I know some people scoff at the idea of New Year Resolutions. But don't we all need a 'start-over' every once and a while? A time to reflect and promise ourselves things?
Even if the promises we make don't stick, its the trying that matters. Because nothing is worse than never starting in the first place. Even if only one or two of our resolutions that we ever make stick, that's better than the amount we would have achieved if we never tried, right?
So, I've made my own and I really need YOUR HELP with one of them.
1. Drink less soda. (I drink diet, but still. I could definitely be drinking more water)
2. Vaccum more often. (My dog lets my sister and I live with her. Since it's my dog I should be doing a better job of making sure our apartment isn't covered with her fur.)
3. Query the heck out of FRACTION OF STONE and find it a home.
4. Read 52 books this year. (300 pages constitutes a 'book'. This is to encourage all sizes of books :))
The last one is where I need your help.
What books have you read that you highly recommend? I read anything and everything so tell me your favs! What books are you looking forward to reading in the New Year? I'll add those to my list too!
I hope you all have a safe, happy and healthy New Year. Here's to a wonderful 2012!
Have you read any James Clemens - he's actually James Rollins under a pen name (well, James Rollins is a pen-name too, but I digress!). He has a whole young adult fantasy series (Wi'tch), and then a new fantasy series (two books out, third in the works), called Shadowfall and Hinterlands. Both really good!
ReplyDeleteI've got you covered, okay maybe you've read everything I recommend but I'll try anyway -
ReplyDelete1. Divergent - killer good
2. Variant
3. Become
4. Wither
5. Daughter of Smoke and Bone
6. Shatter Me
7. Goose Girl
I could go on, but maybe I should just start there :)
Tell you what, I'll write 52 books and send them your way. ;)
ReplyDeleteBut if you're looking for a serious answer...
Everything JA mentioned plus:
Matched
Unearthly
Hushed
:)
I read 60 books in 2011, though not all were published in 2011.
ReplyDeleteDaughter of Smoke and Bone
Paranormalcy
The Iron King
The Duff
The Perfect Chemistry Series
Graceling
And I'm dying to read:
Tempest
Divergent (I'm bad for not getting to it yet lol)
Anna Dressed in Blood
The Golden Lily
Incarnate
What I need is more time to read all the books I want to read lol
I have over 200 books on my TBR list, and about 55 on my kindle ... I should get those first, don't you think? But it's hard to ignore some new bestsellers when they hit the shelves and become instant success.
Happy 2012!!
I second The Duff and The Perfect Chemistry series. Both made my top of 2011 list.
ReplyDeleteAnna and the French Kiss
My One and Only by Kristan Higgins
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares
The Evernight Series by Claudia Gray
The Ruined Series by Simone Elkeles (If you like funny and YA this is your series)
What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacy Kade
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Magaret Stohl
The Darkest Power Series by Kelley Armstrong (I loved these books. The Summoning, The Awakening and The Reckoning)
I don't know if you read any of these but I highly recommend all of them. Happy reading and Happy New Year!
**Oops The Duff wasn't on my 2011 list but that's only because I read it in 2010 :)
ReplyDeleteThis is fantastic! Thank you all so much!
ReplyDeleteMay 1st, SWEET EVIL by Wendy Higgins. It's fantastic!! Happens to have my favorite book boy EVER in it :)
ReplyDeleteA lot of the books other people mentioned, I loved too. I'm a huge fan of anything by Sarah Ockler, love the Summer series by Jenny Han. Just finished Chasing Jordan which was great.
Good luck querying! All of my highly recommended books from the past year are in my Class of 2011 posts...so many good things in there!
ReplyDeleteHappy new year!
Oh my goodness...book recommendations! I am on Goodreads.com and just found a TON more books to read yesterday.
ReplyDeleteHere are my top recommendations, though:
1) Lottery by Patricia Wood
2) The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak (sp?)
3) The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy
Happy New Year!
Thanks ladies! Adding them to the list now :)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year and good luck with your query letters.
ReplyDeleteI need to add less soda and more vacuuming to my list too! I have the same reading goal this year, though I'm setting it at 50 books to give myself a couple of emergency weeks off :). My favorite discovery of 2011 (although it was written a few years ago) is KETURAH AND LORD DEATH by Martine Leavitt. I LOVED that book! Best of luck with the new year.
ReplyDeleteHey Kelley:) Are you looking for YA? I've read so many good ones in 2011 that I don't know where to start! I just finished Lola and the Boy Next Door and it was good fun (I loved Anna and the French Kiss). Also, Bumped by Megan McCafferty;, Delirium (was my fave dystopian period) by Lauren DeStefano and in terms of adult books, I am now a huge Patrick Rothfuss fan - I read Name of the Wind by him and loved it. MG - I LOVED LOVED LOVED Peter Nimble by Jonathan Auxier. It was FANTASTIC. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteOh, these are all good suggestions. My two favorites this year were: FAR FROM YOU by Lisa Schroeder and GRAVITY VS THE GIRL by Riley Noehren. Have fun reading :)
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite 2011 reads was The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson. Fun, creepy mystery and great twists along the way.
ReplyDeleteLOL. My sister's cat used to let us live with her too. Sadly she has gone from this world.
ReplyDeleteYou read my suggestions I think from last week. Have you joined Goodreads? I get a lot of suggestions from that because of seeing my friends reviews.
Books, books, books! hmmm - I loved Divergent and Matched. Just getting ready to start Crossed. Also love the Mortal Instruments series! WOW! Working on that right now too. Oh - add this one... CAMERON'S ROAD by Michael Wojciechowski. My friend wrote that and I think it's awesome!
ReplyDeleteYour "vacuum more often" resolution had me busting a gut. Mine should be scrubbing my shower more often. Darn, I hate it!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! Best wishes with your goals for 2012.
I love your good attitude about resolutions, you go girl! :)
ReplyDeleteI hope you can beat that soda--you'll feel so much better and be amazed at the clarity of mind that one small change will do.
As for books, have you read Variant by Robison Wells? Holy cow, it's amazing YA dystopian. While we're on that track, I'm guessing you've read Matched by Ally Condie, but what about Crossed? I'm reading that one right now and I love her writing style. Forbidden Sea by Sheila Nielson was incredible.Paranormalcy by Kiersten White has such great voice. That's just some YA stuff to get you going, are you on Goodreads? I have a big list of favs over there too (you know I'm a book junkie, right?) Enjoy!
Wow. I just enjoyed reading everyone's recommendations. I've got to get going with my reading too. I'm starting the year with a big one (it's 3 books based on your rule), 11/22/63 by Stephen King, which diverges from the YA theme of this group so far. ;) Since I'm writing an alternate history, I was interested in King's take. It's been good so far. Happy New Year!
ReplyDelete