This week’s Booking through Thursday meme post asks:

What are you reading right now? (And, is it good? Would you recommend it? How did you choose it?)

I am seemingly incapable of monogamous reading. Or, rather, I suppose I’m fully capable, but disinterested in it.

So, I am in the midst of:

• Dodger by Terry Pratchett: The last of the Cybils nominees that I put aside after I’d ruled that they weren’t going to be in contention for my top nominations but that were good enough I wanted to finish. It’s good (it was named a Printz Honor Book last month) and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or who enjoys Dickens.
• Mrs Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn: A fictional look at what might happen if elderly Queen Elizabeth decided to go rogue. It’s good, but I’m a bit tired of stories told from a legion of points of view.
• Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley: It appeared on a number of book bloggers’ best-of year-end lists and was the Printz Award winner last year. It’s good, but I’m not sure how much I’m enjoying it the further in I get. Could be I just have to push through a little further.
• Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan: Another book that lit up the year-end lists (literally, since the cover of non-library-bound copies apparently glows in the dark). I’m bitterly disappointed that I’m not enjoying this as much as I feel like I should be.

I also read the first paragraph of Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins last night, but I’m pretty sure that’s not enough to go on.

What this highlights is the surprising fact that I am only reading books by men right now. How unusual!

How about you? What are you reading right now?

Hey, all!

I’m in the mood to read some short stories, but I don’t want just any short stories. I do not want stories that leave you depressed and raw and empty at the end of them. I want stories that make you laugh or that make you feel life is worth living or that just end happily. But at the other end of the spectrum, I decidedly do NOT want sappy, saccharine-filled Chicken Soup for the Soul-esque pap.

There have to be literary, upbeat short story collections out there somewhere. Can you help me find them?

The Broke and the Bookish‘s Tuesday meme asked this week for you to consider your favorite ten characters in a specific genre. Since so much of my recent reading has been for the Cybils, I figured I’d focus there, even though that’s not technically a genre.

So without further ado, here is my list, in no particular order, of favorite characters among the 60 Cybils nominees I read:

1. Maddie from Code Name Verity, because you couldn’t ask for a more loyal friend
2. Autumn from Pinned, because she was self-confident despite her lack of academic prowess
3. Micha from The Storyteller, because a little girl should always feel like a princess
4. The entire Garrett clan from My Life Next Door, because if you could move in with a fictional family this is the one you’d pick
5. Boy21, aka Russ, from Boy21, because he returned from the edge to be a better friend than he ever could have thought
6. Louise’s grandparents from The Boy on Cinnamon Street, because quirky senior citizens rock
7. Max from Messy, because she surprised herself
8. Charlie Dickens from Dodger, because the wordy English author could have been more bad-ass than you think
9. Howie from I Hunt Killers, because what other hemophiliac do you know who’d confront a serial killer?
10. Verity from Code Name Verity, because she did exactly what she needed to do

You may not be able to play along in my category, but I’d be interested to hear about some of your favorite literary characters.

As you know, I was a first-round judge of realistic young adult fiction for the Cybils last fall. Our panel cumulatively read nearly 200 books and passed along our consensus of the top seven among them to the shortlist panel. They had the challenging assignment of picking a sole winner among that group, a task that seems herculean to me.

Narrow it down they did, however, and tonight the winner was unveiled: (more…)

Which of these books do I want to read next:

• Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
• Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
• On Writing by Stephen King
• The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann
• Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman
• Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
• The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge
• Cinder by Marissa Meyer
• Drink the Tea by Thomas Kaufman
• The Fairies Return by Peter Llewelyn Davies
• Goblin Secrets by William Alexander
• Return to the Willows by Jacqueline Kelly

I have to face facts: I’m not going to get caught up in reviewing the books I read last year.

However, I’m not going to let that prevent me from doing some summarizing and some recommending. If I’ve reviewed the book, I’ll include the link. But if we don’t go this route, I’ll still be contemplating my year-end post next fall (like the 2011 best reads post I never published last year).

I finished 100 books last year. These are the 10 best (with a few honorable mentions): (more…)