This book is gorgeous. It grapples with a lot of heavy questions, especially for middle grade. It‘s in the tradition of The Giver, but it deals with emotion, sacrifice, and loss in a very different way. This is a book I know I‘ll be coming back to.

This is one of those books I‘m always going to be thinking about. It‘s incredibly well-researched, and the characters are so vivid. It does so much with a lot of themes I love: time, names, intergenerational trauma. One storyline is set during the AIDS crisis in mid 1980s Chicago, and the other is set in Paris in 2015. It‘s a gorgeous book, and I can‘t wait to reread it.

The premise (novelist and exhausted mother is mistaken for a contract killer) sounded so fun, but the book is just fine. The tone is breezy but I didn‘t find it funny, and I found Finlay really irritating. It was mildly entertaining. I just wish it had been funnier and that Finlay hadn‘t come across as being so mean as she did to me.

A collection of his New Yorker articles. I‘m a fan of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, and these stories have the in depth investigation and humanizing, engaging storytelling that those books do. If you like long form pieces about criminals and scammers, check this book out. Then read his books!

I was a little let down by this book. There was a lot I liked about it—the premise and the relationships between Shara and the other characters were really interesting, for example. I think what stopped me from loving the book was that I found the main character too off-putting and I don‘t think she changed enough. I love unlikeable characters, but I had a hard time connecting with this one.

100% dead on description of my relationship to Boston

Glad to be back on this app after forgetting about it for like two years. This is the third Inspector Gamache novel I‘ve read this week (4th total—February break is amazing), and I liked this one a lot. The ending felt kind of cheap to me, but I trust the author to be curious about where she‘ll take the characters from there.

Cath‘s aesthetic is my aesthetic.

This year I‘m going to try to meet this goal without needing to read 20 books in December.

YA: 4; MG: 3; Total: 10; Favorite: Turtles All The Way Down

Books I read last week, thanks to not having any classes to teach.

“She didn‘t used to be a cosmic phenomenon, but something happens to people when they become teenagers and their brains explode.”

It‘s kind of goofy and the writing is serviceable, but if you like cozy mysteries with receipes, pick this up.

Going to a wedding in Miami the weekend before grades are due => slightly hysterical literature circle grading at 8:30 at night

This is my favorite John Green book already. If it stays this level, it might be in my top five in general.

Terrifying look at the extreme conservative donors pushing their agenda on the country. I knew this was happening, but I didn‘t realize the full systematic extent of it. Very thorough and a solid read.

Sadly not a big reading month.

Any book that starts with a Brandeis quote gets an instant warm feeling from me.

Anyone want to beta read a YA cozy mystery about high school debate with biracial, LGBTQA, Muslim, and Asian main characters? I‘m at the point in this draft where I‘m remembering how much easier writing was when I wrote theatre and was constantly collaborating.

This book has a lot going on, involving issues relating to gender identity, dealing with immigrant parents, sexual orientation, bullying, sexual assault, and abortion. As a result, it‘s a pretty intense read, and is very much more of a high school YA than a middle school one.

Full review: http://mrskaoreads.com/book/girl-mans-up/

This book is amazing and now I‘m going to read the whole series.

This is what it‘s like to teach brown 11 year olds in 2017. Every time I hear the latest horrible/crazy thing this administration has done, I worry about the impact on my kids.

Breathe out. Scream later.

@LeeRHarry your #hyggeswap package arrived and I love it! Been planning on reading this book, and I‘m excited to ise the tea and stickers! I love the Australian touches. Thank you!!!

Hillary Clinton has my fashion mantra and packs the way I do.

I had a short conversation with my role model today.

This is a heartfelt look at growing up with a sibling with disabilities–one that doesn‘t gloss over the resentment and jealousy that can occur when a 12 year old has spent much of her childhood expected to make sacrifices because of her sibling.

Full review: http://mrskaoreads.com/book/rules/

September books. Paper Girls was no question the favorite.

1. Plan
2. 5 star
3. Harry, because HP sass is amazing, & then I can hang with his more interesting friends.
4. I've been agonizing over a hypothetical Rainbow Rowell tattoo for months, so clothes (less stressful).
5. 1st half

Taught sick today so this was perfect. I've been meaning to read Louise Penny, and I'm excited for the Agatha Christie themed book. I'm going to have to eat the cookie before my husband does 🙄Thank you so much, @Avanders ! Gonna drink my new tea and grade #letsgetcozy

A modern society in which demons grant wishes in exchange for physical body parts fits perfectly with contemporary America. The book is focused on Dee, but it does touch on the larger ramifications of living in such a society–the rumors about celebrities and what they may have traded; the fascination around having a prosthetic; the rules the demons lay out to earn humans‘ trust.

Full review: http://mrskaoreads.com/book/the-hearts-we-sold/

@Avanders tagged me! #topfivefavs

Do you like female friendships, diverse protagonists, badass middle school girls, dinosaurs, some kind of future inter-generational war, and time travel? The answer is yes, so you need to read all 3 volumes of Paper Girls immediately. It is the comic book series you didn't realize you have needed your entire life.

Monty starts out behaving badly, sure, but he changes over the course of the story, and gets called out multiple times. His obliviousness to the challenges Percy faces feels believable and speaks to character. Percy‘s repeated attempts to distance himself from Africans who were not raised as British is fascinating, and I wish that had been explored more.

Full review: http://mrskaoreads.com/book/the-gentlemans-guide-to-vice-and-virtue/

This is what back to school month looks like, sadly. On top of writing a new 40k word draft. September will be better!

Ahh my #letsgetcozy package arrived today!!! Mailing mine out in a few days--still waiting on an item. I love how many of us are reusing OwlCrate boxes.

My Leadership students are so close to getting a great collection of LGBTQA books for the resource center they're creating and running! We have no resources for our middle schoolers, so my students are pulling this resource center together from nothing.

Any little bit helps: https://www.donorschoose.org/project/fight-hate-with-a-middle-school-lgbtqa-r/27...

Reading a bunch of Asian/Taiwanese American stuff as research for the current novel (half-Taiwanese protagonist) and the YA about Taiwan/Taiwanese-America that's been percolating.

The book often veered into melodrama–which, given the story, could have been really fitting, but instead was so over-the-top it pulled me out. The parts of the story told from Thorn‘s point of view were the most ridiculous. The story would have been served better if we had experienced the mystery along with Rune, instead of knowing so much about Thorne and the Phantom.

Full review: http://mrskaoreads.com/book/roseblood/

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway & was very excited about it. It's ridiculous, but the characters are amazingly written, and it deals with so many fascinating issues. My husband is Taiwanese, so I loved how culturally specific it is. The exploration of the relationship Taiwanese-Americans have to Taiwan and China is so great to see.

#20factsaboutme post 2

#20factsaboutme post 1

Ok caught up now.

Fell behind in posting reviews so trying to get caught up, sorry for all the posts!

This book is crazy fun. The narrative tone of the book is hilarious without distracting from the characters and story, and it subverts so many tropes in a creative way. Despite that, it's not jokey or gimmicky--there's solid character work and genuine emotion, and the specificity in description is great. The concept and humor is a selling point, but not the main feature. I love that an LGBTQA Latina is at the center of the story, too.