#13 of The Skyscraper Book Project is
13 Little Blue Envelopes
By Maureen Johnson.
Blurb: Inside little blue envelope 1 are $1,000 and instructions to buy a plane ticket.
In envelope 2 are directions to a specific London flat.
The note in envelope 3 tells Ginny: Find a starving artist.
Because of envelope 4, Ginny and a playwright/thief/ bloke-about-town called Keith go to Scotland together, with somewhat disastrous-though utterly romantic-results. But will she ever see him again?
Everything about Ginny will change this summer, and it's all because of the 13 little blue envelopes.
Date Started: 24th March
Date finished: 28th March
Rating out of 5: three
Why not five?: The book started out interesting and with quality enthusiasm, but as it progressed it slumped. Reading it became a chore and minor spelling mistakes (eg. At the end of a letter Ginny writes, she signs it: "hove Ginny"?) also characters were introduced steeply: I had to figure out who 'Miriam' was myself. At first I thought it was her dairy-as she describes writing in her 'journal' and starting with 'Dear Miriam', but later she e-mails this 'Miriam'. The ending, however was a nice twist.
Who would enjoy this?: readers who enjoy travel stories and European culture.
Was it up to the authors's general standards?: I'm not sure, having never read any of Johnson's other books. To be completely honest, this is a writer I'm not purposely going to look for in a shop or online. Her work left me bored of sorts and not awe-struck, as I like books to leave me. It left no burning desire to read more of her books, is basically what I'm saying.
Was it a quick read?: not really, despite the fast paced, constant moving of setting and introduction of characters, it just took a long time to absorb. I found myself repeatedly re-reading paragraphs, trying to process it, without success.
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