#favorite books
Links are to my staff pick reviews on Avid Bookshop’s website
Thanks for tagging me, @wayfarers97! ( @the-forest-library, you’re up–favorite books of 2021!)
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Fiction
Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
In Other Landsby Sarah Rees Brennan
Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez
Take Me Home Tonight by Morgan Matson
Not Here to be Liked by Michelle Quach
Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson
The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
Graphic Novels
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen (this might be my favorite book of the year, if I had to pick a #1)
It’s Not What You Thought it Would Be by Lizzy Stewart
The Postman From Space by Guillaume Perrault
The Accursed Vampire by Madeline McGrane
Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illus. by Lisa Sterle
Shirley and Jamila’s Big Fall by Gillian Goerz
Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughn, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson
Lightfallby Tim Probert
Nonfiction
You Look Like a Thing and I Love You by Janelle Shane (but go check out Because Internetfirst!)
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
Birds, Art, Life, Death by Kyo Maclear
Picture Books
Ten Little Dumplings by Larissa Fan, illus. by Cindy Wume
Hamsters Make Terrible Roommates by Cheryl Klein, illus. by Abhi Alwar
When You Look Up by Decur
Sato the Rabbit, a Sea of Tea by Yuki Ainoya
Favorite YA Books of 2021
Favorite YA Books of 2021
Yes, there are a lot of books and yes, I do have another post with even more picks. I’m a very indecisive person…
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The Unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone…
-The Last Unicorn, Peter S Beagle
12 x 9" watercolor, gouache, ink, iridescent medium
Rating: ★★★★★
I was so pleasantly surprised by Daisy Jones & The Six. I thought this would just be a quick, light read that follows the trope you would think it would when thinking of a girl joining a rock band, but it was so much more (and better) than that. Immediately when I started reading I was intrigued by the interesting format of the book. The story is told in the style of an interview with the band members in present day as they all talk about their rise to fame and how the band came to fall apart in the 70’s.
What really hits the hardest in this book was the characters and how well rounded they were. The book heavily features addiction, temptation, love and subsequent heartbreak, dedication, and epitomizes the rock and roll ideal. The musical aspects of the story are told in enough detail to be understandable but not too much detail to confuse someone who isn’t as music-savvy.
The heartbreak and the cycles of addiction are something that really get through to you even through the interview style formatting; even without the present-tense body language you feel and understand it. This book really showcased desires vs. responsibility, dedication to becoming the person you want to be, the battles that you come across in the process.
The ending was both quietly tragic and satisfying in a way that made this book as good as it was.
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Saylor Rains
Find me and this review on Goodreads.
y’all
I’m cryin
it confounds me that so many people care what my little nerdy self puts out to this hellsite, but you’re here and I love every single one of you for it
thank you to everyone who has ever supported my writing, you all have made me feel so loved and so special.
I have been on a bit of a writing hiatus, and I’m not sure when I’ll get back to it. to anyone who requested a fic, I’m sorry that I’m just not in the right space to be writing right now, life is too crazy and I have virtually no free time on my hands (I’m literally typing this on my break at work)
i still want to be present on here for the friendships I’ve established, so I’m not going anywhere, but writing will likely not be coming anytime soon and if it does it’ll be spur of the moment
that being said, I love all 1200 of you with my whole heart, don’t doubt that for a minute. mamawheeze is still here ✌️
NOW
while I don’t have any super special event planned, I do wanna celebrate a little. so if you’re still reading by this point, THANK YOU and LETS HAVE SOME FUN
- ask me anything about tv/movies - give me a rec, ask for a rec (bonus points if you tell me what kind of stuff you’re into), or just ask opinions on different things
- just ask me anything about music, making it or listening to it, OR send me a number 1-100 and I’ll give you my corresponding song from my top songs of 2021
- ask me anything about books - ask for what I’m reading or what I’ve recently read, or ask for a book rec (letting me know what you like to read will help me pick one for you)
AGAIN, i love all of you so very much ❤️
“I don’t see what’s so triffic about creating people as people and than gettin’ upset ‘cos they act like people,” said Adam severly. “Anyway if you stopped tellin’ people it’s all sorted out after they’re dead, they might try sorting it out while they’re alive.”
Terry Pratchett & Neil Gainman, Good Omens
“Here it is, a book that represents the wholeness that I built after everything toppled.”
Little Weirds, Jenny Slate
“You are who you are, whether you like it or not, so why not like it?” —Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
Post link
The world is out there, and it’s waiting for you.
I love this! The King of Broken Things.
“Writing stories is a kind of magic, too.” - Cornelia Funke, Inkheart
GUILTY.
Countdown - My Favorite Reads of 2020 - 4, 3, 2…1!
Countdown – My Favorite Reads of 2020 – 4, 3, 2…1!
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
This mythical, epic American opus follows the lives of brother and sister Maeve and Danny Conroy. They spin through their mansion feeling as if nothing in the world can hurt them, and it can’t, until their mother leaves. They soon learn that their father cares more about his work in real estate, and the buildings that represent his work than he does about anything…
“Sometimes, even when you start with the last page and you think you know everything, a book finds a way to surprise you.”
- Emily Henry, Book Lovers
Oh my gods. It’s huge. I know it’s a bad idea to start this book now because I won’t be able to stop… but I need to know what’s going on.
“take me to the book that you wish you could reread for the first time”
[Video transcript:
Narrator: Take me to the book you wish you could reread for the first time.
Claire [white person with gray hair in purple jacket, pronouns she/her]: (laughs) I love that question!
Christine [black person with black bandana and orange shirt, pronouns they/them]: sure!
Rosie [white person in patterned dress with black cardigan, pronouns she/they]: oo…
Amy [white person in brown cardigan and blue shirt, pronouns she/her]: okay!
Claire: not done yet! [runs off to find another book].
Claire: (sighs) I loved both of these books so much. [holds up a book titled The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner] This is The Thief. You read the whole book, you love the whole book, and the author does this revelation at the end that you go: what?! How did she do that!
Claire: [holds up a book titled Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein] Code Name Verity, also a fabulous book, set in World War II. This is a person who’s been captured by the Nazi’s and forced to write out a confession. And she also handles that amazing trick where you get to the end and you’re like: “what??” And you have to go right back to the beginning and start over again. I so wish I could experience these revelations again for the first time.
Rosie: [holds up a book titled Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch] Alright, this is Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch. If you’re a queer person, you probably have at least three friends who want to start a commune in the woods. This book is about a group of queer women who actually start living off the grid in Appalachia. It has the most, like, fiercely tender writing about found family and subverting family structures that I’ve ever read. I read this book a few years ago, I’m still thinking about it.
Christine: [holds up a book titled More Than This by Patrick Ness] Ah, this book would have to be More Than This by Patrick Ness. Um, it’s really hard to explain without giving it all away, but it’s essentially a kid who accidentally dies and wakes up in a coffin in a desolate world, not knowing what’s going on, and it’s just - you’re in for a huge roller coaster, it’s so much fun.
Amy: [holds up a book titled Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood] I wish I could read Alias Grace again. Um,it’s about a girl who is accused and convicted of killing her employers, but she has no memory of what happened. And so she’s being interviewed to try to figure out what happened, and it’s just every time she starts the story it’s a little bit different and the facts don’t line up so it’s an unreliable narrator. Um and you just - you get to the end and you’re still, your - your brain is just, “what happened?” It’s fascinating, it’s amazing, and they made it into a Netflix series so you should definitely check it out.
Claire: I’ll take that!
Amy: ok!
End Transcript]
