The Oh-My-Word... Readathon!

The readathon has officially begun! Somehow, life tends to get in the way of reading on the specific dates that readathons are scheduled for, but I'll at least keep a book on hand throughout the next two days.

I will probably not be updating my progress much, but I will have a final tally up on January 1st.

What I want to finish:
I have several books that I have gotten about halfway through and that I'd like to finish in the next day or so, or at least make significant progress on:

• Inheritance, by Christopher Paolini
• The Coming of the Dragon, by Rebecca Barnhouse
• Tales of Grimm and Andersen, by The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen

I don't have many goals beyond that, as I can tell those three will be quite a bit of reading on their own, but I have a ton of books stacked up by my bed (my regular TBR shelf  and  the temporarily commandeered "helper shelf" are both full and have additional books stacked on top of them) that I would love to begin, including but not limited to:

• Shatter Me, by Tareh Mafi
• The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell
• Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, by Jonathan Auxier
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor
• Liesl and Po, by Lauren Oliver
• Well Witched, by Frances Hardinge
• Spindle's End, by Robin McKinley
• Wither, by Lauren DeStephano
• Birthmarked, by Caragh O'Brien

And as if those and several large handfuls more were not enough (because you can never have too much with books), I have a few by my bed that I've been itching to reread for a while now:

• Enna Burning, by Shannon Hale
• River Secrets, by Shannon Hale
• Forest Born, by Shannon Hale
• Dragon Flight, by Jessica Day George
• Dragon Spear, by Jessica Day George
• East, by Edith Pattou

I have no intention of getting through these lists, but they're much of my selection. And the books that I don't get to now will be the one's I'll be reading in the next few weeks, or more likely, months.

Are you participating in the Oh-My-Word... Readathon? Have you read any of the books above? What should I read first? Let me know in the comments!

March Merriment Update

I haven't really posted about March Merriment since it started, but I thought I'd take a post to talk about how it's going. It simultaneously is going really well and not very well at all.

This first picture is of everything I've read and/or am currently reading in March.

*Not pictured: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It's in my backpack.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz (1 of 20 - Unfinished)
I've already made clear what I think of this book, but it is a book that I'm reading in March, so it counts.

Unexpected Magic, by Diana Wynne Jones (2 of 20 - Unfinished)
I technically started this at the very end of February, but I only read a few pages before March, so I'm saying it counts.

Airman, by Eoin Colfer (3 of 20 - Finished)
It's still great the 2nd time around. I'm in the middle of a larger review for this.

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, by Diana Wynne Jones (4 of 20 - Unfinished)

Copper, by Kazu Kibuishi (5 of 20 - Finished)

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare (6 of 20 - Unfinished)

Flight (Volume Two), by Kazu Kibuishi (7 of 20 - Unfinished)
I am planning on finishing this tonight.

Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary, by Brandon Mull (8 of 20 - Finished)

Sapphique, by Catherine Fisher (9 of 20 - Unfinished)
I am planning on finishing this by tonight.

So you can see, 9 books in 12 days is not bad. But 3 finished books in 12 days isn't quite as good. Luckily by tonight it will be 5 finished books. And I'm not too worried... yet.

Below are the books I have on my shelf which I have not yet begun. I'm very excited. There are a lot, so I'm not going to list them. You can see most of the titles, and if not, I'll be posting about them soon.

I decided that most likely no one really cares about PBM anymore, so I stopped writing that post. If you do care, leave a comment or just wait for me to post it some day when I have nothing better to write about.

Happy Reading,

February 2011 Group Review

Amulet: The Stonekeeper
by Kazu Kibuishi
1 February 2011
see my review here

Amulet: The Stonekeeper's Curse
by Kazu Kibuishi
1 February 2011
see my review here

Amulet: The Cloud Searchers
by Kazu Kibuishi
1 Febraury 2011
see my review here

The Changeling Prince
by Vivian Vande Velde
1 February 2011
This was in a bit of a different writing style than other VVV books, but it was pretty good nevertheless. I didn't find myself laughing aloud like I usually do when reading VVV, but it story was interesting and the main character had an unusual and refreshing conflict. I had no idea what to expect from this book when I started it, so I wasn't disappointed. It had been recommended to me by WriterGirl, so I knew it had to be pretty good, but I didn't really know what the story was about. I did, however read a funny little anecdote on VVV's website about how her editor picked the name and the main character was neither a changeling nor a prince. Overall, I liked her other books better, but this was perfectly good.

Cloaked in Red
by Vivian Vande Velde
1 February 2011
see my review here

The Secret Hour
by Scott Westerfeld
6 February 2011
see my review here


Flight, Volume 1
by Kazu Kibuishi
9 February 2011
This book was totally different from any other book I've ever read. It was such a cool book because of all the different styles that were at once separate and connected. Let me explain what I'm talking about. Kazu Kibuishi and about 10-15 (I'm not sure of the exact number) other illustrators created mini-graphic novels, like the graphic novel equivalent of short stories. They all, whether literally or metaphorically, had to be related in some way to the theme of flight. There were a lot of wordless stories, which probably related in some way to my extensive use of wordless picture books during PBM, but whether with or without words, they were all beautiful. This book is obviously not for everyone, but it was definitely for me. I'm currently reading the second volume out of eight.

Instead of Three Wishes
by Megan Whalen Turner
9 February 2011
I enjoyed this book very much. It was not very long, but each story was fun, different, and interesting. They often made me look for more and kept me thinking after I finished. A couple made me think that perhaps she was getting at something beyond the surface story. Overall, it was nice to read, although not spectacular.

A True Princess
by Diane Zhaler
13 February 2011
I expected this to be a fairly ordinary retelling of the Princess and the Pea. However, it was not even close. Zhaler took the original Princess and the Pea story and used it as a basic skeleton to write a completely new story. The original fairy tale wasn't really the point of the story. There was a lot more substance and story than I was expecting. A good job by Diane Zhaler. I would recommend to  middle school readers.

Animal Farm
by George Orwell
14 February 2011
I was reading this for the first time, but I knew some of the basic story from when my brother read this in school. It was very, very, good. I can't decide whether I like Animal Farm or 1984 better. I have no other comments for now.

Incarceron
by Catherine Fisher
15 February 2011
Filled with exciting, page-turning action, Incarceron was far less creepy than I had expected and feared. It leaves you on a cliffhanger leading into the second book, Sapphique. I enjoyed it very much and am planning to begin Sapphique in the next few days.

Touching Darkness
by Scott Westerfeld
16 February 2011
see my review here

Blue Noon
by Scott Westerfeld
18 February 2011
see my review here

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Diaz
22 February 2011
see comments in earlier posts. I'm a little ways in right now, and although Diaz is obviously a skilled writer, I'm not enjoying it at all. Not recommended.

Unexpected Magic
by Diana Wynne Jones
25 February 2011
Another book of short stories (I'm reading a lot of them lately), this time by the wonderful Diana Wynne Jones. It's a bit longer than I expected it to be, but the stories are great. Most of the stories at the beginning are just barely removed from reality so they seem totally realistic. They get slowly more and more obviously fictional as the book progresses. I'm about halfway through right now, and really enjoying it, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

So 15 total books in February, and I loved almost all of them. Not bad.

PBM overview is coming up tomorrow. Vote for your favorite PBM books!

January 2011 Group Review

The Clockwork Three
by Matthew J. Kirby
1 January 2011
see my review here

A Conspiracy of Kings
by Megan Whalen Turner
1 January 2011
see my review here

House of Many Ways
by Diana Wynne Jones
2 January 2011
see my review here

A Girl Named Disaster
by Nancy Farmer
2 January 2011
I was so sure I'd already posted a review of this, but I can't find it, so I'll do another. Well, first of all, let me say that Nancy Farmer is an amazing author. Really amazing. All of her other books were wonderful (see my review for the Sea of Trolls trilogy here) and so much fun to read. This one however, was not quite as good. I'm not sure why, but I didn't really care about Nhamo, the main character, until about halfway through the book. After finishing, I was glad that I read it, but I doubt I'll reread it for a while.

Eyes Like Stars
by Lisa Mantchev
3 January 2011
This book was a bit different from the usual kind of stuff I read, but it was interesting in its own way and kept me turning the pages. Not a lot of action (action as in action movies - there was plenty of action as in plot), but plenty of great characters. Beatrice Shakespeare Smith lives at the Theatre Illuminata, which is special because it is where all of Shakespeare's characters live in corporeal form. The two simultaneous plots are of Beatrice (Bertie) finding her place as part of the Theatre, and a love triangle between Bertie, Ariel (The air spirit from The Tempest) and Nate (a minor character, also from The Tempest). Overall, it had its ups and downs, but I ended up liking it.

Graceling
by Kristin Cashore
3 January 2011
One of my favorite books. I gave a copy of Graceling to a friend for her birthday, and not only did she read it in under three days, she immediately checked Fire (the prequel) out of the library, read it just as fast, and started on Graceling again. I'm hoping she will do a review of Graceling and Fire for a Friendsday Wednesday coming up. Katsa is totally amazing, and all the twists and turns of the story combined with Cashore's amazing writing come together in a wonderful story that I highly, highly recommend.

Heroes of the Valley
by Jonathan Stroud
5 January 2011
Not my favorite book all time, but it did make me chuckle in a few places. I was rereading it, so I took my time with the story. I didn't feel like I had to know what would happen next. It made for a nice change, but it did drag on a bit. Still, it was good enough to reread. I'm planning on rereading it again sometime in the (probably not too near) future.

Fire
by Kristin Cashore
6 January 2011
I personally thought Fire was as good as Graceling, but some of my friends disagree with me. It's the prequel, but it has an entire different set of characters except one, who doesn't show up too much in either but is a keystone for both plots. The two books will be tied together in the third, not yet published, which will be called Bitterblue.

The Thirteenth Princess
by Diane Zhaler
10 January 2011
A retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. Nothing too horrible happens, which was a nice break after Graceling and Fire, not that horrible things happen in Graceling and Fire-- gahh, never mind. Just read them.

Across the Universe
by Beth Revis
13 January 2011
WriterGirl convinced me to read this book. I trust her judgement on books, and she kept talking about how wonderful this book was going to be, so I went out and bought it the day it came out. I must say, I was not disappointed. Not in the least. It had so  many layers of wonderful, with more and more the deeper I looked. I will definitely reread. [EDIT: A wonderful review of this book is at the blog Here's To Us.]

Castle in the Air
by Diana Wynne Jones
17 January 2011
see my review here

Little Sister
by Kara Dalkey
18 January 2011
I had medium-high hopes for this book when I bought it. I knew it wasn't going to be bad, since it had been recommended to me personally by WriterGirl (yay!), but I don't remember being overly excited about it. Of course, that may be me remembering wrong. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out that this was a great book. Even in the most fantastical of situations, the characters felt so real and so easy to connect to. It's pretty short, and I really recommend it. I especially like the ending, which I won't give away, but I will say that Dalkey did a great job with it. The one thing is that it's now out of print, so you would have to get a used copy or see if your library has a copy. It's definitely worth the trouble though. I'm planning on rereading it in the future.

Uglies
by Scott Westerfeld
21 January 2011

Pretties
by Scott Westerfeld
23 January 2011

Specials
by Scott Westerfeld
26 January 2011

Extras
by Scott Westerfeld
28 January 2011
I really enjoyed this entire quartet, but I'm not going to write a review for them now. I will (very hopefully) write a review for them later. I may need reminding.

The Metamorphosis
by Franz Kafka
29 January 2011
I read this in English in January and February. I'll post my project on it as soon as I get it back. I'm guessing that will be sometime next week. I'm guessing you've heard of The Metamorphosis. If you haven't, I'll try to sum it up in one sentence:"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect." (That's the first sentence of the novella.)

Enchanted Glass
by Diana Wynne Jones
30 January 2011
Not my favorite DWJ, but not bad. An entertaining story.

The Heavenward Path
by Kara Dalkey
31 January 2011
The sequel to Little Sister. It ruined the ending a bit for me, but redeemed itself by being almost (but not quite) as good as the first. If you enjoyed Little Sister, I would recommend The Heavenward Path.

If you're interested (and don't feel like counting), I read 19 books in January, 1 short of completing March Merriment. If I can read 19 books in January, I can totally do 20 in March. I know I can.

March Merriment - The Lineup

Getting ready for March Merriment (a little late for preparation, but better late than never). Here are the books I have on my shelf or in the mail:

The Maze Runner, by James Dashner
Supposed to be creepy but so good - I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Silver Phoenix, by Cindy Pon
WriterGirl has recommended this book several times, as well as including it in the YA fantasy showdown. Based on her previous recommendations, I'm guessing this is going to be great.

Eon, by Alison Goodman
Also included in the YA Fantasy showdown. Not really sure what it's about or whether I'll like it, but it's worth a try.

Flight (Volume Two), by Kazu Kibuishi
I liked volume one and it's a quick read. Perfect for MM.

Sapphique, by Catherine Fisher
Devoured Incarceron in a night and a day. I'm hoping Sapphique will be just as good.

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland: The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel, by Diana Wynne Jones
A guide to all the chiches of fantasy writing. It sounds really funny, and since I'm going to be doing some fantasy writing myself on The Bookbird and the WordGirl, why not?

Book of Enchantments, by Patricia C. Wrede
No reason for getting this except I like Patricia C. Wrede. :)

Secondhand Charm, by Julie Berry
Julie Berry's other book, The Amaranth Enchantment, was short and sweet, and I'm betting I'm going to need a bunch of that in the coming month.

Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (Fablehaven), by Brandon Mull
I've read this before, but don't remember all the details. This is the kind of series where I'm glad I don't remember much, because I get to rediscover it when I reread it, like now.

So that's it for now. More will be coming throughout March, or I might reread some old favorites instead. I don't really have a plan right now. But I will come up with one! Eventually.

I'm going to do a post of the stuff I've been reading for the last month later today or possibly tomorrow.

 Until then,

P.S. Please please vote on the poll for favorite PBM book! I ran into the unexpected problem that all the voters so far like different books. (Silly me, didn't see that one coming.) Thank you!

Community Service

My school has a 20-hour project as a community service requirement, due at the end of the year. I recently started thinking about things I love that could be turned into a community service project. So, this weekend, I volunteered my first 2.75 hours at my local public library. It was incredibly fun. I took down a display about online homework help, helped to catalog duplicates in the mysteries section, and organized magazines in chronological order and took out all editions from 2009 to be archived. It was a great experience and I'm going to come back for my next 17.25 hours. If your local library takes volunteers, I'd recommend trying this out. In addition, next weekend I'm going to go a bit early so I can check out some of their picture books, because by then I'll be in the thick of PBM. So excited for Tuesday and finally being able to start writing!

On another note, I got a bunch of new books this weekend from my Omi Mary and my great-aunt Mady. Thank you both so much! Also this week I'm receiving a bunch of pre-ordered books. It seems like as much as I try to keep just a few books on my nightstand at a time, they come in waves, like they want to be sitting there for weeks. I suppose it's better than sitting on the bookshelf for months or years. The new books for this week are:

- The Heavenward Path, by Kara Dakley
It hasn't arrived yet but will be coming any day now.
- Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld
Last time I got it from the library, but this time I'm keeping it, and I will read it over and over for years to come.
- Fire, by Kristin Cashore
I own Graceling, but I liked Fire just as much. If you scroll down, you will see that I read Fire on January 6th, but I want to reread it. And besides, it just came out in paperback yesterday
- Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher
I made myself curious with my post about Incarceron and The Maze Runner. I heard that The Maze Runner is much creepier than Incarceron, so I'm starting with the latter.
- Midnighters, by Scott Westerfeld
I've come to the conclusion that anything Westerfeld has got to be good. I haven't been proven wrong yet.
- Animal Farm, by George Orwell
I read 1984 over the summer, and wanted to read Animal Farm immediately afterward, but NN lost my copy (well, not mine, technically, but the one NN was going to give me after NN was done using it for school), so I didn't get a new copy until now.
- Cloaked in Red, by Vivian Vande Velde
It's finally coming! It's supposed to arrive today! Yay!
- Amulet (Books 1-3), by Kazu Kibuishi
I love graphic novels. Who doesn't like graphic novels? I'm pretty sure this is going to be a middle-school level book, but with graphic novels, it doesn't really matter. For example: Rapunzel's Revenge (Shannon Hale) is one of my favorite books. Ever. And my little cousins love it too, so there you go.
- A True Princess, by Diane Zhaler
Same general idea as The Thirteenth Princess, but rather than a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, this is a retelling of The Princess and the Pea. Comes out on Thursday!

Until tomorrow,

Variety

As I mentioned a few posts ago, one of my goals for this year is to make sure I am reading a variety of styles rather than one style in a variety of books. I think that so far, I've accomplished this goal pretty well, having read such books as Castle in the Air (Diana Wynne Jones), Little Sister (Kara Dakley), and Uglies (Scott Westerfeld) within 4 days of each other, while also listening to my 6 minutes of Fandorin (see previous post) every morning on the way to school. I'm hesitant to stray too far from my literary comfort zone, but I thought I'd send a request into the wide world of internet asking if people have recommendations for books that are a bit different from what I normally would read. To get a sense of the kind of books I enjoy, I'd look at recent reviews by clicking on the "Book Reviews" link under "Labels".

The books I have lined up for the next few weeks:
- Specials, by Scott Westerfeld
- Extras, by Scott Westerfeld
- Enchanted Glass, by Diana Wynne Jones
- Murder on the Leviathan, by Boris Akunin
- Heroes of the Valley, by Jonathan Stroud
- The Changeling Prince, by Vivian Vande Velde
- The Heavenward Path, by Kara Dakley
- Metamorphosis and Other Tales, by Franz Kafka

As you can see, this is list is pretty similar to the list of books I've read recently, which is why I'm writing this request. Please comment! What are your favorite books?

Just an Update

Hello all. After that less-than-cheerful review of Mockingjay, I wanted to do a (hopefully) light summary of my life recently and in the near future in terms of reading.

Books I’ve Read in 2011

Well, 10 books in 14 days isn’t too shabby (except that they’re not all done). I want to write reviews for most of these soon because I enjoyed them, and I think it was a great bunch to start off the year. I like how they balance each other out, which is one of my (minor) goals for this year – not to read too much of 1 type of book in a short time.

Also, is anyone else still getting used to writing 2011 instead of 2010? I don’t know if you can see in this picture, but about half of the 2011s have whiteout under the 11. My chances of making a mistake are greatly increased by the fact that I like to write down that I’ve started a book once I’m a few chapters in rather than if I’m about to pick it up. (I don’t know why- it’s just one of my random quirks.) This tends to be somewhere in the 11pm area, since I don’t start reading until I finish my homework and am getting into bed. Anyway, moving on…

The Nightstand

Frankenstein and Pompeii have both been officially moved from the nightstand to the I’ll-read-it-someday pile on my desk.

The books on my nightstand itself have been dwindling in number, especially since I plan to finish Across the Universe tonight or tomorrow morning. This brings me to my next topic…

Coming Soon
I bought Across the Universe on the 11th (it arrived and I began reading it yesterday) at the suggestion of Heather Zundel, AKA WriterGirl. After I realized how much I liked Across the Universe, I bought another book that she recommended to me, Little Sister by Kara Dalkey.

Arriving a few days after that is Diana Wynne Jones’ Castle in the Air, the sequel / companion to Howl’s Moving Castle.

Also, after reading The Thirteenth Princess by Diane Zahler, which is a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, I pre-ordered A True Princess by the same author, a retelling of the Princess and the Pea. It will be published in early February, so I don’t have long to wait.

I have some other pre-ordered stuff, but it’s mostly coming in April, May, and June, so it’ll be a while before I get those, so I won’t bother listing them now.

Because I no longer have such a large stack of books to be read, I am planning on rereading some old favorites as well as beginning to tackle the I’ll-read-it-someday pile. At school, the new semester starts in about two weeks, and we’ll be reading The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Other Stories in English, and Antigone (a reread for me) in Greek (the class, not the language).

In Conclusion
That didn’t turn out quite as brief as I wanted it to be, but it was fun to write and not nearly as stressful as writing the Mockingjay review, where I had to simultaneously figure out how to put my thoughts into words and make sure not to give anything away (or be extremely vague when I do!) Anyway, goodnight and have a good weekend. Fun things are in store for next week!

Life As Usual

   I haven’t been reading as much recently because it’s the week before winter break, so every teacher wants to squeeze in a test, quiz, or essay. I finished Imperium and liked it very much, so I will try to post a review by Monday night. I’ve been getting very behind on reviewing the books that I read – I finished Fablehaven at the end of November and I also wanted to review a holiday-related book for the holidays. Well, if anyone wants to know whether Emilia is the true hero of Othello, that’s the review I have right now, but I’m not going to post it because then I’d probably lose the 1 follower that I have.
   Since last nightstand update, I got The Danger Box (by Blue Balliett) as a gift, and it looks pretty good – I liked Chasing Vermeer and her others, so hopefully I’ll enjoy The Danger Box as well.
   Only 3 people voted in the poll for what I’m reading next, so I guess it’s up to me to choose between The Clockwork Three, Clan of the Cave Bear, and A Girl Named Disaster (no one voted for Eyes Like Stars). I guess I won’t be putting up any more polls for a while, until I have slightly more viewership. Well, I suppose that’s life – same as usual.

Post-Promise, Post-Hanukkah Nightstand

The once-giant pile is receding! I think I may have to cave soon and buy something new.

Eyes Like Stars (by Lisa Mantchev) and The Clockwork Three (by Matthew J. Kirby) were Hanukkah presents. I'm looking forward to them both. However, I'm determined to finish both Imperium and The Disappearing Spoon before I start them. I put a poll on the sidebar of this blog so that you can have some input for what I read next. Right now, I'm estimating the end of The Disappearing Spoon and the end of Imperium will take me until Sunday night (which is when I set the poll to end), but if I end up changing that date, I'll make sure to post it.

[Update: There's no way I'm going to finish by Sunday. I'm extending to poll until Friday the 17th.]

A Promise (Almost) Fulfilled

Back in September, I promised I would read 10 of 14 books on my nightstand mentioned in that post before buying more books. Finally, with many pauses, breaks, gifts, and pre-orders arriving in between then and now, I have almost, almost fulfilled my promise. I have read 8 out of 10 books, but the other two are the 2nd two books of the Great Tree of Avalon Series, which I am going to finish by Thursday. Why am I not waiting until Thursday? I figured I would rather spend time with my family on Thanksgiving than write a post. So here is my “almost done” post. If you want to see my comments from back in September, scroll down to the bottom is this page or click on “Older Posts” at the bottom of the page. Some quick comments on the books:

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll
Start Date: 15 September 2010
End Date: 6 October 2010
I loved this book from years of reading it by myself. Now, having read and analyzed it for class, not to mention writing an essay on it, I’m sure it’ll be a while before I can enjoy it fully again. That said, it is a great book.

Imperium, by Robert Harris
Start Date: 3 September 2010
End Date: Unfinished
Not quite finished yet. I’m about halfway through, but it’s getting more interesting now, so I think the second half will go faster than the first.

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
Haven’t started this yet. Still on the to-read list.

A Prince Among Frogs, by E.D. Baker
Start Date: 30 September 2010
End Date: 30 September 2010
I liked the series when I was younger. I’m not sure what my younger self would have said about this book. My older self says it’s really silly. Really, really silly.

I Shall Wear Midnight, by Terry Pratchett
Start Date: 2 October 2010
End Date: 5 October 2010
I didn’t like this one as much as I thought I would, but it had some good parts, and it was interesting to read because it got deeper into questions about good and bad people. It definitely gave me things to think about.

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (Books 1-3), by Michael Scott
Start Date: 15 October 2010
End Date: 20 October 2010
I already posted about these. Mixed feelings, but a thumbs up if you’re the type of person who can push through an okay beginning to a good ending.

Pompeii, by Robert Harris
I still haven’t started it. I get the feeling that this book is going to have to wait a while before I get to it.

The Grimm Legacy, by Polly Shulman
Start Date: 19 November 2010
End Date: 19 November 2010
I started this book with pretty low expectations. I had recently read a bunch of semi-disappointing books, and I had never heard of this book or this author before. However, even though the beginning was only so-so, the middle and end get really good and I found myself carrying the book around the house so that I could read whenever I had 2 minutes. Although I do have a few small criticisms, I really liked it overall.

The Great Tree of Avalon (Books 1-3), by T. A. Barron
Start Date: 21 November 2010
End Date: Unfinished
This series was a re-read. I really liked it the first time around, but for some reason I can’t remember the answer the question that the entire trilogy revolves around, so I decided I needed to go back and remind myself. Also, I recently read T. A. Barron’s The Lost Years of Merlin, and I was surprised how much this trilogy refers to it. (I knew it was a sequel series, but I didn’t realize how involved the Lost Years series was in the Avalon books. Generally a very good trilogy, not too long (like the Inheritance Cycle) and a fun read.

The Bromeliad Trilogy, by Terry Pratchett
Haven’t started this one yet. I’ll get to it eventually.

******
So, that’s the end of the original 14. However, I read more than just the ten books from that list. So, here’s the other stuff I read:

The Sea of Trolls Trilogy, by Nancy Farmer
Start Date: 7 October 2010
End Date: 15 October 2010
This was a book I already owned but wanted to re-read.
I already posted about these. Thumbs up.

Morning Girl, by Michael Dorris
Start Date: 24 October 2010
End Date: 24 October 2010
This was a book I got at the book swap.
I read this in elementary school. If I needed a book to remind me how much I’ve grown since then, this was it. Even still, it was enjoyable to re-read and I recommend it to all elementary schoolers.

The Lost Hero, by Rick Riordan
Start Date: 24 October 2010
End Date: 27 October 2010
This was a pre-ordered book that arrived October 12th.
I already posted about this one too. I didn’t realize until now how up-to-date I was keeping my posts. What a nice surprise.

The Disappearing Spoon, by Sam Kean
Start Date: 28 October 2010
End Date: Unfinished
This was a book I borrowed from a friend.
A totally unusual and interesting look at the periodic table of elements. Recommended for people who are taking Chemistry now or have any interest at all in the subject. I would say it’s a high-school & up level book just because I think anyone who hasn’t taken Chem would get bored reading it.

Science Fair, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Start Date: 30 October 2010
End Date: 1 November 2010
This was a book I got at the book swap.
These are the same people who wrote Peter and the Starcatchers, but Science Fair wasn’t even close to being as good as the Starcatcher books. It was funny, but it wasn’t really my kind of humor. Overall, disappointing.

Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones
Start Date: 12 November 2010
End Date: 13 November 2010
This book was a gift.
This book was so good, especially after the disappointment of Science Fair. If you’ve seen the film Howl’s Moving Castle by Myazaki, you will have a pretty good idea of what this book is like, because the movie was based on this book. I first became interested in reading this book when Howl almost won the YA Fantasy Showdown (http://yafantasyshowdown.weebly.com/index.html – I want to write an entire post about it later). Anyway, the book was really great, and I really liked it. I read it almost immediately after watching the movie, and I liked that it started out very similar to the movie and then went off onto it’s own original track. Definitely recommended.

The Ring of Solomon, by Jonathan Stroud
Start Date: 2 November 2010
End Date: 6 November 2010
This was a pre-ordered book that arrived November 2nd.
I didn’t like this book as much as the three original Bartimaeus books, but Stroud keeps it fun to read with Bartimaeus’ wit and the book’s compelling storyline.

Leviathan & Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld
Start Date: 14 November 2010
End Date: 16 November 2010
This was a book I got from the library.
I already reviewed Leviathan in an earlier post. Many times, the sequel is not as good as the original. This was not true for Behemoth. I want to read the third book, except that it hasn’t been published yet.

And that’s it! Now, back to finishing up those Avalon books…

Update on The Reading List

Since the last post, I read a bunch of the books on the list, and I also received a lot of new books in the mail (they were all pre-ordered, I didn't buy them since last time) so I thought I would give an update to what is on the nightstand.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll

Start Date: 15 September 2010

I love this book, and have read it many times before, but it's back on the nightstand now because I'm reading it for school. This book is always a pleasure to read.

Imperium, by Robert Harris

Start Date: 3 September 2010

Got this as a birthday present from a good friend, and although I like it, it's a little slow and far too much historical of "historical fiction" for most people. I started this one in early September and I'm taking it a few chapters at a time, between other books.

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

I was supposed to read this for school, but it got taken off the reading list at the last minute. I got it anyway because my friends in other classes who are reading it say that it is quite good. It's surprisingly short, but I haven't started it yet, so I don't know if it's a slow read or not.

A Prince Among Frogs, by E.D. Baker

I started this series (Tales of the Frog Princess) when I was eight and loved it so much that I kept buying the books when they came out even when I totally and completely grew out of them. A Prince Among Frogs is the last (8th) book of the series, and even though I know it's ridiculous to still be reading these books, it's the last book, and it'll only take a few hours, so why not? I recommend this series to 8-12 year-olds. It's a great series, especially the first book, which inspired the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog, although in my opinion, the book is much, much better.

I Shall Wear Midnight, by Terry Pratchett

The fourth Tiffany Aching book. The first three were great, and I'm really excited for this one.

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (Books 1-3), by Michael Scott

Still haven't gotten to these, but I will soon.

Pompeii, by Robert Harris

I'm pretty sure I forgot to include this last time, but it was given to me by the same friend who gave me Imperium. Apparently it's a little slower than Imperium (which is a kind of slow itself), but still good. I'm not going to read this until I finish Imperium.

The Grimm Legacy, by Polly Shulman

The Great Tree of Avalon (Books 1-3), by T. A. Barron

The Bromeliad Trilogy, by Terry Pratchett

I'll get to all of these soon, I will! And it's quite a bit less than it was last post, so I have been getting through this giant stack. Here is my promise: I will read at least 10 of these 14 books before I buy more.

The Nightstand of Recent Times

As you can see, at the end of the summer, I went on a book-buying splurge. The result of said splurge was an enormous amount of books that I could not possibly get through before school started. So, this photo shows basically what I have been reading for the past three weeks or so, and whall I will be reading for the next few weeks.

Brisingr, by Christopher Paolini

A Matter of Magic, by Patricia C. Wrede

Imperium, by Robert Harris

The Reluctant Heiress, by Eva Ibbotson

A Company of Swans, by Eva Ibbotson

The Great Tree of Avalon (Books 1-3), by T. A. Barron

The Bromeliad Trilogy, by Terry Pratchett

The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner

The Fourth Bear, by Jasper Fforde

Gregor the Underlander (Books 1-5), by Suzanne Collins

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (Books 1-3), by Michael Scott

The Grimm Legacy, by Polly Schulman

P.S. Since this picture was taken, I have also bought Reckless, by Cornelia Funke, The Queen of Attolia, by Megan Whalen Turner, and The King of Attolia, also by Megan Whalen Turner.

Catching Up

It's been a while since I last posted, so I wanted to just give a quick overview of the books I've read since April. I'll write a few comments now, but hopefully I'll be able to post more in-depth reviews later.

Here goes:

Lost in A Good Book

Jasper Fforde

1 May 2010

Part of the Thursday Next Series, a fantastically original series starting with The Eyre Affair.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

Terry Pratchett

2 May 2010

Hilarious and unexpected. A book worth reading many times.

So Yesterday

Scott Westerfield

3 May 2010

Inkdeath

Cornelia Funke

3 May 2010

Last book of the Inkheart trilogy. This book starts a little slowly but when you get into the action, you are captivated by Funke's story and language.

The Red Pyramid

Rick Riordan

4 May 2010

This book was a bit to similar the the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Riordan for my taste, but overall very enjoyable.

The Well of Lost Plots

Jasper Fforde

6 May 2010

Next book in the Thursday Next series.

Princess of the Midnight Ball

Jessica Day George

12 May 2010

A retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I already wrote about how much I liked Jessica Day George in the Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow post. I personally like Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow better, but Princess of the Midnight Ball still has the beautiful writing style and incredible plot that defines George's books.

The Actor and the Housewife

Shannon Hale

17 May 2010

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Ian Fleming

24 May 2010

I got a box of books handed down to me and I remembered reading this book when I was really little. Written in a way that a younger person could enjoy, I found myself smiling as I read about the adventures of the Pott family and their magical car.

Princess of Glass

Jessica Day George

26 May 2010

A retelling of Cinderella with some of the same characters from Princess of the Midnight Ball. Sort of a sequel, but you do not need to read Princess of the Midnight Ball first.

Bulfinch's Mythology

Bulfinch

29 May 2010

Interesting for people who like mythology (like me), but even I couldn't get more than halfway though it. It's a big thick book that is not meant for light reading.

Fang

James Patterson

2 June 2010

Newest book of the Maximum Ride series. I liked this series at first, but the last few books have been disappointing. I thought this book was pretty pathetic compared to the original Maximum Ride books.

The Princess and the Hound

Mette Ivie Harrison

2 June 2010

Something Rotten

Jasper Fforde

3 June 2010

Another Thursday Next book.

The Wide-Awake Princess

E.D. Baker

3 June 2010

Cute, but I think I've grown out of E.D. Baker. Tells the tale of Sleeping Beauty's sister, who goes to find the perfect prince for her sister.

First Among Sequels

Jasper Fforde

6 June 2010

Yet another Thursday Next book.

The Princess and the Bear

Mette Ivie Harrison

7 June 2010

Sequel to The Princess and the Hound.

The Princess and the Snowbird

Mette Ivie Harrison

14 June 2010

Sequel to The Princess and the Bear.

Okay, we're coming out of the princess phase here. I didn't really notice while I was reading them how many princess books I was reading in a row. They were all very different, even though they all had to do with princesses.

Shakespeare's Secret

Elise Broach

17 June 2010

The Big Over Easy

Jasper Fforde

17 June 2010

NOT a Thursday Next book, even though it is by the same author. A slower read (personally I liked the Thursday Next books better) but with the classic Jasper Fforde cleverness and originality. Detective Jack Spratt of the Nursery Crime Division investigates the murder of Humpty Dumpty and discovers a larger plot in the process.

Halls of Fame

John D'Agata

17 June 2010

Summer Reading. Still not done with this one. Gack!

A Countess Below Stairs

Eva Ibbottson

20 June 2010

This is the first YA book by Eva Ibbottson I had read. I read most of her books for younger kids, but I didn't know what to expect for this one. It set a high bar for her others.

The Supernaturalist

Eoin Colfer

24 June 2010

Here Lies Arthur

Philip Reeve

30 June 2010

I love Reeve's books. They are all so incredibly different from each other, and they are all amazing. This one was no exception.

The Cardturner

Louis Sachar

1 July 2010

The Wee Free Men

Terry Pratchett

4 July 2010

Hilarious.

A Hat Full of Sky

Terry Pratchett

6 July 2010

Sequel to The Wee Free Men.

Wintersmith

Terry Pratchett

6 July 2010

Sequel to A Hat Full of Sky. Can also be read by itself. My favorite of the three.

The Time Travelers

Linda Buckley-Archer

8 July 2010

The Amulet of Samarkand

Jonathan Stroud

11 July 2010

Book One of the Bartimaeus Trilogy. One of my favorite books.

The Golem's Eye

Jonathan Stroud

14 July 2010

Book Two of the Bartimaeus Trilogy.

1984

George Orwell

14 July 2010

Ptolemy's Gate

Jonathan Stroud

16 July 2010

Book Three of the Bartimaeus Trilogy.

Gregor the Overlander

Suzanne Collins

20 July 2010

I knew Suzanne Collins from the Hunger Games Trilogy, so I decided the try the Underlander series. Written for younger readers than the Hunger Games, it didn't catch my interest nearly as much, but it was very well written, as all Collins books (that I've read) are.

The Amaranth Enchantment

Julie Berry

22 July 2010

A very nice, light read.

Fever Crumb

Philip Reeve

22 July 2010

Very different from the other Reeve books, but still exceptional. Prequel to the Hungry City series.

The Wish List

Eoin Colfer

23 July 2010

Not as great as the other Colfer books, but still nice for a quick read.

A Company of Swans

Eva Ibbottson

26 July 2010

Peter Pan in Scarlet

Geraldine McCaughrean

26 July 2010

A sequel to Peter Pan, with an interesting back-story to how it came about. I found myself caught up in the action, with a fantastic "OH" moment when all the parts of the story just came together. I love it when books do that.

The Woman in the Wall

Patrice Kindl

29 July 2010

The Atlantis Complex

Eoin Colfer

3 August 2010

Newest book of the Artemis Fowl series. I love the series, but this book was a little disappointing. I definitely recommend Artemis Fowl in general though.

Thirteenth Child

Patricia C. Wrede

4 August 2010

A fun book. I don't know if there's a sequel, but I want to read it.

A School for Sorcery

E. Rose Sabin

6 August 2010

Masterpiece

Elise Broach

14 August 2010

While reading this book, I thought, "wouldn't it be great if... (deleted for Spoiler Content)" and it happened, but it was just different enough from what I had expected for me to appreciate the extra thought put in to make the unexpected twist actually unexpected. :)

Heroes of the Valley

Jonathan Stroud

16 August 2010

A classic hero's journey mixed with coming of age story with Stroud's wonderful writing style and sense of humor underlying it all. Very enjoyable.

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm

Nancy Farmer

18 August 2010

Definitely different from anything else I've read, and a great story with memorable characters put masterfully together by Nancy Farmer.

And we're done! I'll try to get more complete reviews of these books up soon. Until then, happy reading!