Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Road Trip Wednesday--Best Book of October

Time for Road Trip Wednesday again! My how the time does fly. 

This week's topic: 
What was the best book you read in October?

This is always such a hard prompt--during the school year, I read like a maniac because of my commute (see my blog title!) so I average something like ten books a month.  A little more when I'm reading a steady diet of average-length YA fiction, a little less when I'm reading epics (the Eragon series took me a month or more--and it was so long ago now that I fear I have to re-read it when the fourth book is released!) or denser work.

This month, I finished the Luxe series (so much fun!) and inducted myself into the Malcolm Gladwell fan club after reading What the Dog Saw, Blink, and Outliers (we own The Tipping Point because Mr. S is a big non-fiction reader, but it has vanished into the stacks for the time being so I haven't read that one yet.)  

But even though both of those projects were pretty enjoyable, I would have to say that my favorite October book is Chime by Franny Billingsley.

OOPS--wait a minute--let me consult my records--no, actually, my favorite book of the month was Shine, by Lauren Myracle!  How could I have ever confused those two?  

Sorry, sorry, couldn't resist.  I actually did read Shine, just a day or two before all the National Book Award mess started.  I really loved it--there are obvious similarities to Speak, which I also love, but I love Shine's focus on the community.  It helped me get invested in the other characters so that the ultimate reveal kind of broke my heart.  I am so excited to read Myracle's latest, Kissing Kate, and I think she's really cool for turning a crummy situation into something really positive.   In short: moving, suspenseful, book, with a realistic and lovable protagonist, and an awesome author. 

That said--Chime sounds pretty good.  It will probably be joining my TBR pile soon.  Billingsley certainly can't be blamed for any of this, so there's no reason not to take this as an excuse to pick up a new book!

5 comments:

  1. They all sound like great reads! I added Kissing Kate to my list based on a review, and I've heard so much awesome buzz about Chime! I wonder if my dining room table will buckle with all these new books!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hilarious. Kate Myracle's grace through all this has sold me on all her books and the ones to come. It's amazing how an author can do that by how she/he handles a rough situation. I'm still waiting for Shine to arrive at my front door and I can't wait to read it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My TBR pile just completely toppled. I have way too many books to read (not that that's a bad thing, right?). Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have been slacking on my NF reads lately. I've read some essays by Gladwell but none of his books--I should fix that!

    ReplyDelete
  5. HA! I'm so glad you enjoyed SHINE---I'm definitely planning on picking up a copy. I hadn't heard of it until the NBA fiasco, so at least some good publicity and interest came from all that. (Oh and I'm planning to read CHIME too, so hopefully in the long run everyone wins!)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for coming by! Please chime in!