Summer’s winding down around here; I just registered half my kids for school and we’ll do the other half on Monday. A couple are nervous about it: change is a scary thing, as is middle school. Even so, I’ll be happy to have a more set routine again (even if it means being busier).

I don’t remember reading this much, though my bingo card supports me in it: I’ve got all but five or six squares left. I don’t know if I’ll finish though: I don’t particularly want to read a biography of someone I dislike. (Partially because I don’t know who I dislike who has a biography out…)

My favorite this month was the lone non-fiction:

Between You & Me

It really was delightful.

As for the rest:

Middle Grade

The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate

The Golden Specific

The Wand and the Sea

YA

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Finding Audrey

Trouble is a Friend of Mine

Adult

Gone With the Wind

The Library at Mount Char (audio book)

The Conference of the Birds

Armada

The Little Paris Bookshop

What was your favorite this month?

Ah, summer! I love you. (I really do.) Swimming, flowers growing, ice cream and watermelon, never having to worry about being cold…

And less time to read, but that’s really okay.

My favorite for the month? Interestingly enough, it’s an adult book. That so very rarely happens.

Uprooted

As for the rest:

Graphic Novel

Dragons Beware!

Avengers: Rage of Ultron

Adult

The Viscount Who Loved Me

YA

The Truth Comission

Spelled

The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak

The Heart of Betrayal

The Wrath and the Dawn

Deadly Design

Magonia

Bone Gap

The Darkest Part of the Forest

Kissing in America

Middle Grade

The Marvels

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer

Non-Fiction

As You Wish (audio book)

Enchanted Air

What was your favorite this month?

It’s the end of May?  When did that happen?? Somehow, summertime is upon us (well, as per schedule; the weather leaves something to be desired, even if it is helping with the drought conditions), as is summer reading. I’ve printed out a copy of the Books on the Nightstand Summer Bingo card, which A saw and wanted her own. So she and I are racing to see who can get a bingo first. K’s signed up for the library’s summer reading program, and I’m getting things in place for summer programs at work (which would be easier if people would respond to emails!).

As for my favorite book? I’ve been dying to share this one with you for MONTHS. I cannot express how much this book is ME.

Circus Mirandus

Seriously. So very much my sort of book.

As for the rest?

YA

Cuckoo Song

An Ember in the Ashes

The Kiss of Deception

Scarlett Undercover

Middle Grade

Bayou Magic

Lost in the Sun

Momo

Moonpenny Island

Smek for President (audio)

The Tapper Twins Go to War

Non-Fictiom

How to Be a Heroine

Adult Fiction

Station Eleven

What was your favorite book this month?

I completely spaced getting this post up yesterday!  I don’t know if that’s the first time it’s happened, but it probably won’t be the last. Life has been super crazy. I still managed to read a bunch…

My favorite this month was

All the Light We Cannot See

It’s really stayed with me in ways that I haven’t expected. Definitely worth the hype.

As for the rest:

YA:

Miss Mayhem

Middle Grade:

Eddie Red, Undercover: Mystery in Mayan Mexico

Crossover

Genuine Sweet

The Island of Dr. Libris

The Return: Disney Lands

The Trap

Willy Maykit in Space

Non-fiction:

I Will Always Write Back

Life from Scratch

Adult:

Trigger Warning

What did you like this month?

It’s the end of March, and here in Kansas (at least) it’s finally spring. My hyacinths are blooming, I actually need to mow the lawn, and I’m finally coming out of my winter-induced depression. (It was worse this year than in the past. Gah.) And what contributed to this happiness was the knowledge that I can now share the new Penderwicks book with you. If you haven’t read them, DO. So, so wonderful.

The Penderwicks in Spring

As for the rest, I read:

Middle Grade:

Fish in a Tree

Mark of the Thief

Monstrous

The Red Butterfly

YA:

Gabi a Girl in Pieces

Rebel Belle

The Red Queen

Shadow Scale

The Winner’s Crime

Non-fiction

Small Victories (audio book)

Adult:

The Calligrapher’s Daughter

Funny Girl (audio book)

Graphic Novel

Ms. Marvel, Volume 1

What was your favorite this month?

It snowed yesterday, which is why this post didn’t go up. That, and it was a super busy month for me between work and getting the Cybils blog set for the summer, which means blogging got pushed to the bottom of the pile. I do miss blogging, and being able to comment and read everyone’s blogs — I do skim — hopefully March will be a better month for that.

I did still find time to read books, and my favorite book this month was this:

The Shadow Cabinet

I was SUPER excited the other day when I actually HAND SOLD the first in the series TO A TEEN. Seriously. I did a happy dance. Not enough people read Maureen.

As for the rest:

Graphic Novels

El Deafo

YA

Fairest

I Was Here

The Slanted Worlds

Middle Grade

Boys of Blur

The Castle Behind Thorns

The Forgotten Sisters

The Luck Uglies

The Swallow

The Jupiter Pirates: Hunt for the Hydra

Nuts to You

Did you read anything fantastic this month?

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?