I found the perfect antidote for long and disappointing adult novels: great little works of youth fiction. In any other circumstance, I probably would have decided this little book by Lloyd Alexander wasn’t really that great, but in this case it was exactly what I needed. It was short, plot-driven, full of adventure and thankfully lacking in the language and sex departments. It had a great, strong, fun heroine. And it was an amusing little tale. Not a deep or profound book by any means. But, enjoyable.

And maybe I’ll even be willing to try some adult fiction again. I was feeling adventurous at the library on Friday — I picked up a Phillipa Gregory historical fiction novel and the Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies. The hard part now is figuring out which one to read first.