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?

Ah, the end of July. It’s blinking hot outside, I’m more than ready for the girls to go back to school (two weeks!), and we decide this is a good time to go on vacation. I’ve got a couple of posts scheduled for when I’m away, but your regularly scheduled programming will commence on August 13th (which also happens to be my dad’s birthday and my 19th anniversary. Wow!). Enjoy the last bit of summer while you can, right?

As for July, my favorite, hands down was:

Code Name Verity

Middle Grade (I had a very middle-grade heavy month, didn’t I?):

The Book of Three

Breaking Stalin’s Nose

Fake Mustache

The Second Spy

Spellbound

Time Snatchers

The Unseen Guest

Adult:

Shadow of Night

The Sherlockian

Graphic novel:

Stickman Odyssey: An Epic Doodle

YA:

Gilt

Nonfiction:

The Spice Necklace

Didn’t finish: 

Throne of Glass (DNF)

And… the YAckers attacked this month:

Throne of Glass
Daughter of Smoke and Bone

What have your favorite reads been lately?

Summer is in full swing here, and my reading is reflecting it. Not only more (though much of that is due to Mother Reader‘s 48 Hour Book Challenge), but fluffier. Ah, gotta love the brain drain that the heat brings on.

It’s fitting that in a month where I mostly read Middle Grade books, that my favorite read was this:

Three Times Lucky

I loved it, but I have yet to convince my girls to read it, which makes me sad.

As for the rest:

Adult fiction

Good Omens

Ilium

Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar

Non-Fiction:

My Life as an Experiment

Yes, Chef

YA:

Crossed

The Lost Code

Matched

The Statistical Probability of  Love at First Sight

Seraphina

The List

At Yellow Lake

Middle Grade:

The Books of Elsewhere: The Shadows

Out of the Dust (reread)

Postcards from Pismo

The Serpent’s Shadow

The Phantom Tollbooth

Calling on Dragons

Spy School

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

Graphic Novels

Batman

Stickman Odyssey: The Wrath of Zozimos

Only one audio book this month; I’ve been on a listening hiatus since school got out:

Cinder

What have your favorite reads been this month?

It’s the end of May??? Already????

Sometimes, I really do wonder where the time goes.

The kids are out of school, the weather’s heating up (well, not today; it’s a lovely sort of coolish today), and my reading is turning to, well, fluff.

Oh, and if you haven’t signed up for Mother Reader’s 48 Hour Reading Challenge, what’s keeping you?

And if you’re off to BEA this weekend, have a fantastic time!

And for this months reading:

My favorite, hands down, no questions:

Bitterblue

I waited nearly three years for this one, and Kristin Cashore didn’t disappoint.

And the Middle Grade:

Cold Cereal

Searching for Dragons

Summer of the Gypsy Moths

And the YA (mostly fantasy!):

Demonglass

Hunger Games (reread)

Insurgent

Purity

Spell Bound

Between Shades of Gray

Girl of Fire and Thorns

Adult fiction/Non-Fiction (because there’s only one of each):

Drop Dead Healthy

True Sisters

Audiobooks:

The Lady of Rivers (audiobook) (DNF)

Sports from Hell (audiobook)

And… Graphic Novels:

Amulet: The Last Council

Around the World

Fables: Deluxe Edition, Book One

What were your favorites this month?

This month, I played review catch-up. The funny thing is: I’m still about two weeks out for reviews. Perhaps I need to read less and get outside more… especially now that the weather’s warming up!

My favorite:

Grave Mercy

Hands down: the absolute perfect book for a fantasy lover like me. (That said, I can’t wait for Bitterblue…)

The review that was most fun to write:

Something Like Fate

Read for work (Grave Mercy counts here, too. Though none have sold at the store. WHY? I don’t understand…):

Crow

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny — Detectives Extraordinaire

The rereads:

The Color of Water

Dealing with Dragons

The audiobooks:

Castle in the Air

Who’s Your Caddy

Didn’t finish:

The Final Four

Huntress

Middle Grade:

Caddy’s World

I want to buy this one, but I hate the cover. I wonder if they’ll do something more like the others for the paperback? I can only hope…

Clementine and the Family Meeting

Remarkable

YA:

Before I Fall

Blood Red Road

The Floating Islands

Hex Hall

If I hadn’t read Grave Mercy this month, this would have been my favorite. 

Karma

Stupid Fast

Adult:

I, Robot

Rules of Civility

What were your favorites this month?