What are you reading in March 2011?

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

I'm currently reading Bad Blood by Mari Mancusi - amusing fluff.

I'm reading Jellicoe Road. I wouldn't say I like it, exactly, but something about it is compelling enough to keep me reading!

Reading the second novel, Imaginary Girls, by Nova Ren Suma. Starting off promising.

Just finished the Ring of Solomon. Currently in the middle of Heroes of the Valley. Am I on a Stroud kick? YES. Am I enjoying it? Oh yeah! Heroes of the Valley is an entirely different story from the Bartimaeus books, but its turning out to be just as good. I really love it when I discover an author I like can do very different genres equally well.

I just finished Life as we knew it by Susan Pfeffer, which I found hard to put down. I've heard that the others in the trilogy aren't as good though, so will hold off on them until my existing tbr piles get smaller ...

>4 DeusExLibrus: I am so looking forward to Ring of Solomon, but am trying to be good and wait for the paperback.

Just finished Enthusiasm which was a cute, quick read.

Next up is Pink by Lili Wilkinson. I've decided it's high time I start reading more Australian authors (given that I'm Australian).

Pretty much everything I've read since 2008 has been on recommendation from this group... and given that the bulk of the group are from the US, I've seriously neglected my fellow Aussies. Looking through my library I think I only read two books by Aussie authors last year. 1) On The Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta and 2) How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier. So, starting now, I've decided to read at least one Aussie author a month.
:-)

Oh, and Deb, stick with On the Jellicoe Road. I (and if memory serves, a lot of other members of this group) thought it was amazing.

I'm reading Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick, the sequel to Hush, Hush. It has been okay so far, I just wish I could remember more about what happened in the first book.

#6 Have you read Lisa Shanahan? She's an Australian childrens book writer, and has done mostly picture books, but wrote one spectacular YA novel called My Big Birkett (or in the US, The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It). I'm such an advocate for this book, especially since at least here in the US I don't think it really made a splash, and I think it deserves to be better known.

SaraHope, no, I haven't read Lisa Shanahan but I just ordered a copy of My Big Birkett. Thanks for the recommendation.

If anybody else has any Aussie recommendations throughout the year, please feel free to make suggestions. Before you do, however, let me say I already have The Book Thief on my TBR pile. As well as a couple of Melinda Marchetta's novels.
:-)

6> strandedon8jo, have you read Sonya Hartnett? What the Birds See was really moving. (The touchstone goes to "Of a Boy" so maybe that's the Aussie title.)

I've just finished The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge and moved on to Death Cloud by Andrew Lane.

#6 - I'm about 100 pages from the end of Jellicoe Road. I'm glad I stuck with it! I also understand why my friend recommended it to me, despite its being--in her words--"written in a weird way."

#6 - . . . and now, having finished the tale, I understand even better why my friend recommended Jellicoe Road. My siblings and I grew up in a violent household; our mom died of cancer a year and a day ago. The friend who recommended the book has known my whole family for a decade, and I'm very grateful to her at this moment for sharing such a powerful, healing tale. Thanks for urging me to keep on reading! :)

ETA:
Next up: Will Grayson!

Deb, I'm glad you enjoyed On the Jellicoe Road. It had been on my TBR pile for a long time before I got around to reading it. But after seeing so many members of the Read YA Lit! group recommend it, I got to the stage where I knew I couldn't put it off any longer! So glad I didn't. Oh, and I really liked Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Hope you do, too.

Meanwhile, I've finished Pink and really enjoyed it. I also loved the fact that is was quite clearly written by a nerdfighter.

Next up is Hold Me Closer, Necromancer.

And, Booklizard, thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out.
:-)

Reading the first book in the flappers series Vixen. Only one chapter in but so far so good.

Just finished The splendour falls this weekend, which I really enjoyed. The heroine did spend a bit too much time obsessing over the 2 boys, but I loved the Southern (USA) setting and all the history woven into the story.

>13 deb_bryan:, 14: I can see that I will have to move On the Jellicoe Road to the top of my tbr pile ...

>9 strandedon8jo:: I really like Jaclyn Moriarty's Ashbury High books. Also Isobelle Carmody's Alyzon Whitestarr, set in contemporary Australia rather than the future/fantasy lands of her other books.

Thanks, Saker. I'll put them on my list.

#14 - I finished Will Grayson, which I enjoyed a great deal. I don't think I've ever read three such rockin' books in a row!

#16 - I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts, should you choose to share them. :)

I'm out of YA at the moment, d'oh. All I've got is The End of Faith, which I'll meander through while waiting for my next batch of books from the library! (The Monstrumologist will be next up, unless I get my early review copy of Relic Master in the next day or two.)

I started reading The Monstrumologist but the gory details grossed me out so I stopped reading it. For me The Midnighters Series was better for tales of teens vs. monsters or even Salem's Lot as a crossover book.
Also try Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural.

#19 - Thanks, Susie! I'll add these to my TBR list:D

I love Jonathan Stroud! Heroes of the Valley is very different from his other books but you still have that same wonderful dry British wit! Enjoy! I really hope he will write another YA book soon-

The Monstrumologist is pretty grissly! I just started the sequel "The Curse of the Wendingo"
Let's see if it is as gross- most of the young guyys I have given it to seem to like it.

really liked that book- The second is due in May I think.

I just finished The Visconti House. I enjoyed it.

I just started Pretty Little Liars today. I've been waffling about reading it for a while now - I watch the show on ABC Family and I didn't want to be spoiled. I figure that they change so much from book to show anyway that it wouldn't matter much.

Just finished Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron. I was sure I would enjoy it because it won a Newbery. They were right. It was a good one.

You're right. I think guys would like The Monstrumologist but I'm not so sure about girls.

Life on the Color Line by Gregory Howard Williams.

It's assigned reading for a history class I'm taking, but I'm about 1/4 through it and I'm really enjoying it!

I'm reading The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff and loving it.

I just finished Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin. It's fair to say I wasn't expecting much and was pleasantly suprised by how much I enjoyed it. Predicatble, yes, but a fun little Sunday afternoon read.

The only real issue I had was that I found the alternating narrators a little jarring at times. Certainly more so than any other collaborations I've read to date. Sometimes it felt like one chapter didn't quite pick up where the previous left off.

>29 BookNrrrd:
I'd like to hear what you ultimately think of The Replacement... I'm still conflicted about it.

In terms of Y.A., I am reading Wintergirls and Blood Roses on the go.

As for audiobooks, I am listening to The Maze Runner on my commute. Am enjoying it thus far. However, I am alternating it with Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I listened to it for about 3 hours and am up to the part when the couple sneak out of the hospital. Does it improve? The relative slow pace of the narration compared to my fast pace of reading meant I had to revel in every second of the girl and her adolescent longing for the beast, which bored and repulsed me on various levels. Now that he has taken human form, does it pep up a bit? I enjoy series in general, so I hoped to like this, but it has been a little wet thus far.

>18 deb_bryan:: Finished reading Jellicoe Road this weekend, and I loved it. Right from the start I enjoyed getting to know the characters, and puzzling out the links between past and present and what the deal was with the territory wars. I did guess the relationships between past and present before the characters found out, but that didn't spoil things at all. I loved that the supporting characters were all so well-drawn, not just the leads. Jessa, Raffy and Chaz were terrific!

Okay, I'll stop babbling on and just mention that I'm starting Matched today.

I just started The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier. I haven't gotten far enough into it to know how I'm going to like it.

I would like to read The Maze Runner. Let me know how it is. I read Wintergirls and thought it might be a good book for teen girls who are so concerned about dieting and being super thin. It was a rather sad story because one girl couldn't be saved but finally there was some hope for the main character. What is The Floating Islands about?

@36
The Floating Islands is about a boy who's family is killed in a natural disaster. He travels to his uncle's home on a floating island and wants to become one of the island men who can fly. That's as far as I've gotten but I believe that he and his cousin wind up having to save the island.

> 6: I love, love, LOVE Enthusiasm! Such a sweet, fun book. I'm happy that you liked it, strandedon8jo! =)

> 32: Have you finished Wintergirls yet, FemmeNoiresque? Did you like it?

I've just finished The Monstrumologist, so it's on to Enthusiasm for me! I'd checked out a non-fiction book a few weeks before these, but it became clear that (non-YA) book will be for reading at a later date . . . one on which I'm a little more focused!

>31 jlbattis2:: I really enjoyed The Replacement. What about it made you feel conflicted?

**Spoiler Warning**

I did wish that Tate had been more involved with getting her sister back. I mean, she did have that awesome showdown with the Cutter, but it bothered me that she got left in the dark for so much of it, when she's clearly a smart, strong character. Most of the YA I read has female protagonists, so I think it was odd for me to read about the boys going under the hill at the end, while Tate and Emma were left out of it, despite it being obvious how capable they both were.
But overall, I enjoyed Mackie's character and voice, and his relationship with his family. And I thought the town was really interesting and just the right amount of creepy.
**

And now I'm reading Demonglass, the sequel to Hex Hall.

@40>> I just got Demonglass the other night. I'll have to be getting started on it, but I'm right now about a third of the way through River Marked by Patricia Briggs, the new "Mercy Thompson" installment.

Went to B&N today. *hangs head in shame* Picked up...erm...several new books. I am now reading The Jamestown Flood by David McCullough.

Finnikin of the Rock was a bit disappointing. Pretty good YA fantasy, but not at the level I hoped for.

I finished Stolen last week. I don't think I so much read it as just continued to turn the pages. I never really connected with either of the main characters and it was also written in second person which, IMHO, made it even harder to connect. I felt just really bored by it all, which is a strange thing to about a book about a kidnapping. I also just finished The Monstrumologist, which I loved. I half listened to the audio (which was great) and half read it. Someone suggested David Tennant (from Doctor Who) as Dr. Warthrop and that is just perfect casting in my eyes. And it made reading/listening to it a bit more...shall we say...enjoyable. :) It is pretty violent and definately gory, but I though it was fantastic. I have The curse of the Wendigo sitting next to me to take home. I also picked up Fever crumb.

>36 susieimage:
Please read The Maze Runner if you have the chance. Sort of a more mature Lord of the Flies with Orwellian overtones. The sequel (The Scorch Trials) is less convincing.

Wintergirls was one of the first books I read as our store's YA buyer, and as a literary exercise it blew me away... However, as a book to hand to a young woman? I'm not so sure. Almost unremittingly a downer.

>40 BookNrrrd:
It's been quite a while since The Replacement for me... To me it felt like two distinct books: the language of the first half placed it with Tolkien & Lewis for ingenuity; the rote images of the second half destroyed it all...

Reading Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly I'm about halfway through.

41> I finished Demonglass the other night--I'll be curious to hear your thoughts when you read it.
I've been meaning to check out the Mercy Thompson books for awhile now.

>amberamber: I pictured Dr. Horrible from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog as Dr. Warthrop (I think it was the whole lab coat and goggles thing), but I could definitely see David Tennant in the role if they were ever to make a movie out of these books. I hope you like The Curse of the Wendigo as much as The Monstrumologist.

I'm about two thirds of the way through Darkest Mercy the final book in Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series. I've gotta say, so far I'm loving it. When I first read Wicked Lovely back in 2008 I thought it was okay but nothing spectacular. I certainly wasn't in a rush to read the sequel when in came out. However, I'm so glad I did. IMHO, each book, since then has gone from strength to strength. Such a complex world Marr has created. Can't wait for work to end so I can get home to finish it.
:)

I'm just starting Thirteenth Child by Patricia C Wrede

@47> Just finished Demonglass a day or so ago. I'm liking Sophie more as the series goes on. (My fave is Jenna, but I'm a sucker for lesbian vampires, like Ivy Tamwood in Kim Harrison's "The Hollows" series, though technically Ivy's bi). I thought the Demonglass conclusion was pretty obvious, though, and I wasn't really much surprised at what happened in the end. I'll certainly continue with the series, though, as new books come out.

Just finished Beautiful Demons by Sarra Cannon and already bought the next book in the series.

I just heard of Diana Wynne Jones' passing. Apparently, she'd been fighting death for so long those close to her began to think she would conquer death. She'll be missed, but fortunately, we still have her books.

Halt's Peril was another fun entry in John Flanagan's YA adventure series, although the humor was a bit heavy-handed in parts.

I just finished The Burning Bridge on audiobook and picked up the next one in the series.

I'm a few chapters shy of finishing A Gathering Light (aka A Northern Light) by Jennifer Donnelly.

>57 strandedon8jo: How are you liking that book? I have it on my TBR pile and I'm debating whether or not to read it or just return it to the library.

58> It's been years since I read A Northern Light, but I really liked it.

Cailiosa, I really liked it. It's not a book I would have picked up for myself as I don't read a lot of historical fiction. It was given to me for Christmas by my sister-in-law (who doesn't read YA and went to a lot of trouble getting YA recommendations from various people she knew).

It's defintiely worth the read. It won the Canagie medal (and I think also the Printz award) which tends to be a good indicator for quality fiction IMO.

Thanks, I think I'll keep it around, then.

I so wish there was a way we could convince him to write more books at a faster pace. His is a unique voice and I agree with you about his ability to write very different types of books. Try Nevermore by Neil Gaimen or Wee Folk by Terry Pratchett. I think there is something about British authors and their own brand of humor.

I liked Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution much better than her other books. It is told in the same voice but the modern day portion of the book is gritty- excellent choice and it moves faster than her other books.

The second book in the Life as We Knew it series deals with a teenage boy and his sister living in New York City. This could be a disappointment if you are interested in learning what happened to the family you read about in the first installment. The third book brings to the two plots together. I liked the series, but it did leave me with a feeling of impending doom. Not exactly a heartwarming ending.