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?

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?