2011 Sonderbooks Standouts: Audio Rereads

Audiobooks, Stand-outs 0

This is a strange category. But I had four books that I’d “reread” by listening to the audio version, and were definitely standouts. However, they were all already standouts in the print version, in whatever year I read them, so it didn’t seem at all fair to rank them against the books I read this year (except the one I read this year, which is already a standout).

So here are some Sonderbooks Standouts that are still fabulous on audio:
1. Enchantress from the Stars, by Sylvia Louise Engdahl
2. A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner
3. Okay for Now, by Gary D. Schmidt
4. White Cat, by Holly Black

Happy Listening!

2011 Sonderbooks Standouts: Nonfiction for Adults

Nonfiction Review, Stand-outs 0

This one is one of the hardest categories to rank my favorites in. They are all so different! So, once again, I’m going to go with just my gut feelings about each book listed here. They are all wonderful books, for different reasons. In the end, I decided to divide them into Biography, and Everything Else.

Here are my favorite adult nonfiction books that I read in 2011:
Biography:
1. Traveling with Pomegranates, by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor
2. Little Princes, by Conor Grennan
3. Radioactive, by Lauren Redniss
4. Sex, Mom, and God, by Frank Schaeffer
5. The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
6. Heaven Is For Real, by Todd Burpo

Other Nonfiction:
1. Faith and Will, by Julia Cameron
2. The Gifts of Imperfection, by Brene Brown
3. Naked Spirituality, by Brian McLaren
4. Love Wins, by Rob Bell
5. Mathematics 1001, by Dr. Richard Elwes

I have the reviews for most of these books written, just not posted yet. That will happen all in good time!

Meanwhile, Happy Reading!

My Crazy 2012 Reading Plans

Award Challenge, Award Winners, General 0

I’m going to interrupt my posts about Sonderbooks Standouts to talk about my new plans for reading books in 2012.

To understand this, and how much fun I’m having making plans, you probably should know that I am a rule-follower and love rules. I decided to channel this love in harmless, fun areas. I also check out way, way too many library books and get far too many Advance Reader Copies and other free books at ALA conferences. And I also buy more books than I can get read.

Up until the middle of last year, I had a problem that if I owned a book, I never got it read, because it didn’t have a due date. After ALA in June, with so many fabulous ARCs I really wanted to read, I decided to assign myself a rule: I will alternate reading Library books with books I own.

Later, I got to thinking that since I love rules and I love spreadsheets, why not make myself some rules about what books I’m allowed to keep checked out and which to turn in? I call it The Rule of Three, and basically I try to only have three books checked out in each category — and I have lots and lots of categories. When I check in books from having too many in a category, I put them on a list for a mythical future day when I will have less than three books checked out in that category. Theoretically, every day I get a pile down to three by checking in books from that category.

I’m having mixed results with The Rule of Three, but mostly it’s gotten me to turn in more books than I otherwise would have, and be slightly realistic about what I can get read, so I think it’s a good thing.

The alternating between library books and books I own, however, is working out super well. I’ve gotten lots of wonderful books I own read, and haven’t been too horribly much slower on the library books.

This brings me to 2012. When the year started, I received a package in the mail with four Advance Reader Copies that look really good. I looked at my piles of ARCs from ALA — and most of them have already been published. The point is kind of to read the books before they’re published, you know?

So, I thought I’d add a new rule. Every other time, with the books I own, I’ll read an ARC that hasn’t been published yet.

That led to another. With library books, I will also alternate between recently published books and others. Because I do like keeping up with what’s recently been published.

But then Mr. Schu from Mr. Schu Reads posted about The Newbery Medal Challenge. He’s going to read all the Newbery Medal winners in 2012.

That got me thinking. A year and a half ago, I took a class on the Newbery Medal and read many of the winners. Last year, I took a class on the Caldecott Medal and read all the winners. And finally, a few months ago, I took a class on the Printz Medal. When I took the Printz class, I decided that since it’s a much newer award, it would be much more manageable to try to read all the winners and honor books. So I made myself a list of all the ones I hadn’t read, starting with the present. There are 43 books on the list. But I hadn’t actually started reading any of the books on the list.

But why not do it as a challenge? And add it to my rules? So far, I had four categories I’m cycling through: A library book, a prepub ARC, a new library book, and a book I own. Well, why not add a fifth category. After those four categories, I’ll read an Award Winner!

But then, oh no, I got jealous of Mr. Schu reading the Newbery books. I thought, why not alternate my award winners between Printz Medal and Honor books with Newbery Medal and Honor books? I will start with the present — I always want to read the new award winners — and just list the ones I haven’t already read. There are 288, so I am not at all thinking I’ll finish this list any time soon. But what a fun use of rules to get myself actually reading them.

But, uh-oh, then I got to thinking: There are other award books I’ve really been wanting to read. How about the Morris Award? That’s a very new award, so there aren’t all that many books I haven’t read (17, it turns out). I can add that list as a third award-winning list. But I have a real soft spot for first-time authors, since I’m trying to get published myself, so I’d really like to read those winners and finalists.

And wait! What about the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award? (210 winners and honor books I haven’t yet read.) Or the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature? (154 winners and finalists I haven’t yet read.) And how can I forget the Cybils? They are chosen by Bloggers, my people. I’d been wanting to read those books, and it’s a newer award, so I don’t have to go back too far. In fact, it turns out there are 135 winners and finalists in the categories of Middle Grade and YA fiction and nonfiction and fantasy/SF fiction that I haven’t read yet.

Remember I told you you needed to understand that I’m a person who loves rules? Believe it or not, I had all kinds of fun making spreadsheets for each of these awards. And I’m so excited about my new plan, I just had to write about it. I decided, to make the whole thing even, I’d add one more category to my reading cycle: Rereads. When Sonderbooks was an e-mail newsletter, I always included one Old Favorite, but since I switched to a blog, I haven’t done nearly as much rereading, and I miss that. So why not include one every sixth book? Besides, I just got the sequel to Coronets and Steel, and I very much want to enjoy rereading it before starting the sequel.

Now, I should add that there will be exceptions. If I would ever get on an award committee (which I would love to do), I’d happily set aside these rules for awhile. And right now, I’m finishing up reading the Shortlist from the Heavy Medal blog so I can vote in the mock Newbery they’re hosting next week. Another exception is that when I go on plane trips, I only bring paperbacks, and usually ones I own.

Clearly, obviously, reading all these Award Winners is not something I’m going to finish this year, or maybe even in my lifetime. I will be very happy if I get all of this year’s award winners read before next year’s are announced! But I am very excited about having this objective method for choosing excellent books for one-sixth of my reading.

I do think it will be fun to blog and tweet about this process of reading Award Winners. All I can think to call it is #awardchallenge. We’ll see how I do.

Did you notice that I didn’t include Nonfiction or Picture Books? Those each have their own completely different systems. I won’t even start to try to explain them.

So, in summary, here’s my plan for reading this year (as soon as I finish The Trouble With May Amelia):
1. Reread a book. (First one will be Coronets and Steel)
2. Read a book I own. (First one will be the sequel to Coronets and Steel)
3. Read a newly published Library book. (First one will be Death Comes to Pemberley, by P. D. James)
4. Read an Award Winner or Honor Book, cycling in this order: Printz, Newbery, Morris, Boston Globe/Horn Book, National Book Awards, and Cybils; and beginning with the most recently announced books. (For example, I can already start on the Finalists for this year’s Morris and Cybils awards.) (First one will be Please Ignore Vera Dietz, by A. S. King)
5. Read a pre-publication ARC. (First one will be The Last Princess, by Galaxy Craze.)
6. Read any Library book. (I’ll probably take this one from my Rule of Three piles.)

Call me crazy, but I’m really looking forward to carrying out this plan!

It’s going to be a great year for reading!

2011 Sonderbooks Standouts: Children’s Nonfiction

Children's Nonfiction Review, Stand-outs 0

With Children’s Nonfiction books I read in 2011, I had a clear favorite. It’s not one I’ve heard about on book blogs, but when I did hear about it, I immediately ordered a copy and completely loved it. The book is You Can Count on Monsters, which, like my Prime Factorization Sweater, does great stuff visualizing the prime factorization of numbers up to 100. I confess I also like it because it’s somewhat similar to a book I was writing at the time called Colors and Codes that shows how to use Math to make cyphers using colors and patterns. I’ve since finished the book, but am holding onto it while I figure out how to present it to agents or editors. But I was completely delighted that someone had done such a great job presenting a somewhat similar concept. (Not to mention that I find these concepts endlessly fascinating.)

I grant you, I am a math nut, so I don’t necessarily expect to find this book on the top of too many other children’s book lists. But I sure loved it!

Here are my favorite Children’s Nonfiction books read in 2011:

1. You Can Count on Monsters, by Richard Evan Schwartz
2. Me. . . Jane, by Patrick McDonnell
3. Queen of the Falls, by Chris VanAllsburg
4. Drawing from Memory, by Allen Say
5. Amelia Lost, by Candace Fleming
6. All the Way to America, by Dan Yaccarino
7. Sugar Changed the World, by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos

Happy Reading!

2011 Sonderbooks Standouts: Children’s Fiction

Children's Fiction Review, Stand-outs 0

Most years, I have a clear favorite category (YA Fantasy), but not this year! This year I had books I totally loved in all the categories, and I’m so thankful I have a precedent of making categories so I don’t have to rank them against each other.

In Children’s Fiction, I didn’t have such a hard time with the ranking, at least the top of the list. Although I adored Okay For Now, and it’s my pick for the Newbery Medal, my definite most-loved and most-enjoyed Children’s book this year was Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George. What can I say? It completely won my heart.

I have to add that Stonewall Hinkleman and the Battle of Bull Run had to be included, because it helped convince me NOT to go to the 150th Anniversary and Reenactment of the First Battle of Bull Run, for which I had tickets, on a day when the weather was over 100 degrees and I’d had a headache for three weeks. Since I had a stroke the very next day, I’m absolutely convinced that was a fabulous (possibly life-saving!) decision. Besides, it’s a really fun book!

So here are my favorite Children’s Fiction books that I read in 2011:
1. Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George
2. Okay for Now, by Gary D. Schmidt
3. The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, by Wendy Wan-Long Shang
4. Kat, Incorrigible, by Stephanie Burgis
5. The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg
6. Stonewall Hinkleman and the Battle of Bull Run, by Michael Hemphill and Sam Riddleburger
7. Clementine and the Family Meeting, by Sara Pennypacker

Here are the other lists I’ve posted so far:
Fiction for Grownups
Teen Fiction
Last Year’s Standouts

2011 Sonderbooks Standouts: Fiction for Teens

Stand-outs, Teen Fiction Review 0

Young Adult Fiction tends to be my favorite category, particularly the Fantasy books. This year was no different, except that there were some outstanding fantasy books I loved in both the Adult and Children’s categories. I’m glad I’ve set a precedent of separating the categories so I don’t have to rank them against each other! It’s hard enough ranking these. The top three Fantasy novels were books I thoroughly loved. In the end, The Scorpio Races won out for my favorite because it channeled so much little-girl Black Stallion nostalgia. An awesome book!

The most bizarre, most distinctive, most, well sonder, was definitely The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy, and its translation, Der Orden der Seltsamer Sonderlinge. But where to rank it? I’m tempted to put it in a category of its own, which it will actually get when I start blogging about reading the German translation (which I intend to do after I get all the Standouts posted, honest).

As with Adult Fiction, I split the books into two categories: Fantasy and Everything Else. Now, a few of these walk close to the line of fantasy, so I went with gutlevel thinking to decide which book goes where.

I really cut down the list of books I wanted to include. Please remember that books I gave a starred review to are books I think are excellent! And ranking my favorites was difficult, and might change on a different day. Remember that this is extremely subjective, and just a measure of how much I personally enjoyed them. All of these are outstanding, memorable, excellent books:

Fantasy for Teens:
1. The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater
2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor
3. Chime, by Franny Billingsley
4. Red Glove, by Holly Black
5. The Trouble With Kings, by Sherwood Smith
6. The Ring of Solomon, by Jonathan Stroud
7. The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy

Other Teen Fiction:

1. Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly
2. Shipbreaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi
3. Page by Paige, by Laura Lee Gulledge
4. Beauty Queens, by Libba Bray
5. Lost and Found, by Shaun Tan

I promise I will get the remaining reviews posted as soon as I possibly can!

Happy Reading!

2011 Sonderbooks Standouts: Fiction for Adults

Fiction Review, Stand-outs 0

It takes awhile to post a new page of Sonderbooks Standouts, so I’ve decided to blog about one category at a time. I will post the pages and reviews as soon as possible, but for now I can post the lists.

I’m starting with Fiction for Adults, simply because that was my shortest list. I also have more of the books already reviewed and/or posted.

The decisions in ranking were still difficult, though. Two books I read seemed resoundingly, lastingly good, and it’s hard to rank them. The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss, is written in lyrical prose and immediately pulls you in. It’s an epic that you can compare to Tolkien with a straight face. However, when I read the sequel, The Wise Man’s Fear, although it is still incredibly well-written, I did get annoyed that the story just stopped at a random place and definitely isn’t finished. I also suffered some excessive eye-rolling at the interlude involving the character learning about sex from a woman of faery whose beauty drives ordinary men mad. Though I have to admit, even that part was written expertly and compellingly.

However, another series I read completely captivated me. Even though I would probably give Patrick Rothfuss the prize for outstanding work of fantasy literature (assuming that when he finishes up, he keeps up the quality), with Sonderbooks Standouts, I’m rating how much I enjoyed reading them. So I have to give my first place honor to Daughter of the Forest, by Juliet Marillier. Like so many of my favorites, it was a fairy tale retelling, and was so incredibly well done, weaving in Irish History and seeming totally realistic.

I always like to separate Fantasy (my favorites) from the other books I read. So here are two lists of 2011 Sonderbooks Standouts in Fiction for Grown-Ups:

Fantasy:
1. Daughter of the Forest, by Juliet Marillier
2. The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss
3. Son of the Shadows, by Juliet Marillier
4. The Snow Queen, by Mercedes Lackey
5. Child of the Prophecy, by Juliet Marillier
6. The Wise Man’s Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss

Other Fiction:
1. State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett
2. Minding Frankie, by Maeve Binchy
3. The Pericles Commission, by Gary Corby
4. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, by Alan Bradley
5. The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party, by Alexander McCall Smith

Books Read in 2011

Stand-outs 0

Tonight I finished making my lists from which I’ll choose the 2011 Sonderbooks Standouts. Not counting picture books, I read 132 books in 2011. Also not counting books during the year that I read but decided not to review. I’ve got 35 picture books on my list (only my favorite picture books read), so that will also be a challenge to narrow down.

I really do enjoy looking over a year of great reading. I hope to post the Standouts tomorrow.

Coming Soon: Sonderbooks Standouts 2011

Stand-outs 0

Happy New Year!

What I like to do, ever since New Year’s Day 2001, is use New Year’s Day to post my list of Sonderbooks Stand-outs, my favorite books I read in the previous year.

I always do wait until the year is OVER to decide which books were my favorites, because, the truth is, I always hope to get a lot more books read than I actually do finish.

The list will not be Newbery or Caldecott or Printz predictions. I think I’ll make another post about those in a couple weeks. These are just the books that I, personally, most enjoyed reading this year. They were not all published in 2011, but my rule is that I had to read them in 2011.

Oh, and today the Cybils announce their short lists. These are great reading, but I’m not even going to peek until I’ve chosen my Sonderbooks Stand-outs, because I don’t want to be influenced.

This year, there’s a catch: I’m way behind. I’m way behind on writing reviews, and I’m way behind on posting reviews.

Now, I have a very good excuse. I had a stroke at the end of July, and wasn’t recovering as quickly as I’d hoped. In fact, as of October, I was feeling worse instead of better. But when I went to the ER about it, they told me I hadn’t had another stroke and just sent me home, so I decided to try to ignore it.

However, a few days before Christmas, I saw the neurologist. He was not impressed with my tales of slight dizziness, which I had to admit was nothing at all as bad as when I actually had the stroke. But then he did a neurological exam and found that my eyes aren’t tracking together if I look up and to the right. He said I probably had another stroke, a mini-stroke this time.

So, it seemed perhaps I shouldn’t ignore my symptoms after all. On Tuesday, I noticed at work that now I was seeing double when I looked up and to the left as well. The neurologists’ office said I should go to the ER for that, though they did a CT scan that didn’t show any problems. I had an MRI & MRA done on Thursday and now need to wait for an appointment to go over the results. And on top of everything else, I’m still feeling a persistent low-grade dizziness and am extra tired. And this all happened right in the middle of trying to get Christmas gifts and cards sent.

What it all boils down to is I haven’t been posting much. I’m reading as much as ever — lying around a lot, so of course! But getting the reviews written and posted is harder. I’ve missed a lot of work, and when I do work, I tend to be too tired to do much at home. So I’m getting more and more behind.

I’m afraid that by the time I post the 2011 Sonderbooks Stand-outs, no one will care any longer. But I’m going to do it anyway! (After all, the fun of having your own website is doing it for your own enjoyment.) Here is my plan:

1. I will make my list. I’ll post it, with links to the reviews that are already up.
2. I’ll post the already-written reviews of stand-outs, probably one category at a time.
3. All the while, writing reviews of the books I haven’t reviewed yet.
4. I’ll post the rest of the reviews as I write them.

Some day, maybe I’ll catch up! I’m probably going to be forced to stop reviewing every book I read, but for now I’m going to at least review the 2011 Stand-outs.

I’ll get back to you soon!

Review of Child of the Prophecy, by Juliet Marillier

Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Child of the Prophecy

by Juliet Marillier

TOR Fantasy, 2002. 596 pages.
Starred Review

Child of the Prophecy is the third book in Juliet Marillier’s Sevenwaters Trilogy. She has managed to make each book completely different from the others, each romance totally distinct, and yet all of them equally brilliant.

I expected this third book to be all about the obvious child of the prophecy, Johnny, who was born in the second book and foretold in the first book. Instead, the book is about Fianne, who is the granddaughter of the evil sorceress Oonagh, who enchanted the brothers into swans in the first book. Lady Oonagh still lives, and now she is sending her granddaughter to Sevenwaters to finally get vengeance and destroy the people of Sevenwaters.

However, Fianne is a daughter of Sevenwaters herself. She finds herself loving the family that she meets for the first time. But if she reveals anyone she loves to her grandmother, her grandmother will use that love against her by attacking them.

It was strange to read this book and find yourself rooting for Fianne — even knowing that she was a tool in the hands of the sorceress.

Juliet Marillier brings the book and the trilogy to a wonderful and satisfying conclusion, weaving another magnificent tale in this third book.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/child_of_the_prophecy.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on my own copy of the book, purchased via Amazon.