It’s Monday! What are you reading?
Join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers and share all of the reading you have done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. Follow the links to read about all of the amazing books the #IMWAYR community has read. You are guaranteed to find something new to add to your list.
A strange #IMWAYR post for me because there are no picture books included here. We were away for an entire week and I just packed novels in my bag. But, oh, what novels . . . The first two were titles on my #MustReadin2014 list
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Eerie. Haunting. Painful. Beautiful. Captures family dynamics – holding these messy aspects up in all of their raw and real glory. If you have read this book, you know, it isn’t possible to write details that aren’t spoilers. So leaving it here. Wow.
The Summer of Letting Go by Gae Polisner
Should have been just so sad but somehow this title was light and full of hope. Truly beautifully done -this is the YA fiction I want my daughter to read as a teen. Easily one of my favourite YA titles of 2014. I loved the vulnerability in the characters, the exploration of grief, the superb writing and of course, little Frankie Sky.
If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth
I can’t quite remember who told me that I should read this book. Many, many thank yous! These characters will be with me for some time. A powerful story of the complexities of friendship, the reign of a bully, what it means to stand up and stand out, of finding home . . . Mix in the music of the Beatles, the vibe of the mid-seventies and a stop the world storm and whoa, what a novel. If you haven’t read this book, put it high up on the TBR list.
Bluffton by Matt Phelan
Purely and perfectly captures long ago summers on the page – specific of a particular place and era – Muskegon, Michigan in the early 1900s with Buster Keaton. Certain images lift of the page and invite you to step right inside. Phelan is brilliant.
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
This is an adult novel, a rare read for me. I am including it here because the main character is a 13 year old boy and it is told through his eyes. Upsetting but beautifully written.
Next up? I am reading Son by Lois Lowry. And many holds are coming in from the library so due dates will determine what comes after this!
Reading Goal updates:
2014 Chapter Book Challenge: 51/100 novels complete
Goodeads Challenge: 347/650 books read
#MustReadin2014: 20/30 complete
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: 82/65 complete
There's a Book for That 
Son didn’t make sense to me. I don’t think that teens and tweens will connect with the desperate longing for a child. I know I didn’t. You’ve gotten a lot of reading done!
I am curious what I will think about it. It was a great week of reading!
I like elephants but Bluffington wasn’t a favorite. I have a copy of We Were Liars which is supposed to be really good and I am saving for vacation to read. Your other books look really interesting, too.
We Were Liars was a vacation read for me – I then passed it on to other family members and in one week, four of us read it! Hard to put down.
So glad you loved The Summer of Letting Go. It was one of my favorite books of 2014 as well.
And Bluffton is amazing. Definitely one of my all-time favorite graphic novels.
Phelan’s illustrations are favourites of mine. Loved his work in Higher Power of Lucky. I have a copy of Storm in the Barn that I need to read. And yes, The Summer of Letting Go was just incredible. I adored it.
Both The Summer of Letting Go and We Were Liars are high on my list of favorites this year. You had some great reads this week! I did not know that the Louise Erdrich book was told from that point of view. I would bet that made for a powerful story. I will have to look for that one. Have a great reading week!
The Round House is powerful indeed. I think the story will stay with me for some time. Very worth reading.
We Were Here was an incredible read for me too. Months later, I am still reeling from it. I have had The Summer of Letting Go on my TBR list for quite some time now. It sounds like I better bump it to the top. I will go hunting for my copy tonight! Happy reading this week!
Bump! BUMP! BUMP!! It is so worth it!
Your take on We Were Liars was spot on. It is so unique and different. Liars is one of my favorite books of 2014.
It is certainly a book that cannot be forgotten!
We Were Liars is amazing, but what is even more amazing to me is the respect that people in the book community show each other. I have yet to see spoilers for this one and you are right, it’s impossible to discuss without spoiling. Book lovers are the best! Summer of Letting Go is on my TBR list. Soon! Have a great week~Megan
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I am being repetitive by I will say it again – BUMP Summer of Letting Go up higher on your list. Such a fantastic read. I couldn’t put it down.
My husband read We Were Liars a couple of weeks ago and I still haven’t gotten to it! (He’s reading the sequel to Daughter of Smoke & Bone right now–he pretty much exclusively reads YA, which is yet another reason I am glad to be married to him!) He wants to talk about We Were Liars so I need to read it–maybe this week. If I don’t get to Summer of Letting Go this year, it’s definitely going on my #MustReadin2015 list. (I’ve started planning that; thanks for the suggestion!) I loved Bluffton–Matt Phelan’s art is so evocative. Bluffton made the rounds in Adolescent Lit and Children’s Lit this past semester–I think my copy has been read at least 25 times now!
Amazing about Bluffton – so pleased it was so adored. I can bet your husband wants to talk about We Were Liars and that’s all I’m saying! Yes, the 2015 list is necessary – I don’t want to lose track of certain books.
Looks like it was a good reading vacation! I still need to get to Liars and Summer. It seems like the summer TBR pile is not getting as small as I wanted it to be at this point!
Oh I hear you – there is an ever growing list of amazing titles out there!
Wasn’t Bluffton just so simple yet beautiful? The art just holds a tone of remembrance.
The 3 YA books you read are all on my TBR, and I know I need to get to them sooner than later.
Happy reading this week! 🙂
Thanks Kellee! I am so pleased to see Bluffton getting so much love. It is very special. I hope that you will get to these young adult titles. I highly recommend them all.
I have Gae’s book, but I need to get the other two. So many books, so little time though!!!
And I love Matt Phelan. His style is so superb.
I loved If I Ever Get Out of Here. I grew up with Beatles playing in our house so that was a strong connection for me. There were many others too. I loved the sense of humor and the characters are so well developed. It was one of my favorites last year.
I have my husband reading it now. Thought it was just fantastic.
Wonderful YA/novels this week! Enjoy Son!
Thank you! I am happily in the middle of it and liking it so far.
Just read Bluffton too and really liked it. My one question is whether it would grab students, as it seemed a little meandering.
Have you read any of Louise Erdrich’s books for children? Birchbark House is a great one.
The Round House sounds like a read that I will enjoy. I like adult novels told from a teen’s perspective – it’s always pretty challenging, and I like seeing how it is carried out. I have to find Bluffton in our libraries – Matt Phelan’s illustrations are gorgeous. The book cover of If I Ever Get Out of Here reminds me of the book covers of Matthew Quick’s novels with the in-your-face kind of typography – very interesting. Thank you for sharing all these again, Carrie! 🙂
Bluffton is worth getting a hold of – I read it coming back from a lake holiday so extra fitting. The Round House is intense but very well done. Let me know what you think if you do get to it.