[DebraG Posts: 54 Status: Offline WWW]

I finished Dorian Cirrone's MG novel THE FIRST LAST DAY. The writing was smooth and the story flowed well.  I loved how she wove in the magic and people relationships.

[Barbara Etlin Posts: 2,219 Status: Offline WWW]

Recently finished A SNICKER OF MAGIC by Natalie Lloyd, a highly imaginative and fun MG fantasy. 

Now reading and enjoying BLACKOUT, a YA by Blueboard moderator, Deena Lipomi. Very intriguing and mysterious, hinting at SF (not sure yet).   

[rab Posts: 533 Status: Offline WWW]

I'm loving Jane Hamilton's THE EXCELLENT LOMBARDS. It's a beautiful example of a child narrator in a coming of age novel written for adults.

[olmue Posts: 3,425 Status: Offline WWW]

I'm summering with relatives while in between moves, and ahhhhhh, can I just say how LOVELY it is to have library access again? (My last library had tons of empty shelves, but very little in the way of books.) I've been kind of binge reading. Here are some recent reads that I found particularly enjoyable:

My Lady Jane, by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. Soooo fun. A historical fantasy based on King Edward, Lady Jane Grey, Bloody Mary, etc. Except instead of religion being a dividing factor of the time, it's people who can change into animals. And there are tons of sly asides. And well...it's just funny. If you are dying for something light and funny and full of exciting action and romantic comedy, this is a great one!

The Apple Tart of Hope, by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald. This YA is just as long as it needs to be, and not any longer. It's about two friends who are maybe more than friends, and about horrible things that can happen to a person's confidence when a cruel person misuses power (also know as bullying), but mostly it's about hope.

Summerlost, by Ally Condie. This MG is my favorite book by her. It's about summer and Shakespeare and dealing with grief. But very hopeful, too.

I'm also rereading The Thief (Megan Whalen Turner) aloud to my almost-8YO. My 18YO has been listening in from the back room, though, and while some things are going over the little brother's head, my oldest is cracking up. Ah. I love reading aloud to my kids! There is nothing else like it.

[rab Posts: 533 Status: Offline WWW]

I'm loving Katie Kennedy's LEARNING TO SWEAR IN AMERICA. Yuri and Dovie and Lennon are such wonderfully charming, flawed characters. The sarcastic humor is so much fun---here's a favorite example:
     "Hey, it's the Spockovskii!" Lennon called, splitting his fingers in a Vulcan salute. . . .
    Yuri nodded to Dovie's parents, who were washing the dishes together. "'Skii' is ending for adjectives," he said. "I'm noun."
    "Knowing that is proof you're the Spockovskii."

There are so many great lines I want to write down, but I'm too busy turning pages. No wonder this book is getting starred reviews!

[Vijaya Posts: 6,652 Status: Offline BEAUTY WWW]

I'm loving Katie Kennedy's LEARNING TO SWEAR IN AMERICA. Yuri and Dovie and Lennon are such wonderfully charming, flawed characters. The sarcastic humor is so much fun---here's a favorite example:
     "Hey, it's the Spockovskii!" Lennon called, splitting his fingers in a Vulcan salute. . . .
    Yuri nodded to Dovie's parents, who were washing the dishes together. "'Skii' is ending for adjectives," he said. "I'm noun."
    "Knowing that is proof you're the Spockovskii."

There are so many great lines I want to write down, but I'm too busy turning pages. No wonder this book is getting starred reviews!

Ditto. My kids and I have had a lot of laughs.

Adult read: Jodi Piccoult -- Plain Truth. I've learned more about the Amish than any NF article. Fascinating. Very typical Piccoult where you examine an issue from different angles. I also think she's a superb writer on the sentence level.

[rab Posts: 533 Status: Offline WWW]

Just read a beautiful MG novel: Tricia Springstubb's EVERY SINGLE SECOND. She takes a lot of risks with form and content, and challenges readers, and I think the result is a wise and heartfelt book with a charmingly flawed MC. The book could not feel more timely, as it deals with issues of race, class, and violence, but it also feels timeless. The characters are so compelling, as are the situations, and I stayed up later than I'd planned, unable to stop reading (through my tears). Heartbreaking and lovely, with lots of funny bits, too.

[alison-ching Posts: 3 Status: Offline]

I have just started listening to Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven King on audio, and it is very good so far. Will Patton does the narration, and I like him a lot (he did the narration for another book I listened to earlier this year, Lincoln's Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin, and it was awesome). I've been a big fan of The Raven Cycle, so it'll be interesting to see how it ends!

[Vijaya Posts: 6,652 Status: Offline BEAUTY WWW]

Read an oldie, set in Medieval England, a Newbery The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli and now I'm reading her autobiography: Butter at the Old Price!!! Lovely. Lovely. And it has illustrations too. What a talented lady.

[zoraida-rivera Posts: 161 Status: Offline Focus, Publish WWW]

I read Seesaw Girl recently and really enjoyed it, a multicultural middle grade novel by Linda Sue Park. I really like her novels. Loved A Single Shard.
I, also, recommend Yanqui Delgado Wants to Kick your Ass by Meg Medina, a young adult novel.

[Betsy Posts: 2,123 Status: Offline PICKY EATERS WWW]

Several of you mentioned reading THE LITTLE PRINCE in French. I just finished L'OEIL DU LOUP (The Eye of the Wolf) which is very similar. It's about at the same level (a little harder, but not much), and has the same kind of sweetness and charm. If you're not up to tackling it in French, you can get it in English. It's a great story.  Here's a link:

https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Wolf-Daniel-Pennac/dp/0763618969/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470005725&sr=1-2&keywords=Eye+of+the+wolf

If you want to check out the first part of the story, you can see it as an animated video, here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEjzDjis6Zg

[Monica Rondino Posts: 81 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

Found in a little flea market,I'm reading Roald Dahl "Tales of the Unexpected". Fantastic

[AnneB Posts: 3,500 Status: Offline]

Bumping this because I've been tidying the boards I moderate and wow, this thread has been inactive too long!

I'm between MG/YA books right now, but in adult-land I'm reading The Other Side of the Story , commercial fiction by Irish author Marian Keyes. She's one of my favorites although I keep having to look up Irish idioms, not all of which turn out to be usable in polite company.

In NF I'm reading The Hunt for Vulcan...and How Albert Einstein Destroyed a Planet, Discovered Relativity, and Deciphered the Universe. It's about the 19th century search for Vulcan, a planet hypothesized to orbit between Mercury and the Sun. Einstein proved it could not be there; physics and math were involved so I'm not sure I'll be able to understand why, but it's a short book.

Interesting enough, the planet was rediscovered in 1966, although much farther away than originally thought, in the Beta Quadrant. I'm not far enough into it yet to be sure, but I did a quick skim and  checked the index and there's no mention of this later discovery, which would have been a fascinating ( ) coda.

[Jayca Posts: 1,737 Status: Offline]

I just read the YA novel We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. Fantastic read! And now I'm reading Maybe a Fox (MG) by Kathi Appelt. I'm about 1/3 of the way in and really liking it.

[Schriscoe Posts: 1,803 Status: Offline www.sharonchriscoebooks.com WWW]

I just finished A RAMBLER STEALS HOME by Carter Higgins and it was a fantastic read! Lots of heart, a little sadness, food, family, and fun. My kind of book!

[onestepp Posts: 136 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Enemy Woman is a good book about the civil war in Missouri and the Ozarks similar to Cold Mountain.

[rachel-kolar Posts: 4 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

I'm not reading Fairest (the prequel to Cinder) so much as inhaling it . . .

[G.R. Posts: 631 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

This month I've been reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. I'm about a third of the way through it -- really enjoying it so far,  even the footnotes. :D  (I saw and liked the miniseries adaptation on BBC America a couple years ago.)

[onestepp Posts: 136 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Saw and liked the seven episodes I saw on youtube awhile back.  Also, I'm thinking about reading the book.

[Vijaya Posts: 6,652 Status: Offline BEAUTY WWW]

I just finished A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN and loved it. I'm not surprised it's a classic. It will endure like To Kill a Mockingbird. Oh to write just one book like this! I laughed and I cried and smiled so much.

[Betsy Posts: 2,123 Status: Offline PICKY EATERS WWW]

THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES -- nonfiction. Loved it.
ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE  -- very funny but with a serious theme
TRESPASSING ON EINSTEIN'S LAWN--nonfiction, physics
HILLBILLY ELEGY -- Just finished it

[Spence Posts: 169 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Adding to CaroleB's post, I'm between real jobs now. Doesn't that sound more encouraging, like transitioning from job A to job B, than saying I'm looking for new work? Scary!

Anyway I'm reading a steampunk novel Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Mystery. So far, pleased. It's the first of a series.

For those unfamiliar, steampunk usually tales place in Victorian England, but with advanced technology, often based on steam, rather than electrical power. Victorian mannerisms and etiquette are left intact and can be quite charming.

[Spence Posts: 169 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Betsy, thought you may like this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/26/opinion/sunday/cure-yourself-of-tree-blindness.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

[Betsy Posts: 2,123 Status: Offline PICKY EATERS WWW]

Ah, nice article! Thank you, Spence.

[onestepp Posts: 136 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

liked the article about trees.  I'm reading The Devil in the White City which is a non-fiction book and going to be made into a movie.

[olmue Posts: 3,425 Status: Offline WWW]

Let's revive this thread, shall we?

The War I Finally Won, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, is so, so good. It is making me cry in all the right ways. It's the sequel to The War That Saved My Life, which won a Newbery Honor.

It's been a while since I read a book that I felt in my insides like this one.

[andracill Posts: 5,515 Status: Offline Worlds within...screaming to get out! WWW]

Oh, I'll have to look for that.

I just finished my first five-star read of 2018 -- The Unlikelies by Carrie Firestone (YA contemporary). Great cast of characters, thoughtful and sympathetic narrator, and just a compassionate feel to the story.

[onestepp Posts: 136 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

I finally got around to reading and read The Hillbilly Elegy, too!

[hairaplenty Posts: 1,456 Status: Offline Don't ever quit!]

Listening to Allegedly, by Tiffany Jackson. Edgy, contemporary, YA. Really good.  The beginning didn't grab me (felt the voice contrived) but I'm halfway through and really need to know what's going to happen.
Also, reading Wally Lamb's, The Hour I First Believed.
I love reading about what everyone else is reading. Thanks for reviving this thread, Rose.   

[Pons Posts: 2,441 Status: Offline]

Let's revive this thread, shall we?

The War I Finally Won, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, is so, so good. It is making me cry in all the right ways. It's the sequel to The War That Saved My Life, which won a Newbery Honor.

It's been a while since I read a book that I felt in my insides like this one.

I loved The War that Saved My Life. I hope our library has the sequel.