Maria's Mélange

  I had 36 books selected as my "must read in 2014". In the first quarter of 2014 I completed 17 of those titles. Since I finished almost half of my choices in the first quarter, I added a few more titles (I'm now at 44). You can view the whole list on my Goodreads page here . Check out my  First Quarter Update  (some really amazing books!) In the second quarter of the year, my pace slowed a bit. I think I went through a "word draught" and I had trouble writing and reading as much as I did during the first three months of the year, as I'm sure you can see by the dearth of posts over the past three months. Still, I kept plugging along and managed to finish another 11 books. I'll take it. Here they are, from the most recently completed... Wonderful middle grade realistic fantasy. Yeah, that's what I'm going with for the genre. Gorgeous language and a great story. This is a fabulous series. I'm also currently lis...

 I'm highly motivated by goal setting. Unless those goals involve getting my butt on the elliptical, or keeping my house clean, or cooking dinner every night. Wait... let me rephrase that. I'm highly motivated by setting reading goals. I got through all the Newbery books in under 2 years. I've hit my Goodreads goals each year (with the help of some great picture books and graphic novels). So when I decided to pick thirty-six books for my Must Read challenge, I knew I could do it. As it turns out, I may need to add more books to the list. I'll decide on that after second quarter. Here's what I've read so far from my challenge list, with the most recent on the top. Comes out in July. I absolutely adored Sidekicked... and this one was almost as good. HOW did I miss this lovely tale by Laurel Snyder? So very good. A magic wall that transports kids to new locations? Genius! Good, but not great. I didn't buy the romance angle at all, though, and m...

 Once again, it's been a few weeks since I stopped by (so this is NOT a single week of reading!) The Slice of Life challenge kept me hopping. I'll also do a year-to-date #MustReadin2014 update tomorrow. Carrie decided that quarterly updates would work out well, so many of the MustReaders will be sharing. Come back and join the fun! Since Last IMWAYR... Batty About Books! Kathy and I finished reading The Archived. Thanks to any of you who stopped by our brand new Facebook Page or left messages on our blog posts. We have moved onto Not a Drop to Drink now, and will post about the first 95 pages on Saturday the 5th (we posted our thoughts about the cover this past Saturday) #MustRead This comes out in July, and is another great one by John David Anderson! Not quite as much action as the first, but I still love his voice and the deeper messages in the "super" genre. Wow! How had I NOT read this one before? Seriously, it is great! A wal...

It's Monday - which means it's time to share a reading update. Don't forget to head to Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers for more fabulous posts. I also have exciting news posted over at Nerdy Book Club today - come join Kathy Burnette and I for a fun experiment in a virtual book club.    http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/we-want-you-batty-about-books-goes-wild-maria-selke-and-kathy-burnette/  I'm continuing to make excellent progress on my #MustReadin2014 and #CORL books. So far this year, I've read 11 of the 36 on my list! I've always been a fan of vampire novels, and Holly Black knows how to write them! Creepy, gory, and "Dead On". There's the spice of romance without it overwhelming the overall plot. Couldn't put it down. I was so excited to borrow this book from my building librarian, who snagged it at ALA Midwinter. There were some slow spots for me, but overall I thought it was a great wrap up...

It's been a busy week... lots of reading to get ready for my Cybils Judging responsibilities. I'm also steadily plugging away at my #MustReadin2014 list. Don't forget to visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers to find other posts about wonderful reads. I added a few books to that list, since I decided having three per month is a reasonable number. So my MustRead is now at 36 . I've updated my MustRead post to show the additions. MUST READ in 2014 Since the challenge is similar, I'm also throwing my hat in the ring for the Check Off Your Reading List Challenge , hosted by Gathering Books. I'll be going for level 3 - which is 25 or more books. Since my last update, I've finished FOUR more books on my Must Read in 2014 / CORL list. Listening to Neil read his own books is worth almost any price. I adored this story, too. Childhood memories aren't always what we think... magical realism at its best. Marketed for adults, but the...