[AnneB Posts: 3,753 Status: Offline]

Lisa Albert's Mercy Lily. Gutsy approach to a controversial topic.

[olmue Posts: 3,528 Status: Offline WWW]

Cosmic, by Frank Cottrell Boyce. I don't know how I missed this one before. It's hysterical!

[TH Posts: 220 Status: Offline]

Three, very different, and I'm glad I read all of them. Flash Burnout, What I Saw and How I Lied, Nothing.

Flash Burnout: Read this if you're after the boy voice.

What I Saw...: Seemless mixing of 'historical' elements in a timeless 'first love' story. With complications.

Nothing: Think Lord of the Flies and then think again. Incredible voice. From the writer's point of view, this shows incredible restraint/control.

[Woods]

Currently reading WHERE IT BEGAN by Ann Stampler. The MC's voice leaps from the pages!

[jodyjl Posts: 389 Status: Offline]

Finally got my copy of Newberry winner Dead End in Norvelt. Gantos is a fine, fine writer, excellent humor and angst throughout the novel. I still can't help but wonder if he was awarded the prize this year more for his body of work rather than this one novel.

[G.R. Posts: 633 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

I'm currently about halfway through Echoes by Maeve Binchy (the only one of her fiction books -- including story collections -- I hadn't read before). A coming-of-age / love story set in Ireland in 1950s and early '60s, it primarily concerns David, the son of a well-to-do doctor, and Clare, the daughter of a struggling sweets-shop proprietor; but it also features a slew of deftly drawn supporting characters (even the most disagreeable ones, such as David's snooty mother and Clare's ill-tempered older sister, are given some shadings and complexity). 

[jeffman]

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Still a classic.

[Mike Jung]

I just finished THE CABINET OF EARTHS, which is exquisitely good, and I just started ABOVE WORLD, which is smart, fast-paced, and full of sass. It's always nice to hit a vein of quality MG fantasy from new authors...

[jodyjl Posts: 389 Status: Offline]

I just finished THE CABINET OF EARTHS, which is exquisitely good, and I just started ABOVE WORLD, which is smart, fast-paced, and full of sass. It's always nice to hit a vein of quality MG fantasy from new authors...

Mike, I just wrote a review of THE CABINET OF EARTHS  and I was equally impressed, and I'm not necessarily a lover of MG fantasy. I liked its somewhat gothic feel.

[AnneN Posts: 509 Status: Offline]

I'm so very glad you guys liked CABINET!  (And now my lifelong dream of making it into the "Whatcha reading" thread at Verla's has come true!)


I just read THE HUMMING ROOM by Ellen Potter--a very faithful remake of THE SECRET GARDEN (only with scenic rivers and conservatories!)

and am reading the Cassandra Clare books for the first time, because my kids said I really really should!

and have just bought a pile of new books to keep me out of trouble . . . .

[amberturner Posts: 142 Status: Offline WWW]

About to start THE BOY WHO CLIMBED TO THE MOON. Anybody read David Almond stuff recently? This is my first book of his.

[jodyjl Posts: 389 Status: Offline]

I'm so very glad you guys liked CABINET!  (And now my lifelong dream of making it into the "Whatcha reading" thread at Verla's has come true!)


I just read THE HUMMING ROOM by Ellen Potter--a very faithful remake of THE SECRET GARDEN (only with scenic rivers and conservatories!)

and am reading the Cassandra Clare books for the first time, because my kids said I really really should!

and have just bought a pile of new books to keep me out of trouble . . . .

Hi Ann! So glad we could help make your lifelong dream come true.

Congratulations!

[rab Posts: 541 Status: Offline WWW]

Happy to jump on the CABINET OF EARTHS bandwagon!

I just read Margot Livesey's wonderful THE FLIGHT OF GEMMA HARDY, a retelling of JANE EYRE. I sank into it and didn't resurface until the last page. And then I was bereft, having finished.

[updog]

Looks like I'm going to have to get me a copy of Cinder, since everyone seems to love it so much. I don't want to miss out.

Just finished the first three books in the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa, and ready to start the fourth.     :

[Stephanie Ruble Posts: 1,903 Status: Offline author/illustrator WWW]

I just finished two very good and very different books:

My Beating Teenage Heart by C.K. Kelly Martin

Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter

[dave r Posts: 103 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

Shadows (sequel to Ashes) by Ilsa Blick-- great!
Wonder by RJ Palacio-- loved this one

Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It
  This is an amazing book about how schools, specifically the NCLB policies and push toward standardized testing, is in fact LOWERING test scores. Anyone who is involved with schools, reading or writing should read this book. (especially if you have kids).

keep reading,
dave r

[Beth]

Just finished the first three books in the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa, and ready to start the fourth.     :

I enjoyed that series. I thought it had some really innovative ideas.

I just finished "The Girl of Fire and Thorns." I had a hard time putting it down!

[Bigfoot Posts: 35 Status: Offline WWW]

I just finished THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN by Katherine Applegate. I liked it a lot.

[jodyjl Posts: 389 Status: Offline]

Shadows (sequel to Ashes) by Ilsa Blick-- great!
Wonder by RJ Palacio-- loved this one

Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It
  This is an amazing book about how schools, specifically the NCLB policies and push toward standardized testing, is in fact LOWERING test scores. Anyone who is involved with schools, reading or writing should read this book. (especially if you have kids).

keep reading,
dave r

Thanks for the recommendation, Dave. I'm going to look for that book.

Jody

[Raynbow Gignilliat Posts: 596 Status: Offline]

I'm reading the Gone series by Michael Grant. A blurb on the back cover put it perfectly: If Stephen King had written The Lord of the Flies...

[CaroleB]

Almost finished with Ashes by Bick. Commented on another thread by same name that I actually dreamed about the book last night. CREEPY!

Also am reading Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson. Didn't know anything about the book, but found an ARC at the goodwill and bought it on a whim. Spielberg is making a movie out of this one. Fast reading thriller!

[Debby G Posts: 557 Status: Offline WWW]

I just finished the YA novel WHY WE BROKE UP by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket). The prose was gorgeous and the illustrations by Maira Kalman were great.

[Cat]

Just started book one of THE HEALING WARS: THE SHIFTER. Pretty interesting idea. So far, I like!

[LindaB Posts: 332 Status: Offline I want to write!]

I just finished Bewitching by Alex Flinn. It's the story of Kendra, the witch that was first introduced in Beastly. It's a good read. She is a terrific writer.

LindaB

[majanecka Posts: 77 Status: Offline]

I am reading The Letters of E B White, Revised edition.  I love it, every night I'm staying up far past my bedtime to read just one more page of letters.  Delightful, droll, sometimes grumpy, always entertaining.   
Wonderfully supportive of his wife

[olmue Posts: 3,528 Status: Offline WWW]

Just finished CINDER, by Marissa Meyer. That was a good one! Not just because of the interesting setting, but because I liked the characters.

[Cat]

I've read, in quick succession:

MISTWOOD by Leah Cypess

THE BARDS OF BONE PLAIN by Patricia McKillip

THE TIME OF THE GHOST by Diana Wynne Jones, and

SHIFTER by Janice Hardy

[Dani Duck Posts: 79 Status: Offline WWW]

Just finished reading the Hunger Games Trilogy. Also squeezed in the  Tale of Despereaux

Will finish The Girl Who Played with Fire very soon and on to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

[olmue Posts: 3,528 Status: Offline WWW]

THE FALSE PRINCE, by Jennifer A. Nielsen. Loved this one!

[LeslieG Posts: 174 Status: Offline WWW]

Just started THE BFG. Can't believe it took me this long! There are places where I laugh so hard that I also can't believe I really am 6 years old inside!   :