It wasn’t a terrible month for reading, or a bad to start to a new year of books.
We’re still in this phase of life where we read and reread H’s favorite books on a loop, so even with our trips to the library, we don’t read that many new books. She could have Winnie-the-Pooh read to her every night and be completely happy, and…honestly we’re also pretty happy. Adam loves reading Pooh to her. But we did read some new stuff this month.
Today marks the release of Maureen Johnson’s delicious new Jack the Ripper novel, The Name of the Star. It’s the first book in Johnson’s new Shades of London series, and it is an absolutely perfect October read.
It’s the first day of September, and for me the summer is over. But August had a lot of sweater days this year, surprisingly. Maybe that’s my own crazy body temperature, I’m not sure.
Tahereh Mafi, debut author of the upcoming YA novel Shatter Me, is having a contest on her site. She’s giving away ARCs of her book, Ally Condie’s Crossed, and Stephanie Perkins’s Lola and the Boy Next Door (follow-up to Anna and the French Kiss, which I adored). These are all hot titles with a lot of buzz that will be released this fall. You have until this Wednesday if you’re interested in trying to win an advanced copy. Click here to get to the contest, and good luck!
If you haven’t read this book yet, go buy it.
Right now, I’ll wait.
Okay, do you have it? Good, because this is the most feel-good concoction of summer perfection I’ve ever read. I actually read it 2 months ago, and I’m still sad that I will never again have that “My God, this is amazing!” feeling of a first-time read of Anna. I envy you for just settling down with it, meeting Anna and Etienne for the first time. My friend Julie gave me a copy for my birthday in February, she was wild about this book. When I finally sat down to read it, I was so smitten I stayed up all night to finish it. I literally went to bed at 7am on a Sunday morning because I was wide awake with it and couldn’t stop reading. I can’t remember the last time that happened.
So, my 48 hours in MotherReader’s 48 Hour Book Challenge were up as of 9pm last night. And here’s what I read this weekend, and for how long:
My first 24 hours in the 48 Hour Book Challenge are done. I read Brian Selznick’s Wonderstruck in 3 hours, I spent 3 hours listening to the Moon Over Manifest audiobook, & I spent 1 hour on book posts on my blog. Today, just a short post to check in, back to reading!
I will be participating in #48HBC this year. The idea is to read and review as many books as possible in a 48 hour timespan, and this is the 6th readathon MotherReader has organized. It gets bigger every year. And every year I see it’s happening when it’s too late to participate, but this year I am getting on board with it. I don’t know how much I’ll actually be able to read this weekend (especially since I left several ARCs at school!), but I want to set the goal for myself this summer and dedicate more uninterrupted time to the things I love.
Other BEA posts: BEA 2009, BEA 2011 Pt. 1, BEA: The Books!
I mentioned that last Tuesday I attended the Children’s Book Council event “Children’s Author Speed Dating” at BookExpo America. And I’ve guest blogged about the event over at author Tara Lazar’s blog. I’m really excited about this, not just because it’s my first guest blogger post. I’ve been following Tara’s road to publication for a couple of years now, and I can’t wait for her book MONSTORE (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster) to hit shelves in summer 2013. I hope to line up for one of her events at BEA pretty soon.
Other BEA posts: BEA 2009, BEA 2011 Pt. 1.
Let’s just take a moment to breathe this in, shall we?
63 books. Sixty-three glorious books. In TWO DAYS.
And yet the more I read about BEA, the more I feel I need to do differently next year. People seem to have the science of BEA-going nailed down to precise Swiss-inspired movements, but I stumble around from booth to booth gawking at beloved authors and grabbing bags. And donuts. And posing with Elephant and Piggie.
Don’t get me wrong, I brought my “A” game this week. But I’ve only been to BEA once before, and that was 2 years ago. I’m out of practice, and I haven’t perfected my technique. Tickets to great signings were not obtained, video cameras were forgotten at home, and I didn’t believe in the sweet relief of bringing an empty suitcase until Day 2.
