2013 Reading Challenges Final Tally

I just posted my Best of 2013 Lists (grown-up books at Book By Book; kids/teen/YA books at Great Books for Kids and Teens), so now it is time to tally up my 2013 Reading Challenges.

I did well on my reading challenges this year and enjoyed them all. You can see all the details on my 2013 Reading Challenges Page, but here is a summary:

Big Book Summer Challenge: This was the second year that I hosted my own challenge, Big Book Summer Reading Challenge, and I plan to host it again in the summer of 2014. I love this challenge because it gives me some incentive to finally read the larger books that tend to pile up on my TBR shelves. You can check out my Big Book Summer Wrap-Up post. Here are the Big Books I finished this summer for the challenge:

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, 552 pages (a re-read for a book group)
• The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, 479 pages
• Defending Jacob by William Landay, 421 pages
• The Twelve by Justin Cronin, 564 pages
• The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, 519 pages

I already have some Big Books lined up for this summer!

2013 Where Are You Reading Challenge: This challenge, hosted by Sheila at Book Journey is one that I enjoy every year. I read books this year that took place in 27 different states (same as 2012!) and 13 different countries (my best-ever international year). You can see my full list of states and countries and books on my 2013 Challenges page. She is hosting it again this year if you want to join the fun!

2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge: This was one of my favorite challenges this year, hosted by Evie at Bookish. I have overflowing shelves of books waiting to be read - an entire bookcase devoted just to TBRs (for the sake of this challenge, I counted any book that had been in my possession for a year or more). My goal was to read between 11 and 20 books from my TBR shelves, and I ended up reading 26 total (you can see the full list on my Challenges page). Woohoo!! So, how come my TBR shelves are still in double layers? This challenge provided excellent incentive for getting to some of the books I've been meaning to read for a long time, and I definitely plan to sign up again this year!

2013 Audio Book Challenge, hosted by Theresa's Reading Corner: I definitely wanted to listen to more audio books this year (and the availability of more books as digital downloads helped). My goal was to listen to 12 audio books, and I listened to 14! You can see the full list of audios I listened to on my Challenges page. Another successful challenge.

Those Books I Should Have Read 2013 Reading Challenge, hosted by Reading with Martini:
And, finally, another challenge I was very excited about. I have a very long list of books that I have always meant to read but never seem to have time to get to - some are classics, some are more modern books that it seems everyone has read, others are books my kids are reading for school. I had hoped to read 6 such books last year, and I managed 7, so that is another successful challenge! I'll include this list here since it is so short:

1.  The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
2. American Pastoral by Philip Roth 
3. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
4. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 
6. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
7. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Agawa 

So, I had a very successful year for reading challenges. Now comes the fun part - choosing new challenges for 2013!

What challenges did you enjoy in 2013 and which ones do you recommend (or host!) for 2014?

Best of 2013 and Year-End Summary

I finally put together my Best of 2013 Lists - whew, it was a hard choice! I read so many great books this past year.

All together, I read 79 books last year (that's 15 more than in 2013). Here's the break-down:

• 32 were adult fiction
• 23 were teen/YA fiction 
• 16 were middle-grade fiction
• 4 were memoirs
• 4 were nonfiction but not memoirs

Of the 79 books, I listened to 12 of them on audio.

So, that's 39 books for kids/teens/YA in 2013!

As always, I had a hard time choosing my favorites! In no particular order, here are my Top Ten of 2013 (you can check out my top ten list of adult books read in 2013 at Book By Book).

• The Thirteenth Child/Across the Great Barrier/The Far West by Patricia C. Wrede
• Trapped by Michael Northrop
• Ruins by Orson Scott Card
• The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
• The Knife of Never Letting Go/The Ask and theAnswer/Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
• Hold Fast by Blue Balliet
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• UnWholly by Neal Schusterman
• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
• TheBoy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

And, for a little extra fun, here are a few superlatives:

Best Kids/Teen/YA Book of the Year and Best Book by a New-to-Me Author:

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

 

Best Kids/Teen/YA Book from an Old Favorite Author:

UnWholly by Neal Schusterman

Best Audio Book of the Year:  

  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne  

(I counted it as best audio for both adults and teen/YA...though The One and Only Ivan is a close second)

 Best Middle-Grade Novel of the Year:

Hold Fast by Blue Balliet

 

You can also check out how I did on my 2013 Reading Challenges.

What were YOUR favorite books read in 2013?

Books Read in December

December, as always, was crazy busy, filled with travel, family, holiday celebrations, and more. Thank goodness for reading, to provide a small pool of calm in the midst of such hectic days! Here's what I finished reading in December:

• When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka, historical fiction (Utah)
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, audiobook (read by Jim Dale) (England)
• Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am by Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis, teen/YA novel (New Jersey)

• Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater, middle-grade audiobook (New Jersey)
• The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Agawa, fiction (Japan)
• Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, teen/YA novel

• Rotters by Daniel Kraus, teen/YA fiction audiobook (Iowa)
• Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris, short stories

So, that was 8 books total for December - a very good reading month for me! It was an all-fiction month, and I read 4 adult novels, 3 teen/YA novels, and 1 middle-grade novel. A whopping 3 of those novels were audiobooks (lots of time in the car traveling to see family!) I enjoyed all of these, and several were excellent, but I think my favorite on the month was The Housekeeper and the Professor. It was such a warm, gentle story that I wanted it to last forever.

Update on 2013 Reading Challenges:
I added just 1 new location to my 2013 Where Are You Reading Challenge (Utah). That brings my totals up to 27 states and 13 countries. I focused on clearing off those TBR shelves this month, with all 8 books I read from my own shelves (sitting there a year or more!), bringing my total up to 26 for the 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge. I added 3 more audios to my 2013 Audiobook Challenge, and also added 2 more books to my 2013 Those Books I Should Have Read Challenge. I will sum up all of my reading challenges for the year, plus choose my favorites from 2013 in my next post.

What were your favorite books read in December? 

It's Monday 1/6! What Are You Reading?

Finally, a quiet Monday morning to myself! As much as I enjoyed the holiday season, I am also happy to be starting a new year and getting back to my normal daily routine. I am planning to review my 2013 goals today and set new goals for 2014. And, in the bookish world, I will post my Best of 2013 lists this week and decide which challenges to sign up for in 2014. So, let me know if you know of any good reading challenges!

Between holidays, travel, and snow days, the whole family was still off school/work most of last week, so we still had plenty of reading time:

• I finished Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris, a gift from my husband last Christmas, and posted a review. It is hilarious though also sometimes a bit gruesome and shocking. If you enjoy satire, it's a fun little book.
• I also finished Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, a YA historical novel and a Christmas gift from my husband this year! It was excellent, just like everyone had said, and kept me occupied all the way to Oklahoma and back last week.
• I am still listening to The Real Boy by Anne Ursu on audio, though not making much progress with the whole family at home every day. It's good so far.
• I just started The House Girl by Tara Conklin, another historical novel and my neighborhood book group's pick for January.
• My husband, Ken, finished Wool by Hugh Howley (a Christmas gift from me) and loved it. Now my son and I both want to read it.
• Ken is now reading another Christmas gift from me, Never Go Back, the latest Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child.
• Jamie, 19, finished Project Cain by Geoffrey Girard. He didn't like the format at first but said it got better. I plan to read this one, too.
• Jamie is now reading The Outstretched Shadow by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, Book One in The Obsidian Trilogy, another fantasy series (his favorite kind of book!).

I managed to catch up on some blog posts last week while I was in Oklahoma:

First Book of the Year post

Review of Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris

Review of Rotters by Daniel Kraus, a teen/YA award-winning audio book

Weekend Cooking post, including my recipes for Hoppin' John and Gumbo.

Review of Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am, a teen/YA novel.

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

What are you and your family reading this week? 

Teen/YA Review: Rotters

Ever since I was about halfway through the audio book of Rotters by Daniel Kraus, I have been thinking about how I would review it because it is such a complex and contradictory novel. It is a wholly unique story – a coming-of-age tale wrapped up with grave robbing – that is dark and disturbing yet compelling.

Sixteen-year old Joey lives a fairly normal life in Chicago with his single mother: he plays the trumpet in the school band, works hard to be a good student, and has one good friend who helps him contend with the typical trials of high school. Joey’s life falls apart, however, when his mother is killed in an accident, and he is sent to rural Iowa to live with a father he didn’t even know he had. Ken, his father, isn’t any happier to see Joey than Joey is to be there.

Quickly, Joey’s ordinary life turns into something from a nightmare. He has lost his mother, and his only remaining family member clearly doesn’t want him there. He moved away from his only friend (who quickly moves on with his life) and has no friends at his new school, where he is bullied relentlessly, not only by fellow students but also by a sadistic teacher. To make matters worse, Joey discovers that his mysterious father makes his living robbing graves. Although the people in town don’t know the exact nature of his occupation, they all sense that it is something underhanded and illegal, and they ostracize Ken…and now Joey, too.

Things just keep getting worse for Joey, until it seems like you just can’t bear to hear (or read) about one more horrible thing. He is bullied, neglected, starved, and ridiculed. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Meanwhile, Joey very gradually learns more about his father’s life as a Digger, as they are known, and the history and details of grave robbing.

If all of this sounds depressing and macabre, well…it is. Rotters is a very dark and disturbing novel that only gets worse (and worse).  The ending does offer some hope, but it is a long road to get there. It took me 2 months to finish listening to Rotters on audio, in part because it is a long novel and in part because I couldn’t listen to it for long periods – I needed breaks from the sad, angry atmosphere of the book. As I said at the beginning of this review, it is compelling – I was certainly rooting for Joey and wanted to see how things turned out for him. I also felt, though, that it was a bit too long; that may have been partly due to my disjointed way of listening to it. Rotters won the 2012 ALA’s Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production, and I agree that it was very well done – perhaps that is part of why it is so disturbing, because the characters felt real. Just be forewarned that it is a long and sinister journey.

Listening Library/Random House Audio

Paperback:    Audio:

Teen/YA Review: Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am

I have a large number of middle-grade, teen, and YA books on my TBR shelves, and I tried to do a bit of end-of-the-year catching up. One of the teen/YA novels I recently read was Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am by Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis. It is a unique story about a young man who comes back from Iraq with a brain injury that leaves him with no memory of who he is.

Ben Bright is the star of his senior class in high school – a good student, the lead role in his high school play, and a longtime girlfriend named Ariela whom he plans to marry. All of his friends are going away to college next year, but Ben has other plans. He enlists in the army, much to his family and friends’ dismay. His parents don’t understand, his best friend, Niko, is angry with him, and Ariela is afraid he won’t come back. Ben explains to them that he feels a deep need to give back and help support and protect his country, and he reassures them that he won’t be going overseas.

Those who care about him reluctantly support Ben, but things change and he is sent overseas, to Iraq. The phone call they have all been dreading finally comes: Ben has suffered a severe brain trauma in an explosion, and doctors are unsure what his prognosis might be.

The rest of the novel follows both Ben and his family and friends as they all try to support Ben with his new challenges, as he slowly recovers in the hospital. He doesn’t remember any of them nor his old life nor even who he is. Ben’s journey back to life is a slow and tedious one, and his friends and family members each react differently, as he struggles with his daily challenges.

This is a very brief novel – only 148 pages – about an important topic that is rarely covered in teen/YA fiction, young people in the military and the long road to recovery for those with brain injuries. I liked that this book showed all sides of a complicated issue: readers see Ben’s determination to do the right thing and support his country but also the crazy randomness of violence in war and the difficulties for soldiers returning home injured or incomplete.

Ironically, I chose to read this novel now because I was looking for something brief, but it felt a bit too brief to me. I wished there was a little more. I think that tells you something about the story. It was well told and compelling, with very realistic characters that I came to care about. I’m glad I read it, and I still think about it.

148 pages, Simon & Schuster

 

It's Monday 12/30! What Are You Reading?

Happy Almost New Year! It's hard to believe tomorrow is the last day of the year. We've been busy this past week, with Christmas preparations, then Christmas, and then traveling to visit family. But, we all received books for Christmas, so we've been reading a lot, too, especially during air travel. Here's what we have been reading this week:

• I finished Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, book 3 in the Chaos Walking trilogy, on Christmas Eve and loved it! It was an excellent end to an outstanding series. I can't wait to read more from Ness.
• In between books, I read a few more stories from David Sedaris' Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, a unique collection of short stories about animals acting very human-like. I was driving my son crazy reading parts aloud to him while we waited in a doctor's office. C'mon, can you blame me? A stork mother who doesn't know what to say when her child asks where babies come from? That just begs to be shared - so clever and witty!
• I am now reading a book my husband gave me for Christmas, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, a YA novel I have been wanting to read for a long time. So far, it's just as good as everyone had said.
• I am listening to The Real Boy by Anne Ursu on audio. I am a big fan of Anne's novels, both adult and middle-grade fiction. My son and I loved her Cronus Chronicles trilogy. I had hoped to squeeze in one last audio book this year, but I think this will be my first audio book finished in the new year. It's excellent so far, but I don't have a lot of time to listen with my whole family around all the time.
• My husband, Ken, is also reading a new Christmas gift (from me): Wool by Hugh Howey. Both of us have been wanting to read this acclaimed dystopian novel.
• Jamie, 19, finished Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan, volume one of The Riyria Revelations on his Kindle.
• On the airplane, he read another book on his Kindle, Bloodlust: A Gladiator's Tale by C.P.D. Harris. From what I could see from my seat next to him, it was pretty gory, with lots of battles, but he enjoyed it. The Kindle is a great advancement for Jamie, since he is such an avid reader that on one trip when he was in middle school, we discovered he had stuffed a giant compendium of all of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books/stories into his backpack and carried it through airports!
• Now, Jamie is reading Project Cain by Geoffrey Girard, a recent teen/YA novel we received for review that also caught my eye.

Not much time for writing last week, but I did manage one review:

Review of The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa - highly recommended.

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

What are you and your family reading this week?     

Hope you have a fun New Year's Eve and a great start to the new year!

It's Monday 12/23! What Are You Reading?

Whew. Things have been super busy here, as I'm sure is true for most of you, too! We've been traveling so much that all of our Christmas preparations got put off until this weekend, so we put up our tree (after it spent two weeks in the garage!), decorated it, put up our outdoor lights, decorated the house, hung the wreath, finished shopping, began to wrap gifts, and began to write out cards (which I bought back in November!). Today, I finished the grocery shopping, and we will bake cookies. Like I said, whew!

We still enjoyed some good books last week, though, amid the holiday hubbub:

• I am still reading Monsters of Men, the third and final book of the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, and it is just as fabulous as the first two books. I am near the end now and staying up much too late each night reading!
• I FINALLY finished listening to Rotters by Daniel Kraus, a teen/YA novel. It was one of the strangest and most disturbing books I have ever read...and I used to read a lot of Stephen King and Dean Koontz! It took me over two months to finish it. It's a good story but very dark.
• I have just started listening to The Real Boy, a middle-grade novel by Anne Ursu (on my way home from the store this morning, after I finished Rotters). I'm only on chapter one but am enjoying it so far. Anne Ursu is a favorite author of mine.
• My husband, Ken, finished World War Z by Max Brooks. Now we can watch the movie!
• Ken also read Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn this week. This is the third of Flynn's novels that he's read, and I think he liked this one best.
• Jamie, 19, finished Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, Book 1 in The Broken Empire series. 
• Now, Jamie is reading Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan, volume one of The Riyria Revelations on his Kindle. He says it's very good - he's been reading a lot while he's home from school!

I actually managed quite a few blog posts last week, in an effort to catch up:

Top Ten New To Me Authors Read in 2013

Top Ten New To Me Kid/Teen/YA Authors Read in 2013

Review of When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Review of The Dumbest Idea Ever! by Jimmy Gownley

Summary of Books Read in November (better late than never!)

Weekend Cooking post, with several easy, tasty, and healthy weeknight recipes.

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

What are you and your family reading this week?    

My husband and two sons decorating the Christmas tree.

Books Read in November

Oh, yeah, I am just a little bit late with my monthly summary from November. Things have been crazy hectic here the past few weeks. We cut down our Christmas tree two weeks ago and just finally had time to bring it in from the garage last night! Better Late Than Never is pretty much my life motto.

November was a rough month for me in other ways, but it was a good reading month! Here's what I finished reading last month:

• Tell Us We're Home by Marina Budhos, a middle-grade novel (New Jersey)
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, a hilarious satirical novel (Washington)
• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, a powerful teen/YA historical novel (Lithuania)

• The Dream by Harry Bernstein, a memoir (Illinois)
• Flyaway by Lucy Christopher, a middle-grade novel (Scotland)
• The Dumbest Idea Ever! by Jimmy Gownley, a middle-grade/teen graphic novel memoir (Pennsylvania)

 Lots of variety last month: I read a memoir, an adult novel, two middle-grade novels, a teen/YA novel, and a graphic novel memoir. My favorite book of the month? They were all good, but Between Shades of Gray completely blew me away! It is an amazing, powerful novel.

Update on 2013 Reading Challenges:
I added no new states to my 2013 Where Are You Reading Challenge, but I did add two new countries: Lithuania and Scotland. That brings my totals up to 26 states and 13 countries. Two of the book were from my TBR shelves, bringing my total up to 18 for the 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge.

What were your favorite books read in November? 

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: The Dumbest Idea Ever!

I don’t read a lot of graphic novels, but I have enjoyed a few of them in the past, so I looked forward to reading a new release from Jimmy Gownley, The Dumbest Idea Ever! I quickly realized that this book defies categorization. Yes, it is in the form of a graphic “novel,” but it isn’t a novel at all; it’s a memoir about Gownley’s own adolescence and how he got his start as an author.

The memoir begins when Jimmy was thirteen, attending eighth grade in Catholic school in a small Pennsylvania coal town. He’s an excellent student and one of the school’s best basketball players. The only piece of his life that doesn’t seem to fit is his love of comic books and graphic novels. Everyone else sees them as a waste of time, and the nuns at school won’t even let him read them during quiet reading time.

Things are good for Jimmy until he gets the chicken pox, followed by pneumonia, and misses almost a month of school. His grades drop, he misses the championship basketball game, and things seem to keep getting worse. After a summer spent hanging out with the kids in his neighborhood, Jimmy starts high school and his problems seem to just get worse. Jimmy feels like he can’t get out of the slump that began with his long illness, plus he struggles with the kind of problems all young teens face: transitioning to high school, making new friends, talking to girls, and doing well in school.

Eventually, Jimmy writes and draws his own comic book and even manages to get it published (no spoilers here – that is revealed in the first pages of the book), but his friends don’t always understand his passion for comics. You'll have to read it for yourself to discover what the dumbest idea ever is!

I enjoyed this unique graphic novel memoir (a new category of book?). It’s a coming of age story that middle-graders will relate to, but it is also about setting goals and making your dreams come true, even when your friends don’t get it. I’m no expert on graphic novels, but I thought that both the writing and the illustrations were very good, and the story held my attention. Kids who love to write or draw will especially enjoy this inspiring real-life story.

236 pages, Graphix (a Scholastic imprint)

NOTE: This book is scheduled to be released February 25, 2014

Top Ten New To Me Kids/Teen/YA Authors

It's Tuesday and that means it's Top Ten Tuesday over at The Broke and the Bookish. Head over there and check out all the top ten lists! Today's topic is Top Ten New To Me Authors Read in 2013. I had a tough time coming up with 10 at first because I have some favorite kid/teen/YA authors I tend to return to, but I ended up finding plenty of new-to-me authors I tried for the first time this year.

So, here is my list of Top Ten New-To-Me Kid/Teen/YA Authors Read in 2013:
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• Patricia C. Wrede – I read the Frontier Magic trilogy and loved it: The ThirteenthChild, Across the Great Barrier, The Far West.
• Patrick Ness – Chaos Walking trilogy, starting with  The Knife of Never Letting Go and TheAsk and the Answer (and I am now reading Monsters of Men).
• Blue Balliet - Hold Fast – how did I never read any of her novels before?
• Amber Kizer – A Matter of Days – a post-apocalyptic road trip
• Ruta Sepetys – Between Shades of Gray – blew me away! Can’t wait to read her latest, Out of the Easy.
• Lucy Christopher – I read both Flyaway, a middle-grade novel, and Stolen, a teen/YA novel, this year and can’t wait to read more.
• Shaun Tan – Tales of Outer Suburbia – I’d heard so much about this author’s unique books and would love to read more.
• Stephen Chobsky – The Perks of Being a Wallflower – I can’t believe I missed this classic for so many years!
• Michael Northrup – Trapped – excellent suspense for teens.
• Audrey Couloumbis - Not Exactly a Love Story, listened to on audio.

Lots of great books in that list! If you are also interested in my list of new-to-me adult authors, check out my list at Book By Book.

What were your favorite new-to-you authors this year?

It's Monday 12/16! What Are You Reading?

Happy Monday! Whew, what a whirlwind week I had last week! I spent all week making my annual DVD of family photos (videos and photo slideshows put to music on a DVD). Then, on Friday, my husband came home from a business trip, my older son finished his final exams at college, and the moment they were both back home, we packed up the truck and left for Connecticut! We had our holiday celebration with my family early this year, to accommodate everyone's schedule. It was great to see everyone, especially my wonderful niece and nephew! We got quite a bit of snow up there this weekend and had to dig out yesterday before we could drive home, but we enjoyed lots of great food and many laughs (except my husband who picked up a virus on his business trip).

So, it goes without saying that I had no time at all for blogs last week, other than my Monday posts, but we all enjoyed our books, as always:

• I finished The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Agawa, a book that both of my sons read for their high school English courses. I loved this warm, gentle story about a housekeeper and her 10-year old son who care for an aging mathematician whose short-term memory lasts only 80 minutes. 
• After just one week, I gave up on my idea of reading lots of short books this month...when I realized I don't have any time to write reviews! So, I picked up the hefty Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, the third and final book in the Chaos Walking trilogy (and a great way to end the year!).
• I am still listening to Rotters by Daniel Kraus on audio, a teen/YA novel about grave-robbing, bullying, and the meaning of family. It just keeps getting darker and more disturbing - I can't imagine how it will end, but I am determined to finish it before the end of the year!
• My husband, Ken, is still reading World War Z by Max Brooks. He says it's an unusual book, written as a series of news clips from the future, rather than a story following certain characters.
• Ken also finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare on his iPhone during his travels last week. Now that our son is home for the holidays, we are planning to watch the movie adaptation since it is one of his favorite series.
• Jamie, 19, is thrilled to have a break from school for a little while and have time for pleasure reading again. He finished the third and final book in the Night Angel trilogy, Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks, one of his favorite series.
• Now, he is reading Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, Book 1 in The Broken Empire series. It must be good so far because he was up really late last night reading!
• Craig, 15, finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon for his British Literature class.
• Our whole family enjoyed a couple of audio books together in the car this weekend. First, we continued our family tradition of kicking off the holiday season with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens on audio. We have a bunch of different versions - this was a new(ish) unabridged recording narrated by Jim Dale (of Harry Potter audio book fame) and was excellent. It's such a hopeful, uplifting story - we were all grinning at the familiar happy ending.
• Next, we listened to an audio book we have heard at least a half dozen times before! It is my sons' all-time favorite audio, Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater, a silly middle-grade novel that they have long outgrown, but all four of us still laugh out loud all the way through. It is a clever, funny story about a boy whose family moves to Hoboken, NJ, made even better because it is read by the author. Pinkwater nails what it is like to be a kid.

(What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.)

What are you and your family reading this week?    

My sons (in front) with their cousins.

 

It's Monday 12/9! What Are You Reading?

 

The weeks are just flying by now! I was still very ill all last week, though starting to feel better now. I spent much of my week hustling to finish all my online shopping before the cyber week deals ended and putting together calendars and photo books on Snapfish. This week will be another hectic one - I need to start (and finish!) my annual photo DVD for our family (yes, I waited until the last minute again) and then we travel next weekend to visit family for an early Christmas celebration. Whew.

So, no time for visiting or posting much on blogs last week, but of course, we kept reading!

• I finished When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka, a historical novel about the Japanese-American internment during World War II. My son read it in school last year and liked it, and I enjoyed Otsuka's other novel, The Buddha in the Attic. Like that novel, this one features sparse and simple prose but is emotionally powerful.
• I decided to go for the shortest books on my TBR shelves this month for a last-minute clear-out before the new year! So, next I read a teen/YA novel Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am by Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis, about a young man who enlists in the Army and suffers a brain injury in Iraq. He comes home with no memory of what happened or who he is, and his family and friends struggle with how to support him. It was very good.
• Now I am reading - and thoroughly enjoying - another novel my sons both read it high school, The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Agawa. It is a warm, gentle story about a housekeeper and her young son who take care of a math professor whose short-term memory only lasts 80 minutes. Hey, I just realized that's two books with brain-damaged characters in a row.
• I had to start another book (I never read two at a time!) when I left The Housekeeper and the Professor in the car this weekend, and my husband was out at nap time. I started Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris, a bizarre little book filled with stories about animals in human-like situations (out on a date, at the hairdresser's, etc.). It seems like a strange concept until you realize Sedaris has applied his considerable wit to these stories, which are rife with hilarious satire about humans. Very funny so far.
• And, last but not least, I am still listening to Rotters by Danial Kraus on audio, a teen/YA novel about grave-robbing, bullying, and the meaning of family. It's good but very dark and disturbing.
• My husband, Ken, is now reading World War Z by Max Brooks, which turned out to add a funny element to a scary situation yesterday. He and my son got trapped by a snow storm in Lancaster, PA, and couldn't get home. They finally got a hotel room (my son said when an Amish guy in a buggy asks if you need a push, it's time to get off the road!), but there was no food available, except for vending machine-type stuff. My husband told our son, "See? This is what it'll be like when there's a zombie apocalypse." That's one of his favorite lines lately!
• My husband has also been reading City of Bones by Cassandra Clare on his iPhone.
• My son, 15, is reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon for his British Literature class and really enjoying it, but he was very upset when a classmate spoiled the ending!

Just two posts last week (and it's a miracle that I managed those):

Review of Flyaway by Lucy Christopher, a middle-grade novel.

Weekend Cooking post, with 3 easy but flavorful weeknight dinner recipes.

(What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.)

What are you and your family reading this week?   

Middle-Grade Review: Flyaway by Lucy Christopher

Earlier this year, I enjoyed Lucy Christopher’s chilling teen/YA thriller, Stolen, about a young girl who’s been kidnapped. Her middle-grade novel, Flyaway, has been sitting on my shelf for over a year, and I finally found time to read it. Though a much gentler, warmer story perfect for middle-grade readers, Flyaway features the same excellent writing and in-depth characters that Christopher is known for.

Flyaway is the story of a young girl named Isla who has a close relationship with her father; both of them are fascinated by the whooper swans that return to their area each winter. Isla and her father get up early one morning each year to greet the returning swans on a nearby lake where they migrate to spend the winter, but this winter, everything changes. The swans aren’t in their usual spot, and as Isla and her father run to follow the swans flying overhead, Isla’s dad collapses on the ground. When her father is admitted to the hospital, Isla feels like her world is falling apart.

Besides being worried about her dad, Isla is lonely and in need of a friend. Her best friend recently moved away, her older brother has his own friends, and her Granddad has been cranky and withdrawn since the death of her Grandma six years earlier. One day in the hospital, Isla meets Harry, a cute boy with bright red hair and a warm smile who doesn’t laugh at her fascination with the swans the way other kids at school do. But why is he in the hospital?

As the situation with her father gets worse and her friendship with Harry grows closer, Isla finds it hard to focus on her normal life and what is happening at school. She feels that if she can somehow continue the mission she started with her dad and find where the swans are wintering, somehow that will help her father. As her mother, brother, and granddad each struggle in their own way with what is happening in their family, Isla becomes more determined to find the swans, no matter what.

This is a warm and tender story about family and friendship. I liked Isla almost immediately and was rooting for her and for her dad. The family relationships in this novel are very realistically portrayed, and there is enough tension to keep the novel moving at a brisk pace but not so much as to be overwhelming for young readers. The story is about the scary things that happen in life and how we get through them…but it is also about love and hope.

336 pages, Chicken House

 

It's Monday 12/2! What Are You Reading?

I hope everyone here in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends! We traveled to Rochester, NY - my hometown - for a whirlwind visit with all the branches of my family. My sons had a blast running around with their cousins all weekend, and I loved seeing everyone and catching up (my husband wasn't too thrilled with all the snow and 20 degree temperatures!).

I brought bags and bags of books with me to give to all my young cousins and kids of my cousins - some that my kids had outgrown and others that I received for review for Great Books for Kids and Teens. It was fun to see some of the kids get sooo excited when I handed over a bag of books for them. I just love to share books, especially with kids! I also had a wonderful time talking with my teen cousin about Between Shades of Gray and The Book Thief, two fabulous books that I recently sent her for her birthday - she is loving both of them!

So, here we are on Monday again - first Monday of December, last month of the year, and just 3 weeks until Christmas! So much to do. Even with all that running around and traveling last week, we still found time to read:

• I finished Flyaway by Lucy Christopher, a middle-grade novel about a young girl named Isla whose father is obsessed with birds and especially the whooper swans that winter near their home each year. When Isla's father collapses while they are out looking for the swans, her world seems to fall apart. It was very good, and I passed it onto my cousin's 10-year old daughter as soon as I finished it this weekend!
• I squeezed in a teen/YA graphic novel last week, The Dumbest Idea Ever! by Jimmy Gownley. I enjoyed it - it's actually a memoir, about how Gownley began drawing his own comics when he was just a teen.
• This weekend, I started When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka, a historical novel about the Japanese-American internment during World War II. My son read it in school last year and liked it, and I enjoyed Otsuka's other novel, The Buddha in the Attic, so I thought it was about time I got around to reading this one. It's excellent so far, and I can see why my son was so moved by it.
• I am still listening to Rotters by Danial Kraus on audio, a teen/YA novel about grave-robbing, bullying, and the meaning of family. It's a long one, but I am on the last packet of discs now! It's good but very dark and sometimes disturbing.
• And while we were driving home in the car yesterday, we stuck with our Thanksgiving tradition and began listening to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. We have many audio versions of this holiday classic, but this was a new one, read by Jim Dale, and we are all enjoying it. We'll finish it on the way to my Mom's house in two weeks.
• My husband, Ken, finished Rebel Heart by Moira Young, book 2 in the teen/YA post-apocalyptic Dust Lands trilogy that began with Blood Red Road. This one is on my list to read, too - he said it was very good.
• Ken is now reading World War Z by Max Brooks, a novel he's been meaning to get to for a while now. It just came out on DVD, and he wanted to read the book before we watch it.
• Even though Jamie, 19, was home from college for a few days, he still didn't have much reading time, with homework to do and cousins to hang out with! He is still reading the third and final book in the Night Angel trilogy, Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks - he absolutely loves this series!
• Craig, 15, is reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon for his British Literature class and enjoying it very much so far.

With our travels last week, I barely had time to squeeze in one blog post:

Review of The Dream by Harry Bernstein, follow-up to his first memoir, The Invisible Wall - both are excellent!

(What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.)

What are you and your family reading this week?