The best thing about the end of May (aside from school being out) is June coming, and the 48 Hour Book Challenge. Mother Reader has passed the reins of the challenge over to Ms. Yingling (to whom I’m eternally grateful; I’ve always looked forward to this as a way to knock a whole bunch of books off my TBR pile). It starts next Friday, June 7th. Be ready. I know I am.

My favorite for the month was, hands down, Eleanor & Park. I think that book is one that will stay with me for a long, long time.

Eleanor & Park

And the rest are…

YA:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Icons

An Abundance of Katherines (audio) (reread)

School Spirits

Middle Grade:

The Different Girl

Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green

The Fire Horse Girl

The Reluctant Assassin (W.A.R.P. #1)

Adult:

The Castle of Otranto (audio)

One for the Money

Where’d You Go Bernadette

What did you read that you really liked this month?

This month, while I read quite a few really good books, there was only one great one. No question.

Dark Triumph

And the rest?

Non-fiction:

Eighty Days

Priceless

What Would Barbara Do?

YA:

Panic (DNF)

Shadow and Bone

Adult:

Fragile Things (audio book)

The Lost Art of Mixing

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

Unchangeable Spots of Leopards

Middle Grade:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (audio) (reread)

The Black Cauldron (audio)

Rump

Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made

What was good that you’ve read this month?

Happy Easter! May you all be enjoying lovely spring days, and family, and lots of time to read!

And now for the March round-up…. I read quite a few excellent books this month, at least four of which I could have picked. But I think that my absolute favorite this month was:

Giants Beware! for spunk, heart, and pure awesomeness.

The rest:

YA:

The Madness Underneath

No Crystal Stair

Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl

Tokyo Heist

Tiger Lily

Prophecy

Audiobook:

Pride and Prejudice

Madame Bovary (DNF)

Middle Grade:

Eva of the Farm

Looking for Me

Jinx

The Runaway King

A Tangle of Knots

Non-fiction:

Temple Grandin

Graphic Novel:

Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy

Adult Fiction:

Tell the Wolves I’m Home

 What great books did you read this month??

The problem with February is that the end comes up a lot more quickly than you think. March? Already?? The good thing about February is that it means, generally speaking around here, that winter is just about over. Hooray for that!

My favorite this month:

Perfect Scoundrels

Scarlet floored me, Just One Day had me dreaming of Paris, Out of the Easy enthralled me, but a girl has to go with her crush. You can’t say I’m not loyal. Hale. *swoon* It helps that it’s a really good book, too!

The others read this month:

YA:

The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door

Out of the Easy

Paper Valentine

Just One Day

Etiquette & Espionage  (DNF)

Scarlet

Son

Audio book:

To Kill a Mockingbird

Middle Grade:

Almost Home

Number the Stars

The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket (DNF)

Case File 13: Zombie Kid

Twelve Kinds of Ice

Adult Fiction:

Big Boned

What were your favorite reads this month?

It’s a new month, a new year, and I can tell I’m burned out on middle grade fantasy, because I didn’t read a single one this month (unless you count Amulet, which is a graphic novel)!

My favorite?

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake

 For the setting, the thoughtfulness, the characters, and because Ras scared the crap out of me.

The rest…

Middle Grade:

Navigating Early

The Second Life of Abigail Walker

Non-Fiction:

A Jane Austen Education

Bomb

The Book of Mormon Girl

Graphic Novels:

Teen Boat

Amulet: Prince of the Elves

YA:

Level 2

Anna Dressed in Blood

What were some of your favorites this month?

As we come to the end of another year, I think I should be thinking about goals. What I want to accomplish, what I want to change. But honestly? I’m not sure I have it in me to change much. As always, I need to be more involved in the community, but between reading (I suppose I could cut back on that?), working, and being mom, something had to give.

That said, I do miss the community, and I will try harder.

My favorite this month?

Hands down, Days of Blood & Starlight. I adore Laini’s writing and this one was no exception. (For the record, The Raven Boys is a close second.)

Middle Grade (or the last of this year’s Cybils books):

The Cabinet of Earths

Darkbeast

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There

The Icarus Project

Iron Hearted Violet

Keeper of the Lost Cities

Nanny Piggins and the Wicked Plan

Ordinary Magic

The Prairie Thief

The Prince Who Fell From the Sky

Small Medium at Large

Starry River of the Sky

The Storm Makers

The Seven Tales of Trinket

Wings of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy

Signed by Zelda

Burning Blue

The Raven Boys

Under My Hat

Non-fiction:

Cool Dead People

Audiobook:

In the Garden of the Beasts

Size 14 is Not Fat Either

And tomorrow: the best of post!

It’s coming to the end of the year, and I’m mulling around my final best-of post. Thinking about what’s on my top 10 list for work. Just wondering, of all that I’ve read this year, what’s going to bubble to the top… I suppose I’ll have to work on that before the end of next month.  ALSO: you have one more day to enter my blogiversary giveaway. Go. Now. (But come back and read the rest of the post, okay?)

The top of the pile this month? I read a LOT of good stuff (and some not-so-good stuff), but I think this one moved me most:

Behind the Beautiful Forevers

A fascinating, moving, thoughtful look on poverty and globalism. A must read.

As for the rest:

Middle Grade:

Beswitched

Caught

The Cup and the Crown

Deadly Pink

The Drowned Vault

Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities

In a Glass Grimmly

Gustav Gloom and the People Taker

Margaret and the Moth Tree

The One and Only Ivan

Splendors and Glooms

The Wednesdays

Anne of Green Gables

Mr. Terupt Falls Again

YA:

The Crown of Embers

Jepp, Who Defied the Stars

Railsea

 Adult fiction:

Brave New World

Audiobook:

Clara and Mr. Tiffany (DNF)

What was your favorite book this month?

Happy Halloween!!! You really want to see a picture of what I dressed up as for last night’s church party, right?

Okay, then:

Amy, from Big Bang Theory. If you didn’t guess. (A’s the one photo bombing me in the back. She’s Lady Gaga, because it’s “the scariest thing I could think of”.) The girls said, “Mom, you look a LOT like Amy.” Um, thanks??

As it is Cybils season, I’m knee-deep in Middle Grade Fantasy. Not as much as next month’s, though. I can already tell you that there will be a LOT more coming this way. (Nearly 150 nominated books to get through! Woot!) (I’m at 31. I need several more hours in the day.)

My favorite book this month?

The Peculiar

Seriously. It may just be me, but I adored this fairy/steampunk world.

And the rest….

Middle Grade: 

3 Below

Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The Chronicles of Egg: Deadweather and Sunrise

Circus Galacticus

The False Prince

Goblin Secrets

Renegade Magic

The Spindlers

Wildwood

 YA:

Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip

Steampunk!

Vessel

Graphic Novel:

Legends of Zita the Spacegirl

Adult fiction:

Evil Knievel Days

Frozen Heat

Sutton

Audiobook/Nonfiction:

Home

 Onward and upward! What was your favorite read this month?

As of Right Now, I am in New Jersey, hanging out with a very dear friend, coming down from the high that was KidLitCon yesterday. There will be a post on that; just let me get back to Kansas first. (There’s no place like home?)

My favorite from this month’s reading??

Every Day

The only person who does John Green as well as John Green is David Levithan. Beautiful.

There were a couple of close runners-up; it was a grand reading month

The rest of the rest (heavy on the middle grade books, as usual)…

Middle Grade:

The Last Dragonslayer

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

The Hundred Dresses

Liar & Spy

Palace of Stone

What Came from the Stars

 YA:

Cold Fury

Unspoken

Adult:

Audiobook:

Non-fiction:

And school is upon us. The quiet in the house, the busyness of the evenings, the TIME TO READ.

You can tell we were on vacation by the number of books I got through this month!

(Oh, and don’t forget: today’s the last day to apply to be a Cybils judge. Nominations open up in one month!)

My favorite this month:

Froi of the Exiles

Much like Finnikin of the Rock, this one blew me away. I really ought to read more of Melina’s other stuff.

And the rest…

Middle grade:

Ghost Knight

Wonder

Tuck Everlasting

Audiobooks:

Encyclopedia Brown Gets His Man

Prince Caspian

Adult:

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend

Second Thyme Around

YA:

Dust Girl

The Cry of the Icemark

The YAckers managed to take this one apart as well. 

What were your favorite reads this month? Anything I should stick on my new “I want to read” Pinterest board?