Tag: YA (Page 1 of 2)

Halloween Reads 2021

Hello again! Well. If you’re keeping track (and really, I don’t think anyone is?), then you know I have not posted since March. I thought the first quarter of 2021 was hard. But then the rest of the year said, “Hold my beer,” and kicked me into the mud and stood on my back. So here I am. Still standing, but carrying 2021 around my neck like a millstone. And it’s not over yet. For crying out loud. At this point, I am going to need a very long vacation. Whenever the world allows it, or whenever I can make it happen. Because really, who wants to wait for the universe to give them permission?

I can’t complain too much. This has been a good reading year for me, and I have definitely fed my mystery obsession. But I have also tried to specifically seek out spooky reads, and while I haven’t read them all, these are some that I have enjoyed the most. I have a few more on my list from last year that I just didn’t get to.

This is my 11th year of doing my Halloween Reads round-up, and while this hasn’t been a great year for blogging, I could not skip this post. Gotta keep the streak alive! The good news (?) is that I’ve been working steadily on my novel again, so who knows? That might be done some day. In the meantime, hope you find something here that intrigues you! If you are so inclined, please feel free to check out my previous years’ posts, which are all linked from here. There’s a lot in those links, and if you get a chance to peruse those, I hope you enjoy them. I’d love to hear your recommendations for your favorite spooky reads in the comments below!

Now, without further ado, here is my list of this year’s spooky reads!

Classics

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

Ten thumbs up for pure atmosphere! If you are a fan of Wuthering Heights or Rebecca, this one should be on your stack. The whole story felt so grey and cold, and was perfect for this time of year. In addition to the atmospheric setting, it includes the ominous roadside inn with no guests, the orphan, and the multiple options for bad guys. It will leave you guessing until the very end! I mean, it did me. This is only my second du Maurier, and I liked it even better than Rebecca. I can see why people become such fans of her work. I thought this was a daring story for its time, and the ending was surprising to me. I think that is a du Maurier thing. Do not @ me if you don’t like Wuthering Heights (one of my all-time favorites).

Edgar Allan Poe’s detective stories

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Poe is credited with being the first writer to write a series with a detective, that this detective used deductive reasoning, and that he pioneered the use of locked-room and apparently simple cases being complex. This year I took part in a Poe readalong, and took the opportunity to read several short stories, including “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” which features Augustin Dupin, an outcast type of rake with a possible drug problem who helps out the authorities on occasion (sound familiar?). Then I read “The Mystery of Marie Roget” and the finale, “The Purloined Letter.” These are not in themselves really mind-boggling, to our modern way of thinking, but to think that they influenced Conan Doyle and probably many others, and that there was really nothing like them when they were written, is amazing.

Mystery

The Last Séance by Agatha Christie

This is a collection of short stories, and as with any short story volume, I liked some better than others. I had read a couple of them before, in other collections, but there were quite a few new ones too, so that was nice. The familiar helped temper the creep factor, because I am a complete chicken. And some of these were very creepy! I liked that at the end, there was the original publication information for each story, so you can see what year it was first published and where it appeared. This helps a little because Agatha’s writing certainly changed over the years. I was very glad to see this themed collection. I highly recommend sitting up late by yourself in a secluded cabin and reading this! Ha!

The Deep, Deep Snow by Brian Freeman

This was a fantastic story with twists and turns 20 years apart. It blew me away. From the plotline to the characters (I really loved Shelby!) to the ending. Wow. Not a single hiccup, high stakes all the way, and a slam-bang finale. The kind of book that makes you want to go back and start again once you’ve finished, because you know those clues are there somewhere. Just a tiny hint of romance and a larger hint of domestic drama make this a very well-rounded mystery choice. Freeman is a hugely prolific writer who has done the latest Jason Bourne novel, as well as continuing his own series and several standalones. He’s the real deal.

Adult Fantasy

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

I read this once years and years ago and I remembered nothing, so wanting to continue with the series, I got my hand on a copy (signed!) and decided to get my witchy on for a reread. This is a lovely story, and has its share of spooky moments, plus there are some great twists that make it more than a typical family drama. I loved the depiction of siblings (haven’t seen each other for how long? Doesn’t matter), and the whole family history involved. I loved the little pieces of magic throughout – potions and premonitions and objects coming to light and love at first sight and other things that you may not think of as magic but that really are. If you are looking for a good contemporary type drama that has more than a hint of a magical vibe, this is your ticket. I haven’t seen the movie yet but now I am curious.

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

Okay, look. I haven’t finished this yet. But I’m almost half done, and I’m going out on a limb, and saying if you love anything vampire, get your hands on this epic fantasy. The world (not our world but a facsimile of Europe) has become dark as there was some cataclysmic event that blotted out the sun, and thus vampires (who apparently always existed) have run amok. 27 years later, one of the best (and since fallen) vampire hunters sits in a castle, telling his story to a vampire scribe. It is absolutely brilliant in so many ways: the conceit and structure, the world building, the characters, and the aesthetics of it! I am a huge fan of Jay Kristoff anyway, but this just might be his masterpiece. It is a commitment (700 pages, first in a trilogy), but that’s okay, because I know he is both going to crush my heart and make me beg for more. Note that there is absolutely nothing clean or delicate about this book.
Of course, you should go read the original Dracula by Bram Stoker if you haven’t already, and I have reviewed that briefly in the past. I didn’t do it justice, and I just have to remind you to read it in the mindset of someone who has not been steeped in all the acumen of vampire pop culture. This is where it all started.

MG and YA

Bridge of Souls (Cassidy Blake #3) by Victoria Schwab

This latest installment of this excellent spooky middle grade series ratchets up the creep factor just a bit. Each book takes place in a different city, as Cassidy’s parents are hosts of a ghosthunter show. The rub is that Cassie can actually see ghosts. She feels them everywhere, and each of these haunted cities is rife with them. This one introduces new elements of the world of the dead, which are simply brilliant and terrifying. The action is edge-of-your-seat, and the setting of New Orleans is amazing. I loved everything about this! I’m not sure if there are more in this series, but I sincerely hope so. If you want to get started, look for City of Ghosts, which I reviewed here. (I wouldn’t normally review the third book in a series, but here it is, which should give you an idea of how great this series is from the beginning, and how it keeps getting better.)

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

I’m including this even though it was not a 5 star read for me, for pure originality and ultimate execution. The first half of the book was a little spacey and psychedelic, and the characters did not have the reactions of terror that I would have expected. But the second half was a wild ride, and once Jake started to feel that terror, it really took off. The ending was amazing, and really had me fearing for Jake. I loved the little romance bits, and I loved the backstory we see about Sawyer. I feel like the mentor should have played a bigger role, and that some parts of the backstory could have been explained more. The different perspectives were key, and the world building was intriguing. So while it was a wild ride, I feel like some aspects of the ride were in the dark, and the ride was too short. Great BIPOC and LGBTQIA rep.

 

Here’s hoping the world is treating you kindly. As I write this (Thursday), I have just finished a day of talking to healthcare professionals. And tomorrow I will be helping to move my aunt into a new care center. And then I get to go see the grandbabies! And then I come home and collapse for the weekend. Normally, I’d be all about carving pumpkins and handing out candy but I honestly am not sure if I have it in me this year. It has been a lot. I daresay worse than 2020? A death, an injury, weeks of PT, a new grandbaby, a heatwave/drought, a garden decimated, a wedding, a family member injury, and here we are today. It’s not all bad stuff, but even good stress is stress. Still, I find myself longing for those hot (very hot!) summer days when I was racing around looking for a dress for my son’s wedding. The good news is my aunt is getting better all the time, and it has not been a bad thing to spend more time with her. I could just do without all the other people in the mix. So I’m hoping to spend the weekend maybe finalizing yard clean-up and reading EOTV (see above).

While I may not be back next week, I will surely be back soon. Meanwhile, come look for me on Instagram, which takes less brain power than a blog post! LOL You can find me @lindabookmania – see you there!

And if the world is not treating you kindly, just remember, someone else may have it worse than you do. Remember the Golden Rule.

 

Halloween Reads 2014 Redux

 

Welcome to my fourth annual round-up of Halloween reading (even though I’ve been doing this column since 2009, I apparently didn’t get this idea until 2011). This isn’t hard-core horror – I can’t sleep if I read things like Stephen King. I prefer something with a creep factor. It’s not hard these days to find creepy literature, focusing on macabre or ghastly subjects. The proliferation of ghost hunter shows (some of which I’m a fan), the apparent zombie craze and a sudden uptick in interest in cemeteries attest to the public’s appetite. I don’t see the attraction to zombies, myself, but I do find many aspects of macabre subjects fascinating. My favorite TV shows are Grimm and Sleepy Hollow. And of course, I love Halloween. Check out my previous years’ posts from 2011, 2012 and 2013.

You might find something you like on this year’s Halloween Reads list. In the past, I had always included one classic, a couple fiction pieces, and maybe a kid’s book or two, or a middle grade if I could find one. This year, I’m grabbing whatever strikes me that might put someone in mind of a creepy time of year. It’s a bit of an eclectic mix, and includes my first nonfiction selection.

Nonfiction

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

My first nonfiction selection, this is not for the squeamish. And even though her later title, Spook, might seem more appropriate for Halloween, I got to this one first. On the surface, it is an examination of what happens to bodies after people die. The terminology is very explicit – they are cadavers, they are bodies, rarely people or corpses. From Victorian grave robbing (the “resurrectionists”) to uses for bodies donated to science (including decay measurement and surgical education), to use of human body parts for medical and culinary preparations – yes, a bit of a discussion of cannibalism – to a very interesting discussion of ecological funerary practices, Roach covers a lot of ground (and truth, makes me not want to end up buried under it). It’s less a grotesque look at dead bodies than it is a thoughtful, intelligent, and good-humored look at all the ways we have left to go once we’re gone. And the surprise? It’s funny – often laugh-out-loud funny. Roach is a good writer, and her explorations are always humane and comprehensive. I know, you may think this is just ooky. But in the hands of Roach, it’s fascinating.

Mystery

The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb

This was Wendy Webb’s first novel, and she nailed it. She is now being billed as the Queen of the Supernatural Mystery! A woman finds out after her father dies that her mother, whom she had thought was dead, was actually still alive until very recently. A very strange and mysterious trip follows, back to her childhood home on Lake Michigan. It’s a wild, old place, and she finds ghosts there of all types.  The townspeople think that she and her father died, so her reappearance is pretty surprising. The ghosts of the past don’t give up, though, and she must try to find out what really happened to put them to rest. That, however, proves not to be so simple. There are many ghosts who do not wish to rest. In the process of solving the mystery, she finds that she has special powers and talents. I loved the ending of this story, the setting, the atmosphere of it.
A great read for blustery fall days. Something to put you in the mood for Halloween!

YA Fiction

Series, The Hollow by Jessica Verday (The Hollow, The Haunted, The Hidden)

If you can get past the angsty and entitled teenager, this is a solid good story about death, dying, and being left behind. It’s also about first love, true love, honor and doing what’s right. I initially looked at this in preparation for a panel I was on about the TV show Sleepy Hollow at a Con. But I got hooked and read all three books. It’s not creepy, though – at least it didn’t feel that way to me. It’s imaginative about what we might encounter – what is really happening on the other side. From creepy Reverants to soul mates to death days, there is a whole world there. The hobby of our heroine was interesting, too – perfume making. Her dreams and hopes are understandable, and the loss of her best friend all-encompassing, which I can truly relate to. The story takes great liberties but also has a smooth reverence for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and I love that. It was, on the whole, a good story with a satisfying ending – not easy to do after three books. Just suspend disbelief, enjoy the twists and turns, fall into it for an hour or three.

Classics

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

I hadn’t really had Henry James on my radar before, had never read him. This title was brought to my attention through an article about Her Fearful Symmetry, one of my all-time favorite books. You know those You Might Also Like algorithms on GoodReads? Yes, that’s where I found this. Perhaps the success of this story dwells in the ominous sense of foreboding that permeates it. This was written, after all, in 1898, in gaslight days, when there were shadows everywhere. In fact, that is basically what the book is comprised of: foreboding. Governess takes over secluded manor with two children who appear to be haunted. Not the manor – the children. Seemingly by the ghosts of her predecessor and the old valet. This is a governess with one heck of an imagination. Were they having an affair? Are they trying to come for the children? And more importantly, do the children want them to? It was so creepy at first, that I actually didn’t want to read it when I was home alone at night. I found, too, that the language can be difficult for our modern sensibilities. This book was part of a huge Gothic tradition that included Bram Stoker and others (see below), and if you can wade through the syntax, it may just get your heart pumping. Just don’t ask me what actually happened.

Classics I couldn’t find anywhere

The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux
Said to be the perfect mystery story, this is the classic locked-room murder by the author of The Phantom of the Opera (last year’s classic). A young woman cries out and upon bashing the door in, her father and brother find her nearly expired. How did it happen? I love this classic motif, from The Orient Express to Sherlock Holmes. And I’m dying to read the prototype.

The Shadow of Ashlydyat by Mrs. Henry Wood
Also mentioned in the article about Her Fearful Symmetry, I am determined to find this one, too. I am also quite curious about the indomitable Mrs. Wood. It would seem that this was her own favorite of her 30 novels, and in a distinctly un-Victorian turn, “an unscrupulous woman is left unchecked at the end.” The description in the article was, in fact, so alluring that I am grasping for this one as well.

 

I know, Abe Books. I just haven’t gotten that far yet. I am afraid I can’t get enough of creepy reading. Earlier in the year, I was reading The Corpse Reader (about the ‘father of forensics’ in China), Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (highly recommended!), The Obituary Writer by Ann Hood, and We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter by Rachel Hanel. Anyone looking at my GoodReads Challenge page would sense a definite trend. Hope you find something you like that puts you in the appropriately creepy state of mind for this time of year. Let me know what works for you – or what your own favorite creepy read is!

Halloween Reads 2019

It’s time for another installment of spooky reads, folks! If you are looking to get some chills and thrills from your reading, look no further. However, note that I don’t do horror, so you probably won’t get any jump scares out of these selections.

If you’re counting, this is the ninth annual Halloween Reads list. I’ve been on the hunt since 2011. Since before this blog, when I posted on Examiner.com. Check the links at the bottom for the posts for previous years. This year, there seems to be a bumper crop of spooky reads! So without further ado, here is my list for your spoopy reading pleasure!

Continue reading

Book Review: Last Things by Jacqueline West

Last Things is the newest YA from New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline West. Her award-winning The Books of Elsewhere is one of my favorite MG series. I was excited to hear that she was writing another YA, especially after reading her most recent book, The Collectors, last fall.

This story simply hummed! This story kept me turning pages well past midnight. *cough 2am cough* Not that reading this in the dead of night is the best idea. Because no. It is creepy, it is heebie jeebie, it is deliciously spooky. It might make you rethink the wisdom of reading alone at night next to an uncovered window. Just me? Oh, okay.

Continue reading

The Boy Who Steals Houses Book Blitz!

And now for something completely different! I am participating in the Book Blitz for the newest novel from one of my favorite bloggers and authors, C.G. Drews, aka Paper Fury. This is being put on by a group called the Aussie YA Bloggers, and I am so chuffed to be a part of it! Read on! And there’s a giveaway too!

But why, do you ask? Linda, you don’t even know Paper Fury. Why do you want to support an author halfway around the world? Well, man, let me tell you. I don’t know when I first began to follow C.G., but it was a few years ago. It started on Book Twitter (RIP Book Twitter, for the most part – this was Twitter before the 2016 election and other things crept in to spoil it). I followed her there, and she was just so NICE. And FUNNY. She was also kind of creepy how all her posts put into words how I felt. Then I found out she was writing a book. She shared so much! And I loved her blog, which sounded just like her tweets. Amazing.

Then three years ago I joined Bookstagram (yay, Bookstagram!), and followed her there. And so many chats! She answered all my DMs! I was in for a ride. I got to celebrate her first book with her, and I even created a swap photo for it (one of those where you sort of emulate someone else’s style as an homage). I mean, it wasn’t even close, but. Her pics are gorgeous!

Her books are not available in the US (what? I mean, come on!) but I was able to order her first book, A Thousand Perfect Notes, from Book Depository. And let me tell you – I cried! In public! Gah. But it was totally worth it. It was everything I was hoping for. Soft romance, awkward girl, damaged boy, lovely just lovely. I mean, I don’t usually read romance, and I hardly read any contemporary. But this was amazing.

Fast forward to The Boy Who Steals Houses! This is a genderbent Goldilocks retelling, and let me tell you, I am here for this! I don’t have a copy yet, but that lovely blogger group set this up, so I can participate in all the flailing anyway. Read on for more info. And go, follow Paper Fury on all the platforms you can find. Her content is STELLAR and she is a 100% awesome human bean.

The Boys Who Steals Houses is about…

Can two broken boys find their perfect home?

Sam is only fifteen but he and his autistic older brother, Avery, have been abandoned by every relative he’s ever known. Now Sam’s trying to build a new life for them. He survives by breaking into empty houses when their owners are away, until one day he’s caught out when a family returns home. To his amazement this large, chaotic family takes him under their wing – each teenager assuming Sam is a friend of another sibling. Sam finds himself inextricably caught up in their life, and falling for the beautiful Moxie.

But Sam has a secret, and his past is about to catch up with him.

About The Author

C.G. Drews lives in Australia with her dog, a piano, and the goal of reading every book in existence. Consequently, her brain has overflowed with words and she spends her days writing novel after novel. She blogs at Paper Fury, never sleeps and believes in cake for breakfast.

She believes in lots of cake. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @PaperFury and add this book on GoodReads!

You can buy The Boy Who Steals Houses by C.G. Drews on the following sites:
Australia and New Zealand:
Angus and Robinson, Booktopia, Amazon Australia, Fishpond
International:
Amazon US, Waterstones, Book Depository, Wordery

And if you see a copy in the wild, on a library or bookstore shelf, post it and tag her on social media, because she lives in a tiny town and hardly gets to see her book on shelves at all.

And now, for the international giveaway! Win a SIGNED and ANNOTATED copy of The Boy Who Steals Houses plus an official art print inspired by the book!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Boy Who Steals Houses by C.G. Drews
Paper, 347p, ISBN 9781408349922
Orchard Books, 2019

Halloween Reads 2018

Need a good book that will send chills up your spine? I have a great selection this year! If you are not familiar with my Halloween Reads posts, I have been doing this since 2010 (first on Examiner.com, where I was the Minneapolis Books Examiner, and now on my own blog. Look for links at the end to these past posts for more recs!). I love it when the weather turns chilly and gloomy, leaves blowing across the grass, and a slight mist in the air. Join me! I’ll wait while you get your hot beverage of choice, a pumpkin latte? A hot cider? Good old hot chocolate? Mulled wine? Here we go!

Quick recap: these are not horror. I don’t have the nerves for that. I try to find a couple different genres, but really, I just post whatever I find that appeals to me!

Let’s start with a classic! Continue reading

Book Review: The Hazel Wood

Have I got something for you. There has been a lot of buzz in the past couple years about fairytale retellings, sure. But Melissa Albert takes it a step further yet. This is a newtelling (new-telling? New Telling?) – a wholly new world, The Hinterland, which we learn about from the character searching for the book within the book.

People. The booklove in this book! This is literally a bookfreak’s dream come true.

But I digress.

What is so arresting about this book is its immediacy. It is almost magical realism in its here-and-now-ness. We are in modern day New York City. Our MC has current problems. Her cell phone is dead. Her stepdad is a jerk. Her stepsister is a bitch (who makes her feel like “an awkward breadstick”). Okay. We’ve all been there. In bits and pieces, we get more of the story, more of her story – the midnight runs, the near misses. Her mother. The weird stuff that seems to explode around them. Why?

And her name… wait for it… is Alice.

I love it. Everything about this story felt so right on.

And while we are in modern New York City, yet… there is something, just a hair’s breath away, just over a slight border, one you cannot see, just waiting. The Hinterland. And that, my friends, is where Alice must go to find her mom. Whether the Hinterland is a place or a people, we aren’t sure.

There is unexpected help, there is unexpected danger. All around. It is endemic to the fairytale. Wait. The stories. Danger is endemic to the plurality of stories that exist in this other land.

I’m doing a bad job of explaining it, because it’s just that good. But you can get a synopsis from anywhere. What I’d like to tell you about is the beauty of the way this was put together, the intricacy of it, and the wild success of it. Albert has come up with a whole new realm, and folks, she’s going to take us there. I was excited reading this, excited like the first time-reading-Harry Potter excited. Because everything felt imaginative and whole.

As good as the storytelling is, the writing is even better. One of the things that I loved so much right away about Harry Potter was the wordplay. Albert scores hit after hit on that. Albert sings when she is putting us in Alice’s memories: the way a book is evocative of the place you first read it. The way that smells are colors and sounds are food. Waylan Jennings is whisky and a suit is an exhausted brown. This is what makes a story stick.

Things like this, one of the best list paragraphs I’ve read in a long time:

“Everyone is supposed to be a combination of nature and nurture, their true selves shaped by years of friends and fights and parents and dreams and things you did too young and things you overheard that you shouldn’t have and secrets you kept or couldn’t and regrets and victories and quiet prides, all the packed-together detritus that becomes what you call your life.

But every time we left a place, I felt the things that happened there being wiped clean, til all that was left was Ella, our fights and our talks and our winding roads.” – p130

Alice is worth our time, too. She climbs into bed with The Blind Assassin, “because if you’re not with the book you want, you might as well want the book you’re with.” She doesn’t like her stepdad because, among other things, he doesn’t read the right books. She tamps down an anger she doesn’t understand with “hippie shit” her mother teaches her, and once called, she is laser-focused on her goal.

And Alice has a friend. Finch wears an expression like armor, one that seals him off from the world and protects him from… what, exactly? He is a superfan, one of the few who has read the book Alice’s grandmother wrote, and who has a deep appreciation for story. (And he wants to go home at one point, “because that’s where my first editions are.” Don’t we love this sweet little cinnamon roll?) I was really getting a soft spot for Finch.

Let’s not forget Ella. Ella in all this is more than just the crazy mom who married up, the waitress who can beguile a rich guy. The daughter of the woman who wrote the tales of the Hinterland down. Ella has guts. Ella is bad-ass her damn self. But we don’t get much of her story.

The three of them do a kind of dance with The Hinterland, each for their own reasons. And along the way, we get bits and pieces of the stories of the Hinterland. Oh, by the way, we’re getting those in full, too. It has just been announced that Albert will be releasing two more books – one will be the actual Tales of the Hinterland (squeeee!) (presumably the book that Althea, Ella’s mother, wrote in the first place) and the other will be set in the same world, a follow-up to this one. So we have Hinterland for the next two years!

So yes, Leigh Bardugo wrote original, imaginative fairytales set in her fantasy world (The Language of Thorns was my top pick for 2017). And Lev Grossman gave us a doorway into a hidden world through an alleyway. But this is like Ravka meets Brakebills. Except that school is the least of our worries. And the world feels as real as your own backyard. So it’s not a retelling – it’s new. We get it first.

Go on, get this one. But a note here: the author posted that some bookstores had put the book out early, and asked people to hold off on buying it until Jan 30. Please, booksellers, don’t skirt a Strict on Sale date. And readers, if you know a book is out early, wait to buy it. I know, it’s hard. But it could make that small difference for where – or whether – a book lands on the New York Times bestseller list, among other things. And this one is sure to land there, somewhere. Help it land higher by buying it during release week. On-sale date is January 30. Set an alert.

Because I forgot to mention, in case you can’t tell from my Bookstagram photo above, that this book is gorgeous in and of itself! I have heard the final copy does not disappoint – gold foil, embossing, just everything. The ARC is easily one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I can’t wait to get my final copy!

Oh, and five stars on GoodReads! I don’t usually give stars, but I think that I will start doing that for all my reviews on GoodReads this year. Just as an experiment. I wrestle with anything less than five stars. But maybe it will help people decide what to read, and help authors I love. Come find me there!

Happy New Year!

 

January Readathon and 2018 Challenges

I tackled a couple of reading challenges last year. And they really helped to start my year off right. In fact, they gave me such a huge spurt of accomplishment, I made my reading goal – and knocked out some books I’d been wanting to read for a long time, several of them five star reads. All this to say, I’m here to do it again.

This year, I thought I’d do the #RockMyTBR challenge again, but with a different tack. I’m doing #BeattheBacklist, which involves a little more accountability, a little more checking in. In fact, it looks like Austine put a heckuva lot of work into this!  There is a Bookstagram challenge, teams and prizes. I’m on the Story Sorcerors team. I fell off #RockMyTBR about halfway through, so I still have quite a pile of stuff here that I need to either read or just peruse and unhaul. Continue reading

Best Books of 2017

My year got hijacked. I started off strong, reading something like 20 books in January (thanks in large part to a part-time job as a warming house attendant, which essentially meant uninterrupted reading time on most days). Then I got a job at a bookstore. Sounds ideal, right? Well, it really cut into my reading time, I can tell you that!

However, I did manage to get close to my goal of 75 books. I might even make it. At this writing, I have two days left, and I’ve read 60 books. And there’s a readathon tomorrow!

But all that aside, I did manage to read some great books this year. Books that blew me away, and that made me think, that stayed with me. And that is always the best thing. The following are the ones I most heartily recommend. Continue reading

Dumbledore’s Army Diverse #DAReadathon Wrap-Up

I finished the #DAReadathon!

I had a great time reading these books. Oh my gosh. They were SO good. I didn’t complete my whole TBR but I made a sizable dent and I am very happy with that. You can see my original post here.

I started with The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi, which I had always heard was very beautifully written. Well, I’m here to tell you that it is not only beautifully written, but it is an utterly beautiful story. This book is gorgeous in every way. I gave it five stars on GoodReads (and I never give star ratings!). I had received this book back when it was released in May. I actually won it from a GoodReads giveaway – so thanks GoodReads and Griffin Teen!

I found this story to be breath-taking. I don’t want to say too much because Spoilers but just trust me. It envisioned a world bigger than imagination. This book takes place in a Persian-inspired world, and it is full of cultural references. I loved that, and I loved the world and the characters. There are themes of love, and life, and death and what it all means. The writing is LUSH. I am very glad that I finally read this one! This also Rocks My TBR because I’ve had it since May. This was for the Impedimenta prompt. Here’s a taste:

“Neither the secret whirring song of the stars nor the sonorous canticles of the earth knew the language that sprang up in the space between us. It was a dialect of heartbeats, strung together with the lilt of long suffering and the incandescent hope of an infinite future.”  p332

Then it was on to Labyrinth Lost, by Zoraida Cordova, which I had won in a chat on Twitter in early November. This fit perfectly into the Protego prompt – #ownvoices. I really had to be restrained waiting this long to read it. It takes place in Brooklyn, but the MC is a bruja, which is a sort of melded cultural group that has aspects of Santeria and pagan ideals coupled with the Mexican Day of the Dead rituals. I loved Alex, and I loved the way this story wove itself around a completely new world and claimed it as its own. It felt rich and satisfying.

I then picked up The Upside of Unrequited, which was fantastic. This is outside my typical oeuvre, because I rarely read YA contemporary, but I’m glad I read it. This was for the Reducto prompt. I had been talking with someone on Twitter – or some such thing – and Becky Albertalli chimed in and I liked her so much I moved this right up my TBR (I received my copy at the Heartland Fall Forum). It was funny and bittersweet, saved from being saccharin by amazing insights and deadpan humor. I found myself laughing out loud quite a bit! The young love aspect is enriched by the non-traditional family and Molly’s issues with her own body image and questions about life. I loved this book so much that I offered to trade it to another blogger so it could get more love, and in return I get a copy of History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera! I am so excited to read that, thanks to Kendice, who blogs with Emily at EmilyReadsEverything.

The books I didn’t get to were The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig (Expecto Patronum prompt) and The Forbidden Wish (which was my blogger rec under the Lumos prompt). And The Sun Is Also a Star, for the Stupefy prompt, which was buried in my Christmas booktree. I also didn’t get a book for the Expelliarmus prompt. I really should have thought more about this. I’d like to do it again!

I did a little bit of score-keeping, and here is what I came up with for House Points. Go Ravenclaw!

  • I read 913 pages so at 1 point per each 10 pages, that gives me 91.3 House Points. (I was on page 235 of Unrequited when the challenge ended.) 336 +342 +235
  • I completed two books so I get 5 points for each, which is 10 House Points.
  • I reviewed two books on GoodReads. I don’t know if that counts. But if it does, that gives me 10 House Points. If it only counts for blog reviews, then I did not get any of those posted yet, but look for my upcoming reviews!
  • I posted an image of my #DAReadathon ID on Twitter for 1 House Point.
  • I tweeted using the hashtag at least five times. That’s how I got the blogger rec (two different people recommended the same book!). I posted a picture of my TBR on Instagram for an additional point (with 70 Likes, tyvm). So that makes 6 House Points for social media (which is unbelievably low of the 20 points possible).

This gives me a Grand Total of 27 + 91.3 = 118.3

All in all, I’m pretty happy that I stuck to my TBR and got to read some really good, culturally rich books. I think this was a fantastic challenge from beginning to end. I loved the Harry Potter element and being a member of Dumbledore’s Army, as well as the spell prompts. I also loved that you had a specific prompt to get recommendations, and that it really made you think about what you were reading. Very fun, and I would do this again in a heartbeat!

This weekend I’m nibbling at the #24in28 Readathon, but I am really not doing a good job at that. I was all set to get in a good hunker-down reading day yesterday, but somehow it didn’t happen. Next up I’ve almost got my #RockMyTBR Challenge list. More reading today!

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