I have read a bit more than this, but several aren’t due out until March, so I’ve scheduled the reviews then, and then I’m knee-deep in discussions for the Cybils award, and I’m not going to publish the reviews of those books until after the winner is announced (on February 14th). So, out of what I reviewed this month this was my favorite:

The House of Silk

There are other important books and fun books and just good books, but it’s the Sherlock Holmes mystery that truly captured my imagination.

As for the rest:

Middle Grade

Absolutely Almost

Dory Fantasmagory

Dory and the Real True Friend

The Map to Everywhere

Stella By Starlight

YA:

All the Bright Places

Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future

The Testing

Adult:

The Bishop’s Wife

Fables for Our Time

Nonfiction:

Just Mercy

Yes Please (audiobook)

What were some of your favorites this month?

I always feel like the December wrap-up gets a little short-shrifted, with the best-of post coming at the True End of the year. Even so, I read some books this month. And I should round them up.

My favorite?

The Greenglass House

I didn’t expect to like this one, but it’s stayed with me. A delightful story.

And the rest..

Adult Fiction

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Dear Committee Members

Joyland (DNF) (audio)

Middle Grade

Arcady’s Goal

The Grimjinx Rebellion

The Madman of Piney Woods

Ms. Rapscott’s Girls

Sugar

The Terrible Two

Graphic Novels

In Real Life

I Remember Beruit

Non-Fiction

The Art of Asking (audiobook)

YA

Mosquitoland

Obsidian Mirror

That’s it for me for this year. Stay tuned tomorrow for my 2014 round up!

Ah, November is over. I don’t know where the month went. (I say that a lot, don’t I?) But somehow between all the days — it was a better month for me — the month flew by. I did manage to get a lot read, which helped me fall out of a slump. The other thing that helped with the slump was discovering Serial. A story told over the course of  40-minute podcasts, one a week, it details reporter Sarah Koenig’s investigation into a 1999 murder of a 17 year old girl, Hae. It’s not only a fascinating story to listen to (and one I have become a bit obsessive about), it’s a fantastic bit of reporting. Seriously. Check it out, if you already hadn’t.

My favorite book this month:

Poisoned Apples

I loved this book. Seriously.

As for the rest….

Non-Fiction

Food, a Love Story (audio)

Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography (audio)

Rethinking Normal

Some Assembly Required (DNF)

Stiff (audio)

YA:

The Cure for Dreaming

Egg & Spoon

I’ll Give You the Sun

Mortal Heart

Unmade

Vivian Apple at the End of the World

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass

Middle Grade

The Blood of Olympus

Brown Girl Dreaming

Rain Reign

Thursdays With the Crown

Graphic Novels

Hidden

The Monster on the Hill

Odd Duck

What were your favorites this month?

Happy Halloween!! And as a treat, I give you our family pumpkins:

I like them all, but my favorite is the one 8-year-old K carved herself (on the right). Here it is by daylight:

Cracks. Me. Up.

As for reading, I read (and reread) a ton this month. But, hands down (WHY CAN’T I SELL THESE? *shakes fist*) my favorite was this:

Blue Lily, Lily Blue

So good. SOOOO good.

As for the rest:

Middle Grade

I Kill the Mockingbird

The Iron Trial

Minion

The Princess in Black

YA

Chasing Power

The Infinite Sea

Skink: No Surrender

Graphic Novel

Drama

Sisters

Smile

Nonfiction

Port Chicago 50

Adult

A Beautiful Blue Death

Dollbaby

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (audio)

Raging Heat

What were your favorites this month?

First things first! The Cybils nominations open at MIDINIGHT, pacific time. (Which is about 2 a.m. here. Is it bad that I’m hoping for a bout of insomnia?) Anyone is welcome to nominate their favorite book in our categories…. in fact the more nominations, the better! (I’m not a Round 1 judge this year, so I can say that.) You have your list ready?? I do! (And back-ups for my back-ups, in case my favorite books are already nominated.) Not sure what to nominate? Check out the category descriptions. I’m sure you’ve read one book that was published this past year that you’d like to nominate.

As for my reading this month, my favorite, hands down (which is eligible for nomination, by the way), no questions:

The Whispering Skull

SO good. Soooo good.

And the rest (all the kids stuff is eligible to nominate. I’m being nice and sharing.)….

Middle Grade:

The Night Gardner

Rhyme Schemer

YA:

Afterworlds

Belzhar

Chasing Before

Graphic Novel

Amulet: Escape with Lucien

Mr. Pants: It’s Go Time!

Shadow Hero

This One Summer

Non-Fiction

The Boys in the Boat (audiobook)

Gulp

What did you like this month?

The end of yet another month and I didn’t read nearly as much as I wanted to. I did read some really good books this month, though. It was hard to choose. In the end, this was my favorite:

Just Call My Name

It was wonderful. Period.

As for the rest…

Middle Grade:

The Fourteenth Goldfish

Life of Zarf

The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher

YA:

Demon Derby

Isla and the Happily Ever After

Ruin and Rising

Adult:

Landline

The Vacationers

Nonfiction:

Parenting Teens With Love and Logic

What were your favorites this month?

I don’t know about you, but the end of July pretty much marks the end of the summer here in Kansas. The girls go back to school on August 12th, and while I’ve got my John Green book club through the end of the month (the 3-5th grade one died, unfortunately), my responsibilities at work are kind of pulling back. Though I’ve got a project in the works that hopefully will be Fun and a lot of people will want to participate. More later.

Anyway, I spent a lot of time watching movies — both Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings with A; Say Anything with C; Howl’s Moving Castle with K; Godzilla with Hubby — and a lot of time at the pool, so I didn’t get much reading done. I am thinking, though, that I’m due for a good dose of non-fiction. Maybe as the weather starts cooling off..

I didn’t really have a strong favorite this month, but I did thoroughly enjoy this one:

The Glass Sentence

 it really was a wonderful world and a gripping story (once it got going; it really is slow to start).

As for the rest:

Middle Grade

A Horse Called Hero

Loot: How to Steal a Fortune

Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective: The Case of the Time Capsule Bandit (audio)

The House of Pooh (audio)

Adult:

The Lost

YA:

The Bitter Kingdom

Keeping the Castle (audio)

The Summer Prince

I read two John Green books, but I didn’t feel a need to re-review them.

Graphic Novel:

Cleopatra in Space

Non-Fiction:

The End of Your Life Book Club

What were your favorites this month?

I really did mean to get this up this morning, but things just didn’t work out that way. Instead, I’m in a hotel in Billings, Montana (where the population of cows outweigh that of people), trying to get it up before bed. I reread a few this month and didn’t write reviews of a couple of them; I felt like I didn’t have anything new to say.

My favorite this month was, because it was just so much fun:

The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw

As for the rest:

MG:

My Basmati Bat Mitzvah

The Screaming Staircase

YA:

The City of Heavenly Fire

Conversion

Everything Leads to You

Fat Boy vs. the Cheerleader

The Geography of You and Me

Girl in Reverse

Graceling (reread)

I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister

The Riverman

Will Grayson, Will Grayson (reread)

The Fault in Our Stars (reread)

Graphic Novels:

A Game for Swallows

Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite

Wil &Whit

Adult:

The Chocolate Thief

The Cuckoo’s Calling (audio)

What did you enjoy reading this month?

School is out, summer is pretty much here; I just spent yesterday mowing the lawn and planting the garden, and didn’t get a speck of reading done. Thankfully, next weekend is the 48 Hour Book Challenge, and I’ve been putting together my pile of diverse books to read. I’m also looking forward to a summer of rereading John Green’s books so I can lead our summer book group for teens (and others). (I’m also being dragged — not unwillingly — to The Fault in Our Stars next weekend.) And the YAckers have decided to make a summer project of reading the Graceling series. It’s been too long since I’ve visited those books.

As for this past month, my favorite was:

The Great Greene Heist

I’m not just saying that because we’re in the middle of the #GreatGreeneChallenge at work. I honestly thought the book was a lot of fun.

Middle Grade:

Mouseheart

The Secret Hum of a Daisy

Non-fiction:

Lifesaving Lessons

The World’s Strongest Librarian

Graphic Novels:

Explorer: The Lost Islands

Fairy Tale Comics

Primates

The Return of Zita the Spacegirl

The Lost Boy

Hilda and the Bird Parade

Adult:

So Long a Letter

YA:

All these Things I’ve Done

Dorothy Must Die

Half Bad

The Inventor’s Secret

The Road Home

What were your favorite reads this month?

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek

As for the rest:
Adult:

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry

YA:

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Fangirl

Dreams of Gods and Monsters

Slated

We Were Liars

Reality Boy

MG:

The Shadowhand Covenant

A Snicker of Magic

Under the Egg

Wanderville

Non-fiction:

Dad is Fat

Killing Jesus

What were some of your favorites this month?