December Books

77. The Proposal, Lori Wick.

78. The Compound, S. A. Bodeen. For my trip home for Christmas, I decided to explore the world of books on CD, and this one’s title and premise appealed to me. It’s quite good, and I keep finding myself wondering how I would have liked it if I’d read the words. As involved as the story is, I feel like I wouldn’t have been able to put it down had it been in book form. And while I hesitated to ever listen to a book on CD because I love actual books so much, I think this will be a genre I explore for all the driving back and forth to school that I do.

79. Six Rules of Maybe, Deb Caletti.

So here we are at the end (or, well, the beginning of a new year and a new challenge). I fell 21 books shy of my goal for 100 previously unread books. However, when I challenged myself, I didn’t know what the following year would hold, and I’m pleased to see how far I did get towards my goal. Perhaps next year’s challenge will be more conservative. We shall see.

November Books

Previously unread books for November:

75. Monsters of Men, Patrick Ness. The final book in the Chaos Walking trilogy, some of the best books I’ve ever read.

76. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice, 4th ed., Charles E. Bressler. One of my textbooks for Lit Theory.

So with one more month left in the year, I have 24 books to read to reach my goal. Confession: it probably won’t happen. I read no previously unread books in October (in fact, I only read two total–re-reads of the first 2 books in the Chaos Walking trilogy). Of course, all my classes–both teaching and taking–end within the next two weeks, but then I’ll be gearing up for Christmas and then a pretty epic trip to Haiti, so who knows how much reading I’ll get in? Alas, at least my reading is interrupted by important life-things. I can deal with that.

September Books

Previously unread books:

66. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. My literary theory class is reading this book to analyze.

67. Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanic, Suzanne Weyn. She’s a liar. The Titanic doesn’t enter the story until around page 200, and more time is spent on discussing the main character’s sister’s wedding that’s going to take place on board. The collision with the iceberg and the sinking are abbreviated into about two pages. Really. The book is much more about the spiritualism movement and Nikola Tesla than the Titanic. But I’m sure more people will read it (as I did) if it didn’t say Distant Waves: A Novel of an Intriguing, but Crazy Inventor and Even Crazier “Mediums” with Some Time Travel Thrown in for Good Measure– right?

68. Keep Out, Claudia, Ann M. Martin (BSC #56). I found some BSC books that I didn’t own at Mr. K’s! I have a weakness for the books I loved when I was little.

69. Claudia Kishi, Live from WSTO!, Ann M. Martin (BSC #85)

70. Ralph S. Mouse, Beverly Cleary. Somehow, I never actually read all of this book. I’ve read sections of it (I know because certain scenes seemed familiar), which I’m sure I probably read during snack time at the after-school program that I volunteered at during college. But the whole middle of the book, when Ralph stays at school and the class builds a maze…I have no recollection of that part of the story at all. So it’s going on the previously unread  list.

71. My Beautiful Disaster, Michelle Buckman. The companion novel to Maggie Come Lately, which I read last month. Not bad.

72. The Lonely Hearts Club, Elizabeth Eulberg. The main character’s name is Penny Lane Bloom, and her parents are huge Beatles fans. After getting fed up with the boys that she meets, she decides to start the Lonely Hearts Club. Soon, many other girls in her high school join because they’re fed up with boys, too. But of course, once Penny Lane swears off boys, she meets one who’s actually worth dating. I like the change Penny and the others make in the book–they turn from being girls who are defined by the guys in their lives to being girls who can date but not give up their close friendships. And of course, the book is chock full of Beatles trivia, lyrics, and other references, so I loved it.

73. Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher. The main character receives a package in the mail containing tapes recorded by his crush Hannah, who had committed suicide two weeks before. On the tapes, she explains every event that took place leading up to her decision. It seems that her goal was to either make her classmates feel incredibly guilty for not recognizing the signs or to encourage them to notice the signs of suicide in others (as the main character does in the end). Maybe I’m finally too far removed from the high school experience, but I didn’t relate enough to Hannah’s character. She seems to want to blame everyone else for not recognizing her subtle cries for help; however, at so many points in the narrative, she could have prevented some of the actions that led to her decision. She could have asked for help. I guess that this book does do a good job of revealing a high schooler’s narcissistic mindset. She’s so wrapped up in how cruel everyone around her is that she sometimes fails to notice others’ pain as well.

74. God is in the Pancakes, Robin Epstein. I really enjoyed this book. The main character Grace is a fifteen-year-old who works at a nursing home and becomes friends with an old man who has Lou Gehrig’s disease. When he asks her to help him die to escape the pain, she has to deal with the ramifications of just his asking the question. At the same time, her parents have recently divorced, her sister is dating a jerk, and Grace won’t admit that she’s interested in her best friend Eric. The great thing about this book is that Grace deals with typical high school drama as well as the heavy burden of losing a friend that she cares for.

Okay, so 3 months to go to the end of the year, and 26 more books to read. I’m not entirely sure I’ll make it all the way to 100, but I’ll keep going.

August Books

Previously unread books this month. Only 3. Hmmm. I think that’s because I’ve been re-reading more books lately than I was earlier in the year. I have 35 more to go to reach my goal, with 4 months left. It’s possible, so we’ll see. Meanwhile, here’s my August list:

63. Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins. The second book in the Hunger Games trilogy. Even better than the first, if that’s at all possible.

64. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins. The final book in the trilogy. It’s action-packed, and the conflict is resolved, but I still believe Catching Fire is the best of the series. Hopefully, soon, I’ll post a review.

65. Maggie Come Lately, Michelle Buckman. A young adult novel by a Christian writer. Sometimes, Buckman tries a little too hard to write like a 16-year-old, and it comes off as forced and unnatural. Other times, she tries to hard to make sure the reader gets the moral and spiritual point she is trying to make. But all in all, this book was actually pretty decent.

July Books

Previously unread books (I have 38 left to read my goal of 100 by the end of the year):

57. Fever Dream, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. I’ve been reading Preston and Child’s books for years now. They write suspense/mystery books, my favorite of which feature an FBI investigator named Aloysius Pendergast, who is brilliant and observant–sort of a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. While I enjoyed reading this, for the first time, I started to realize how implausible these stories are. Too many coincidences and connections, and Pendergast just knows too much to be believable sometimes. It was a good story, but not my favorite of the Preston & Child collaborations.

58. Life As We Knew It, Susan Beth Pfeffer. The first in a young adult dystopian series that takes place after an asteroid hits the moon, knocking it closer to Earth and causing all sorts of natural disasters and destruction.

59. The Dead & the Gone, Susan Beth Pfeffer. The companion novel to Life As We Knew It. This book takes place in New York City during the same time frame as the first book and follows seventeen-year-old Alex Morales as he and his younger sisters fight to survive in a dying city. This book is even darker and more disturbing than the first, but it’s also very good.

60. This World We Live In, Susan Beth Pfeffer. The last book in the trilogy. Told through Miranda’s diary once more. When her father, stepmother, and new baby brother show up, they arrive with 3 strangers, including Alex and his sister Julie. It’s been a year since the moon was hit by the asteroid, and with ten people now sharing the same space, they’re once again struggling to find food and to survive. This book is just as dark and disturbing as the second, and the conclusion is…well, I won’t spoil it.

61. Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 1: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan.

62. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins. I cannot wait to read the second book, which is already out, and the finale to the trilogy, which is released in late August. This book was incredible!

June Books

I’m halfway through the year, and over halfway through my goal: only 44 more previously unread books to read by December 31!

53. Cane, Jean Toomer. Fortunately, this book is short. Otherwise, I might not have finished it. It definitely belongs in the modernist era of American lit. The book is composed of vignettes, poems, and a drama. Also, curved lines that mean…something. I’m not really sure. I actually enjoyed parts 1 & 2, but part 3 made my head hurt so badly and also sort of ruined the whole thing for me.

54. Beloved, Toni Morrison. The hardest book I’ve ever had to read in my life.

55. Two-Way Street, Lauren Barnholdt. Young adult lit. My brain needed a break.

56. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz. An exceptional piece of literature. The more I think about it, the more I love it.

Only 4 previously unread books this month (actually, I think only 4 total…odd). Summer school took up a lot of time. But…that’s finished and once I get this move out of the way, I’ll spend the next few weeks reading voraciously!

May Books

I’m over halfway toward my goal of reading 100 books that I’d never read before this year. Yay!

42. The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan. Described as a “post-apocalyptic romance” by Scott Westerfeld, I was sure this would be one I adored. Nope. Not at all.

43. Perfect You, Elizabeth Scott.

44. The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity, Mike Carey & Peter Gross. The first five issues of a comic book series. It’s so good and literary and engrossing.

45. The Unwritten Rule, Elizabeth Scott.

46. Coraline, Neil Gaiman. This graphic novel was adapted from Gaiman’s book and illustrated by P. Craig Russell. I was creeped out by it…which was just about perfect. I want to see the film now.

47. Stealing Heaven, Elizabeth Scott. A young adult novel that went slightly against the formula. This one is about a 17-year-old whose mother steals silver from wealthy homes. They move around constantly, living a nomadic, clandestine life, until they arrive in a town called Heaven. While Dani’s mother is planning what house to strike, Dani makes friends in the town for the first time in her life. It’s a good coming-of-age story about how a girl decides her own future.

48. Superman: Red Son, Mark Millar. A graphic novel answering the question, “What if Superman had landed 12 hours later in Russia instead of Metropolis?” It’s really awesome.

49. Bloom, Elizabeth Scott

50. The Scent of Rain and Lightning, Nancy Pickard.

51. Double Fudge, Judy Blume. Published in 2002, this book was written years after the first four books featuring the Hatcher family and their neighbor Sheila Tubman–Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, and Fudge-a-mania. It is just as delightful and funny as the previous tales.

52. Love You Hate You Miss You, Elizabeth Scott.

Grad school has begun, so I’m working on reading for that class, which means my other reading has slacked off a bit. Still, I’ll manage to get in a few first-time reads in June, I’m sure.

SLJ List of Top 100 Children’s Books

This week, I found School Library Journal’s blog that compiled a list of the top 100 children’s books, as suggested by teachers and students.

With as much children’s and young adult literature that I’ve read, I’m surprised to find I’ve only read 43 of the 100. That’s 57 I have left to read! Many of them are classic examples of children’s literature, but there are a few more contemporary ones mixed in (for example, most of the Harry Potters are on the list).

So…as if I need another reading goal, I’ve decided to try for reading at least 20 of these this summer.

[Side note: this will help in my other goal of reading 100 previously unread books this year. As of yesterday, when I finished by 50th previously unread book of the year, I'm halfway through! These 20 will get me closer.]

The 57 books I have to choose from:

5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E. L. Konigsburg

8. The Secret Garden, Francis Hodgson Burnett (which I own and have started several times, though never completed. This should definitely be one of the 20.)

10. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster.

12. The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien (my bookmark is about halfway through…I need to finish…also one of the 20)

16. Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh

17. Maniac Magee, Jerry Spinelli

18. Matilda, Roald Dahl

21. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riodan

23. Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder

26. Hatchet, Gary Paulsen

27. A Little Princess, Francis Hodgson Burnett

29. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll (yeah, I know…also one of the 20)

30. The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper

31. Half Magic, Edward Eager

32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Robert C. O’Brien

37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor

39. When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead

40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

42. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder

45. The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

47. Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis

48. The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, Jeanne Birdsall

49. Frindle, Andrew Clements

51. The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright

52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick

53. Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

55. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson

58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken

59. Inkheart, Cornelia Funke

60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi

62. The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew), Caroline Keene

63. Gone-Away Lake, Elizabeth Enright

65. Ballet Shoes, Noah Streetfield

67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, Bruce Coville

69. The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart

70. Betsy Tacy, Maud Hart Lovelace

72. My Father’s Dragon, Ruth Stiles Gannett

73. My Side of the Mountain, Jean Craighead George

74. The Borrowers, Mary Norton

76. Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse

77. City of Ember, Jeane DuPrau

78. Johnny Tremain, Esther Forbes

79. All-of-a-Kind Family, Sydney Taylor

80. The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (I’ve heard mixed reviews on this, but I’m still eager to read it. This will probably be one of the 20 as well.)

81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Grace Lin

82. The Book of  Three, Lloyd Alexander

83. The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner

84. Little White Horse, Elizabeth Goudge

85. On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura Ingalls Wilder

88. The High King, Lloyd Alexander

92. Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine

93. Caddie Woodlawn, C. R. Brink

94. Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome

96. The Witches, Roald Dahl

97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Kate DiCamillo

98. Children of Green Knowe, L. M. Boston

99. The Indian in the Cupboard, Lynne Reid Banks

Some of these I don’t even recognize, and a lot of others I know as being older books. There aren’t as many recently published on here as I would like, and there are some that I’m shocked were left off (what about The Book Thief or The Devil’s Arithmetic?)

So…my goal is to read at least 20 of these by the end of the summer, though I suspect I could get through a lot more than that. Then, after I’ve read most of the books on this list, I’ll make my own list (of less than 100 probably) of books that I think should absolutely be read and why.

So, readers, now that you’ve made it through this lengthy list, where should I start? What books on this list of ones I haven’t encountered yet do I absolutely need to include in the 20 I’m going to read this summer?

April Books

Books I read in April (that I had not read before). I’m way ahead of schedule to meet my goal of 100 previously unread books this year.

31. Stuff Christians Like, Jonathan Acuff. It’s almost not fair to say this is a first-time read, as I’ve been following the blog for months and quite a few of the entries were re-reads. Still, it’s in book form.

32. Spike: After the Fall, Brian Lynch. The third and final volume of an arc that takes place between the series finale of the TV show Angel and the sequence of events from the Angel: After the Fall comic books.

33. In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez. A fictionalized account of the Mirabal sisters, who fought in the revolution against Trujillo in the Dominican. In Nov. 1960, three of the four women were visiting their husbands in jail when they were ambushed by Trujillo’s soldiers and killed. Alvarez imagines what their lives were like as the Mirabal sisters were growing up, and she paints a magnificent story of their lives together and the experiences that led them to fight in the underground revolution to overthrow the dictator.

34. Mallory’s Christmas Wish (Baby-Sitters Club #92), Ann M. Martin.

35. Camilla, Madeleine L’Engle. A young adult novel having nothing to do with the Austins or wrinkles in time. A coming-of-age story about Camilla, who realizes her parents’ marriage is in trouble, but who also meets her first love, who helps her realize that growing up isn’t such a bad thing.

36. A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid. Part memoir/part scathing indictment of government corruption. This book is short, but packed full of discussion about Antigua, the very small Caribbean island where Kincaid grew up.

37. Brother, I’m Dying, Edwidge Danticat. This Haitian writer is quickly becoming one of my favorites. This is the second book I’ve read of hers; it’s a gut-wrenching account of her father and uncle’s deaths. The brothers died within a few months of each other, her father from a serious illness and her uncle from pancreatitis following cruel treatment in a detention facility after he sought temporary asylum in the U.S.

38. The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde. Oh, Wilde. He’s hilariously ironic and perspicaciously humorous. I’m saddened that it’s taken me this long to read Earnest; however, I’m delighted to be discussing it in Victorian literature and to see it performed at NGU this spring and the Warehouse this summer.

39. Backwater, Joan Bauer.

40. Something, Maybe, Elizabeth Scott. Finally, another writer of fluffy romance for young adults who’s as good as Sarah Dessen.

41. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson. The last work for the Victorian lit class I’m auditing. Kinda sad, but I’m glad we’re ending with such a good work of literature.

March Books

In March, I almost doubled the amount of previously-unread books. Yay! I’m ahead of schedule now on reading 100 books this year, though I doubt I can keep up the pace. We’ll see.

17. No Telephone to Heaven, Michelle Cliff. For Caribbean lit. Not my favorite. In fact, we had to read the prequel to this, called Abeng, which I didn’t even finish. I don’t particularly care for Cliff’s style of writing.

18. The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America, Bill Bryson. A snarky, engaging read about Bryson’s trip across America in search of the quintessential, perfect small town. It made me want to jump in my car and drive forever.

19. Flabbergasted, Ray Blackston.

20-22. The three books in Jane Yolen’s Young Merlin trilogy: Passager, Hobby, and Merlin. Awesome fact: the day after I posted a blog about this book, my blog was linked to Jane Yolen’s website, under reviews for the second book Hobby. I got quoted along with Booklist and other legit reviewers. Heck yes.

23. Let Justice Roll Down, John Perkins. If it doesn’t rock your world…never mind. It’s gotta rock your world. One of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. And I’ve read a lot of books.

24. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Volume 6: Retreat, Jane Espenson. I liked this one a little better than some of the previous ones, but mostly because of some of the characters who show up.

25. The Sisters Grimm Book 1: The Fairytale Detectives, Michael Buckley. Such a delightful book! I can’t wait to read the rest of them!

26. Crossing the Mangrove, Maryse Conde. Another book for Caribbean Women’s Writing. One of my favorites, so far.

27. The Spike Omnibus, by lots of authors. A volumized graphic novel of one-shots and issues from several comic books featuring Spike from Buffy.

28. The Baby-Sitters Club: The Summer Before, Ann M. Martin. Scholastic is re-releasing The Baby-Sitters Club! (Or at least the first three thus far.) They have new covers, and Martin (supposedly–most of the BSC was actually written by ghostwriters) has released a prequel to the series. At 24, my love for the BSC is mostly nostalgic, but they’re like old friends by now. I enjoyed this book far more than a grown woman should…and I have no problem with that.

29. The Devil’s Arithmetic, Jane Yolen. A powerful, heart-wrenching story about a young Jewish girl who time-travels to 1942 Poland and experiences the Holocaust firsthand.

30. Catalyst, Laurie Halse Anderson. A young adult novel with lots of conflict and tension. Anderson is a great writer.