book recommendations – Katie L. Carroll

If you use Goodreads, they do a nice end-of-year summary of the all the books you read in a given year (see my 2017 summary on Goodreads). They provide some fun stats on the books and your reading habits, including how many pages (15,327 for me) and books (50 for me, which was my goal–woohoo!) you read. These numbers don’t reflect the many, many, many picture books I read to the boys. I don’t keep track of that; it would be way too onerous.

That’s close to my 2016 numbers (48 books) and a little lower than my highest reading years. Having kids definitely takes away from my reading time, though nursing the baby have proven to be a bit of an equalizer because it gives me quiet time to read (I have both the Kindle and Nook apps on my phone, which is how I do most of my nursing reading).

If you set a yearly reading goal, Goodreads also let you know throughout the year how well you’re keeping up. It was consistently about 2 books behind schedule. I think that’s because I tend to read several books at one time (a book or two on my phone, perhaps one on another device, and print book). I finished up a couple of reads right at the end of the year to reach my goal.

Now for some notable reads (novels only, but I’m thinking about doing a picture book one as well…stay tuned). Let’s start with YA contemporary. The highly-acclaimed THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas lived up to the hype. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, it’s a brilliant read that is timely and classic at the same time. For me, though, it was the characters that put it over the top. It felt like they were real people. I also loved Karen M. McManus’s ONE OF US IS LYING. Pitched as THE BREAKFAST CLUB meets PRETTY LITTLE LIARS with four unreliable narrators, what else do you need to know to want to read this one? For a super sweet romance, WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI by Sandhya Menon hit all the right notes for me.

Of course I read some great fantasy this year as well. SIX OF CROWS and its follow-up CROOKED KINGDOM by Leigh Bardugo were brilliant heist novels set in a dark fantasy world that is super fun to read about but maybe wouldn’t be so fun to live in. JULIA VANISHES by Catherine Egan was another rich fantasy world full of persecuted witches. For an urban, paranormal fantasy, I really enjoyed HEART BLADE by Juliana Spink Mills. This one takes place in a world like ours but with demons and angels, and definitely had crossover appeal to the adult market.

In the historical fiction category, SALT TO THE SEA by Ruta Sepetys was beautiful and heartbreaking. It follows the tragedy of the refugees fleeing East Prussia at the of WWII and the sinking of the ship Wilhelm Gustloff.

For what might be considered a surprise pick for my favorite read of the year, I chose a non-fiction book: VINCENT AND THEO: THE VAN GOGH BROTHERS by Deborah Heiligman! Okay, maybe this shouldn’t have been a surprise. It’s about my favorite painter and the relationship he had with his brother…I’m a sucker for stories about siblings.

What were your favorite reads of the year?

It’s the second Monday of the month and that means a new Ripples in the Inkwell post! May was all about change (my post was about how change is hard at any age). June heralds the start of summer, so Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and I thought it would be fun to talk about summer/vacations. We’d love to read your posts on the theme; find out how to play along with the monthly meme HERE. And be sure to stop by Kai’s and Mary’s blogs to check out their posts.

When I knew the June #inkripples theme was summer/vacation, my first inclination was to talk about the last, horrible vacation I went on where we hated the (leaky, smelly, awful) rental house so much we left halfway into our trip. (The owner was quick to remind me that there was a no refund policy…jerk!) But summers and vacations are supposed to be about fun, so I started thinking about some of my favorite things to do while on vacation.

And, of course, one of those things is read. So here are a few summer reading recommendations, straight from you to me (partial blurbs pulled from Goodreads). I picked books that had a summer feel to them, whether they took place during the summer or because they fit the lovely category of beach reads. I’d love to hear your summer reading rec’s in the comments!

THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE by Jandy Nelson

“Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life – and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two.”

This is one of my favorite books of all time (and it you know anything about my personal life and how I started writing, you’ll understand why), so it pretty much ends up on every recommended list I create. But it fits this list especially because it takes place during the summer.

TWENTY BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler

“According to Anna’s best friend, Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there’s a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie–she’s already had her romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.”

This has a little bit of everything you want in a summer read: beach setting, forbidden romance, secrets and lies, and parties!

SUMMER SISTERS by Judy Blume

“In the summer of 1977, Victoria Leonard’s world changed forever—-when Caitlin Somers chose her as a friend. Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomed Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweeping her away to vacations on Martha’s Vineyard, a magical, wind-blown island where two friends became summer sisters…”

Judy Blume, Martha’s Vineyard, friends who are like sisters, and, um, Judy Blume! Do I even need to explain including this one? Didn’t think so.

WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart

“A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.”

This is one of those books you read and then want to immediately read again. The island setting screams summer, and the lies, oh, the lies!

CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO SUMMER VACATION by Tommy Greenwald

“Despite all attempts to avoid reading and extra work, Charlie Joe Jackson finds himself in a terrible dream he can’t wake up from: Camp Rituhbukkee (pronounced “read-a-bookie”)—a place filled with grammar workshops, Read-a-Ramas, and kids who actually like reading. But Charlie Joe is determined to convince the entire camp to hate reading and writing—one genius at a time.”

All the Charlie Joe Jackson books are great for young and young-at-heart readers. This one will keep you laughing all the way to summer camp!

PANIC by Lauren Oliver

“Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.”

This one will keep you up late into the summer night. My own teen summer nights did include some dangerous antics but none quite at this level.

THE MERMAID’S MIRROR by L.K. Madigan

“Lena has lived her whole life near the beach – walking for miles up and down the shore and breathing the salty air, swimming in the cold water, and watching the surfers rule the waves – the problem is, she’s spent her whole life just watching.”

My only fantasy book in the bunch (shocking, I know, but I tend to think of more realistic stories for beach reads). Love the setting of this book; it has just the right feel for summer.

In the interest of keeping this post manageable (cause I could go on and on and on when it comes to recommending books), I’ll stop here. So now it’s your turn. What’s on your summer reading list? What book(s) do you recommend for the perfect beach read?