Books for June

Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
Devilish by Maureen Johnson

Books for May...a little late

Before I Die by Jenny Downham
Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Pop Princess by Rachel Cohn
Peter and the Secret of Rundoon
Escape from the Carival- A Neverland Book
Peter and the Shadow Thieves
by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

April Books

The Nixie's Song (Beyond The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 1) by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
The Last Apprentice: Night of the Soul Stealer by Joseph Delany
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Boy Toy by Barry Lyga

March Books

Here are the books for March!

Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
The Year My Sister Got Lucky by Amiee Friedman
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Pirates by Celia Rees
Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Princess Mia by Meg Cabot
Big Boned by Meg Cabot

February's Books

Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz
Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger
Story of A Girl by Sara Zarr
How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles
Airman Eoin Colfer
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon

Three adult and three teen novels this month, sort of even for once. My return to Koontz after not reading for a while was disappointing even if the story had a dog as a main character. Story of a Girl and How to Ruin A Summer Vacation were basic teen books Girl was a lot more serious and had more depth, Vacation ended quickly and way to easily for the issues it brought up. Airman was a good adventure, I am always a fan of Colfer. And then Gabaldon, just about my favorite author and I was not disappointed.

January Reads

Its just past the middle of February but I am finally getting around to posting my January books.

• Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
• Amazing Grace by Megan Shull
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
• Airhead by Meg Cabot
• Secrets of My Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita
• Horatio's Drive by Ken Burns
• Prison Ship by Paul Dowswell
• 1776 by David McCullough

Thats the list!

Top Ten 2007

So here it is my list of the top ten book I read this year (in no particular order)

Harry Potter: Yes everyone knows it came out, it finished the story and did it well. For those of us who have followed it this far it was a sweet ending to the series and ended how it should.

Dairy Queen: The story of DJ and her life on the farm, her decision to play football at her high school and all the trials of being a teenage girl on a dairy farm and trying to hold it all together.

Gingerbread, Shrimp and Cupcake: Three books here, a short little series about Cyd Charisse starting in high school then beyond. She deals with life, her boyfriend and the challenges of her family in an amusing way that was fun and interesting to read.

Larklight A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space: What a great story this was, a space adventure set in Victorian times, I really enjoyed this tale and look forward to the recently released sequel.

Giver, Messenger and Gathering Blue: Another three pack of books here. These stories have stuck with me even though I read them towards the beginning of the year. There is a lot going on in them and I highly recommend them.

Homefront: This is an excellent period book, it takes place at the start of World War II when the main characters brother goes off to was and here Aunt and Cousin come to live with them from England. This story is a little harsh in a mild way at time but also sweet and shows the growth of the characters and the changes that war forces on people.

December reads

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen is a book I felt was similar to Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, but a gentler version. Annabel is a pretty popular student who has friends and models as well. At the end of the school year something happened and Annabel withdrew from everyone. When she returns to school in the fall she realizes how much her withdrawal has changed things. She meets a new friend, builds some old relationships, learns about her family and in the end the secrets all come out. This was a good book typical of a YA story. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin is about another popular girl who takes a fall down the stairs at school and forgets everything back to sixth grade. Since she has forgotten so much the person she is now is different having not been formed by the events of her teenage years she can not remember. She struggles with all her relationships and learns a lot about herself. I really enjoyed this book and the journey it takes the reader down.

In You, Maybe by Rachel Vail, Josie is a independent strong girl, however once the affections of a popular boy turn to her she changes, suddenly her clothes matter, she worries if her hair is the way he likes, etc... Through the relationship she begins with denial about her feelings then goes for it turning away her friends. Over the week of the relationship very predictable things happen and the ending is figured out very early on. Skybreaker is the sequel to Airborn by Kenneth Opel and picks up the story not too long after we last heard from Matt and Kate. Matt is now at the Academy and Kate presents another adventure, to catch the infamous airship Aurora. This is a great adventure story and was enjoyable to read.

**Forgot one, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. This is the autobiographical of Jon Krakauer offered to journey to the top of Mt. Everest for a story, the trip turned out to be one of the deadliest treks in awhile. The author also peppers the book with historical information about the mountain.

November

November, where did you go, I hardly remember you! I have covered a few of November’s book so let finish them off. Prom Nights From Hell is a compilation of short stories from Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Stephenie Meyer and Lauren Myrade. Each story had something to do with prom, from vampires, to demons, and much more. It was a fun book. Guyaholic by Carolyn Mackler, this is the story of V, who lives with her Grandparents while her flaky mom continues to be flaky. V has some issues from living her Mom’s lifestyle for too long. When she meet the good guy, she makes mistakes and tries to deal with it, on a long road trip to see her Mom she works on figuring things out. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter is the sequel to I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You. The Gallagher Girls is a private girls school which is educating and training top spies. There is a change at school this year though…boys. It seems that there is a school similar to theirs for boys and some of the boys are going to spend some time with the Gallagher girls. Cammie and her friends have to deal with this change as well as her heartbreak and putting their spy skills to use to figure out who is trying to infiltrate the school.

I also managed to read two adult level books in November as well. The first was Loverboy by Michele Jaffe, I have read her teen books but this was the first adult one. As with her other books this one was set primarily in Las Vegas. It deals with FBI agent Imogen Page and her search for the Loverboy serial killer. The second book was Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. This book has been pretty popular and received a lot of press, there is even a movie coming out soon based on the book but from the preview it looks like they may have changed a lot of it. The story takes place in Afghanistan and a young boy Amir and his best friend Hassan. There were parts of this book that shocked me, parts that were sad and parts that were happy. Its sort of a rollercoaster of a book. It is a good book but I probably would not read it for fun again.

As you may have noted in an earlier post I read the book Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, in the past few days the controversy over the book has come to my attention (its all over librarian listservs and blogs!). From what I have read, including this, Philip Pullman is a strong atheist and wrote this series of books to promote his beliefs, sort of the other side of the coin to Chronicles of Narnia. The mission in the books apparently is to eventually kill god. The book is seen by some as anti-Christian, anti-Catholics, etc… I am a little confused though. Philip Pullman was quoted as saying “I don’t profess any religion; I don’t think its possible there is a God…” so if he doesn’t believe why did he write a series of book where the goal is to get to and kill a god that according to his personal beliefs does not exist in the first place? Just a little point I was pondering. I also wonder if the controversy is similar to the Harry Potter issue, a bunch of people who have never read the series but pass judgment on it. I want to withhold my final judgment on the controversy until I read the other two books in the series. Remember this is an award winning book that has previously been sort of acclaimed

Movie Web Site

Wikipedia Entry

Two articles posted from Sarah Krygier, Young Adult Librarian Solano County Library who decided to not hold a program surrounding the movie and books.

Literary Review -Claudia FitzHerbert talks to Philip Pullman

Third Way

Lets get started on November...

So far for November I have three books. First is Avalon High: Coronation Vol.1 this is the first manga book by Meg Cabot. It continues the story where Avalon High left off. It is based on the idea that King Arthur and other influential people from the time are reincarnated into a group of kids in high school, events from the legend are playing out again in modern times. I don’t really read much manga but I did like this volume. River Secrets by Shannon Hale was another nominee for YALSA’s Teen Top Ten. It is the companion story to Goose Girl and Enna Burning but this time follows Razo as he searches in a foreign land to find out who the new burner is. Once again I enjoyed this story and a new perspective on familiar characters.

Finishing October

Let the onslaught continue! To wrap up October… first we will start with Firegirl by Tony Abbott. This book was nominated for YALSA’s Teen Top Ten, it is the story of a boy who attends a private school. One day the teacher announces a new student, turns out she is severely burned over most of her body. The book deals with the boy’s reaction to this new student as well as his response to his classmates and their behavior. Mates, Dates and Cosmic Kisses and Mates, Dates and Inflatable Bras by Cathy Hopkins are from the Mates, Dates… series. The stories switch between three girls who are friends and what they are going through growing up in England. These are some fast reads but good books, however I can see some readers being thrown off by the slang.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green is about a young genius Colin, who feels his IQ peaked when he was younger and now after high school must decide what he wants to do with the rest of his life, oh and by the way he only dates Katherines. The latest Katherine has broken his heart and he and his friend hit the road to see what is out there. Along the way Colin decided to make a mathematical love equation based on his Katherine relationships. Love Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli is Stargirl’s letter to Leo after leaving Arizona for Pennsylvania. Stargirl recounts her year and thought to Leo. This book didn’t get the best reviews after all the praise the first one got, however I really liked it.

September and some October

More books, sorry folks I am still trying to catch up! So we will start off with Pride and Prejudice, most everyone is familiar with the story or has even seen the movie. I liked the book. I also tried to watch the much lauded BBC (with Colin Firth) video version of the movie but honestly it was sooo boring I didn’t make it through. The book is good though and I am glad I read it.

Now for the September books. We will start with The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles. Deborah Wiles has become one of my favorite children’s authors and this book did not disappoint. It is a story of baseball, prejudice, family and life. Next is Jinx by Meg Cabot, Jinx is a girl who is sent from the Midwest to live with her relatives in New York after a problem got out of hand at home. While Jinx is trying to adjust to the City, her new school and her cousins, she makes a startling discovery about her families witch past, another good Meg Cabot story. Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson concludes the three part series of DNA hybrid kids and their battle to bring down those who made and tortured them, all they want is to try and live a normal life, well as normal as can be given they all have wings and can fly. The best book of this series was still the first one, but this one provided many answers that had been asked throughout the series.

Homefront by Doris Gwaltney takes place in rural Virginia, 12 year old Margaret Ann just wants to finally have a room of her own and just when it looks like she is going to get it her cousin arrives from England, having fled the London blitz of WWII. This is a good story and I think realistically tells the story of what happed to families during this War, Margaret Ann goes through the usual jealousy and acceptance of the “outsider” that is typical of this type of book. Lord of the Flies by William Golding is just one of those “classics” you should read, or so I though. What a story, oh my, I listened to the audio version and there were times I just wanted to turn it off. It is an example of what can happen to society with no rules. I am glad I read it but probably wouldn’t go through it again. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray was another interesting book. It was not quite what I had expected but I still liked it, it is much more of a fantasy book than I normally read. A young girls mother is killed and she is sent to live in England from India, while in school there she discovers she has magical powers and can visit another world.

In October (so far…) one of the first books I read was Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer. This book continues the story of Edward the vampire and Bella and Jake the werewolf. I was not too impressed with this book, your really want to knock some sense into Bella for making such stupid choices, plus the agonizing of the choice between Edward and Jake begins to wear a reader down. I will continue to read the series but I hope the next one is better. I saw a movie preview of Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. After reading the book I am not too impressed with the preview but the book was really good. It is the story of Lyra Belacqua who sets out to find out why so many children including her best friend are being kidnapped, the armored bear was my favorite character.

Ok that’s enough for today... but I will continue again soon!

Books update

I decided it was time to catch up here with my readings. Airborn by Kenneth Opel is a book that would appeal to boys. I met the author at one of the ALA events which is why I wanted to read the book, a good story about Matt who lives and works on an airship and has an adventure looking for a mysterious winged creature. Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock continues the story of D.J. her changing relationship with Brian and what she goes through after her brother suffers a major football injury, another good sequel.

Rachel Cohn wrote Gingerbread and Shrimp and now continues the story with Cupcake. The third part of the story continues with Cyd moving in with her brother in New York after graduation and her breakup with Shrimp. Richard Peck writes the quaintest story that I love, Here Lies the Librarian is one of those stories. Set in a small town where the librarian has died under the reference desk clutching cards from the card catalog of course, it is decided that a new librarian must be found. PeeWee, a tomboy meets the four new young librarians arrive they have an impact on her life and the town. Theodora Twist by Melissa Senate is the story of pop princess and emerging bad girl Theodora Twist. When the idea for a reality tv show comes up that will send Theodora back to her small home town to live like a “normal” girl things get a little crazy. The book alternates between Theodora and the girl she is living with Emily. It turns out they have a lot in common and can both learn something from one another.

Enna Burning and Austenland are both by Shannon Hale. Enna Burning is a story that takes place in the same region as several other Hale books. Enna develops the ability to control fire and works to help her friend Princess Isi protect their Country from foreign invaders. Austenland is an adult novel which is about a woman obsessed with Pride and Prejudice, this is affecting her ability to form real relationships. Her deceased relative sends her to Austinland to live out her fantasy and find her Mr Darcy, if she can.

Laurie Halse Anderson has made quite a name for herself as a YA author. Twisted is LHA’s most recent book and tells the story of a young man who does the right thing but is accused and punished anyway. Speak is a fairly well known story of a young girls who has something happen to her and for the most part stops talking. The endings of both these books make it worth going through what can sometimes be hard subject matter.

I will stop here for now on my journey to finally catch up here. I think there are some really great books out there though. The YA genera is really picking up and getting quality writers and stories.

Latest Reads

Here are my latest books, of course right now I am reading Harry Potter. I liked all of these and would recommend them!

The Miner's Daughter by Gretchen Moran Laskas
Storm Runners by T. Jefferson Parker
Powder Monkey by Paul Dowswell
Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress by Tina Ferraro
I Heard That Song Before by Mary Higgins Clark

More Books!

Amazingly I have been getting some reading done recently, I know I am shocked too! First off is Larklight by Philip Reeve. Victorian space adventure...need I say more. It was a great book and I hear there is a sequel coming which should be fun. Next is Shrimp by Rachel Cohn, the sequel to Gingerbread, I enjoyed this book as much as the first. Lastly is Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot, again I seem to like all of her books and again this was a good one.

As for me I am learning more and more on my new job. Also preparing for my first ALA Conference in my old home Washington DC. I cant wait to get back and have a look around, not to mention I am finally going to the BIG conference. I will be sure to post all about it.

So far in May...

On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck
Blood Red Horse by K.M. Grant
The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane by Joseph Delaney

I have not had as much time to read, its no longer part of my job each month, so mostly my reading had been done audio. I of course lived the Richard Peck, is stuff is always great.

April Books

So this is my desperate attempt to catch up with the book I have been reading. I am scaling back the pictures/descriptions since I dont need to keep track of them as much anymore with the change in scope of my job.

Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn
Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley
Cupid by Julius Lester
Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky
Kiki Strike:Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller


Yup its that short!

March books...

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

New Moon is the sequel to last years Twilight. It continues the story of Bella and her relationship with the vampire family the Cullens, particularly Edward. To keep Bella safe after an accident threatens her life Edward and the rest of the family leave. Bella has to deal with this heartbreaking lose, eventually she goes to Jacob but soon has concerns that he may be drawn into a local "cult". The story is good but does not dwell on the vampire issue as much as the last one and the new relationship away from Edward was refreshing.



Forever in Blue: Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares

The fourth and final book in the Traveling Pants series is a good conclusion to the story. It follows the four girls as their lives become even more separate and the find their own paths. The girls face more adult issues such as a pregnancy scare and an almost adulterous encounter. In the end the pants are lost and the girls discover that they have learned what they needed to from the pants and are ready to live their lives without the pants but with each other there to keep them strong.




Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

D.J. is a sixteen year old girl who is running her family farm. After her fathers accident he has not been able to do the work so it is up to D.J. and her younger brother to keep things going. A local football coach ends up sending one of his players over to help out and D.J. ends up working with him on the farm as well as training him for the upcoming football season, in secret. Having grown up with two football star older brothers D.J. knows what she is doing. However she finds that playing football bring something to her life that has been missing. She gets the idea that she should try out for her high school football team, much to the shock of her friends and family. For D.J. football does not solve all of her problems but it makes many things better and opens doors.

Alpha Dog by Jennifer Ziegler

This book won me over just by the title. It is the story of Katie, a sixteen year old girl who has an overbearing mother and was just dumped but her boyfriend on her birthday. Lucky for her she has already signed up for a summer school program at a college in Austin, maybe this will give her the chance to start over. Katie moves into her apartment with her ultra cool roommate. Things are not quite working out as she expected when she visits a shelter and adopts an adorable dog. Her dog turns out to be psychotic and gets Katie into all sorts of situations. Katie takes her dog to obedience classes and learns that she need to become the alpha dog not only to her dog but in her life. A good fun book.

Small Steps by Louis Sachar

A follow up story to the award winning Holes, we pick up the story of Armpit who is trying to get his life back on track since his time spent at Camp Greenlake. He is going to school and working to saving money. His friend X-ray shows up with a plan to make some quick money with an investment from Armpit. Their ticket scalping plan soon gets out of hand and takes Armpit to places he never expected to go such as meeting the famous singer whose tickets they were selling, traveling to California and making new friends.



Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

The classic story of a magical nanny who comes to four children in England and changes their lives. Mary Poppins takes the children on special adventures and teaches them many thing. If you expect the book to be like the Disney movie, don't, while the basis is the same Mary is not as sweet as she is in the movie and there are many other differences. It was a decent book but not one that I would read to or recommend to children.

February summary

As you can see I have done quite a bit of reading this month. I have also added some crafts I have been working on, not too many though since I am working on the much bigger project of finishing a wooden dining room set my mother got a Christmas. Needless to say it is a massive job. My quilt I mentioned in an earlier post has come home to me and looks great! I already have another one from my AmeriCorps days ready to send off. Anyway here is the last book from February.

Midnight For Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo

It would be very hard to not draw the connections between the plot of this book and Harry Potter. However it was an ok book. Charlie Bone lives with some members of his family and discovers he has a special ability to hear what people are saying when he looks at a picture. He is then sent off to a special school for those endowed like him. A mysterious plot is soon uncovered and Charlie along with his two friends end up solving the problems and saving the day. There are several other books in this series, but I have not gotten to them yet and they are fairly low on my priority list.