, which is sprinkled with characters, lines from and references to Shakespeare's works, has some predictable moments and limited character development, but it will probably appeal to fantasy fans.

Say What? The Weird and Mysterious Journey of the English Language by Gena K. Gorrell is a non-fiction book that traces the history of English. It presents fun and fascinating facts about the origins of the language and shows many examples of how it has borrowed and adapted from other languages. In addition to describing the history, the book also describes a number of common errors in usage that people make today, and it includes several entertaining quizzes testing your understanding of a word's origins. I would recommend this book for ages 12 and up.