Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Top Ten Tuesday  is a Meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish This week's TTT topic: This week is a freebie so I've decided to do Books with Spies and Sneaky Times since that is one of my favorite types of book to read. That is the only common thread for most of these books. They are all very different in the ways they use these tropes.   The Queen's Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner: Because you know a list without these books is almost impossible for me to make, but they really do set the bar for spies, sneaky times, and all the political intrigue there is. The Sherwood Ring  by Elizabeth Marie Pope: This is a tale of American Revolutionary War spies. Trust me when I say you will never find a more swoon worthy British soldier trying to hinder the Revolution anywhere else.   Mara Daughter of the Nile  by Eloise Jarvis McGraw: Mara is one amazingly crafty sneaky girl. There is plenty of political intrigue and romance to make me happy ...

I love a good mystery story, but I admit to being kind of picky in my literary detectives. The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos was intriguing enough in its premise that I knew I wanted to read it. Imogene has no  memory of her mother. All she has the story fanciful story her father has told her since she was little of how they met and fell in love. Her father was a forensic pathologist and her mother was there to identify a body. When Imogene's father goes missing, he believes one clue behind with Imogene. A clue Imogene is convinced is meant to lead her to both her parents. With the help of her friend Imogene begins to look into her mother's past and follow a trail of clues that will hopefully lead her to the answers she's always pretended she didn't need. Imogene has spent her entire life never getting too close to anyone. She convinced herself that her dad was enough. She didn't need the risk. As a result, Immogen looks at most of her relationships...

Top Ten Tuesday  is a Meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish This week's TTT topic: Top Ten Books I've Recently Added to My TBR I'm going the very literal route of putting the last 10 books I added.  What are some recent adds to your TBR?

Finally. Sort of. Today on her blog Monica Edinger posted about a conversation she had with someone who knows (apparently) that said: " …. a little bird told me the next two are in the home stretch of being finished and coming out in the near future*.  First the publisher will reissue the original four to bring a new generation of readers to them and then….numbers five and six.  " Five and six. Five AND six. FIVE AND SIX. To say I'm excited it is an understatement. Even with just as vague news as this is, I'm over the moon. As is the best half of my Twitter feed, which I think is a testament to just how amazing, wonderful, and unique these books are. How absolutely perfect they are. If you haven't read them yet, you should. I've never written reviews of them here because they are too special to me, but the best and least spoilery motivation is  still The Book Smugglers review of the first three books from 2009. Now is a good time to ge...

Top Ten Tuesday  is a Meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish This week's TTT topic: 2015 Releases I Meant to Get to But Didn't I'm making these a priority for the first few months this year.

I confessed in my looking ahead post on Friday that I was nervous about this year's awards. Last year was an amazing year in which so many committees thought outside the box and broke new ground. The winners across the board were so diverse. I was nervous because I didn't want a return to the status quo. And I am so pumped that we didn't get one. A PICTURE BOOK WON THE NEWBERY!!!!!! Congratulations Matt De La Peña!!! This book also won a Caldecott Honor. Newbery Honors include: Echo, The War That Saved My Life, and Roller Girl I LOVE Roller Girl. It is by far my favorite graphic novel of 2015. I didn't list it in my hopes for the award because I honestly didn't think that the committee would award a graphic novel two years in a row. I've never been happier to be wrong. My daughter squealed and bounced so hard at this announcement. I read this book in the first place because she literally followed me around the house with it for days begging me to. ...

Monday is the day. The Academy Awards of children's literature will occur in Boston at 8:00 AM. The past two years I've had the privilege of being in the room when they were announced. There is nothing quite like that experience, and if  you ever get the chance to attend, I highly recommend it. This year I will be watching the live stream at home with my kids. (They look forward to this and have missed it the past couple of years when I've been gone.) I will also be live tweeting it as always. Here I will share my hopes for this year's winners. (NOT PREDICTIONS. Hopes.) This is an odd year for me. I find myself with no book I absolutely want to win the Newbery this year. Much to my dismay there are more books I have a fervent desire to see NOT win. I don't know if this is due to my massive reading slump this year (or if the books are the cause of the reading slump). It's possibly due to the some of the stuff I've seen go down in the wider community this y...