Random Musings of a Bibliophile

December 31 and it is time to reveal my Favorite Books of the year. I'm doing it a little differently this year. I will list my Top 10 absolute favorites first, but below the cut I'm going to do a breakdown by age category listing the Top 10 in each. Disclaimer: My favorites should in no way be used to discern which books are going to be shortlisted for the Cybils committee I'm on. For that you will just have to wait until tomorrow when they're announced on the site. Top Ten Reads of the Year: Black Dog  by Rachel Neumeier  Boys of Blur  by N.D. Wilson The Crossover  by Kwame Alexander Cruel Beauty  by Rosamund Hodge A Face Like Glass  by Frances Hardinge Greenglass House  by Kate Milford The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones Nomad  by R.J. Anderson Private Politics  by Emma Barry Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass  by Meg Medina

It is time for the Quarterly Review Round-Up where I talk about the best of the best, the one's I couldn't finish, and the adult novels I'm reading that I don't review here. Plus there's a GIVEAWAY. The DNFs (links to my reasons why-if I shared them-on Goodreads): All the Bright Places  by Jennifer Niven Adult Books (links to reviews on Goodreads): Carolina Blues   by Virginia Kantra The Countess Conspiracy  by Courtney Milan The Duchess War by Courtney Milan The Heiress Effect  by Courtney Milan Shadowed Heart  by Laura Florand Summer Chaparral by Genevieve Turner *This would totally be part of the Giveaway if it was available on Book Depository. READ IT, people who like romance. The Best of the Best (where the Giveaway comes in):   The Jupiter Pirates: Hunt for the Hydra  by Jason Fry Perfect Couple  by Jennifer Echols (review posting January 8) Top Ten Clues You're Clueless  by Liz Czukas Links to my rev...

A couple weeks ago I was involved in a discussion on Goodreads about the current Best of Books lists that were beginning to appear and how underwhelmed we were by most of the books being included on these (particularly the YA). In the course of that discussion an idea about doing a Best of (or Favorites) of the last five years list. We tend to get so excited about the new and then a couple of years later, we don't even remember many of those books. But what are the books that truly stick with you from one year to the next? I liked this idea so much I decided to make a Favorite list of the previous five years of reading. I may do this every year. Because I will still do my favorites of 2014, this is going to cover 2009-2013. Here are the books that have stuck with me most from those five years. These are the books I've reread and maintained my love and excitement for. Four of my all time favorite books are included on this list. In the order I read them. From 2009: ...

Top Ten Tuesday  is a Meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish This week's TTT topic: Books from Santa-which I'm changing to books I'm GIVING people for Christmas For Bit (age 10): For LM (age 6): For my niece (age almost 3-she has a thing for penguins): And for my sister (just because): What bookish gifts are you planning on giving or wanting to get?

Alistair Grim's Odditorium by Gregory Funaro is a mixture of magic and mystery with a whole  lot of adventure and familiar aspects fantasy lovers will recognize. Grub was raised by the wife of chimney sweep. He has no idea who is true parents are. When the lovely woman who has been the only mother he's known dies, his life becomes a drudgery of work as the sweep's apprentice. One day after a making a mess while being bullied Grub knows he has to run and he hides in the trunk of a mysterious stranger. Upon arriving at the stranger's house, Grub is discovered and finds himself in the position of keeping strange secrets, living in an odd house, and being beholden to the mysterious stranger named Alistair Grim. Grim has a collection of objects he calls odditoria that possess magical properties. These items fuel the energy the home runs on, but the magic is dangerous and could attract exactly the wrong sort of notice. When Grub accidentally allows some  of the magic out i...

Every year I like to do a list of the characters I've fallen in love with during that year's reading. This list always ends up including some books that don't make my end of year Top 10 and it feels good to spread the love. This is only for new-to-me in 2014 characters. I may have read a book that includes characters I love but met in previous years. They won't be on this list. Here are my previous lists for the blog: 2011 2012 2013 All the residents of Dimilioc (especially Ezekiel) from   Black Dog  by Rachel Neumeier I fell for all the characters in Black Dog fast. And then they were all in immediate peril. This book was stressful to read let me tell you. I love the family dynamics in this book. All of the relationships are so well done, expressing closeness, but also the hardness that comes with living with people and fitting your lives together. The character Neumeier created for this and the voices, personalities, and struggles she gave each just make them ...