Angieville

And the randomly selected winner is Bellwether by Connie Willis , as suggested by  ladyjoust ! This is pretty cool because I read (and really loved) Willis' Doomsday Book years ago and it will be fun to read more by an author I have not visited in some time. Here is the full list of suggestions: • Freak Magnet by Andrew Auseon ( Carla ) • The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye (Tiffany M.) • How It Ends by Laura Wiess ( Jacqueline C. ) • Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto ( lissa ) • The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold ( Li ) • Outlander by Diana Gabaldon ( Rosey ) • Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire ( KMont ) • Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer ( Emily ) • The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton Porter ( literarymiss ) • Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World by Jennifer Armstrong (Misti) • Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi ( B. ) • The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud (Maryn) • Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs ( Chachic ) • A Girl Na...

Today I'm over at Chachic's Book Nook talking about young adult literature and why I read it. This is a regular feature Chachic runs, in which she invites other bloggers to come over and answer a few questions and then people can comment and leave recommendations on books they think that blogger would like based on her comments. Great, no? Do stop by and let me know why you read YA and what your favorites are.

Retro Friday  is a weekly meme hosted here at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out-of-print, etc. Everyone is welcome to join in at any time! I include roundups from participating bloggers in my post every week.  Garth Nix is a familiar name in the fantasy world and I first encountered him through the wonderful Sabriel .  Nix is a member of that amazing and fast-growing collection of Australian young adult authors and one I would love to meet as his worlds are so expansive and well-thought-out. It would be fun to pick his brain about the creation process. This was another of those golden selections for my old Young Adult Reading Group and we had so many wonderful conversations surrounding the intricate and grim world Nix created and the memorable characters he populated it with. This is the first book in the Abhorsen trilogy, also known as the...

Wow. Already to the fifth round of Tell Me What to Read ! Last month's was awfully good. So what's a great read for the hot month of August?  Tell me what book I should read this month. It can be any genre, any age level, and have been published last week or three hundred years ago. You can pick it because it's a book that everyone should read or because it changed your life or because it is great literature or just because it entertained you. My friends Janssen and Emily are also running this monthly feature on their blogs. Janssen started it all! So be sure to stop in and vote for their selections as well. This month, in fact, Emily will be reading Daughter of the Forest on my recommendation. Here's hoping it goes down well! Here's how it goes: Comment with the title and author of one book you think I should read (any book you want). One title only, please, lest my brain explode. I'll select one comment at random. On the off-chance that I've alre...

I'm slipping this review in before mid-month and I'm just going to ignore how little time that will give me to read the next selection of Tell Me What to Read . Last month Old school librarian suggested I read Happy All the Time  by Laurie Colwin. I had not heard of the book or the author before and was very interested to discover what was in store. Fortunately, my local library had a copy readily available. Originally published back in 1978, Happy All the Time was the third of Colwin's five novels. Along with a few short story and cooking collections, those novels made up the bulk of her writing. It seems strange now that I'd never heard of her before as her novels have none of them ever gone out of print and it appears she still has quite a large and devoted following. A fact I completely understand and that makes me quite happy now, having read this perfectly delightful novel. Thank goodness for Tell Me What to Read, for I am quite sure I would never have stumbled a...