[Jennifer Cole Judd Posts: 30 Status: Offline WWW]

Just finished Far Far Away by Tom McNeal and, can I just say?  Loved. It.   Grimm's fairy tales.  Ghosts.  Peculiar disappearances.  A forlorn, loveable MC.  Mystery...dark villains...and...maybe?  A happy ending?  Bwahaha! Highly recommend!  Perfect with a cup of cocoa and a dark and stormy night.   : :

[kategoka]

GOOD ENOUGH by Paula Yoo.

It's so funny. And there are a lot of recipes with Spam included too. I think this is the closest book I've found to a comp for my own WIP. I can't remember if I got the recommendation for it here. If so, thank you!!

[JohnellDeWitt Posts: 54 Status: Offline WWW]

I found a book on the Tudors: The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty, by G.J. Meyer. If the size of his source notes at the end of the book is any indication of the research he did for this, his use of "complete" isn't without merit. The book is long, almost 600 pages and starts with the Tudor's rise to power, Henry the VII, Henry the VIII, Edward his son, Mary and finally Elizabeth. He gives a very rounded overview of the situation and leaves no illusions that most historians have thrown up around Henry the VIII and the Tudor family in general. I enjoyed it. I have another book on the Tudors waiting to read as well. So we'll see how they compare.

I also read with my daughter, The One and Only Ivan. So touching--it is deserving of its praise.

And one of my favorites, The King of the Wind. It's a Newberry winner by Margeurite Henry. It's about the original sire of many of the greatest and most famous races horses, including Man-o-War. Even though this book was written in the 1940s, it's truly a classic. Her writing style verges on the poetic and though the historical elements are likely highly romanticized, as a story it works well as a truly beautiful underdog story. I adore this book, as if you couldn't tell already. 

[ChristineSarmel Posts: 230 Status: Offline WWW]

Just finished What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly. It's an adult debut about an overwhelmed mom who is supposed to be watching someone else's child when that child goes missing. Great crime fiction/ woman's fiction read.

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

Erik Larson, Isaac's Storm -- a nonfiction chronicle of the hurricane that decimated Galveston, TX in 1900. Heavy stuff, but well done; lots of interesting info about the science and history of meteorology to start with, and then reads more like horror as Larson gets into what happened during the storm itself.

[olmue Posts: 3,427 Status: Offline WWW]

Stayed up late last night to finish Far Far Away, by Tom McNeal. I almost didn't pick it up in the first place because I read another one of his books and it just wasn't my thing (3rd person present omniscient, contemporary issues book). But I'm really glad I gave him another try! This one was lovely--as the book says, it's about a boy, a girl, and a ghost. The ghost is Jacob Grimm, yes, that one, and he's the narrator, but a full character who changes in the book. So it's like the author took some of the very things that drove me crazy with the other book and shifted them slightly so they totally worked, bang-on. (Well, in my opinion--many people loved the other book--it's all down to personal taste). I loved the German in it (which was well explained for those who don't speak it, but was accurate for those who do ), I loved how you were only gradually caught by what was really going on, and I loved how all the characters' plotlines ended up interacting. It was just one of those weird tales, well told.

[Sam Hranac Posts: 667 Status: Offline Reach for the stairs. They're closer. WWW]

The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon... in misty Seattle. I don't recommends certain sections of this for late at night when you have to get to sleep.

[ChristineSarmel Posts: 230 Status: Offline WWW]

Just finished DRAMA HIGH, adult non-fic by Sokolove. It's about a theater director who built an amazing high school program in an economically depressed town. But even more it's about arts and education, about great teaching and socioeconomics and what happens to towns the economy leaves behind. I loved it.

[mrh Posts: 4,322 Status: Offline www.marciahoehne.com WWW]

Stayed up late last night to finish Far Far Away, by Tom McNeal. I almost didn't pick it up in the first place because I read another one of his books and it just wasn't my thing (3rd person present omniscient, contemporary issues book). But I'm really glad I gave him another try!

Ah -- and I recently gave up on it. Didn't grab me. But I've noticed that's a hazard of having a TBR pile that's too high: I give up easier on a book b/c there's always another.

I'm reading THE GIRL FROM FELONY BAY (MG contemporary mystery) and I like it a lot. A DOG CALLED HOMELESS is up next. I also just read GRAIN BRAIN, and though I didn't swallow it hook, line, and sinker, it's confirmed my recent feelings about cutting way back on bread, pasta, cereal, and flour in general. 

[LTMadison Posts: 109 Status: Offline Cover art avatar by 2020 WWW]

The National Book Award list came out last week. I've read Kathi Appelt's enchanting tall tale for MG, True Blue Scouts, and Meg Rosoff's story of a preternaturally sensitive pre teen getting wrapped up in her family's adult problems. Both great reads. I plan to work through the other finalists as well.

Finalists:


 Kathi Appelt, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp
 (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)

Cynthia Kadohata, The Thing About Luck (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)

Tom McNeal, Far Far Away (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House)

Meg Rosoff, Picture Me Gone (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Group USA)

Gene Luen Yang, Boxers & Saints (First Second/Macmillan)

longlist:


- Kate DiCamillo, Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures (Candlewick Press)
- Lisa Graff, A Tangle of Knots (Philomel, A division of Penguin Group USA)
- Alaya Dawn Johnson, The Summer Prince (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
- David Levithan, Two Boys Kissing (Knopf Books for Young Readers/Random House)
- Anne Ursu, The Real Boy (Walden Pond Press/an Imprint HarperCollinsPublishers)

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

I begun to read "Perfect" by Rachel Joyce. Im reading it in italian but the funny thing is that when I looked for the title in english I discovered that italian editor changed the title in (translated) "The strange case of the stolen time". Hope they didn't change also the book!

[olmue Posts: 3,427 Status: Offline WWW]

I have three of those NBA books out right now. Best get reading!

Monica, titles are *often* changed (not just translated) in other languages. I think it's a marketing thing--just like book covers that can differ significantly in tone and content. I'm sure the book is the same inside!

I have Untold (Sarah Rees Brennan), All the Truth That's in Me (Julie Berry), and Counting by 7s (Holly Goldberg Sloan) up. AND I'm setting up to do NaNo this year. Why do all my holds come in when I'm in the thick of writing, I want to know??

[olmue Posts: 3,427 Status: Offline WWW]

Just back to say wow. All the Truth That's In Me was really powerful. Most writers have more than one book. But I think there's often one that really does tell all the truth that's in you. Props for excellent usage of the second person narrative. One of those books that grabs you by the guts and holds on.

[Ruth Donnelly Posts: 660 Status: Offline WWW]

I'm enjoying The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen.

[MVP Posts: 104 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

I just read The Fault in Our Stars.  I knew it would be sad but also, I found it scary.  The picture of what it would be like to die of cancer was too vivid for comfort.  I'm glad I read it but I'm also having trouble shaking it off.

Next up: Savvy and Counting by Sevens.

[olmue Posts: 3,427 Status: Offline WWW]

Love Savvy! And I have Counting by 7s up right now. This week is made of win when it comes to books.

[rab Posts: 533 Status: Offline WWW]

Jo Baker's Longbourn is a lot of fun for Pride & Prejudice lovers; we get to see the life from the servants' perspective---and learn interesting things about the Bennett family, too.

[olmue Posts: 3,427 Status: Offline WWW]

Counting by 7s was awesome, too. Last night I finished Shadows, by Robin McKinley, which I enjoyed very much. There is old McKinley and new McKinley (the vampire book), and I confess to being an old McKinley fan--so I particularly enjoyed this. It's in our modern world--sort of, I mean, there's algebra--but there's magic trying to come through, and kids who have to do something about it. Actually, it was McKinley with maybe a nod towards Diana Wynne Jones, and I enjoyed it very much.

[ChristineSarmel Posts: 230 Status: Offline WWW]

THE NINE LIVES OF ALEXANDER BADDENFIELD by Marciano/Blackall is a wonderfully dark and ironic illustrated MG. I'd hand it to the kid who loved The Unfortunate Events series.

[olmue Posts: 3,427 Status: Offline WWW]

The Winter of the Robots, by our own Kurtis Scaletta. The mushroom book was my favorite of his until this one. Loved the Minneapolis setting, the real-feeling kids, the really different kind of story (robotics, the kind that smart kids get into around middle school and sometimes go to competitions for). Loved the little sister. (They build a snow fort. "This will protect us," she said. "Protect us from what?" "Extremists," she said, which made me wonder what was going on in the puppet show she'd been watching." Or the moment much later on, where she's snooping around in Jim's room and discovers a disk he was hiding in a "horror book about fungus." The Tanglewood Terror, perhaps? )

I'm in the depths of revision right now and have other half-finished books waiting for me, too. The Lord of Opium (sequel to House of the Scorpion), Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund (a retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel), and the British classic Tom's Midnight Garden are all stashed within reach, like carrots.

[ChristineSarmel Posts: 230 Status: Offline WWW]

Just finishing up two great adult reads:


DEVIL IN THE GROVE by Gilbert King - a non-fic about Thurgood Marshall's work as a civil rights lawyer in a Florida case involving three African-American men accused of raping a white woman.


LOYALTY by Ingrid Thoft - crime fiction starring a hard-nosed female PI- fans of Sue Grafton should check it out

[LadySlipper Posts: 174 Status: Offline]

Re-reading, I Capture the Castle, by Dotie Smith.  Cassandra Mortmain is my all-time favorite narrator. 

[jayme-allen Posts: 31 Status: Offline Pass me a book & cup of tea; I'll love you forever]

I'm currently reading LET THE RIGHT ONE IN by John Ajvide Lindqvist and THE EMERALD TABLET by PJ Hoover.
These two books are kinda on the opposite ends of the book spectrum, but I guess that keeps my life balanced

[JodyJS Posts: 1,224 Status: Offline Preorder now! Out Jan. 7, 2020! WWW]

THE INCORRIGIBLE CHILDREN OF ASHTON PLACE series. Fun stories and really witty writing.

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

I'm reading "The Paper Garden" about an artist who started her career when she was 72 years of age.  Yes, that is inspiring.      :

[Shannywriter Posts: 505 Status: Offline Believe in yourself and never give up WWW]

Just finished Let The Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger and now half thru Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell  :

[MichaelBlackbourn Posts: 96 Status: Offline WWW]

Reading Sand by Hugh Howey. Self published awesome scifi book. Unrelated to his best seller Wool.

[terrylynn Posts: 144 Status: Offline writing outdoor adventures WWW]

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowel is everything they say it is and more. Not sure how to move on after this reading experience.
Also loved Eleanor and Park. New favourite author.

[Marcia Posts: 474 Status: Offline Never Too Late To Be What You Were Meant to Be WWW]

I just read four good middle grade books: WONDER by R. J. Palacio (amazing read, should be required reading for all 5th graders), WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead, The BOY ON THE PORCH by Sharon Creech, and ONE YEAR IN COAL HARBOR by Polly Horvath. This last one I listened to on audio--well performed! You can't go wrong with any of these reads.

[laura-hunter Posts: 26 Status: Offline]

Just launched into the Liaden sci-fi series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Fabulous stuff, and so great to know that there is a whole series to enjoy.