Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrnth by Rick Riodian. I love Percy. I want to be Percy. This was a great fourth installment in the half-blood series. Loved it. It's great for boys, and since I have one of those I'm trying to keep in the reading habit, this was a must-read.
Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. Yeah, like I could do this list without a SW pick. Come on. The man is a genius. This is a vampire book that's not a vampire book. No blood sucking. No blood lust. No blood, period. My type of vamp novel. The sequel is on my "To Read" list for 2009.
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. I'm not one for historicals. I don't watch movies made before I was born. You thought I was kidding about that. I wasn't. But this book was wonderful. A little romance, a little scandal, a little ghosts. What else could you want?
Maximum Ride by James Patterson. I loved this middle grade series about Avian Americans. If that doesn't grab you, I just don't know what else to say. Humor, funk, a hot guy, and wings. Come on, people. You can't get much better than that.
Storm Front by Jim Butcher. This idea--a wizard practicing among mortals--was well-done. I liked Harry Dresden and ran right out and got the second book in the series. It's not YA, but...we'll cut some slack here. I mean, it's wizards! Well, one wizard. And a very big scorpion. You can't go wrong with that combo.
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson. I still have Tyler in my mind. This was one of the first YA novels I read to introduce myself to the genre. I only have one word: Wow. Then I went and read everything I could find by Ms. Anderson. A great book for anyone struggling through life.
Well, I'm gonna wrap it up there. I'm sure I read more books than this (yes, I really did), and maybe I'll post some more in a couple of days. Oh, and I'm carefully crafting my reading list for 2009. I'm going to try for 50 books this year. So what should I read?
Nice list - I have read some of those, but not all...guess I will read a little more
ReplyDeletei have read NONE of these! richmond library is LAME! do you buy all these? or what?
ReplyDeleteJess! Our library is pretty lame too. I buy all the ones we can put in Mr. J's classroom. The others I borrow from friends or the library. I have to say, I own all of these...
ReplyDeleteI read A Great and Terrible Beauty for my book club and I really liked it.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of the other books, but I like the idea of a vampire book with no blood! :) They all sound really good, and I should probably start reading more YA, especially since one of the books I'm writing is in that category. So thanks for the suggestions. :)
They all sound great Elana. I'll have to check them out. If you liked James Patterson's Max, then you might like some of his others. I own most of his. :)
ReplyDeleteTry: Sunday's at Tiffany's,
Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas,
Sam's Letters to Jennifer,
and did you read When the Wind Blows? The start of Max. It's really good.
I recommend anything by JP.
That was awesome, thanks Elana! I haven't read any of those, so I'm gonna get right on it!
ReplyDeleteI love lists of books! I am also stealing your idea of trying to read 50 books this year, so it is great to have some to put on my to-be-read list!
ReplyDelete