My goal this year was 120 books, which means I need to read 30 books a quarter. First quarter down, and I’ve read 51 books. Clearly, I need a fourth job. Mostly, I’m just spurred on by Kayla’s challenge that she could read one more book this year than I do. Au contraire!
A Solitary Blue – Cynthia Voigt – A nice quiet book to start the year
Generation Dead – Daniel Waters – Ack! Hate!
It’s Like This, Cat – Emily Neville – Nice, but not noteworthy
Repossessed – A. M. Jenkins – Funny! Great premise, but didn’t quite live up to it
Milkweed – Jerry Spinelli – This took me six months to read. Enough said.
The Underneath – Kathi Appelt – Nice enough, but I do NOT understand the hype
Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance, and Cookery – Susan Juby – Totally stupid
Little Brother – Cory Doctorow – Loved. So funny and smart.
Lock and Key – Sarah Dessen – Not my favorite of her books, but all the SD love started here
Love That Dog – Sharon Creech – Love That Book
Trouble – Gary D. Schmidt – A bit of a slow start, but I ended up loving it
Elijah of Buxton – Christopher Paul Curtis – Adding a new conflict 20 pages before the end and resolving THAT does not resolve the main storyline
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – John Boyne – Oh brother. Eye rolling galore. Also, people keep reaching that post by googling “did his mom have an affair.” See! Not the only one who thought so!
I Know It’s Over – C. K. Kelly Martin – This book was . . . not very good.
Perfect You – Elizabeth Scott – I love Elizabeth Scott. Perfect YA romance fluff.
Graceling – Kristin Cashore – I still have such mixed feelings on this one
Wake – Lisa McMann – Only okay.
How to Ditch Your Fairy – Justine Larbalestier – Every book a reader and all that. I was not the reader for this book.
Stealing Heaven – Elizabeth Scott – More ES
Perfect Chemistry – Simone Elkeles – Too swear-y to recommend, but I secretly loved it
How to Ruin a Summer Vacation – Simone Elkeles – I can’t think of a female character I have found more unlikable
The Truth About Forever – Sarah Dessen – Sa-WOON. Just go read this now.
Madapple – Christina Meldrum – Not a favorite. Too weird
The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman – Watery eyes at the end of this book
This Lullaby – Sarah Dessen – Third favorite SD book.
Bloom – Elizabeth Scott – Aw, cute. Read it in one afternoon.
The London Eye Mystery – Siobhan Dowd – Great British narrator
A Step from Heaven – An Na – Terrible on CD, not bad in book form
Brooklyn Bridge – Karen Hesse – Better than “Out of the Dust,” which isn’t saying much
Fade – Lisa McMann – A hundred times better than Wake. Read in one night. Beware the swearing
Jellicoe Road – Melina Marchetta – Loved! Wade through the first 150 pages. Worth it!
All-American Girl – Meg Cabot – My first Meg Cabot book. Forgettable.
Wintergirls – Laurie Halse Anderson – Unforgetable.
Ten Cents a Dance – Christine Fletcher – Historical Fiction at its very finest
Just Listen – Sarah Dessen – Had to stop listening to it on CD and read it because the narration was KILLING me. Seriously, the voice of Owen made me want to stab my eyes out.
Someone Like You – Sarah Dessen – Loved. Broke my dang heart
North of Beautiful – Justina Ched Headley – I liked this, but not as much as everyone else in the blogosphere
Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney – I’m sorry – booger jokes do not work for me
Taken by Storm – Angela Morrison – Surprisingly good. Thought the religion would be heavy-handed. Not so.
Ways to Live Forever – Sally Nicholls – Sad, but in a “I’m trying too hard” kind of way. I have no heart.
Hate That Cat – Sharon Creech – Loved this one even more, possibly
Impossible – Nancy Werlin – A good read. Not the ten it could have been, though
That Summer – Sarah Dessen – My least favorite so far
Dreamland – Sarah Dessen – Sad but so beautiful
Kiss Me Kill Me – Lauren Henderson – No one told me this book ended in the middle of the story!
Something, Maybe – Elizabeth Scott – Cute and extremely quick
Nation – Terry Pratchett – I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.
Leaving Paradise – Simone Elkeles – This book was really good until the last five pages and then I was like “WHAT?! This ending is stupid.”
It Sucked and Then I Cried – Heather Armstrong – If you’ve read her blog, you’ve read this book.
Summer of the Swans – Betsy Byers – Really, Newbery committe? Really?
Something Borrowed – Emily Griffin – Can’t recommend.
And if you’d like a printable copy of this list that you can take to your library or screenshot on your phone for easy access, just pop in your email address below and it’ll come right to your inbox!
We are having mutual wavelengths today. And you beat me by one book. I think I’ll beat you this next time. Not that it’s a race or anything. More like, a race against our own [TOO LOW] goals. Can’t wait to see your top picks.
Ohh, I loved A Solitary Blue when I read it a million years ago. Cynthia Voigt is so great. I especially loved Dicey’s Song.
I need to take this opportunity to shove the idea of Madeleine L’Engle books at you for the second quarter. You know what you want to read them …
We have so many books in common and yet you are kicking. my. trash.
This is awesome. I think I’ll do a post like it.
Thanks, just updated my good reads list! 🙂
Thanks for the quick and easy reviews. I’ll be putting some Sarah Dessen and Elizabeth Scott on hold at the library!
I really appreciate people like you because you enable people like me, who care to only read one or two books per quarter, to choose really good books with minimal effort.
Thank yer.
Holy Crazy! this list is AWESOME!
xox
Okay, I think I read Something Borrowed when I was in Hawaii last year. I loved it but because of the subject matter, also don’t feel like I can really recommend it. We should discuss sometime!
oh janssen, i just love your book-loving little heart!
seriously, i LOVE reading all your reviews. I’ve got like 6 books sitting on my desk that I plan to read because you said they were good. 🙂
and, i just started 10 cents a dance and i’m loving it so far.
keep up the good work! 🙂
I am going to start reading more YA books for several reasons…one, i secretly love them. Two, i can read them fast and have a sense of finishing something other than housework. Three, the librarians don’t chase me out of the YA room like they do on the 2nd floor of our library when i (always) have my kids with me. Four, your good reviews make me crazy to read and enjoy something besides a board book!!!
I am going to print your list out and start getting them from the library.
PS: thanks for the comment about your name. it’s so pretty and unusual, i’ve always wondered where it came from! 🙂
PSS: (or is it PPS:?)
seriously, last comment. I saw that you said you wanted to read more non-fiction. i just finished “Left to Tell” by Immaculee Ilibigiza. It’s about the recent holocoust in Africa where over a million people were killed in only 3 months. I didn’t expect to like it, but it was so real and so powerful… and author is a very religious woman and i just really enjoyed it. just a thought…
I love the mini reviews with each book. What a great idea.
I saw your comment on Design Mom’s blog that you are moving to Boston. Let me know if you need any ideas of where to live or fun things to do (I’ve lived here 20 years). patton_ellen@hotmail.com
You’re awesome! My first quarter list is going up tomorrow, hopefully. I do have a gate to paint.
wow – that’s a lot of reading. i actually ordered many of those for my library, though i haven’t gotten around to them yet. i should just print out your comments for reference
WOW! I am impressed!!!
Have you read Siobhan Dowd’s other books? REALLY good. I’ve not read the London Eye Mystery yet, though—glad to see you liked it!
Wow! I’m so impressed that you’ve read that many books in 3 months!!! I wish I had enough time to read, at least 1/10th that many in a year!!! That’s so great 🙂
These are my favorite posts of yours. I still need to try Dessen, I have Just Listen here.
You guys need some sort of formula for this book challenge. Like, if she’s reading Lonesome Dove and you’re reading Twilight, that’s not really fair… even though they are both awesome books. Lonesome Dove is like 800 pages long and Twilight can be read two times in one day if you try really hard (I know, trust me). I recommend some sort of page-length formula, combined with YA/adult weighting. Hi, I have too much time on my hands NICE TO MEET YOU.