Okay — I read most of these a while ago… take everything with a bit of a grain of salt. Sometimes a bad mood or a bad day can affect how I react to a book. (Thanks to Julie for the Reject Pile idea…)

National Velvet, Enid Bagnold (I found it boring. I tried to like it, I really did.)

The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot (If this can get published, I can get published. It’s terrible. The movie is so much better.)

The White Mountains, John Christopher (It was an interesting premise, but didn’t really hold together well.)

The Witches, Roald Dahl (I liked some of his other books, which were delightfully weird. This one was just weird.)

Eva, Peter Dickenson (A girl wakes up from a coma as a chimp. Enough said.)

Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz (By the time I got to this one, the third in the Alex Rider series, I felt like: “Yawn. How much more can this kid go through? How boring.”)

The Tail of Emily Windsnap, Liz Kessler(A great premise; unfortunately, lousy execution. It’s not that it was bad, it just wasn’t good.)

The Wish, Gail Carson Levine (It was okay… but she seems to be stuck in a rut.)

Roanoke, Sonia Levitin (Okay. I don’t remember why I didn’t like this one.)

Story Girl, L.M. Montgomery (I read this in an attempt to see what her other books are like. Anne of Green Gables is better. This one is interesting, but the ending just falls off and you don’t really get to know or care about the characters.)

Zel, Donna Jo Napoli (Don’t remember exactly why, I just remember being turned off by it.)

Fair Weather, Richard Peck (It was okay; I just like his other book – A Year Down Yonder – better.)

The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, vols 1 and 2), Philip Pullman (His anti-adult, anti-religious positions tuned me off.)

If You Come Softly, Jacqueline Woodson (The only reason this was published was because it was “politically correct”: a Jewish girl falls in love with a black boy. The story itself was uninteresting.)

Dream Soul, Lawrence Yep (I found it uninteresting.)

I love his work. I discovered him a while back, with Mother Tongue, which is a absolutely hilarious and engaging look into the English language. I did read his “companion” book, Made in America, which isn’t nearly as hilarious or engaging, but interesting nonetheless. Anyway, a while after that, I discovered he is a travel writer (or, as I prefer, a “place” writer), which is my favorite kind of non-fiction. I love to read interesting books about people going to interesting places, and he’s both.

I’m a Stranger Here Myself

This book had me rolling in the aisles! It’s funny (hilarious!) and an interesting book to read. Pick this one up and read it, if only for his diatribe on computer spell-checkers and his tax “guide” among other things. And see if he’ll have you wanting to live in New Hampshire, too.

Walk in the Woods

A highly entertaining tale of the author’s determination to walk the Appalachian Trail. Fun to read, even if you’re not a hiking buff.

Lost Country

He was snarky, snide and quite rude at times. I guess you can’t always like everything from one author.

Notes from a Small Island

I didn’t understand it; perhaps if I had any connection to England, it would have been better.

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Not one of his travel books – instead it’s a tome on everything scientific. I’m not sure how much sunk in, but it was fascinating reading.

In a Sunburned Country

A very fun book about his travels in Australia. Made me (almost) want to visit Australia.

I first read about The Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pearce in the Chinaberry catalog (which I love by the way). It sounded like something I’d enjoy: a fantasy-adventure series with a strong heroine as the main character. The four books are small; none of them took very long to read (except I was reading them in December, and it took much longer because I was so busy!). I really enjoyed the first, Alanna: The First Adventure; it was fun, it had a good plot and premise and it clipped right along. The middle two: In the Hand of the Goddess and The Woman Who Rides Like a Man were kind of sluggish. But the last one, Lioness Rampant picked back up and came up with a spectacular ending. I did have a big complaint with the whole series, though (and this will betray my prudishness when it comes to books): I thought sex was way too prevalent for a teen series. It’s not that it was ever graphic (it wasn’t), but just that it was there. The main character, Alanna, loses her virginity at 16, and by the time the series ends she’s had three different lovers. Not that I minded the way Pearce portrayed relationships — I’ve had relationships that mirror the ones Alanna had — it’s just that I minded the way she equated sex with love. Alanna is told by the “Goddess” in the second book to find “love” and the result of that is that she ends up having sex with the Prince whom she “loves”. Not what I would have preferred. But then, I have a big hang up with sex equaling love anyway. I don’t think it should… and the media tend to portay it that way. I want my girls to grow up thinking that love comes first, that love is an outgrowth of friendship and sex is something to be saved for after marriage. On that little point alone, I probably won’t encourage my girls to read this series.

So, upon Russell’s recommendation (he’d read good things about it and thought it sounded fascinating), I read the 800-page tome Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Her whole basis of the book was a Jane Austin world: the mannerisms, the language (even the spelling) of an early-19th Century novel, except with magic. It made for a fascinating premise. In this world, at the beginning, magic has all but disappeared from England. There are “theoretical magicians”: those who study magic, but don’t practice it. Then, magic is dramatically brought back by Mr. Norrell, who has been buying up books on magic and studying them in order to become a practicing magician and bring respectability and use back to magic in England. He is later joined by Jonathan Strange, first as a pupil and then as a rival.

Observations: 1)it’s a lot like the Lord of the Rings in that it’s whole premise is that it’s an “actual” novel from the time, which makes one accept the fantastic more readily. Tolkien wrote an “epic”/”history” that just happened to involve elfs, dwarfs, hobbits and orcs. Clarke wrote a 19th century novel that just happened to be about magic. It wouldn’t have worked if she wrote a novel ABOUT 19th century magic. 2) It’s a really long set up for a really great pay off. There’s 615 pages of background information and general set up for the less than 200 pages of really good storytelling. I almost found it too tedious — there were times I thought about just putting it down, but then something would happen to keep me going. I’m glad I stuck with it. The whole ending is really fabulous. And Clarke didn’t quite neatly tie everything up so there could be a sequel. I just hope it’s not as long!

As one post, it was huge. I thought I’d split it up into two…

1979 — The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin: I have a vague memory of reading this book when I was younger – the “twist” ending felt familiar. I hope I enjoyed it then because I did when I read it this time: it’s a delightful book and a whole lot of fun to read.
1978 — Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson: see my review here.
1976 — The Grey King, Susan Cooper: see my review here.
1973 — Julie of the Wolves, Jean Craighead George: A fascinating little tale about an Eskimo girl who leaves her village and tries to survive in the wilderness. She succeeds and in the process learns to appreciate the “old ways”.
1972 — Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Robert C. O’Brien: A very good book and very reminiscent of Watership Down. Nothing like the Secret of NIMH movie, which isn’t nearly as good as the book.
1969 — The High King, Lloyd Alexander: This is the last book of the Prydian Chronicles. (The others are: The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, and Taran Wanderer) The series is a good fantasy coming-of-age tale; much like Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (though for a younger audience). The tale can get pretty dark — as most tales dealing with good and evil do — but overall, it’s engaging. My favorites were The Black Cauldron and Taran Wanderer; the others were good too, those just happened to resonate with me the most.
1968 — From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg: My 8-year-old daughter absolutely loves this book. It has a fabulous premise: two children run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and manage to live for about a week before they’re “found out”. It’s a fun book about their adventures.
1966 — I, Juan de Pareja, Elizabeth Borton de Trevino: An excellent book about art and slavery and respect.
1963 — A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L’Engle: The series (Including Wind in the Door and Swiftly Tilting Planet) probably should be read as a whole. But, I liked Wrinkle the best – it really is the best written, the best story. Worth reading again and again. (Which I have.)
1962 — The Bronze Bow, Elizabeth George Speare: A wonderful story. There’s really not much more to say about it without giving too much away. It was moving, interesting, intriguing. Story-telling at it’s best.
1961 — The Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O’Dell: He’s a very good historical fiction writer. This one is about a girl who is left alone on an island and her story of survival. Very interesting.
1959 — The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare: I read this one over and over again as a teenager. I still enjoy it, though I prefer the deep resonance of The Bronze Bow now. That said, this one is still a great book about a strong girl.
1954 — …and now Miguel, Joseph Krumgold: An interesting, introspective, little book about learning to grow up. A boy wants to become a man, like his older brothers and his father, and go up to the summer sheep pasture, his idea of a rite of passage. He wishes he could, and his wish comes true, though with a price.
1946 — Strawberry Girl, Lois Lenski: Another one I remember from when I was younger. It’s an interesting portrait of backwoods Florida in the early 1900s and the way one girl survives life.
1938 — The White Stag, Kate Seredy: Essentially a folk tale about Attila the Hun. Kind of odd, kind of interesting. Completely glorifies all the damage and destruction that Attila wreaked upon everyone, which disturbed me. Still, it’s an interestingly told little tale.
1936–Caddie Woodlawn, Carol Ryrie Brink: A year in the life of a red-haired pioneer woman, much in the style of Laura Ingalls. Some fun, and sweet, adventures. A full review is here.
1934 — Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women, Cornelia Megis: I picked this up because I love Little Women, but I didn’t like it. It was so DRY and BORING. (That’s one reason that I rarely read biographies.)
1923 — The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle, Hugh Lofting: Wasn’t terribly thrilled with it. My review is here.

I think it’s good to read the award winners (I probably should branch out and read other awards –I do read the Caldecott winners, but they’re picture books so they won’t show up here). And many of these books I’ve truly enjoyed.

• 2007 — The Higher Power of Lucky, Susan Patron: Liked it. In spite of the whole controversy over the word scrotum. 🙂
  
• 2006 — Criss Cross, Lynne Rae Perkins: Don’t understand why it won the Newbery.
• 2004 — The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo: It was an okay tale of light and dark with people, mice and rats, though it seemed a bit forced to me. It’s much better read aloud. However, I enjoyed Because of Winn-Dixie better.
• 2003 — Crispin: The Cross of Lead, Avi: see my review here.
• 2002 — A Single Shard, Linda Sue Park:A good book about loyalty, doing your duty, and love. Set in 13th-century Korea, it also has interesting information about celadon pottery.
• 2001 — A Year Down Yonder, Richard Peck: A good book about a city girl adjusting to life in a slow country town while living with her grandmother and learning to be independent.
• 2000 — Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis: This one was well worth the award. While it wasn’t as funny as Watsons, it’s still a sweet, well-written, fun coming-of-age story. It also has a nice end note about family history.
• 1999 — Holes, Louis Sachar: see my review here.
• 1998 — Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse: Free-verse poetry about the Dust Bowl in Kansas. I’m not crazy about the free-verse idea; I found it difficult to “get into” the story.
• 1997 — A View From Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg: A really quaint story about kindness, change, cooperation and realizing that you belong.
• 1996 — The Midwife’s Apprentice, Karen Cushman: The best of all the Cushman books I’ve read. I really enjoyed the story as well as the historical details she tends to load into her books.
• 1995 — Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech: I didn’t really like it; thought it was too pretentious for my taste. But it may have been because I was pregnant and battling the flu at the time.
• 1994 — The Giver, Lois Lowry: see my review here.
• 1993 — Missing May, Cynthia Rylant: A very slight book, and infinitely memorable. About a girl and her uncle dealing with the death of her aunt. Very moving.
• 1991 — Maniac Magee, Jerry Spinelli: It’s a good little book about racism, belonging, and a boy’s search for a home.
• 1990 — Number the Stars, Lois Lowry: A compelling story about a Danish family during the Nazi resistance and how they help save their Jewish neighbors. Made me proud to have Danish ancestors. (Though, admittedly, none were there in 1943.)
• 1987 — The Whipping Boy. Sid Fleischman: I found this to be a bit silly. Not “bad”, just really odd.
• 1986 — Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan: A wonderfully sweet book. A girl’s mother has died and her father writes away for a wife. Sarah, from Maine, answers the letter and comes to live with the family in the prairies of the Midwest. The short book deals with Sarah’s acceptance of the family and of life on the prairie, and with the children’s acceptance of Sarah. Delightful.
• 1985 — The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley: see my review here.
• 1983 — Dicey’s Song, Cynthia Voigt: This is really the second in a pair of books. The first is The Homecoming, which I enjoyed more. It’s a good tale of a girl (and her siblings) growing up and finding not only a place to live, but a home.
• 1981 — Jacob Have I Loved, Katherine Paterson: I read this book first when I was about 13 and I came to it from the perspective of an oldest child. I was touched by the story of an elder twin who often feels slighted by the attention to her younger, more talented, more beautiful twin. I read it this time from the perspective of a parent, and got a different story: one of parents who try their best but don’t realize the pain they are inadvertently causing their daughter whom they rely on. An excellent book.