****What We Are Reading - Young Adult, Part 3

As Part 2 is well over 250 posts, I thought it time for a new thread!

Yes, it was time.

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And as for "Bree Tanner" sales: I think it was PW said that yes, there were a ton of sales, but that the bookstores were complaining that they weren't selling any... which leaves maybe Amazon?

Don't know. Finally finished though and basically it's just a not so short, short story. There was at the end a tie-in to Bella and whatshisname. And I'm not surprised that some of the people who spent money are upset with what they've got. I, personally, am happy enough I read it. Took a couple of hours. It was very light fair, suitable for younger YA and even older Juvenile readers.

I am reading Crispin: The Cross of Lead and its companion volume, Crispin: At the Edge of the World, both by Avi.

Just finished Danny the Champion of the World - fantastic read - best Dahl I've read so far!

Now off to start Lugalbanda.

Finished Lugalbanda - very well done retelling of the oldest written-down story known.

Ready to start Henry Huggins.

Amber

I also liked Danny the Champion of the World. I've read most of Dahl's books and need to finish the quest to read them all.

Whisper1: I'm working my way through his biblio. and enjoying every minute of it!

Just finished Henry Huggins - now off to start Henry and Beezus.

I'm reading Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien. So far it's quite good future dystopian lit. Just my cuppa tea!

I have a few on the go once again - Monsters of Men which is the last book in the Chaos Walking trilogy and I'm trying to spin this one out a little.
Pirate Curse which is book 1 of the Wave Walkers trilogy, my UK copy is actually titled The Wave Runners but the touchstone doesn't work. So far this is quite a fun fantasy featuring pirates, ghosts and magic all set in 18th century Caribbean.
The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone which is a magical story about the Thorne Rooms in the Art Institute of Chicago.

Finished up the Henry Huggins series today with Henry and the Clubhouse and Ribsy, and I'll be starting The Trumpeter of Krakow (from the Newbery list) this evening.

I am reading Jade Green: a Ghost Story by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for the TIOLI challenge and I am loving it. It is a short book, so I should probably finish it tonight and get a review up tomorrow. It is southern gothic and spooky.

And I remember that I really liked The Trumpeter of Krakow when I read it a few years ago. Plenty of action, a good plot, and a spectacular setting.

I just finished This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer. It's the third in a series. Basically, the moon got hit by a meteor and moved catastrophically (sp?) closer to the earth, and the result is a post-apocalyptic world.

Scaifea- I've always been a fan of Beverly Cleary, more Beezus and Ramona than Henry Huggins, but I read both. At least when I could get my hands on them. The libraries near where I live always seem understocked.

I am reading Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe.

I'm making headway through a few at present - Over a thousand hills I walk with you, The Door of No return and Zahrah the windseeker.

>12 trixie99belden: How did you like This World We Live In? I loved Life as We Knew It but didn't really like The Dead and the Gone, so I've been hesitant to pick up the third one.

I'm currently reading Lirael, though I was supposed to be waiting until next month.

Finished The Trumpeter of Krakow - chinquapin, you're absolutely right on all counts: this is an amazing little book!
Now, off to start The Enormous Crocodile.

trixie99belden: I think I'll probably soon give in to the temptation to start a read-all-Cleary's-books binge. I think somewhere in the dark misty past I've read at least one Ramona book, but I don't really remember. I did very much love the Ralph S. Mouse books as a kid.

Just finished Neil Shusterman's Everwild on my Kindle, second book in a trilogy. He does a pretty good job dealing with the "life after death" thing in a fairly innovative way.

Finished The Enormous Crocodile; up next is Hitty: Her First Hundred Years.

I am starting book 6 in the 39 Clues series, In Too Deep.

Finished Hitty (and I can't say that I really cared for it at all); now on to The Cat Who Went to Heaven.

Finished the last book in Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking trilogy, Monsters of Men last night and wow, what a brilliant read. I want to go back and read all three books all over again.
I'm now turning my attention to Toby Alone and Mimus.

Finished The Cat Who Went to Heaven, read The Twits this afternoon, and now am about halfway through The Door in the Wall.

>15 _Zoe_: This World We Live In was less dark than The Dead and the Gone. Some character deaths, and some strange plot twists, but nothing quite as gruesome as the second book.

>16 scaifea: Sounds very tempting...I haven't read anything by Cleary in a long time, but I want to refresh my memory now. Especially with that Ramona and Beezus movie coming out soon. (Starring Selena Gomez. !)

My new favorite books are Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack. I've never cared for comics or graphic novels, but these blew me away. If you've ever read anything by Shannon Hale, you know that she's an amazing fantasy/fairy tale author. Alongside her husband, she created these graphic novels based on fairy tales but set in the old West. I definitely recommend them.

Amber
What do you think of The Twits? Last year I read many Roald Dahl books.

Whisper1: Loved it. I'm making my way through his bibliography (buying them all up for Charlie's bookshelves). He's so wonderfully silly. Danny the Champion of the World has been my favorite so far, even more so than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and that's saying something! Have you read any of his not-for-children books?

I am now completely intrigued by the Chaos Walking trilogy you all were just talking about. How did I not hear of this sooner? Thanks!

Finished The Door in the Wall - very enjoyable - and now about halfway through Waterless Mountain.

I am currently reading Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli and will be starting Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick later today.

#26 beserene: You are in for a treat.

I finished Toby Alone and will go for the sequel eventually as it was a very enjoyable read that would appeal to fans of Roald Dahl.
I'm just getting into the fantasy Mimus, and have also started another interesting YA Centre of my world by Andreas Steinhofel. I'm keen to read his latest work which has just been translated to English, The Pasta Detectives.

I'm reading Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy.

I'm reading The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruis Zafon

I am currently reading Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix, the second book in his Keys to the Kingdom series.

Finished Waterless Mountain (meh), read George's Marvelous Medicine (wonderful!) and am now in the middle of Young Fu.

I am about half-way through Blue Fingers: a Ninja Tale by Cheryl Aylward Whitesel. While not exactly award-winning writing, the story is exciting and it is turning out to be quite a page turner.

Message 25
Amber, If you want to glean a bit about how Roald Dahl got his ideas, then I highly recommend Boy

Stasia
Thanks for recommending Mighty Freak. It is incredible and destined to be on the top ten of 2010.

While I should be concentrating on finishing Centre of my world for the June TIOLI challenge, I've also picked up and started reading two shorter paperbacks - The Cucumber King by Christine Nöstlinger and A Parcel of Patterns by Jill Paton Walsh - both books are included in 1001 children's books you must read before you grow up.

Whisper1: Once I get through his children's books, I'm planning on reading the rest of his bibliography, so I'll get there eventually!

I loved Parcel of Patterns when I read it a few years ago. My daughter's history curriculum had her read lots of historical fiction and biographies and this was one of them. I think that I have liked everything by Jill Paton Walsh that I have read.

Kerry
I swear you are as dangerous to me as Stasia is. Often I read your messages and add a book. 1001 Children's books you must read before you grow up is a book I think I would like to own. For now, I'm heading to the library to check it out to see if it is worth obtaining..

I believe I've added seven books since Saturday because of your excellent recommendations.

Amber, Have you read The Minipins. I liked this one!

I just started The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell.

Whisper1: I haven't but it's on the shelf waiting for me! Oh, and I've been reading through the books in 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up too and I recommend it.

Amber
The illustrations in the Minipins are simply delightful!
While Dahl's books are incredibly creative, I believe I read somewhere that he was not a nice person.

Whisper1: I wouldn't at all be surprised if he were a meanie. I'm not sure why I say that; just a gut feeling, I guess. Oh well, his books are still wonderful!

#40> Linda - what I like about 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up is that they've included a cross section of books from around the world. There's also a LT group for the book here.

I finished Centre of my world (Germany), a literary novel for older teens that reminded me of Aidan Chamber's work such as The Toll Bridge. I'll also be picking up The Last Elf (Italy), the recently translated Iep (Netherlands), The Last Black Cat (Greece) and The Brothers Lionheart (Sweden) to finish up my translated children's books themed reading.

#39 >chinquapin - I'm keen to compare the story in A Parcel of Patterns to Geraldine Brooks Year of Wonders.

Finished Young Fu; now reading The House of Sixty Fathers.

Finished The House of Sixty Fathers and will start The BFG tomorrow.

Apparently someone over on GoodReads has typed up all the titles on that 1001 Children's Books list. I'm not sure if the link will work, but if you just want a checklist or want to get a preview of what's in the book, try this:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AsL5YAzCgrJbdFJnYU96bkVOUUU4dHZIR1Z6QjNT...

beserene...Many thanks. How in the world did you find this site?

I wasn't able to get a copy of 1001 Children's Books from my library, but I was able to obtain a book by the author of Book Lust called Book Crush. As a result, I've added eight books to the tbr pile...

>49 Whisper1:: Google is a beautiful thing, my dear. You are entirely welcome. :)

I also have Book Crush and I do love Nancy Pearl, though I don't always agree with her recommendations. Glad you found it -- lots of good books in there.

I was a little surprised at some of the pre-teen books in the 1001 list, but perhaps I'm a little picky -- I did like the variety and there were a lot of books I hadn't even heard of, so I am excited to check them out. There are some spelling mistakes in the list -- understandable -- so watch out for those if trying to search for listed books.

I am currently reading Airman by Eoin Colfer.

I am reading Heist Society by Ally Carter right now.

>50 beserene: I was also a little surprised by some of the books on the list. Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter... for children?

>50 beserene: I was very surprised at some of the reading ages- for example, the the 8+ list seemed like it was meant for much older children. I mean, I know I read hard books when I was that young, but I was a pretty advanced reader.

>52 chinquapin: What did you think of Heist Society? I read it and liked it, although not quite as well as the Gallagher Girls series. But I could just be partial to stories about spies.

I am about halfway through Heist Society. So far, I am liking it, however, I am a bit partial to stories about thieves ;) It does seem a bit rushed, though, zipping from European city to city without a whole lot happening in any one place.

Finished The BFG (delightful!) and now working through D'Aulaires' Greek Myths.

Finished D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths and now ready to start The Wheel on the School.

Amber
The BFG is my favorite Roald Dahl book. You are right! It is delightful.

I'm currently reading another Richard Peck book. I tremendously enjoy his YA books. The Teacher's Funeral is a fun read.

Just finished up The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell, and now finally getting to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Finished The Wheel on the School; ready to start Invincible Louisa tomorrow.

> 45: Kerry
Ohhh, not only Iep! but also one of my all time favorites The Brothers Lionheart!!! That is such a great book, I think I have read it more than a dozen times :-)

>60 FAMeulstee: - Anita - Yes, it is a new 2009 Oxford University Press paperback edition, so the book should be finding a whole new league of fans hopefully. I'll be ready for Iep next week, I'm running a bit behind as I've committed to a group read of The Once and Future King and want to read some YA scifi that has been hanging around home for a few months that I know I'm going to love - Brainjack and Leviathan.
I finished The Last Elf which I really enjoyed and recommend. It goes under the title The Last Dragon in the US.

Just finished The Hunger Games and now have to dive in to Catching Fire. I know I'm late to the game, but at least I can read them back-to-back.

Finished Brainjack yesterday. I just couldn't put it down, it's a scifi thriller about hacking and cyberterrorism. I'm also finding Leviathan interesting.

I think any further threads should be titled "YA and children's books" because a lot of Beverly Cleary's work just isn't YA, nor Roald Dahl.

#64: "A rose is a rose is a rose is an onion." ;)

Just started my new ER book, Dear George Clooney, please marry my mom, by Susin Nielsen. How bad can anything involving Mr Clooney be. *sigh*

just started and now finished A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee. The first book in the Mary Quinn Mysteries/The Agency Trilogy. 17 year old female lead, basically setting a new course for women's independence in Victorian . Who needs to be a housewife when you can be a spy? A tame YA read. She (of course) meets a guy, but just some hand holding. Quick read and enjoyable

Just read Illyria by Elizabeth Hand, which was really good--- kind of a gothic tale of young love (between first cousins, just to be warned), the power of the stage, and family secrets, with a touch of fantasy.

I've finished Leviathan and Ash. Leviathan is a really exciting steampunk adventure while Ash is a retelling of the Cinderella story with a twist. swynn has just mentioned on my thread that there is a sequel due out next year - Huntress.
Next up will be Iep.

I just finished Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat, which seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it book. Personally, I didn't at all care for it, not because I actively disliked it but because it just seemed inane.

But now, here's the question. I read it on my Kindle, so it was plain text. I'm wondering, does the treeware version have illustrations that add to the reading experience? For example, I love Clive Barker's Abarat but I'm sure I'd pooh-pooh it if I read it in a plain-text edition.

I want to be fair to Block. I can see where this book might have been a different reading experience if it were combined with psychedelic illustrations. So, any Weetzie-lovers out there, can you tell me if there's some illustrated edition that I should take a look at?

Just finished Catching Fire and Leviathan. Catching Fire- the 2nd book in the Hunger Games trilogy- was just as amazing as everyone had predicted, and now I can't wait for Mockingjay to come out! Leviathan was also fantastic- the illustrations alone make it worth reading.

Currently working on The People of Sparks. I loved The City of Ember, but Sparks is boooring. I've barely read 10 chapters- and I read Catching Fire and Leviathan (both VERY sturdy books) in one day!

@71>> I agree with you on The People of Sparks. The City of Ember was quite good but The People of Sparks was blah and The Prophet of Yonwood (sort of a prequel) didn't even really fit into the earlier two book very much. I haven't bothered reading the fourth book. Some ideas are best handled as a single volume, not all this trilogy and series stuff.

Finally I'm here... again. I was quite confused apparently. Vacation-lag.

I'm reading The Celestial Globe and not enjoying it quite as much as Cabinet of Wonders. It's still has some marvelous writing, but there's some jerky movement in the plot, with some dialog that makes me think it was written for younger readers that the first volume.

Anyone have an opinion?

#73> I just picked it up from the library today so haven't started it yet. Shame if it's not as good as the first book, I really liked that one.

I finished Heist Society in the wee hours this morning. I enjoyed it.

I finished Eep last night, it is a charming children's novel, translated from Dutch and with delightful illustrations throughout. I'm now reading Stoneheart which is set in a London where the statues have come to life, first in a trilogy.

An interesting test on a theory in Wordle on current YA titles.

Just finished, on my Kindle, Karen Cushman's The Ballad of Lucy Whipple and I've also downloaded her The Loud Silence of Francine Green, which I may start on tonight.

I am starting The Red Pyramid and The Viper's Nest tonight.

I just finished Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore, which was quite good.

@78>> OK, I just finished The Loud Silence of Francine Green, and I have to say I really didn't that much care for it though I did like The Ballad of Lucy Whipple.

As regards Francine Green, I'm someone who grew up Catholic in the 50s and 60s but haven't had anything to do with Catholicism for many, many years. In other words, I know what I'm talking about, but I'm not someone who would be offended by Cushman's satirization of early Cold War Catholicism. My problem is, Cushman lays it on so thick as to be cartoonish but she's still being largely critical of late-40s and early-50s Catholicism. It just doesn't work.

Francine Green often comes off way too cutesy, like the Black Patent Leather Shoes comedy of John R. Powers, whom I don't at all care for but who at least was writing with comic affection for Catholic education, so the cutesiness is taken in the spirit in which it's intended. But when you combine that cutesiness with a serious critique of Catholic education and Cold War intolerance in that era, then you wind up with a cartoonish approach to a serious subject.

If you're going to approach Catholic education comically, then you need the approach of Jane Trahey in Life with Mother Superior, who pokes fun all around but especially at her student characters, Mary and Rachel. Or you need to approach the subject seriously, as Antonia White did in Frost in May (which is definitely not without its humor, however, and is one of my all-time favorite books). But a combination of comedy and seriousness requires the satirical skills of a Charles Dickens (and I'm not really a fan at all of Dickens anyway) but Cushman's no Dickens and The Loud Silence of Francine Green, unlike The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, is a flop.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, and one final point. If you've got a Kindle, do NOT buy The Loud Silence of Francine Green in the Kindle edition. It's very poorly formatted and some text gets badly glitched up, I think because the format may be the "dreaded Topaz" format. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, though, works find in Kindle.

Just started Linger by Maggie Stiefvater.

I am also getting ready to start The Celestial Globe. I loved The Cabinet of Wonders, so I'll just have to see.

I'm reading Hey Dollface by Deborah Hautzig, it's in 1001 children's books to read before you grow up and Thornspell, a sleeping beauty retelling. Next up will be Un Lun Dun which I've started before but this time I intend to finish it.

On the Persnicketysnark blog currently is a countdown of the Top 100 YA novels voted on by readers - includes quotes, links and tidbits of interesting info on each book/writer. Well worth checking out over the next few days.

Just started When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead and am really enjoying it so far!

I am currently reading The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson.

Just finished The Atlantis Complex, the latest "Artemis Fowl" installment, and Holly is almost more important of a character here than Artemis (which I like, because I read the series for her, not for him).

Currently on The Knife of Never Letting Go.

I read First Light by Rebecca Stead and I loved it. It makes me want to try When You Reach Me even though I am not a fan of A Wrinkle in Time. Now I am reading The Celestial Globe by Marie Rutkoski, and enjoying the ride so far.

88> I'm not at all a fan Madeleine L'Engle but I very much like When You Reach Me, and A Wrinkle in Time is just a plot element in it. And I might add, I also think When You Reach Me is much better than First Light.

I just finished The Celestial Globe which was ok, Silverhorse which I really liked and am finally getting Un Lun Dun underway.

#87> Mike: how are you finding The Knife of Letting Go?

Just started Hangman's Curse by Frank Peretti. I was looking for something light and easy and this seemed to fit the bill, but I was caught off guard at the "religious" undercurrent. The cover seems ultra edgy and almost fantasy, but I've already read two rather blatantly religious passages just in the first few chapters. Nothing wrong with that, but it's rather jarring as the "God Speak" pops up and then completely disappears. Since the book (so far) has had a drug bust and an apparent spirit possession, I'll be curious to see how the themes tie together

I love Hangman's Curse- especially towards the end, but then, I read a lot of Christian books. If you do like it, there is a movie that is pretty good.

Just read Tomorrow, When the War Began. Probably one of the best books I've ever read.

#90> Mike: how are you finding The Knife of Letting Go?

Really good. I finished it a few hours after that #87 post. I'd never heard of it (or I think may have seen it on a shelf at B&N but wasn't impressed with a quick skim over the dust jacket description), but I checked it out because of recommendations on some of these LT threads. I'm glad I did.

I was reading it on my Kindle, but unfortunately the second book (The Ask and the Answer) isn't available yet on Kindle so I bought it in treeware with a 33%-off Borders certificate. I'll be getting to it probably as soon as I finish Richelle Mead's Succubus Blues (the first in her Georgina Kincaid series) on my Kindle. It's a shame The Ask and the Answer isn't Kindle-available when the first book is because I don't like to buy treeware versions midway through a series, but I do want to get on to The Ask and the Answer without having to wait for a Kindle version.

I just finished The Hangman's Curse - I couldn't put it down. It was SO GOOD! I will repeat my comment from above that the religious undertones come off a little jarring and forced (I'm not a big Christian Fiction reader), but you can easily overlook those as you get into the writing. There is action, adventure, villains, sympathetic characters, a mystery and I re-lived my High School Experience several times during the reading (of course that's not really a good thing).

Not to harp on it, but the book would have been better without the Christian aspects. The message of the book could still have been there without the sections of "God Speak". The small section involving evolution was simply forced and misplaced - and in a really weird way actually counter-productive to the resolution of the book.

One perk to the religious aspect of the book is that it would be a perfect (and safe) read for a tween boy. There is no sex or anything inappropriate, but with all of the action and narrative, it still feels like a contemporary adventure book, as cutting edge as any James Patterson.

#93 - I've enjoyed all three books and was lucky to get to an event with Patrick Ness when he visited New Zealand in March. Does the kindle version show the 'noise' like in the paper version?

#95> Does the kindle version show the 'noise' like in the paper version?

Kind of. Well, yes, it does use the odd typeface (bolded and in a font somewhat resembling Comic Sans MS), but because of the limitations of Kindle that means that the "noise font" has to be put into an image file, but that means the surrounding text in the same paragraph has to be put into the same image file as well, and that affects the appearance (or at least the font size) of the "surrounding text in the same paragraph" vis-a-vis the rest of the text in the eBook.

It's not the most satisfactory solution, in other words, but yes, it does work although it's slightly distracting. The distraction isn't that great, though, not like the really messy situation there would be if there were substantial numbers of graphic/artistic illustrations that were really important to the eBook. It's the usual problem that eReaders don't, in the current technology, handle illustrations (or in this case, font faces) well, but it's not that serious a problem in this particular case.

ETA: Now that you mention it and we're discussing this issue, I wonder if that's a reason for Kindle's delayed release (or non-release, whatever the case may be) of The Ask and the Answer.

I'm racing through Darren Shan's The Thin Executioner before picking up Mockingjay, which I must read before I inadvertently read a spoiler somewhere. After that I'm reading Inferior by Peadar O'Guilin as I've had it out from the library for too long. Described as 'with echoes of Tarzan, Conan and the Truman Show' I just can't not read it.

I am currently reading The Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck.

#97 - I agree - LT is a dangerous place to those who haven't yet read Mockingjay! I started it this morning. Too many people mention it on their threads!! I'll not log into LT again until it is finished. Good luck!

Stasia

I really liked The Teacher's Funeral

I am reading I, Coriander by Sally Gardner and enjoying it so far. It is a fantasy set in the time of Cromwell juxtaposing the fairy world with the real world.

Racing through the new Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight. Really enjoying it.

I've diverted to Where the mountain meets the moon by Grace Lin, it's for younger readers and really good.

I finished I, Coriander by Sally Gardner, and now I am reading When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.

#104: I really enjoyed When You Reach Me. I hope you do too!

>105 alcottacre: Ditto!

I just finished Shiver and really liked it as well.

I've just finished reading Confessions of a Thief, Liar and failed Sex God by Bill Condon. It won the Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award (Young Adult) last month. I was intrigued by the title but didn't totally love the story about a youth's last year at a Catholic boys school in the 1960s.
I have Flora Segunda of Crackpot Hall and Brian Falkner's The Project lined up to read.

When You Reach Me and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon are two of my recent "Best YA" reads! I enjoyed Flora Segunda--it's a lot of fun.

Reading Dragonfly Pool with my daughter. Like it so far.

I read Richard Peck's book The Ghost Belonged to Me. If you haven't read any of his books, I highly recommend him!

@107> If you don't like the first Flora Segunda book, don't be put off from reading the second. The first is okay but nothing to write home about, but the second is absolutely out of this world, ties together a lot of the loose ends from the first, and has one scene that's an absolute tear-jerker. I'm just ticked off, though, that Wilce hasn't come out with the promised third volume, which was expected ages ago.

Thanks for the advice on the Flora Segunda book, I didn't realise there was more than one of them.

I am currently reading Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, a book Jenn (nittnutt) recommended.

Finally finished ArchEnemy! It wrapped the Looking Glass Wars Trilogy up really well, and somewhat unexpectedly.

I probably would have finished it faster, but I got sidetracked reading the last books in A Series of Unfortunate Events. I had never read these before, and loved the dark humor.

I finally read Bloody Jack, after all the recommendations I had seen, and I loved it! I'm going to read the rest of the series now.

But currently, I'm stuck in the middle of Winter's End (no touchstone), and it's just kind of...eh.

I just finished The Hunchback Assignments which is a very good children's steampunk adventure. Unputdownable in fact. It won this year's TD Canadian Children's Literature Award which is why I picked it up to read. Off to find book 2 as it looks like it will be an ongoing series.

I've also just finished listening to an audio of King Dork, a YA about nerdiness, highschool and the 'Catcher Cult'. Very entertaining debut novel, it dropped a bit at the end, but the fun of entering Tom's world more than makes up for this. Portman was firstly a songwriter and the lyrics of his songs were the inspiration for the book.

Finished reading the Nov ER "Dear America" book the other day, Fences Between Us, and just reviewed it if'n anyone's interested: http://www.librarything.com/review/67659965

It seemed to be much more of a YA book than a children's historical fiction narrative, because of the focus on realistic relationships the main character has, and also the steps she takes towards growing up and becoming an adult. I really liked it!

(The historical context is the Japanese-American Internment during WW2.)

#116> I find those Diary series books a bit tedious at times, while they are wonderful for the young readers to learn about historical events the fact that mostly they are commissioned by the publishers tends to lessen their appeal for me.
To be honest I haven't read that many and I know they are very popular.

117> Yeah, the previous of the Dear Americas I'd read or heard about weren't anything particularly special, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. I think it might be the author's fault - Kirby Larson won awards for her previous book, Hattie Big Sky.

Working my way through the Bloody Jack series. Jacky Faber is just one of those heroines that gets in your head and stays there. I keep talking to her, telling her when she's making bad decisions, but then my family looks at me weird because I'm talking to a book.

I also read Girl, Stolen about a girl who was accidentally kidnapped (her stepmom's car was stolen while she was inside). Since she was blind and sick with pneumonia, the odds were pretty much stacked against her, and it made an exciting read.

Then I read Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen. It was very sweet, with excellent characters.

Now I'm working on Jane, a modern retelling of Jane Eyre. (touchstone broken) In this version, Mr. Rochester is a rock star named Nico Rathburn. So far, it's fantastic, and it's interesting to see how the author reimagined the classic while still staying true to the story.

Carolyn (MusicMom) and I are currently reading Catching Fire together.