Lisa’s Tuesday Perspective: How Many is Too Many?

If you head over to my goodreads profile, you’ll see that I’m in the middle of reading TWELVE books.  This is partially because a lot of them are library loans that I ran out of time on reading, but a many of them are books I own and just haven’t sat and gone straight through yet.  This happens to me for a lot of reasons, some of them more or less insane.  Here’s a little look at the books I’m reading and why it is that they’re taking so long to get off my currently-reading list.

Little Women by Lousia May Alcott

Every other Christmas or so I start this book.  Last Christmas I did this again.  But I’ve read it half a dozen times, and my copy isn’t exactly carrier-friendly.  I get distracted by newer stuff.

Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron by Jasper Fforde

Now, if you’ve been around here for a while, you may have noticed that I’m a bit of a Fforde fanatic.  Sadly this book is not mine yet.  I’ve been checking it out from the library, and if any of you have read Jasper Fforde’s work, you know it’s a dense forest of brilliant nonsense.  It takes me some time, and I just haven’t had enough of it yet!

The Land of Elyon: The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman

This book has a lot of potential.  In fact, I’ve already bought the next three books in the series.  It’s just a little young and a little slow for me.  But I can’t give it up either!

The Poetical Works of Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

He had a lot of them. I’m not even a third of the way through.

East by Edith Pattou

I love the concept of this book, and really love the fairy tale behind it, so I won’t give up on it.  But again, this book is impossibly slow.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Another library book.  I really loved the first half of it, but then I read The Dark Divine which is a vaguely similar story, but much more my style, so it’s been hard to get re-enthused about Hush, Hush.  Still, I want to finish and see if it’s worth the hype.

The Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink

Library book!  And again, sadly slow. Zink isn’t writing in her own vernacular, and it’s so painfully clear.

Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery

I’m trying to read through all of the Anne books, but again, it gets sidetracked for the hotter YA books sometimes!

Ӓlvor by Laura Bingham

This book is a lot of fun, but not really impressing me much. I’d like to finish it to review it, though, because I won it, so it’s the least I can do.

Sabriel: The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix

Okay, this one is my bathroom book.  I’ve been wanting to read Nix’s books for a long time, because they’re sort of fantasy classics, but this is again, dense stuff.  Fascinating, super well-realized world, but it is something easiest to take in five or ten pages at a time!

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan

The third Percy Jackson book… I had to stop reading this one for a bit because I sent my copy to my mother… don’t ask.  But I’ve picked it up again and Riordan continues to be a lot of fun.

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

So, this is one of my favorite YA fantasy series.  Well, possibly children’s fantasy is a more fitting description, but I love it anyhow.  The last book came out earlier this year, and I haven’t read it yet, because I am in resolute denial. I’m going to re-read the first four books first.  Well, once I find this one again, because I’ve misplaced it…

Book Geek Wednesday: Looking Forward To 2010

I can’t believe it’s already the second day of December.  This year has been a whirlwind for me—I guess it really is true that the older you get, the faster the years fly by, but really now, I’m not that old.  And while I don’t understand where 2009 has gone to, I have to admit, I’m excited for 2010.  Not least because of all the amazing YA novels set to come out next year!  Here’s a look at just a couple of the ones I’m simply dying to get to:

All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab. – January 12th 2010 by Delacorte BFYR

Not fantasy, but man does it look good.

Carly: She was sweet. Smart. Self-destructive. She knew the secrets of Brighton Day School’s most privileged students. Secrets that got her killed.

Neily: Dumped by Carly for a notorious bad boy, Neily didn’t answer the phone call she made before she died. If he had, maybe he could have helped her. Now he can’t get the image of her lifeless body out of his mind.

Audrey: She’s the reason Carly got tangled up with Brighton’s fast crowd in the first place, and now she regrets it—especially since she’s convinced the police have put the wrong person in jail. Audrey thinks the murderer is someone at Brighton, and she wants Neily to help her find out who it is.

As reluctant allies Neily and Audrey dig into their shared past with Carly, her involvement with Brighton’s dark goings-on comes to light. But figuring out how Carly and her killer fit into the twisted drama will force Audrey and Neily to face hard truths about themselves and the girl they couldn’t save.

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater – July 20th 2010 by Scholastic Press

I’m only halfway through Shiver, but I’m totally excited there’s a sequel!

In Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love — the light and the dark, the warm and the cold — in a way you will never forget.

Sleepless by Cyn Balog – July 13th 2010 by Delacorte Press

I loved Cyn Balog’s debut novel, Fairy Tale.  Can’t wait to read this!

Eron De Marchelle isn’t supposed to feel a connection. He is a Sandman, a supernatural being whose purpose is to seduce human charges to sleep. While he can communicate with his charges in their dreams, he isn’t encouraged to–after all, getting too involved in one human’s life would prevent him helping his other charges get their needed rest.

But he can’t deny that he feels something for Julia. Julia, with her fiery red hair and her sad dreams. Just weeks ago, her boyfriend died in a car accident, and Eron can tell that she feels more alone than ever. Eron was human once too, many years ago, and he remembers how it felt to lose the one he loved. Eron has always felt protective of Julia . . . but now, when she seems to need him more than ever, he can’t seem to reach her . . .

Sandmen are forbidden from communicating with humans outside their dreams. But will Eron be willing to risk everything for a chance to be with the person he loves?

Spells by Aprilynne Pike – May 4th 2010 by Harper Teen

I confess, I haven’t read Wings just yet, but I can’t wait to get to it, and I’m excited to hear about the sequel!

Six months have passed since Laurel saved the gateway to the faerie realm of Avalon. Now she must spend her summer there, honing her skills as a Fall faerie. But her human family and friends are still in mortal danger–and the gateway to Avalon is more compromised than ever.

When it comes time to protect those she loves, will she depend on David, her human boyfriend, for help? Or will she turn to Tamani, the electrifying faerie with whom her connection is undeniable?

Honestly, those are only a few of the books I’m looking forward to!  As far as YA fiction goes, 2010 looks bright indeed!  (All descriptions from goodreads.com)