Another month, come and gone (where do they go??). The big news here is that M came back from India. Her first request when getting off the plane? A hamburger.

It’s interesting what you miss when you’re out of the country.

My favorite read this month was a tie. I honestly can’t choose between my adoration for

The Winner’s Curse

and my love for

The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing

both are fantastic. And so I choose not to choose.

As for the rest:

Graphic Novel

March (Book One)

YA:

The Killer’s Cousin (audio)

Landry Park

Middle Grade:

Lord and Lady Bunny — Almost Royalty

Mark of the Dragonfly

Sky Raiders

Will in Scarlet

Non-fiction:

Zealot

What was your favorite read this month?

I think I figured out why I was in a reading slump. Look at my adult titles? So far, this year, I’ve read 9 of them. Which is a quarter of the total I read for the entire year last year. And the year’s not even a quarter done. And I’ve only read 12 middle grade and YA books COMBINED. Now I know: adult books make me grumpy. I’ve been reading MG and YA books for the past week and I’ve been SO much happier.

That said, my favorite last month was:

The Crane Wife

I know it’s an adult book, but it’s Patrick Ness, and I forgive him for that. It really is a charming book.

As for the rest:

Middle Grade:

The Year of Billy Miller

The Westing Game

What the Heart Knows

Jinx’s Magic

Adult:

The Art Forger (audio book)

Cloud Atlas (DNF)

One More Thing (audio book)

Non-fiction:

From Scratch

YA:

Cress

Grasshopper Jungle

The Tyrant’s Daughter

What did you enjoy reading this month?

Happy January! (ugh) I have found myself in the middle of a reading slump. I’m still reading, but in many ways, it feels like I’m doing it because I have to, not because I want to. I’ve always found that it’s better for me to push through these slumps (too many books to read to completely give up!), but that means everything I’ve read is all kind of… meh.

Except for this one, though it was an audiobook, so I don’t know if it counts:

One Summer: America, 1927

As for the rest:

YA:

Allegiant (DNF)

Dangerous

The Impossible Knife of Memory

Graphic novels:

Bluffton

Middle Grade:

Fablehaven

The Last Present

Better Nate than Ever

Adult:

S.

The Importance of Being Ernest

That one was my favorite review this month, though.

The Rosie Project

What was your favorite this month?

Another year gone, another Cybils season ended. My panel is got together (virtually, of course) to decide/finalize our shortlists yesterday.I’m excited; I love this part of the process and we have a great shortlist! Though I think I’m going to take a bit of a break from middle grade fantasy. I have both S. and The Rosie Project on tap right now.

My favorite this month was one of the middle grade ones, but since that’d give away some of our shortlist, I’m going to pick my other favorite:

Just One Year

I’m a sucker for a romance that takes me all over the world.

As for the rest:

Middle Grade:

Beholding Bee

The Garden Princess

How to Catch a Bogle

How I Became a Ghost

The Screaming Staircase

The Lost Heir

Magic Marks the Spot

Parched

The Real Boy

Rose

Sidekicked

Sky Jumpers

What We Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World

The True Blue Scouts of Sugarman Swamp

The Vengekeep Prophecies

The Wells Bequest

The Year of Shadows

YA:

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

Adult:

Absolution by Murder

Longbourn (audio)

Stay tuned for my best of the year post tomorrow and then the Cybils shortlists on Wednesday. And then 2014! Wow. The question is: how long will it take me to remember to write ’14 as the date?

Tomorrow’s December. I know it shouldn’t hit me like a ton of bricks, but I haven’t even started my Christmas Shopping, and Thanksgiving was only two days ago, and I need to come up with a best-of list for the year, and I still have a TON of reading to do for the Cybils. I need a pause button for life. Just for the coming month.

My favorite this month was one of the Cybil books:

The Neptune Project

I thought it was smart, and fun, and a unique take on a dystopian setting. And considering how high a bar I have for dystopian books, that says A LOT.

As for the rest:

MG:

Ghost Hawk

The Ghost Prison

The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two

A Grimm Conclusion

Guys Read: Other Worlds

Hoot

The Lonely Lake Monster

Mickey Price: Journey to Oblivion

The Strangers

YA:

The Boneshaker (audio book)

The Rithmatist

Rose Under Fire

Adult:

Sense & Sensibility (audio book) (reread)

Non-Fiction

Blue Plate Special

I am American (And So Can You) (audio book)

What were your favorites this month?

Happy Halloween!! And because it’s Halloween (and I’m working today), I give you our jack-o-lanterns:

From left: A, K (which I helped with), Hubby, and C

And my favorite book this month (it was hard to choose) was:

Boxers & Saints

I thought about picking Quintana, since I really did love that one, but I decided I’m ALWAYS picking the YA fantasy, and I really did love Boxers & Saints, too.

Next month will be Middle Grade Speculative Fiction heavy. You’ll have to bear with me. Oh, and I cheated a little this month. I reread two books for various book groups, but when I went back and checked my old reviews, I realized I didn’t have anything new to say. So I just linked to the old reviews. Feel free to go back and read them, back when we were actually commenting on blog posts. 😀 Now, for the rest:

YA:

All the Truth That’s in Me

The Beginning of Everything

The Clockwork Scarab (DNF)

Quintana of Charyn

The House of Hades

Middle Grade:

11 Birthdays (reread) (2009 review)

Exile

Flora & Ulysses

Heaven is Paved with Oreos

Adult:

Deadly Heat

The Lowland (audio)

Persuasion (audio)

Non-fiction:

Totto-Chan The Little Girl at the Window (reread) (2008 review)

What were your favorites this month?

I thought I was prepared, and had this all ready to go up this morning. Then I remembered that I got sick over the weekend and spent it vegging rather than doing Blog Work (or much of anything, really). At least I caught it today. As a reminder: CYBILS NOMINATIONS OPEN TOMORROW. Go forth and nominate.

No surprise, my favorite this month was:

The Dream Thieves

It don’t get much better than this, folks.

The rest of the rest

Middle Grade

Hollow Earth

Life of Ty: Penguin Problems

Runt

Treasure Hunters

YA:

Winger

Frozen

The Madman’s Daughter

The Spectacular Now

Adult:

Tara Road (audio)

The Golem and the Jinni

What were your favorites this month?

August is at an end, and I would have gotten this up yesterday, but canning and swimming (it was 100 degrees… finally!) and the laptop being in the shop, which means we’re down to one computer. Again. And while I love my daughters, getting computer time inbetween all their needs is pretty difficult. How am I managing this? Why, we put on Ever After.

Also: on Tuesday, the new covers of the Harry Potter books came out, and I was literally jumping for joy. One of my managers at work was amused and snapped the following to go up on Facebook.

I am such a dork.

There was a lot of good this month, but there were two that stood out. I couldn’t choose between :

Counting by 7s

Read it. Really. It’s charming.

And

The Blue Sword (reread)

It’s an old favorite that holds up to the reread.

And for the rest:

Adult

Northanger Abbey (audio)

Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (audio)

YA:

Clockwork Angel

Clockwork Prince

Clockwork Princess

Confessions of a Hater

City of  Lost Souls

The Running Dream

Non-Fiction:

The Dude and the Zen Master

The Telling Room

Middle Grade:

Anna Was Here

What did you enjoy this past month?

For us, this was the last full month of summer. Hot days (except we’ve gotten a lot of rain down here), boredom kicking in. The girls are at each others’ throats, and I’m tired of trying to come up with chores for them to do.

Good thing school starts in 2 weeks!

My favorite this month, hands down, was

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

I don’t often get a chance to handsell a book from the middle grade section, but I have with this one. I’m that excited by it.

Others read this month…

Graphic Novel:

Blankets

Nonfiction:

Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls (audio)

Mama Makes Up Her Mind

Middle Grade:

The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle

The Sasquatch Escape

Wednesdays at the Tower

The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop (DNF)

YA:

City of Fallen Angels

City of Glass

Dodger

Flicker & Burn

Interworld

Adult:

The Silver Star

What was your favorite July read?

Yet another month gone, and it’s the dog days of summer (at least here in Kansas). I have more this month because of the 48 Hour Book Challenge. But, I realized that between work, the girls being home from school, and a yard and garden to care for (not to mention Master Chef and the rest of White Collar, season 3 to watch), I don’t get much actual reading done. Which doesn’t bode well for the TBR pile…

My favorite book, hands down, was

The 5th Wave

Gritty, intense, and completely awesome. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Other books read this month:

YA:

City of Ashes

City of Bones

The Lucy Variations

OCD, the Dude, and Me

Okay for Now (reread)

Rebel Spirits

Siege and Storm

Middle Grade:

The Apothecary

Doll Bones

Far, Far Away

The Key & the Flame

One for the Murphys

Paperboy

A Wrinkle in Time (audiobook) (reread)

Adult:

Emma (audiobook) (reread)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

And the Mountains Echoed

Graphic Novel:

Bone 1 and 2

Non-fiction:

The Little Way of Ruthie Leming

What was on your best-of list this month?