On Need To Read, I’ll be writing about the books and authors I love. My goal with this blog is to bring your attention to young adult fiction that speaks to me. I’d love to hear what you think about any of the books or authors, and the only thing I ask is that you refrain from spoiling books for anyone by giving plots away. I hate that! Enjoy. And just for those of you not familiar with writing terms, YA is Young Adult or teen, and MG is Middle Grade, often marked as J (for juvenile) in the library.

Click here for a list of YAs you might be interested in reading, followed by my Fave Fifteen of 2006. Click here for the Red Hair Is Not As Uncommon As You Think article! Thanks for coming by!

For a while now I’ve been mostly reading recommendations, which probably explains why I’ve liked so much of what I’ve read lately. However, I was missing the “scan the library shelf for interesting prospects” experience so the other day I did and I found two books. The first one is by an author I know (literally) and I’m sure it will be brilliant. The other one I picked up because I thought the title was catchy and funny. Too bad the book isn’t.

It is a first person YA and basically it goes like this:

Chapter 1 - I hate these people and high school because of this and this and this

Chapter 2 - Goes to a class - I hate this class because this and this and this

Chapter 3 - Goes to lunch - I hate lunch because this and this and this…

Yeah, we get that you hate everything. If it was slightly funny, well…maybe I’d keep reading, but actually, I hate this book because it’s sarcasm is flat, nothing has happened by page thirty, and ummm…the main character hates everything. So back to the library it goes. And no, I won’t tell you the name of it because I hate it when writers diss other writers!

I listened to this on audio. I am not sure how interested I would’ve been if I’d sat down to read it, but the actress who does the audio is phenomenal. So for those of you always complaining that I give you too much to read, try this audio book. While I maintain that kids should be able to read whatever they want, judging from the cover, you might get that this is NOT a book you’d want to listen to in the car with your kids. Maybe your spouse (wink, wink) though.

Skip down to the next post to read about Jessie’s Mountain.

6X The Uncensored Confessions by Nina Malkin - I have to admit that this didn’t really seem like my type of book from the cover and well…I don’t know. But I read it because the editor is my friend Eileen Cook’s editor and she loves her and so I thought why not read something she’s edited? And can I just say I loved this book? It was a real page turner. It’s told from four characters’ POVs and it switches every few pages and I could not put this book down! It’s about four kids who end up being put together into a band and it’s their story of what happens. It’s great! I think teens would really love this book. And there are more. It’s a series. Yay!

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine - Yeah, I know…I’m waaaaaayyyyy behind the times just reading this book now, but the truth is that it had just never crossed my path. Sure, I’d heard of it. And I remember when the movie came out thinking, “Oh, that was a YA. I should see it or read it or something.” But I never did. Last week two people mentioned it to me and so I finally put it on hold and WOW! What a totally charming and fun book. No wonder everyone loves it so much!

Saving Juliet by Suzanne Selfors. I’m including the link because you’re going to want to visit Suzanne’s website and get this book. I read this through without taking hardly any breaks. I could not put it down! It’s funny, imaginative, creative, and well…I think it’s a perfect book. There’s not one thing that bugged me or that I didn’t agree with or that didn’t work or anything. Not one! It’s just a fabulous book and I know I always say this, but YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!

Anyone But You by Lara M. Zeises - I hadn’t picked anything up in about four days because I was absorbing Saving Juliet, however, when I started this one, I couldn’t stop. I read the whole thing today. Maybe it’s that whole two (or more) pov’s but when I read books like that, I finish one character and immediately have to go on to the next chapter to read the other character’s pov. This was great and I’ll look for more by this author.

You have to read this book! Well, first you have to read her first two books, since this is the third one in the series. These wonderful stories start with GENTLE’S HOLLER and LOUISANA ‘S SONG. I loved both of those and I’ve had this one sitting on my shelf for a while, waiting for that moment when I could relax and enjoy it and also when I felt in need of a “sure thing”. It’s just great!

Kerry’s doing fabulous things too with music and school visits and readings and she’s just an all around nice, friendly and wonderful person! I have written a two book series (yet to be shopped) with a thread of old-time music (traditional country or American roots music) all through it and Kerry’s books also are woven together by this type of music too, so we have become fast friends. Her sister-in-law even recorded twenty-nine of the songs that are used in the series (something my husband hopes to do for my books someday). Make sure you drop by her site and check out what she’s up to. She might just be in your neck of the woods this summer and you wouldn’t want to miss her!

WOW!!!!!

More about this book

Here’s what I’ve been reading. As I mentioned before, I’m letting myself off the hook as far as writing long blog posts about each book, but these are recommendations. Anything I read that I don’t think is that great will not be listed here, so you’re safe to pick from any of these and enjoy!

THIS LULLABY by Sarah Dessen - another hit from a very good writer

LOCK AND KEY by Sarah Dessen- I think this is her best book yet (also her latest)

THE CELBUTANTES IN THE CLUB by Antonio Pagliarulo (yes, I had to look up the spelling of his last name - twice!) - another fun book in this series (#2). I’m looking forward to #3!

PRINCESS MIA by Meg Cabot - the latest in the PD series. I think I liked this one the most of all of them…you can see that she’s aiming towards wrapping it all up though, which is sad! There’s one more book after this, scheduled to come out next year. Someday I’m going to buy a boxed set and read them all straight through.

THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein - read the amazing story of this book’s rocky road to publication here . I’m only 44 pages into this book, but I loved it at page one.

A while ago I said that I was on a reading hiatus. What I realized after about ten days is that I really just needed to change the way I read. Three and a half years ago I began trying to get an education by reading a lot of young adult books. If you click on the link above this, in the header, for the Red Hair article, you can read more about that experiment. I finally reached a sort of burn-out, but it wasn’t books as much as it was the fact that it had become a bit of a chore. I was writing an index card about each book, as well as blogging on Need To Read and I began to hate that. I’ve started reading again, and now I’m just keeping a personal list of what I read (just for reference) and when I have five or ten titles, I’ll add them to Need To Read, but not really bother to blog much about them. In other words, I’m reading for fun again!

And that brings me to the title of this post. This book was recommended to me by…oh, gosh…I always forget who…but I’m about 99% sure that it was my friend Kim from Idaho/Wyoming. Anyway, I never post about a book before I finish, but I am so enamored of this book I cannot wait to tell you all about it. I can’t even say how much I love it so far without gushing. I love the first fifty pages anyway! It’s just so beautiful.

The blurb on the front is: One of the best, most charming, honest, hilarious and life-affirming books to appear in years. — The Plain Dealer. I don’t know who The Plain Dealer is, but so far this quote is dead on. Check this one out for sure. And if you’ve read the whole thing already, don’t give anything away in the comments section!

Imagine that you had plenty of candy growing up. You had it when you wanted it, but because of its availability, you enjoyed it but didn’t think about it much. Then imagine that you were an adult and you moved to a small town. While you could still have some candy, the choices were very limited. When you went to the candy store, all you saw was the same old candy you’d been eating for a long time and you wanted something different but they only rotated the stock once or twice a year, so you were stuck with what they had to offer. Sure there were other ways to get variety, but you really had to try to get it then and even though it had been free before, now you were having to pay for it.

And then…YOU MOVED! And in the new town, there was candy everywhere. Just for the taking. New candy, old candy, familiar candy, candy that people sent you in the mail, candy that friends told you you had to try. CANDY! CANDY! CANDY! You had more candy at your disposal than you ever had imagined having again! You were so excited by all this candy that you devoured it every waking minute of the day, you wrote articles about it. You started blogging about candy. People asked you for recommendations about what candy they should try and they listened when you told them, because if there was one thing you knew about, it was candy! You’d tried so many kinds of candy and yet the supply seemed endless! And not only that, but you still had stacks and stacks of candy you’d never tried, and more candy on the way! What joy!

Until…The Day.

The day you discovered that you were completely saturated by candy. You were stuffed. You’d had your fill and then some. There was a chance that you might not ever want candy again. Not a big chance, but the possibility was there because just the sight of candy made your stomach queasy and your eyes kind of bug out. Instead of enjoying this candy, you began to realize you didn’t have time for anything else because you had to stay after that ever-growing pile or else you’d fall behind and pretty soon it would topple over and trap you underneath.

Now…substitute the word “book” for candy.

Need To Read is on indefinite hiatus.

Although I will continue to blog on my homepage and when I resume reading, y’all be the first to know. And if you haven’t had enough candy, there’s always the archives and the book lists.

I know…as a hotblooded female, I’m supposed to think that Mr. Darcy is the all-time winner in the literary dreamboat, perfect-man category, but I’m here to say, I’ve fallen for another. In Meg Cabot’s THE MEDIATOR series, our fair heroine (okay, butt-kicking heroine), Suze Simon, is in love with the ghost that haunts her room, Jesse de Silva. And I have to say she couldn’t have made a better choice. He is a hottie!

When I read this series about two years ago, I just ploughed through it, unable to put it down. Recently, I’ve started listening to it on audio, and this is truly a fabulous medium for these books. It’s so exciting. And the narrator does an excellent job of reading (not always the case). I have always thought that Meg Cabot is a very good writer, but I think the actual writing in this particular series outweighs any of her others. She’s always created great at characters, but the settings in this series are really done well. I can’t say that I have any real desire to ever go to California, but her descriptions of Carmel actually make me consider it.

Interestingly enough, while I’m waiting for the last two audio books in the series to arrive at my library, I picked up HOW TO BE POPULAR, also by Meg Cabot. I had tried listening to this book on audio last year and couldn’t get past the first half hour. However, reading it is great. It just goes to show that not all books are right for reading aloud.