[Sonya Bright Posts: 38 Status: Offline WWW]

After watching the movie, I'm finally reading Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before (yes - I'm late on both counts!). The movie was exactly the lighthearted story I was in the mood for at the time - it was just so pretty to look at! - and so far I'm enjoying both the similarities and the differences in the book.

[olmue Posts: 3,469 Status: Offline WWW]

I'm reading Elizabeth Bunce's delightful MG Victorian mystery series that starts with Premeditated Myrtle. Currently on the second one, How to Get Away with Myrtle. They're fun.

[mrh Posts: 4,427 Status: Offline www.marciahoehne.com WWW]

I'm reading Elizabeth Bunce's delightful MG Victorian mystery series that starts with Premeditated Myrtle. Currently on the second one, How to Get Away with Myrtle. They're fun.

Those sound great! I'm gonna go look for them.

[Pons Posts: 2,494 Status: Offline]

. . .and so far I'm enjoying both the similarities and the differences in the book.

I love when that happens.

I'm reading Elizabeth Bunce's delightful MG Victorian mystery series that starts with Premeditated Myrtle. Currently on the second one, How to Get Away with Myrtle. They're fun.

I didn't know Elizabeth was writing again. I thought A CURSE AS DARK AS GOLD was brilliant and I enjoyed STAR CROSSED, too. She had taken a break from writing for a while, so I'm obviously behind the times. PREMEDITATED MYRTLE sounds delightful.

[AnneB Posts: 3,562 Status: Offline]

Coming here to  with folks upthread about a new Elizabeth Bunce book, even though it looks like an MG instead of the  YA we're used to reading from her. Just reserved it at our library--happy to see they have half a dozen either in the system already or on order.

eta: Oooh -- I just searched her name. It's part of a series!

[andracill Posts: 5,604 Status: Offline Worlds within...screaming to get out! WWW]

I too enjoyed Elizabeth's CURSE -- and I didn't even realize she had one beyond that (so I'm way behind the times)!

My daughter and I watched Love, Simon last night, and it reminded me of how good a book-based movie can be -- although this one doesn't do right by Blue (imho). I loved him in the book, but the movie version of Blue is more of a coward and not as worth of Simon.

[Trine Posts: 117 Status: Offline WWW]

When I heard of the passing of Bette Green, I am re-reading "Summer of My German Soldier." I was intrigued to hear that the MC was actually herself.

[andracill Posts: 5,604 Status: Offline Worlds within...screaming to get out! WWW]

I was intrigued to hear that the MC was actually herself.

Oh, that's cool! I haven't read that book in ages ...

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 6,109 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

I just started Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor . So far, I like the world and character building. I'm hoping the next chapter gets me to the real story kicking off.

[Hopeful Posts: 172 Status: Offline I love kids books!]

My daughter and I are reading together the middle grade novel, Slacker, by Gordon Korman.  It was published a few years ago and my son had it on his bookshelf.  The book is hilarious and we could really use a good laugh right now.

[Barbara Etlin Posts: 2,227 Status: Offline WWW]

A lot of what I read is middle grade novels, but here are three non-fiction books for adults I really enjoyed.

Why the Dutch are Different  by Ben Coates
I've always been fascinated by the Netherlands and this is both informative and very well written. Coates' descriptions are wonderful word pictures and sometimes he uses humorous similes.

Will in the World. A biography of Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt.

The Universal Tone, Carlos Santana's autobiography, co-written by Ashley Kahn and Hal Miller. I knew almost nothing about him except that I like his music. He's overcome poverty, had a strange childhood, learned how to deal with sudden overwhelming fame at a young age, how to become a leader, how to be grateful and to give back to society.

[Sonya Bright Posts: 38 Status: Offline WWW]

I just picked up  Jennifer Iacopelli's BREAK THE FALL, which is a YA book about elite gymnasts (and abuse behind the scenes). As a decades-long gymnastics person whose brother was actually on the Olympic squad, I'm so excited to start reading - but I only had time for one page before dinner!

[StephCampisi Posts: 33 Status: Offline WWW]

I'm reading THE MIDNIGHT HOUR by Benjamin Read and Laura Trindle. It's delightful, and has a lot of parallels to my WIP - definitely going to use it as a comp title when I get to that point!

My toddler is also absolutely loving the Babylit books by Jennifer Adams (illus. Alison Oliver). We've worked through just about the whole series at this point!

[Hopeful Posts: 172 Status: Offline I love kids books!]

I just finished reading the middle grade novel "The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle" by Leslie Connor.  It was fantastic!  And I have to say, it was far better than the book's summary makes it sound.

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 6,109 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

I'm just finishing Strange the Dreamer. It's the best book I've read in a long time. Usually, about half way through, I start looking to see how many pages I have left. I didn't do that with this book.

[andracill Posts: 5,604 Status: Offline Worlds within...screaming to get out! WWW]

I don't read MG anymore, but I've read Laini Taylor before, Debbie. She has a unique style. I bet my daughter might like StD -- thanks for the rec!

I'm partway through Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (who used to be a member here for quite a while). I've read most of her books (maybe all of them?), and I'm enjoying this one. It's not quite as good as her Naturals series, but I'm pretty sure I'll be getting the next one too.

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 6,109 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

I don't read MG anymore, but I've read Laini Taylor before, Debbie.

It's YA according to our library. And I agree. Some sexuality is explored.

[andracill Posts: 5,604 Status: Offline Worlds within...screaming to get out! WWW]

It's YA according to our library.

No, she's generally YA. I was (confusingly) commenting on the post before yours. I wasn't being clear at all.

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 6,109 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

No, she's generally YA. I was (confusingly) commenting on the post before yours. I wasn't being clear at all.

Happens to all of us.

[AnneB Posts: 3,562 Status: Offline]

I am loving A Hopeful Heart: Louisa May Alcott before LITTLE WOMEN, a YA  biography by Deborah Noyes.

I put off reading it because I find LMA's father incredibly annoying, but while the author doesn't sugarcoat Bronson Alcott's failings as a parent and provider, she doesn't make him into an uncaring monster, either.  I still want to give Bronson a good talking to, but it worked out in the end, and I learned how much I had forgotten about the transcendentalists (lit major here, with a really good AmLit prof).

The book made me wistful, too-- Greta Gerwig's Little Women was the last film I saw in a theater in the Before Time.

[Meghan Wilson Duff Posts: 16 Status: Offline STEM Nonfiction]

I finished Elle McNicholl's A Kind of Spark.  And then immediately bought a copy for our elementary school's library. The main character is an 11 year old autistic girl who advocates for creating a memorial to the women of the village that were accused and murdered for being witches. This book handles so much so well in terms of Neurodiversity and autistic acceptance, standing up for what you think is right, the trickiness of relationships and the cost of trying to be more acceptable to people... and probably some other things. The main character Addie has a very supportive family, including one older neurotypical sister and one who is also autistic (which is lovely because she provides Addie support more readily because she gets it.) 

[Pons Posts: 2,494 Status: Offline]

I put off reading it because I find LMA's father incredibly annoying, but while the author doesn't sugarcoat Bronson Alcott's failings as a parent and provider, she doesn't make him into an uncaring monster, either.  I still want to give Bronson a good talking to, but it worked out in the end, and I learned how much I had forgotten about the transcendentalists (lit major here, with a really good AmLit prof).

I've never read much about Louisa May Alcott's life, so I didn't know about her less than worthy father. I wonder if LMA's actual father accounts for the lackluster father in Little Women. My sister and I loved that book and read it repeatedly in our teens, but I liked the first part much better than the second part. The fictional father's reappearance seemed to intrude on the tight world of mother and daughters. He just didn't fit in. In fact, he annoyed me. I liked him much better when he was distant and they talked about him.

[JFriday Posts: 554 Status: Offline]

Interesting about LMA's father. They are a tight-knit group without him.

I'm the outlier here. Right now I'm reading a NF coffee table book about owls, given to me a couple of Christmases ago. We have great horned owls around here, and I love hearing them hoot. Now how to work that into my current WIP...

[andracill Posts: 5,604 Status: Offline Worlds within...screaming to get out! WWW]

I haven't read a bio of LMA since I was in high school, but that one sounds interesting, Anne. Thanks for sharing!

I read a thriller/mystery (YA) by Ashley Elston (Rules for Disappearing) and am waiting on the next book. It was good, though I don't know if I *love* it. I got Cousins (by Karen McManus) for all of us to enjoy, but no one has started it yet. And I've started The Perfect Candidate by Peter Stone (which I got for my son last year, and after he read and enjoyed it, now I'm reading it).

[JFriday Posts: 554 Status: Offline]

Found an older Joan Bauer YA called Peeled. A few chapters in; it's interesting. A small town high school reporter with a haunted house and a murder to investigate. She has a distinctive voice.

[onestepp Posts: 137 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

I took the Making Picture Book Magic course in October and read all the PB titles that she mentioned in her course to understand them better and write better, too.   Also, I recently read The Bronze Horseman an adult novel about a romance during WWII in Leningrad.

[jojocookie Posts: 322 Status: Offline WWW]

Just Like That by Gary Schmidt.
Have you ever read a paragraph so beautiful it takes your breath away and validates every hurt feeling you've ever experienced? This is one of those books.  Who knew a MG novel could affect me this way. I gobbled it up. There's a lot to learn from his handling of backstory. It kinda goes on forever and I don't mind it at all.

[Hopeful Posts: 172 Status: Offline I love kids books!]

I just read Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.  It was by far the best YA novel I've read in a long time.  Very realistic dialogue.   Beautifully told story.

[andracill Posts: 5,604 Status: Offline Worlds within...screaming to get out! WWW]

I finally got to read Cousins, and it was good. Not quite as good as her previous books, but I enjoyed it regardless.

I've only read one Gary Schmidt (Trouble), and I really liked it. He has an amazing voice. I've also read only one Rainbow Rowell (Fangirl), and it was okay. Her voice is familiar to me (not that this is a bad thing), but it felt a little overdone. Just my personal opinion, of course. I've heard many people love Eleanor & Park, so maybe I should try that one.

[Sonya Bright Posts: 38 Status: Offline WWW]

Two nights go I read Dog Days (the 4th Diary of a Wimpy Kid book) in one sitting (well, one reclining-in-bed in the middle of the night!).

It's the only one in the series I've ever read, and I LOVED IT. I didn't know what I was missing out on. The combination of the humour and the cute illustrations was so great.

I'll buy myself a set of them soon, but in the meantime I've put in a bunch of orders at the library - there's a long queue to borrow them!