Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Some shorter musings on books I've read recently. Booked   by Kwame Alexander I'm so sad that this was incredibly disappointing to me. I LOVED [book:The Crossover|18263725]. From the moment I finished it, it was my choice for the Newbery and I was so excited when it won. Maybe my expectations for the follow-up were too high, but I think it was more of a case of this being rushed and having a different agenda other than magnificent storytelling. The first poem is laughably bad. Terrible rhyming picture book about soccer level of bad. After that the poems improve somewhat, but it doesn't have the rhythm and flow I was expecting. It's more verse for the sake of being verse. It's exactly the sort of verse novel I don't like. Some other things that bothered me: *It's in 2nd person. NOTHING keeps me further away from a character than 2nd person narration. It is never a good idea to use if you want rounded real characters. *There is a lot of book title droppi...

My friend Benji did this on his blog a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was a great idea. I wanted in on the fun and made my own list. 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 is still to be determined Some of these years were a lot harder than others, but this was fun to do. Looking through the list, it definitely covers all the genres I love and all my years of reading. And makes it very clear how I feel about Megan Whalen Turner and Diana Wynne Jones.

The Painter household has been waiting for a new Mike Jung book since we first read Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities when it first came out. Unidentified Suburban Object did not disappoint. Chloe Cho is the only Asian girl in her school. When people aren't confusing her with being Chinese or Japanese (she's Korean), they are busy thinking she is first chair violin and the smartest kid in school simply because she's Asian. She is interested in her Korean identity, but her parents refuse to discuss their history or culture with her. When she starts 7th grade and has a new Korean teacher, she couldn't be more excited. Ms. Lee assigns her students a project that means Chloe HAS to learn about her family history. Finally Chloe will get some answers, but they are not anywhere close to the answers she was looking for. This is the second MG book I've read this year that has a heroine with sharp edges who isn't "nice" all the time. If this is the star...

Top Ten Tuesday  is a Meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish This Week's TTT Topic: Books That Will Make You Laugh