picture book round up #2

books we've enjoyed over here the last couple weeks:



That Book Woman by Heather Henson - great story about those librarians who would ride out to the mountain people in Kentucky and bring them books to read. About finding a love of reading and the people who will do whatever it takes to spread the book love.



Everybody Needs a Rock by Byrd Baylor - wow was this book beautiful. It's the 10 rules you should follow when finding the perfect rock to keep. Really resonated with me and my rock-lover son, I like how it legitimizes this desire that he's always had to hold onto rocks :)




The Sun, the Wind and the Rain by Lisa Peters - This book compares a girl making a sand mountain with the geology of a real mountain - the forces that shape and mold our earth. Really interesting premise, and you're getting geology without even knowing it!





I want to make a plug for the series of books called "You Wouldn't Want to Be." They're a non-fiction series of books for kids all about how horrible life was way back when :) I've On this website, you can actually read four of their books online. This week, we read You Wouldn't Want to be Sick in the 16th Century (FASCINATED my son) and You Wouldn't Want to be a Samurai! They aren't short (the reading experience is reminiscent of The Magic School Bus books, with all the extra info all around the main text), but it sure does please my boy.

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon - a beautiful piece of poetry with such timeless illustrations. The poem talks about how our world is full of amazing things, it's so soothing to readaloud. A quote: Tree, trunk, branch, crown/Climbing up and sitting down/Morning sun becomes noon-blue/All the world is old and new. Both boys loved this one - and yay, it was just named a Caldecott Honor Book this year.


Olympics! by B. G. Hennessy - you'd have to find this one at your library, I think it's no longer in print, but WOW what an engaging intro to the Olympic games. The pictures are so full of things to see, Xavier pored over the pages. It focuses more on the summer games than the winter (and let's face it, who doesn't?) but talked about all the most relevant things, including how the games got started.


High Rise Private Eyes series - Xavier has read the first three of these early chapter books to himself and he cheers whenever he finds one on the library shelf. Short and engaging, sometimes I have to explain the humor to him, but sometimes he totally gets it and I just hear him laughing outloud in the other room. Easy mysteries, funtimes. And at the end of the third one he said to me, "You know what mom? At the end of these stories, no one ever goes to jail!" I love that the "crimes" always end up being a misunderstanding :)


Elena’s Serenade by Campbell Geeslin - the first children's book I've ever read where it simply screamed "magical realism" a la the master himself, Gabriel Garcia Marquiez. Lovely, lovely tale of a little girl who wants to be a glassblower like her father but he says she's too young and, well, a girl. So she takes the old glass-blowing pipe and heads out to learn on her own - figuring out along the way that her pipe can make music - as well as create some seriously amazing creations. Xavier's eyes may have actually sparkled, near the end of this story. Not only are you getting a cultural experience, with the sprinkled Spanish dialogue and the desert animals, but you're getting every child's dream come true: the ability to do what you always knew you could.

Review: My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

genre: children's literature

If you're looking for a chapter book for a child that is just beginning to have a chapter-book length attention span, this is a great one to start with. The chapters are very short with several illustrations per chapter. We don't ever even learn the name of our narrator - we only know that the main character in our story is the narrator's dad. His father has all kinds of adventures when he goes to a wild island to help rescue a dragon.

Luckily, he brought along his backpack, in which he packed all kinds of crazy items that will end up saving him from the animals that he meets - pink lollipops, hair bow, chewing gum. At the end of the book, this is what my 7 year old son seemed most taken with - the idea that he had thought of all the things he would need to keep him safe. And, of course, he loved that a little boy was able to outsmart the crazy rhino and angry tigers. It's a story that's right up the alley of my little boy, although, in truth, probably a bit young for him.

As an adult reader, it's obvious that the story is a bit dated, but I can see why it's a classic. I didn't love reading it out loud as much as other chapter books, but I can see myself getting this one from the library again when my 4 year old son decides he can follow a story from one day to the next. A great starter chapter book.

review: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

1. Sometimes hype is bad for a book, because it can raise expectations so high that it has no chance of reaching said expectations.

2. For a few minutes, I was worried that this book was a case of that.

3. I was completely wrong.

4. In the end, this book floored me, it shook me, it more than deserves it's brand-spanking new Newbery Medal.

5. Setting: New York City, the apartment of sixth grader Miranda and her single mom, an elementary school with a persnickety secretary, a dingy sandwich shop, a street-corner mailbox

6. Characters: the darling Miranda and her childhood playmate Sal, their mothers, Miranda's mom's boyfriend, the homeless man down the street, various school friends, the book A Wrinkle in Time.

7. Plot: Miranda receives a bizarre note that asks her to detail all the events leading up to...something she doesn't even know but which is supposed to be bad. Other notes mean more mysteries, her best friend isn't speaking to her for an unknown reason and she chooses to spend her free time helping her mom prepare to be on a game show. Of course, there's a lot more to it than that.

8. It's the perfect balance of heart and puzzle, character and plot development.

9. I LOVE LOVE LOVE when I think I know how something is going to work out and I end up being completely wrong.

10. Even if you do not normally read middle-grade fiction, I think this book might still be for you - it's also so much about growing up, finding your place, making real decisions and sticking up for the people you love. Add to it a random punch in the stomach, a plastic Fred Flintstone piggy-bank and Dick Clark:
you've got a WINNER.

review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

genre: young adult

The cover of this book caught my eye so many times as I'd scan the shelves at the bookstore or library, but the blurb never grabbed me - it took book club for me to finally pick this up and read it. I wish I had no waited so long.

This book is amazing.

It's amazing because of the story it tells and the way it is told. It's amazing because of how much it makes you feel, how dark and scared and how light and free. For me, it was even sometimes really emotional because of how sensitive I am to being the "left out" kid or the "loser" in school. And while the situation is sometimes so horrible, Anderson writes it with grace and truth, with a sensitivity that makes me want to hand this book to everyone: READ THIS. Read about how a 14 year old girl has been raped and how she chooses to remain silent instead of ask for help. Read about how hard she has to fight against herself and the world around her to find her real voice again. Read to remind yourself of how desperately challenging it is to be a teenager, floundering in between security and independence. Read it for the voice of Melinda, her snide internal comments and her stubbornness. Read it for the teacher you hopefully had in high school that led you to believe that there was more inside you than you thought.

But read it.

note: obviously, this is a weighty subject, so if you are sensitive to thinking about rape then I guess, maybe, think first before reading it :)

book 6 of 25 for the young adult challenge

review: Candor by Pam Bachorz

genre: young adult

For sale: one gorgeous house in the idyllic town of Candor. Let our illustrious town founder, Campbell Banks, give you a tour of our beloved city and see for yourself that while your home will make you happy - the clean and cheerful Candor itself will make you even happier.

Do you know why it will make you happy? Do you know why there are no homeless, no drug addicts, no overweight people in Candor? Oscar Banks, the son of the town founder, does - and it's a secret that he has figured out how to manipulate. The secret? Messages. Messages that "help" your brain to make good choices: you'll always be courteous, always crave healthy food, always keep the rules. All that nasty decision making will be removed from your daily living. Oscar knows that there is more to life - but he has to keep up appearances, right? His dad can't KNOW that he can withstand the messages, otherwise he'll make sure that Oscar's defenses are wiped away and he'll never be the self that he knows again.

When Nia moves into town, though, all of a sudden he wants more than ever to not be alone in his ability to withstand the messages and suddenly doing the "right" thing doesn't seem quite as important. And Oscar's gradual ability to care for someone other than himself sets into action a chain of events that even I couldn't see the end result of.

On the whole, I really enjoyed Candor and was engaged in the story. The whole idea of "subliminal messages" is fascinating to me and I like how she just took the concept to the nth degree to see what might happen if we started depending on them to shape our behavior. On the other hand, Oscar is not a particularly likable character. Sometimes his attitude and selfishness was grating to me and sometimes his dialogue felt...scripted. I am thinking now, though, that maybe that was part of the point - all he ever listened to was people spouting the messages and what I did like was that his behavior was consistent. He wasn't a superhero, he wasn't an angel, he was just a boy - a boy who was missing a lot of things that he needed and as soon as he started feeling like there was someone in the world that cared about him, he started to see himself differently. If you are a fan of science fiction and dystopian stories, this is definitely one to put on your list.

book 5 of 25 for the 2010 Young Adult Challenge

Review: Lost by Jacqueline Davies

genre: young adult historical fiction

I have a mild obsession with immigrant stories from the turn of the century, especially those where the immigrants lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, so when the cover of this book caught my eye and I read the flap, I knew I wanted to try it.

Essie and her family have already had their share of heartbreak. When we meet her, her father has recently passed away and her mother is giving birth to a second sibling for Essie. This baby, born when Essie is 10, becomes the child of her heart and the impetus for much of what she does. The text goes back and forth between telling the story of the present and dairy entries of the past - so the book is like a puzzle, trying to figure out the tragic something that we're pretty sure happened to Essie at some point.

And in the present? Essie works at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory - you know the one? Fascinating and miserable, so we get a picture of immigrant workers living on the edge, willing to grind themselves to the bone so they don't loose their place and the few pennies that come from their backbreaking work. You get a real sense of the frantic pace of that workplace, the constant fear. Not just that, but you get a real sense of the entire Lower East Side, the street vendors and fire escapes, the neighborhood interactions, tenement living and the struggle of living hand to mouth in a city that seems to pit itself against your best efforts. Add to that a mysterious girl recently hired at the shirtwaist factory and Essie's distinct impression that she doesn't quite belong -and you've got one wallop of a book.

Lost is such a fitting title - each person is characterized in some way by that one word, either they have lost a someone, lost their dignity, their purpose, or lost their ability to exercise their free will. Beautifully written and painfully real, the ending wrapped things up a bit nicely, but after all Essie'd been through, honestly, I just felt like she deserved it.
4 of 25 for the 2010 young adult challenge

Review: Smogtown: The Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles by Chip Jacobs and William Kelly

genre: non-fiction, history
full disclosure: this book was given to me by a publicist

Smogtown is a history of sunny Los Angeles's smog problem - and WHAT a problem. I had no idea the extent to which smog played a part in L.A.'s recent history. Smog that would coat your house and make you have allergies, change the color of your clothes and kill entire fields of plants. L.A.'s biggest problem was first, to figure out what the smog was made of, who was producing it and how to get RID of it.

While this book is carefully written, with enough anecdotes among the science and politics (OH the politics) to keep it engaging, I only made it a third of the way through. It's not the fault of the authors, who are clearly passionate about the subject and give a very thorough history - it's my fault. I got the book because I thought it sounded like a very interesting subject, but it turns out that my interest is more along the lines of a nice long Time magazine cover story as opposed to an entire book. If anyone has any interest in environmental issues or California history, I would totally recommend it. It just was too much for me. In fact, if you want to read it, leave a comment and I'll mail it out to you. If more than one of you are interested, I'll pick a winner on the 28th.

Please, if you are interested, check out another review here.

Review: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison

genre: young adult

Georgia Nicolson is 14. Well, practically 15. And along with everything else that goes with being practically 15, she's got a psychotic cat, completely out-of-it parents and a little sister who likes to hide her dirty nappies in Georgia's bed. Honestly.

The diary-format of the book is brilliant and SO practically 15. Georgia and her pals are snarky and irreverent, boy-crazy and mostly interested in looking as perfect as possible. When she's not fussing about the size of her nose or the beautiful boy she wants as her boyfriend, she is trying to survive in her crazy household. To be completely truthful, sometimes this book made me laugh so hard that I once nearly choked on my mouthwash while reading. Partly it's just the fabulous British writing style and words like "nuddy-pants" that slay me, but partly Georgia is just so...wacky and smart-alecky.

No uncomfortable topic of conversation is taboo in Georgia's diary, so beware, this is not a book for the faint of heart. If you don't want to read about the size of her mother's chest or other tidbits, than I probably would stay away. But somehow, when Georgia talks about things in her careless, British-teenager-y way, it is hilarious. If you like re-living the horror of shaving off your eyebrows, being obsessed with finding your first real boyfriend or learning how to kiss, then this will be a lovely romp down memory lane for you.

book 3 of 25 for the 2010 young adult challenge

Review: The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

genre: literature/mystery

Set in a frozen Canadian settlement, The Tenderness of Wolves begins with the circumstance that lies at the heart of most mysteries: a murder. The victim is a voyageur, close friend of no one, and our first narratator is the neighbor woman who finds him. Slowly we become acquainted with Dove River and its inhabitants, as well as those who make their way there, for one reason or another, because of the murder. What follows is a tale of disappearances and journeys, heartbreak and desire - desire to change the past, desire to have what you can't grasp and a desire to know the truth.

And while it is certainly a mystery, it's also an examination of motives and consequences. Each revelation of the past and each new decision brings certain characters ever closer to understanding each other - or themselves. The frozen wasteland of Canada at the time is practically an invisible vice, the weather and its whims stranding people or destroying evidence, wreaking havoc and forcing choices to be made under the harshest of circumstances. Often the characters in this novel are interacting as much with the wilderness as they are with each other.

It's lovingly written, as though the author were acquainted with these characters and wanted us to see them in all of their facets. Few are completely sympathetic, but all are real and exposed. Every chapter begins with a different narrator and it always took at least an entire paragraph, if not an entire page, for me to figure out who was talking. At first it slowed me down, but then it became part of the mysterious nature of the book and I enjoyed the challenge. While I always loved the writing style and was always happy when I had the chance to read it, it didn't grab me and pull me in until the last third, but I did notice that even when I wasn't reading - this land and its people were on my mind. I could so easily imagine the barren landscape, the profile of the native trackers and the musky glow of the firelight.

While it was not flawless (the ending left me feeling like I wanted more), it did transport me to a Canada of old, full of forts, trappers, prized pelts and the terrifying howl of wolves in the night -with nothing between you and their eyes but a piece of canvas.

picture book round up #1

Since I've started homeschooling my first grade son, I have been hitting the jackpot with all kinds of fun picture books. I want to keep track of them on this blog, for anyone who might be interested :)

*My son was actually clapping with glee and told me it was the BEST BOOK I'd ever gotten for him: Greek Myths for Young Children by Marcia Williams. I was just going to read him one story before getting some chores done but he would NOT let me be finished after reading "Orpheus and Eurydice." We ended up reading them all! Pandora's Box, Daedalus and Icarus, The Twelve Tasks of Heracles and, his favorite, Perseus and the Gorgon's Head. So much blood and guts! He loved it! It's written in a friendly, comic book style so the stories are so accessible and tame-ish. They are still the same stories, just...not completely horrible or terrifying. Plus, the characters are always saying witty little things in their speech bubbles that make it really fun to read aloud :)

Imogene's Last Stand by Candace Fleming - if you have a child interested in history at all, GET THIS BOOK! I cannot recommend it enough. Imogene is a history nut who finds a way to save her local Historical Society from being bulldozed to make room for a shoelace factory. She quotes all kinds of historical figures and has such a spunky spirit. I read this to Xavier one day and for the next three days he brought it to me to listen to again. Two of those days, we read it twice in a row, it was that fun for him :)


Redwoods by Jason Chin - a boy starts reading a book about Redwoods and suddenly he's in a redwood forest, learning all about these seriously fascinating trees. This one had me captivated! Non-fiction that reads like fiction.







The Curious Garden by Peter Brown - this book floored me with its message and its beauty. A brown and gray city is transformed by the gardening efforts of one small boy. My boys were enthralled and the illustrations are incredible.









Golden Delicious: A Cinderella Apple Story by Anna Smucker - This is the true story of the discovery of the first Golden Delicious apple true - all apples on the planet are descendants of this one tree! A great look at an interesting subject, especially if you like apples!







Sojourner Truth’s Step-Stomp-Stride by Andrea Pinkney - this book actually made me both laugh and cry (yes, while reading out loud to my children). I knew the name Sojourner Truth, but I didn't know anything about her - what a powerful, amazing woman, led to an interesting discussion on slavery (that's when I cried) as well as standing up for what you know is right. Beautifully written, almost like poetry.







Mermaid Queen by Shana Corey - another picture book biography, this one about the first female who turned swimming into a sport for women! The illustrations are whimsical, the story is so "shocking" - my kids loved the old time swimming suits and how Annette stood up for women everywhere. Really fun story.








Now and Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin by Gene Barretta - Xavier loved this look at how we are still using Ben Franklin's inventions today. Each page shows Ben and his invention and opposite is our modern day take on it. I learned a lot too!

Classics Bookclub at 5 Minutes for Books

Yes, I do like to read the classics, but do I always fit as many into my reading life as I should? Probably not. Challenges are a great way to motivate me, and since I'll be joining the Classics Challenge as well (for the THIRD year), this one will fit right in. 5 Minutes for Books is hosting this challenge, so thanks to Morninglight Mama for the heads up.

I'm just supposed to make goals of the books I plan to read over this year which would fit into the "classics" category.

SO. Without further ado, my Classics Reading Goals for 2010:

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
The African Queen by C.S. Forester
An Eye for an Eye by Anthony Trollope
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

genre: children's literature

Do you know Charlie Bucket? He and I go WAY back. I didn't read the book until late elementary school, but I'm sure I became familiar with this character before I even started school. MAN how I wanted to have lickable wallpaper in my room and romp through a candy garden. And now here I am as an adult, reading aloud this cherished story to my own 7 year old son. Time does fly.

And he loved it, like I knew he would. Who can resist the pull of the poor boy, the outcast, who suddenly rises above all the other children in the world to win a Golden Ticket to visit Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory? This story is pure genius, from the mysterious back story to Charlie's lovable family to the factory itself: a menagerie of pleasures that float behind the eyes like so many sugar plums.

The bizarre factory workers, the Oompa Loompas? I love them in the movie, but their song lyrics do get long and dull. Forgive me Mr. Dahl, I skipped the vast majority of them to keep the story going. It really is a great read-aloud beyond that, though, with crazy Wonka and his outbursts, and especially the antics of all those spoiled and greedy children. It's a book that makes for some great discussion about what kind of children we DON'T want to be. And in the end, we see that honesty and humility are characteristics that could hand us the world. This book should probably just be a staple of every childhood.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

genre: fiction

Ah, clever Rowling. Giving us a small fix of her world, to spread the Harry Potter Magic a little bit further (as if it still had further to go).

This is really just a book of "fairy" tales a la the Magical World. Apparently, if we'd been raised as wizards and witches, we would've heard these tales at our mother's knee. Which, to be honest, is a little scary, in same cases - since at least one is pretty seriously disturbing. Although, when you think about our own fairy tales, they're pretty disturbing too, I guess. Beedle's got the witch who turns herself into a "stump," a crabby son of a wizard with a crazy pot, a journey to a magical fountain as well as the infamous tale of the three brothers that we learn about in the 7th book.

The tales themselves are fine. Witty, in some cases, maybe a bit slow in others. My 9 year old daughter, that I read this one aloud to, enjoyed them all. What I found the most entertaining, however, was the "commentary" by Albus Dumbledore that follows each story. He puts the tales in "historical context" and often references people/circumstances that hard-core Potter fans will relish recognizing.

If you loved the series, it's worth reading just to spend a little time with Dumbledore again.

Review: Genesis by Bernard Beckett

genre: ya dystopian

book 2 of 25 for the Young Adult Reading Challenge
book 2 of 2 for the YA Dystopian Reading Challenge

The format of Genesis is one of the things that makes it so unique: when we meet Anax, she is beginning her entrance exam to The Academy. All her hopes for the future rest on her acceptance, so these four hours are the ones she has spent the last several years training for. Her topic of expertise? Adam, a critical figure in the history of the island Republic, one around whom both controversy and conspiracy theory swirl. We learn about the our earth's destruction (in the very near future for us) and re-creation through Anax as she answers her exam questions. She is forced to deconstruct her own assumptions and sift through everything she's ever been taught about history. We learn what has happened subsequently to our earth through the context of Anax's examination. Very cool.

Genesis is a book that will take your brain to the limit - the ethical questions, especially are abounding as we learn about Adam and part he played in the final war. I loved how it made me think, how it made me question and choose sides. Anax is such a sympathetic character, with feelings so much like mine (on an ethical level, anyway), that I loved hearing her interpretation of the events I was learning about. While sometimes the philosophical conversations got a bit...circular, they were pointed and really, made me think more every single time. I'm STILL thinking about it. What is it inside me that makes me human, what is worth protecting? Could I explain my own love of being human, if I had to? How do we determine, as a society, who gets to have "free will" and how shall we determine who gets to help make choices for all of us?

Books like this are why I love to read. With a slam-bang ending and a clear expectation that we are on this ride as much as Anax, this is one that I want to read and discuss. Great piece of work. Totally worthy of my Comfy Tree Award.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

genre: young adult/middle grade fiction
book 1 of 25 for the 2010 Young Adult Literature Challenge


It's funny, I'm strangely pleased that this is my first book review of the year, it feels like a great place to start: clever and mysterious, wacky and full of people that are full of faults.

What is the Westing Game? It's this crazy stunt pulled by the deceased owner of the Westing Paper Company. He hand-selects (with one mistake) 16 heirs, to whom he gives clues to determine the winner of his fortune - if they can survive the game. You've got a Chinese immigrant, a bird-watching teenager in a wheelchair, a bookie, a shin-kicking 13 year old and a...murderer? It's a race to the finish to figure out who killed Sam Westing and who will be the new millionaire.

This story grabbed me from the beginning, but I'll admit, it took me a long time to keep all the characters straight! They all live together in one apartment building, so I was constantly trying to remember who belonged with whom. In the end, though, I think that this giant cast of characters is really one of the novel's strengths. A group of completely random people are turned into a community after going through some serious stress and trouble. Everyone is deeper than you think and I loved learning about all their not-obvious interconnectedness. I loved the sparing way that Raskin handed out clues - even until the very end you weren't positive of what really happened.

This is not a dumbed down mystery for kids, Raskin made sure of that. You need to stretch your brain to follow the action and even the sympathetic characters have issues. It actually reminded me a lot of the movie Clue, you know, with Tim Curry and Madeline Kahn - and coming from me, that's one of the better compliments I could give a book.

First Annual Year End Post

2009 Edition of The Book Nest Awards

A Yearly Wrap Up Post

the link of the title will take you to my review

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The book I read this year that made me the happiest:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

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The book I read this year that made me want to be a different kind of parent:

Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate

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The book I read this year by an non-American author that was the most profound and enjoyable:

Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin

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The book I read this year that was the most beautiful, lyrical and bizarre:

The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow: The Mystical Nature Diary of Opal Whitely

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The book I read this year that made me the most pleasantly nostalgic for my youth:

The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

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The best book that I read aloud to my kids this year:

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

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The books I read this year that had me completely in their clutches, unable to move on with my life until I finished reading them:

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman


Unwind by Neal Shusterman


Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer


Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore



(Are you surprised that every last one of those is a young adult book? And all but two are post-apocalyptic/dystopian? I'm not!)

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The books I read this year that awed me with their depth and breadth, the lovely chunksters that held my attention and made me satisfied in the end:

Galway Bay by Mary Pat Kelly

Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner

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The book I read this year that was tiny and perfect:

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Books I have not yet mentioned but which also received my Comfy Tree Award:

The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson
Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Writing Thank You Notes by Peggy Gifford
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

In all, it was a stellar year for books, I had a hard time choosing favorites. Of the 96 books I read this year, only 4 of them I had to rate less than 3 stars. Good odds for a busy year. I cannot WAIT to see what next year holds!