The Quarter of the Subtitle

I can tell I read a lot of non-fiction this quarter because good heavens, there are many long titles on this list. My wrists are a little stiff from all that typing (Ruby Oliver, your ridiculously long titles didn’t help matters either).

The Beach Trees by Karen White
This book was really quite fantastic until the last twenty pages. When you write a mystery novel, the resolution of the mystery shouldn’t make you want to throw the book. At least, if I was writing a mystery novel, I wouldn’t want that to happen.

 

 

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese
This is one of my favorite food books I’ve read. Hilariously funny guide to which foods are worth making from scratch and which ones you should just buy at the store. Look for a review next month.

 

 

 

The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs, and Me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart
Look, it’s no Frankie Landau-Banks, but I found myself quite delighted with these books. Quick, fun reads.

 

 

 

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
I love it every time.

 

 

 

Between by Jessica Warman
I was surprised by how much I LIKED this book about a girl who dies mysteriously and is sent back to observe her life and figure out what happened. I didn’t see the twist coming at all, because I am slow like that.

 

 

 

The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them by E. Lockhart
There really is very little to say about these – for the first time, I’m regretting reading the whole quartet, simply because now there are four of them to talk about on this list.

 

 

 

The Treasure Map of Boys: Noel, Jackson, Finn, Hutch, Gideon – and me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart
Ditto.

 

 

 

Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley
This WWII book about the flag raisers of Iwo Jima got me back into historical non-fiction. Such a great read.

 

 

 

Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys
This book about Lithuanian labor camps during WWII has been raved about and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it picks up some awards from ALA come January. I liked it. I just didn’t LOVE it.

 

 

 

Real Live Boyfriends: Yes. Boyfriends, Plural. If My Life Weren’t Complicated, I Wouldn’t Be Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart
Oh dear. I just. . . have  nothing more to say about these books. They were fun! I liked them! The end!

 

 

 

Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56 by Rafe Esquith
These books were very inspiring. I think I’ll re-read them in a couple of years.

 

 

 

Spousonomics: Using Economics to Master Love, Marriage, and Dirty Dishes by Paula Szuchman
BAH, HUMBUG. This book had a great premise (and a long title), but it kind of fell flat for me. I’ll just have to fail at love, marriage, and dirty dishes.

 

 

 

Lighting Their Fires: Raising Extraordinary Children in a Mixed-up, Muddled-up, Shook-up World by Rafe Esquith
By far my least favorite of his three books. Go directly to one of the other two.

 

 

 

There Are No Shortcuts by Rafe Esquith
The best of the three.

 

 

 

Divergent by Veronica Roth
The most memorable part about this book is how I downloaded the audio and somehow missed part 7 of 8, which was deeply irritating. Not really the dystopian novel for me (words I never expected to say).

 

 

 

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
This story about NYC in the twenties and thirties was a fun read, but now I can hardly remember it.

 

 

 

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
Absolutely in my top five books this year.

 

 

 

The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
This book meandered all over the place. Also, the jacket copy was terrible – totally misrepresented the book.

 

 

 

Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming
I need to read more by Candace Fleming – she is such a rockstar writer.

 

 

 

Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry by Lenore Skenazy
A fantastic

 

 

 

Call Me Irresistible by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
I got this audiobook for free. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. So dumb.

 

 

 

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
Every once in a while, someone writes a fantastic chick-lit novel. This is one of them.

 

 

 

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie
Another complete loser of a book.

 

 

 

The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman by Meg Wolitzer
I desperately wanted this book to be like The View from Saturday. Needless to say, it was not.

 

 

 

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
I read this for a bookclub I used to belong to. It was quite good, about two women from vastly different social classes in modern India.

 

 

 

Wish You Well by David Baldacci
I am ashamed how long it took me to finally finish this book from Tell Me What to Read. Once I FINALLY got around to it, I liked it quite well.

 

 

 

Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas, and Found Happiness by Dominique Browning
A nice little memoir. The kind of thing to read on a quiet afternoon.

 

 

 

Hamlet by William Shakespeare
I can’t believe I’d never read this before.

 

 

 

The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker
Such typical trite YA. Every cliche in the book. Luke was really the only redeeming part of this book and I felt bad for HIM for even being in the book.

 

 

 

Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay
It was truly unfair to this book to listen to it while I was reading Falling for Hamlet. This story was so crazy; Romeo and Juliet have spent the last seven hundred years inhabiting other bodies and trying to save (or in Romeo’s case, destroy) true love. Bizarre.

 

 

The Summer of the Great-Grandmother by Madeleine L’Engle
Read this for book club – we had a great discussion about death, family, and old age. I need to read more L’Engle books.

 

 

 

Falling for Hamlet by Michelle Ray
Still thinking about this awesome retelling. Oh, Hamlet.

 

 

 

A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
After Across the Universe and Divergent, I had low expectations. And, behold, it was pretty good!

 

 

 

Lunch Wars: How to Start a School Food Revolution and Win the Battle for Our Children’s Health by Amy Kalafa
Fascinating. Makes me think of all those times the horrible smell of boiling hot dogs wafted up from the cafeteria to the library in Boston. Bleck.