What Are You Reading in October, 2010

It's time for a new month!

I'm reading The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, and am liking it more the further I get into it.

I just finished Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper. A good ending to a fantastic series.

Just starting Seeing Redd. I loved The Looking Glass Wars, so I'm hoping the rest of the trilogy lives up to the first book.

I just finished the 3rd book in the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay. Whoa, what a ride. Great read!

I just finished Lament. I plan to read Mockingjay and Ballad

I just read Paranormalcy by Kiersten White - really fun addictive read!

If you want have a look at the full review, see my blog:

http://readingaftertwilight.wordpress.com/

Happy Reading!

Sandy, did you like Lament? It's on my TBR pile (along with bucket loads of other books). Selecting the next to read is always a challenge.

Just finished Extraordinary, which I found to be sadly quite ordinary (with very awkward writing, esp. dialogue), and am getting ready to dive into Except the Queen, which already promises at least better prose!

I started Mockingjay last night.

Penderwicks on Gardam Street was another good one. Now I'm a few chapters into Little Women.

Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray. Pretty good, UK award-winning writer, reminds me a bit of John Green.

Still making my way through Mockingjay... having to read The Republic in between hasn't helped much....

I finished up Monsters of Men last night. Do you all ever yell at books or threaten to kick them if something doesn't go the way you plan? This is one of those books, but in the best way possible.

I've moved on to I Shall Wear Midnight and I'm just not liking it as much as the previous three, which stinks, since I made the mistake of buying it instead of waiting for the library to get it. I think I should have gotten The Curse of the Wendigo instead.

Just got an ARC of Birth of a Killer (The Saga of Larten Crepsley) in the mail today. Seeing Redd is on hold until I finish this and write a review.

@13>> Patrick Ness has published a free prequel to "Chaos Walking" titled The New World, which I've just read on my Kindle (which, as far as I'm aware, is the prequel's only release).

If you don't have a Kindle, you can download a free Kindle for PC app for Windows, which will let you read Kindle texts on your Windows PC. (There are also free Kindle apps for other devices, with links at the bottom of the Kindle for PC page.) I assume you'll need an Amazon account to download eBooks from the Kindle store, but just setting up an Amazon account won't cost you anything and the Kindle for PC app and The New World eBook are both free.

The New World is less than 600 Kindle "positions" in length, which is pretty short (about 15% the length of The Knife of Never Letting Go), and it's about Viola's life on the spaceship and her arrival planet-side before she meets Todd.

EDIT: Oh, and I'm about half-way through Monsters of Men myself right now.

My appologies...I posted this in the wrong message. I deleted it and posted it here in it's rightful spot.

I just finished reading Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthis Kadohata. It's part of our local Battle of the Books program for middle school. I just started reading Three Rivers Rising : A Novel of the Johnstown Flood by Jame Richards.

I'm reading Nevermore by Kelly Creagh - and it's incredibly refreshing. A goth boy paired up with a cheerleader to work on a school project, prejudices are laid aside, romance blooms...and maybe demons are stalking them?

The horror element is actually very creepy, there's a lot of freaky dreamworld stuff, and the depiction of high school life is pretty accurate (an element I think a lot of YA authors miss) - even the school project is presented in a cheesy way (one you'll probably remember doing one just like it at one point or another). The affection that the two main characters feel is built up slowly over time (realistic!) and the girl's growing feelings are depicted in a way that the reader can actually relate to, since those feelings are human enough that the reader has probably felt them too at some point in his/her life.

I'm a little over halfway in, and I'm loving it so much that I feel conflicted: read fast and find out what happens! or read slow so it doesn't stop!

#17 - I'm glad it's good! I've requested that my library buy Nevermore and am impatiently waiting for it to arrive!

I have loads of YA to read but have taken a wee break in the past week not to read books but to organise them! I now have two beautiful large bookshelves crammed with books, in an order which is only useful to me... it's amazing how stunning a well organised bookcase can be!

The last YA book I read before the spring clean bug hit me was:

Beastly by Alex Flinn - an excellent modern version of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast. Highly recommended.

Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia - this book has a high rating in LT, how I don't know. Insipid, flat, inane. Every single part of the plot and character relationships fell short of the mark.

Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick - another book about casual sex between a pair of teenagers compelled by less than perfect home life. I highly recommend this book. Talk about a messy situation! Unlike DUFF this book doesn't have a happliy ever after ending and is a cautionary tale yet at the same time it doesn't end with unplanned pregnancy etc.. there are other less obvious consequences which is explored in this book.

Wake by Lisa McMann - YA Paranormal. Janie can't help but get sucked into peoples dreams... unable to control herself she lives on edge and in fear. This book was strangely compelling. It is flawed but engrossing anyway. I recommend and have the next book Fade ready to go!

#18 - Hey, you show up all the time on my homepage under 'similar libraries'! I guess you'll probably like Nevermore then. I totally get you on the bookshelves thing. Sometimes I just sit around and look at mine. They make me happy :)

I'm also reading Evermore, which may or may not be good - I picked it up 2 weeks ago and dropped it after about 30 pages to read Torment when it came out (yuck) and to read Abhorsen again. After Nevermore I'll either go back to Evermore or try Rampant (killer unicorns? YES PLEASE).

I just finished A Conspiracy of Kings for the second time this afternoon and I found that I was able to appreciate and understand things a lot more when I wasn't rushing to find out what would happen like the first time through. Even though he is no Eugenides, I really fell in love with Sophos as a character and enjoyed being able to see how much he grew from his days in The Thief to the end of this book. Highly recommended.

I just picked up Plain Kate by Erin Bow. Don't anyone tell me if they didn't like it--I haven't started it yet!

> 18 I loved Wake! Something about the combination of power and cost when it comes to Janie's dreams. I liked Fade a lot too, but Gone sadly not quite as much.

Yesterday, I finished Catalyst and The Truth About Forever. I celebrated by starting Lock and Key today, and preordering Just Listen.

Will probably be starting Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr soon, or re-reading Hope Was Here, which I absolutely loved. Anything to keep me distracted while The Mockingbirds is available where I live...

>22 Aerrin99: Aerrin99 Agree completely. The first two were really good, but Gone was a disappointment. My daughter and I thought she forgot to put a plot into it!

>girlfromshangrila Three generations of my family absolutely loved Hope Was Here. It was my mom's favorite YA title, and she talked about it for years.

.

> jnwelch: Isn't that great! That book is so easy to love. The characters are wonderful, aren't they?

You just gave me a great idea. I'll pass this book around: my mother, my aunt, my cousins, my siblings... everybody's getting a copy!

I've read Cupcake by Rachel Cohn and Stargazer by Claudia Gray. I also re-read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

I'm going to start the Hunger Games series soon. It sounds good.

The Hunger Games series is terrific.

Little Women was excellent, and I feel quite brushed up on morals and the proper way to behave. (Painlessly and enjoyably so).

Next up is Anne of Green Gables.

Little Women never really did much for me, but I devoured the Anne books. Anne of the Island was my favorite.

I love Anne of Green Gables too and own the set. All of them are fantastic but my favourite is Rilla of Ingleside the very last book in the series. I really want to read the other books Montgomery wrote. I've been assured by other readers on LT that they are fantastic too.

Just got Matched from ER. Picked it up last night, and was ridiculously sad to have to put it down to sleep - it's very good, very engaging, and I recommend it!

I haven't posted here yet this month, but I've read piles of YA . . .

Tangled -- Pretty good; on par with Carolyn Mackler's other works.

I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend -- Actually a pretty good book, thought I hate the title!

The Sherwood Ring -- Loved this book! I now have that author's other book, The Perilous Gard, on my wishlist.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn -- listened to this on audio. I had read it before, when I was about 9 or 10, and this listen-through I was amazed at how much of that book went right over my young head.

Wish -- A decent read, this had been languishing on my TBR pile for a while. I'm glad to have read it, but probably won't keep it to read again.

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie -- This had been recommended to me a couple of years ago, and I'm glad to have finally gotten around to it.

As You Wish -- I was really impressed by this one. It's a light fantasy/romance, but it's well done.

finally got my Beautiful Darkness, enjoying it so far.

I read Wake last night and will probably finish Fade tonight. I'm not as impressed as the reviews implied I would be. Mostly I just keep reading because they are VERY short and I already own them, so I might as well finish them. The dream sequences are very creepy though - I thought the author had the weirdness of the dream world down pretty well.

Just finished, a couple nights ago, James Dashner's The Scorch Trials, the second book in "The Maze Runner" trilogy. I had thought the first, The Maze Runner, was just about out-of-this-world, but this new one is even better. I'm wondering just how long it's going to be now for the third (and I'm assuming final) to come out so we find out just how Thomas and Theresa once knew each other and just who/what WICKED is.

Now reading on my Kindle (not YA but about two young people, two college frosh/roomies) Black Girl/White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates, and loving it.

Just finished Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature. Not a work of genius, but pretty entertaining.

Over the weekend I read 2 YA books:

Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers - 5 stars. People who liked Speak would like this book.

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen - 3 stars. Historical fiction, set in Edith Wharton's turn of the century New York City. It was full of historical inaccuracies and the story was so drawn out (close to 500 pages) that it became boring. On the other hand I love Edith Wharton so being in that world did entertain me however I won't be bothered reading the rest of the quartet.

> kiwiflowa
I attempted to read The Luxe after a classmate did a booktalk on it and made it sound appealing. It wasn't a good fit for me - I like historical fiction, but this was too much like a soap opera in petticoats and corsets for me to really get into it. My classmate is a high school English teacher, so I think he probably had some of his teenage students in mind when he rec'd this book, but then again, I also recall him saying he genuinely liked it (but I don't think he grew up with a mom who watched a multitude of soap operas like me - by this point in my life I am sick of all of the backstabbing and general nastiness that goes on in those shows).

Recently I tried to read Trickster's Queen, which has been sitting on my shelf for I don't know how long. I liked it's predecessor, but this one got a bit tiresome to me after a while -- too much plotting and not enough doing, I think (and too many darn names to remember). I ended up skimming through it and giving up, since I just don't have the time to waste these days on books that don't hold my interest.

The Luxe = Gossip Girl for Wharton and James enthusiasts :)

(I thought it was okay, not great...I couldn't stop picturing the characters as Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf though.)

I tried reading Devoured, but it was really, really terrible, so I dropped it after 100 pages. To the bookswap it goes. Now I'm trying to get into Tantalize.

Just finished Yolen's Except the Queen. I feel fairly 'meh' about it, but I can't quite put my finger one why - the writing was lovely, the story solid. I just wasn't that into it.

@7

Lament was OK but I don't have any desire to read the sequel. I just started reading Firelight which i'm enjoying a lot more.

#31: So you enjoyed I Was Jane Austen's Friend, and hated the title? But it was the title that caught my eye! =)
But, is it very, very good? I'd like to read it, but it will probably take forever to reach my city, and when it does, it will probably be very expensive. In your opinion, is it worth it?

#36: I'm itching to read Cracked up to Be! Glad to know it's good.

#41 -- I liked it (gave it four stars), but I'm not sure if I would purchase it if I were in your shoes. On the other hand, if you really love Austen spin-offs, I think this is a fairly good one, more enjoyable than some I've read. Here's my review, if that helps.

Since last time I posted, I've read:

Heist Society -- Fun and fluffy, on par with the author's other works. I listened to the audiobook on a long drive, and it was perfect for that, since I didn't want anything that took a lot of concentration.

The Ghost and the Goth -- another fun and fluffy read.

The Lost Hero -- I liked this better than The Red Pyramid, probably because it stays in the world of the Percy Jackson books. Fans of that series will definitely enjoy this.

# 42: It does help, thanks! Sounds like fun. If I stumble upon it, I'll buy it. If I don't, then I won't seek it either.

In another order, I just finished the super short Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr. I had ordered Once Was Lost, which was out of stock, and I got this one instead. Didn't really like it. I hope Once Was Lost is better. Have any of you read it?

I'm now reading Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace. MaryJanice Davidson isn't my favorite author, but I am liking this a little better than the Betsy book I read by her.

#43 - I tried to read A story of a Girl and couldn't. I gave it 1 star. I heard some fairly good comments about this book but I just found it bleak with no promise. Maybe I gave up on it too soon?

I just finished Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers. I found this book to be intense and more than a little uncomfortable reading. It's about the extreme side of bullying at school. Courtney Summers is excellent at portraying teenagers and their social structure realistically. I found myself watching more tv than usual over the past few days because I wasn't keen to get back to Some Girls Are.

#45: Well, it is pretty bleak, which is one of the reasons why I didn't like it, but it eventually gets better.

I just think it is way too heavy for such a short book, and not well-written enough to make it bearable. Plus it ends abruptly, with a swift resolution for almost everything. And the worst part is that it seems like a carbon copy of many other YA books on 'polemic' topics -I believe the word is formulaic? That's just my opinion, anyway.

Some Girls Are is in my wishlist as well. Sounds very interesting! And scary...

I recently received Prisoners in the Palace by Michaela MacColl from ER and I'm a few chapters in. It's good fun so far! Historical fiction about a noble girl named Liza who, upon the death of her parents, is forced to take a position as lady's maid to the then Princess Victoria. It's reminding me a bit of a combination of A Little Princess, Tamora Pierce novels, and the Kate and Cecelia books by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer.

I am reading The Woods by Harlan Coben

I'm intrigued by Some Girls Are. It sounds very interesting, though not necessarily like something I'll *like*.

Prisoners in the Palace might be worth checking out too. I wasn't immediately seized by the description, but what a comparison! Tamora Pierce, Sorcery and Cecelia, and A Little Princess all in one?

I'm currently reading Mockingjay at long last, though I'm not actually as engaged in it as I was in the previous books.

I also read two children's books earlier this month, The Penderwicks and The Mysterious Howling. The first was okay, but I loved the second--a playful twist on the standard historical story.

I couldn't get into the Luxe series either.
Right now I'm reading Graceling with The Maze Runner on deck. Other YA finished this month were Mockingjay and This Lullaby.

I just started Carpe Corpus by Rachel Caine

I couldn't get into the Luxe series either. I think of it as Gossip Girls in poufy dresses. Just not my style.

I am currently reading Nightshade by Andrea Cremer. I am at the "confused and don't understand the world" stage right now. But the prose is good and I'm curious to know what happens.

> 50: I'm about to finish This Lullaby. I'm enjoying it, but I can't help thinking The Truth About Forever is a far superior book. What do you think?

Edited: Silly touchstones are playing games again...

Finished The Lost Hero the other day. Loved it.

@54 >> Does Clarisse make any appearance in The Lost Hero? She was my favorite character in the original series, and I refused to go to the movie because they cut her out of it.

Actually, yes she does make a cameo appearance.

#55/56 -- As MerryMary says, she makes a cameo appearance, but it's fairly late in the book, and she's not a major player. The action mostly follows the new characters introduced in this book.

53: I have not read The Truth about Forever yet. But will put it on my to read list. I have only read a few other Sarah Dessen books.

@56,57 >> Thanks! I hadn't really been planning on starting any new Riordan series, but I guess I'll get The Lost Hero for the sake even of a cameo by Clarisse.

I just finished The Espressologist - it was super cute and so very 'starbucks' that I could practically smell the coffee while reading it. Adorable Emma adaptation.

Finished Graceling, and I have to say I was disappointed in the romantic aspect of the book. Otherwise it was a good one.

Has anyone read Nightshade by Andrea Cremer? I just began it and am enjoying the werewolf teen angst so far.

I'm reading Battle Royale by Koushun Takami :D It's really a killer book, but I can't stop reading! I have to know the ending! xD

Anne of Green Gables was charming fun.

I picked up Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus over the weekend, to fuel my teen/paranormal/boarding school fetish. Haven't started it yet, but here's hoping...

On to Paranormalcy! Then perhaps Vampire Academy or The Hollow. My TBR pile is huge, it's hard to pick :/

I just finished reading Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter which is an adult mystery, but so much of the mystery happens in flashback when the main characters were teenagers that I think 13-14 year olds would like it even though the characters are in their 40s in "real" time.

Just finished Ghost of Spirit Bear which is the long awaited sequel to Touching Spirit Bear. Despite the long wait between books, it was easy to pick right up where the first book left off.

I've heard Touching Spirit Bear is awesome but haven't read it yet. What did you think of it?

I'm reading The Society of S by Susan Hubbard, a vampire novel which is not technically YA, but has a teenage protagonist, and would, I think, be enjoyable reading for teens.

I read over the long weekend (in NZ) The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. It was excellent. I think anyone that is a fan of Wicked Lovely will like this series. It was kind of a combination of Marr's Faerie World and Gaiman's modern world in conflict with the traditional in American Gods. I can't wait to read the next one - on the wait list at the library :)

71: I picked up The Iron King recently, but I haven't started it yet. I *adore* Melissa Marr, so I am really glad to hear that it's comparable to her books.

@ 56,57,59 >> I just finished The Lost Hero on my Kindle. I hadn't been planning on getting into a new Riordan series, but The Lost Hero was fun (especially Piper), and I got a kick out of Clarisse's cameo, with her feet up on the table.

I've had Monsters of Men sitting by my chair for about the last three weeks now, I just haven't built up the energy to start it yet. Considering how wrecked I was as the previous two, I know that I'll need to be in the right frame of mind to take it on. Also working on Finnikin of the Rock, I don't normally go for fantasy, but I'm slowing working my way through it. I also picked up Hold me closer, necromancer just because the title made me smile and I am actually enjoying it. It's a bit snarky and love that all the chapter names are music lyrics. And I just grabbed Bright young things yesterday. I actually liked The Luxe series, it's just fun brainless reading. They were my guilty pleasure books. I'm hoping that the Bright young things will be the same.

Okay, you convinced me. I'm putting Hold me closer, necromancer on my wish list.

I just finished The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride. It was pretty readable, but the characters and their choices kept frustrating/irritating me.

Now partway through Firelight by Sophie Jordan.

I just began Minder by Kate Kaynak. Thus far it is compellingly readable even though "teenager with special powers being brought to a school to hone them" is not at all new.

I'm halfway through Street Children of Cali which isn't YA by any means, but it is interesting to an adult who reads/writes YA because it is a study of Columbian children who decided to leave their homes to lead untraditional lives. The study addresses many of the troubles of puberty, not the least for these children being the loss of their cuteness. After all, if you live by begging from and tricking people, things will work when you're under 10 years old that won't when you're starting to grow a mustache. The book has a lot of psychological jargon, but it's an interesting look at how children work when there isn't a lot of adult guidance.

Nevermore was an excellent novel! I blazed through it because I wanted to know what happened. Do you think there will be a sequel?

I suppose I should add that I just read Nevermore by Kelly Creagh and also just finished The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff. Both were excellent fantasy. Other YA titles I read this month:
City of Ember by DuPrau (fantasy-ish)
Mockingjay by Collins (dystopian sci-fi)
The Declaration by Malley (dystopian sci/fantasy)
Sleepless by Balog (fantasy)
Girl Parts by Cusick (sci-fi)
Stop in the Name of Pants by Rennison (humorous)

>74 amberamber: amberamber Monsters of Men just came in at the library for me, so I'll be reading it, too. I know what you mean about the impact of the first two books in the series. From what I've read, this should be a good series conclusion.

> Ooo, thanks for the reminder that Monsters of Men is available in these parts now - just requested it from my library!

> 74 I just read Finnikin of the Rock this week and was very pleasantly surprised. I liked it a lot. That said, although I'm not usually in favor of questioning the YA labels on books, I really am baffling over the classification of this one. It's very dark in some really particularly disturbing ways and is missing the usual 'teenage protagonist' excuse. It's not that I think it's inappropriate for teens so much as I'm baffled as to why it's considered YA rather than simply fantasy. Perhaps because the author's other books tend to be set in high school.

#79 I just checked Kelly Creagh's website. She says she is working on a sequel for Nevermore. I really want to know what happens next too.

I just finished Minder by Kate Kaynak and thought it was an excellent page-turner with one of the best wish fulfillment romances I have seen in a long time. I had to get the sequel for my Kindle.

@ 79: there's a Nevermore trilogy planned.

ooo I have Nevermore out from the library - must make sure that one doesn't get returned unread!

I enjoyed that book so much that I went to the Poe Museum in Richmond while I was there last week!

@ >71 kiwiflowa: kiwiflowa & >72 BookNrrrd: BookNrrrd,

I'm glad you liked / hope you like The Iron King! That's one of ours (Harlequin Teen), and I personally liked it. I thought the next one, The Iron Daughter was one of the best books I've read all year. Some reviewers got annoyed with the heroine's angst over the guys, but I didn't. As a matter of fact, the action and the trying to figure out what was going to happen next to notice the angst.

Since I listened to the audio versions for both of the books, I'll be interested in what you think of the print version. The reader for the audio did a great job, I thought, and really kept me engaged.

Penn

I read David Levithan and Rachel Cohn's new colaboration, Dash & Lily's Book of Dares over the weekend. I was a little concerned about a third of the way through as I wasn't sure that the passing of the red notebook between the two titular character and their subsequent scavenger hunt would sustain my interest. However, I needn't have worried as it took a turn about half way through and really piqued my interest.

Definitely a fun book, especially if you're a bookish word nerd. Loved it.

I think I've bought more than 15 books this month based on this thread alone. Great recommendations, everyone! My relationship with amazon.com has reached a whole new level.

Dizzy, I'm glad I'm not the only one. However, its Bookdepository with whom I have a relationship!

Every month I buy a bunch of books based of what others in this group have been reading. My TBR pile is out of control! I love it!

dizzyweasel> Oh noes!!! This thread has been making my wishlist grow, but I'm in the off the shelves challenge too, so nothing has actually been purchased... yet. See you in off the shelves next year. ;)

And I pulled Nothing to Lose by Alex Flinn off my shelves last night. Flinn has experience working with all sorts of court ordered ya nastiness. This is a great "mystery" of sorts about a boy who perhaps killed his abusive stepfather. I put mystery in quotes because there's not much doubt in my head as to who did what and why.