With Steven
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
Sequel to Castle in the Air and Howl’s Moving Castle, Charmain, who really just wants to be a librarian, ends up house sitting for a wizard and saving the kingdom from scary, secret-impregnation bug monsters.
Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge
Political intrigue, religious strife, guild wars, spying, conmen, chases, highwaymen, an epic shoot out between floating coffee houses, and one very mean attack-goose.
Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner
Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler but with magic!
Fiction
Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern
Probably my favorite book I read this month! I really just want to be Jessie’s BFF. She sews skirts out of the amazingly ridic fabric at fabric stores (something I have also done), and falls in love with a huge nerd (ditto). Plus, she listens to audio books of my favorite books while she’s doing it! Also, there’s some D&D and cosplay, which of course I would also be ace at. I’m actually pretty bummed that Jessie isn’t real, because we could have an amazing audiobook sewing party some time. I may have to make fun of her for fantasizing about Rupert Grint (he’s like some kind of gnome, Jessie, you can do better), but we would bond over making fun of her poseur-punk friends and my inability to sew a zipper without hurting myself at least once.
XVI by Julie Karr
Set in a dystopian future where girls get “XVI” tattooed on them on their 16th birthday, supposedly for their protection, but really as a billboard for who is sexually available. Nina is meanwhile trying to solve the mystery of whether her dad is really dead while protecting her little sister from their dead mom’s scary ex-boyfriend. After awhile I got sick of every person Nina meets being a secret rebel like her, and kept waiting for someone to turn out to be a spy/traitor/not all about Nina. Alas. The ending also seemed pretty abrupt, which makes me think this might be a series?
By the Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters
I read a lot of Julie authors this month. This book was short and mad depressing, about a girl who’s getting ready to try for her third and final suicide attempt.
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Hilarious if you like: letters, oddly formal language, and word games! On the small island of Nollop where the author of the famous panagram sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” is revered almost as a god, the ruling council start to freak out when letters of the sentence start dropping off the official monument. They take it as a sign from Nollop that these letters should be stricken from the English language on Nollop, exiling anyone who misspeaks or writes them. Ella and others decide to fight the council, attempting to come up with another panagram, shorter than Nollop’s, all the while communicating in increasingly halting, awkward constructions.
The Cinderella Pact by Sarah Stohmeyer
A fat woman leads a double life as a beautiful, thin advice columnist named Belinda Apple. Naturally, hijinks ensue, she loses weight, and gets the guy.
Bliss by Lauren Myracle
Bliss’ hippie parents strand her with her well-to-do grandma, who puts her in a prestigious private school, the first school she’s ever attended. There she befriends an outcast girl who’s a little TOO obsessed with the legendary nun who jumped to her death from one of the school’s windows and supposedly still haunts the place.
Song of the Lioness series, books 1-4 by Tamora Pierce
You know you love it.
Immortals series, books 1-4 by Tamora Pierce
Be careful, or you’ll become some aging wizard’s child bride.
All-American Girl by Meg Cabot
Girl leaps on would-be presidential assassin, makes out with First Son.
Graphic Novels
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch
As the cover claims “Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish Girl”. Mirka is awesome! She fights a talking pig, meets a witch, duels a well-bred troll at sweater-knitting, and then outsmarts him to win a magic sword. I hope this is a series.
Hayate the Combat Butler v. 1 by Kenjiro Hata
I checked this out because of the phrase “combat butler”. The main character, sold to the mob by his parents, decides to raise money by kidnapping some rich girl, but then ends up saving her life instead. As his reward, she hires him as her new butler, both for his cleaning and life-saving capacities.
Library Wars v. 4 by Kiiro Yumi and Hiro Arikawa
People wouldn’t get so flippant about their overdue fees if I had a library army backing me up. I’m just saying.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya v. 1 by Nagaru Tanigawa, Noizi Ito and Gaku Tsugano
Haruhi finds reality boring, so she starts a club to look for aliens, ESPers, ghosts, or whatever. Despite her occasionally forcing the members to wear ridic costumes (or because of it?) I would totally join.
Non-fiction
Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool by Brian Ashcraft and Shoko Ueda
Finally I know the origin of sailor suit school uniforms
Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy
Summary: Is stripping really empowering to women? No. The chapter with interviews with teen girls is especially depressing.
The Years of Talking Dangerously by Geoffrey Nunberg
I’m a sucker for good cover art and the mercurial nature of language.
P.S.- I made this by Erica Romesek
I now know how to make a bitchin’ “fashion necklace” out of bouncy balls and pantyhose!!
Straight Up and Dirty by Stephanie Klein
Relationships are tough, especially when you’re self-centered.
The Knot Ultimate Wedding Lookbook
Hilarious! “These feathers tied to the chairs ask guests to ‘when the couple share their first kiss, wave these feathers in the air to send them off on the wings of happiness’.” WTF who would do that? Weddings are ridic.