Top Ten of Twenty Sixteen

Welcome Twenty Seventeen!

This year, I read 55 books. That's actually quite a bit less than I read last year, so I'm taking some time to reflect on what worked (and what didn't) as I plan my reading resolutions for 2017. You can read more about those on the blog next week!

As always, these are some of my most highly-rated books, and come to you in no particular order. 

I'd love to hear some of your top picks from 2016 in the comments if you'd like to share!

The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell

You know a book is good when you cannot stop talking about it. I've raved about The Year of Living Danishly to anyone willing to listen, and even talked a few of my coworkers into reading it too. Now we all gush about the Danish way of life. I am the type of person who thinks a lot about quality of life and how to improve my own, and this book actually gave me a few great ideas for finding that balance between work and personal life (spoiler: teachers rarely find that balance). Not to mention, I'd jump at the chance to relocate to Denmark, where quality of life is the driving focus for the entire population. You can read more of my thoughts here.

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

If you like mysteries and have not yet started Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache novels, then all I have to say to you is "What are you waiting for?!?"

The Beautiful Mystery is the eighth in the series and I think it's the best of them all, though I want to be clear in saying that this is the best mystery series I have ever (ever) read, so all of the books are great in their own right. I started this series over the summer and have been raving about it since. Even if you aren't a mystery lover, I would still recommend it to you. Worth a try, I promise.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

I didn't read many classics this year (oops), but this 1938 gothic novel was one of the best books I read and continue to think about. I'm sure there are other reviewers who could put it into words better than I can, but it's haunting and mysterious and the character of Mrs. Danvers is unforgettable.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

I have yet to speak with a reader who read Outlander and didn't love it. The only intimidation of it is the size of each book in the series. I flew through this first one in just a few days over the summer (when reading for five hours at the beach was possible) and went immediately to the bookstore to pick up the next two. These are books that you want to be fully immersed in, and I find the mix between historical fiction and fantasy to be perfectly captivating.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I read this in two days with no interruptions, thanks to a seaside vacation. It was beautifully written. Definitely a reading experience that I highly recommend, if you're interested in more serious historical fiction or stories from WWII.

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley

This is a new-to-me series that I fell in love with this year. The vibrant cover is what first caught my eye at the library, but the story inside was just as mesmerizing. I'm looking forward to reading the second in the series in 2017.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

How interesting is it that I have been a reader for twenty years and had not yet read Anne of Green Gables until this year? Looking back on it, I'm sad for all of those years I spent without the influence of Anne Shirley. I love this book so much that I read it twice just this year (once in paperback, once through audible -- I highly recommend the Rachel McAdams narration) and loved it equally both times. Tears were shed, giggles escaped, and I can't help but dream of my own little Green Gables.

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Though I read this in childhood, I rediscovered it this year in an effort to read more children's classics. This is another one that I both read and listened to through audible. I love the level of writing in it -- sophisticated, and with the best closing line in all of literature (well, maybe except for Ulysses) -- and my students loved Templeton's character ("He's so rude!"). We celebrated finishing the book by watching the 1973 animated film and I loved how closely the film stuck to the dialogue of the book. 

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

I don't read a lot of young adult literature (something I'm attempting to branch out in next year), but this was a really fascinating read that mixed mystery and sci-fi with a classic villain character. Highly recommended for those who enjoy Marvel-esque stories. I'm looking forward to reading more of Schwab's work in 2017.

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

I'm doing something unprecedented here -- I'm adding a book to my top ten for the second year in a row. The Tale of Despereaux easily holds a spot in my top three books of all time, and I swear it doesn't feel like a children's book when I'm reading it. The theme of dark and light, or chiaroscuro, has stayed with me and has had a profound impact on the way that I both interpret characters by other authors and try to write my own. If you haven't read this yet, put it at the top of your list for 2017. 

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What made it to the top of your list in 2016?

You can find my top ten lists from past years here:

Twenty Thirteen

Twenty Fourteen

Twenty Fifteen

Children's Review: Piper Green and the Fairy Tree: The Sea Pony

{on Goodreads}

You may remember my excitement last summer when I discovered a new favorite in children's chapter book series. Piper Green is a spunky, sassy, tell-it-like-it-is kinda girl, and that makes her my kind of character. So when the latest in the Piper Green and the Fairy Tree series was announced I was more than happy to take a sneak peek at it so I could warn you that this is a book you should be buying for all the young readers in your life when it's released on August 16th. You can read my review of the first two books in the series here. 

In this adventure, Piper is feeling a little jealous. When she sees that another girl on the island is getting a pony, she hopes that her friends in the fairy tree will grant her wish. But does she get a pony? No! All she gets its a whistle. Then one day, while Piper is helping her dad with their lobster traps, her whistle comes in handy in unexpected ways. I loved that in this installment Piper was dealing with some emotions that we all experience -- and that her mistakes will help young readers to realize that everyone feels both positive and negative emotions. It also encourages readers to realize that when you keep an open mind great things can happen! I highly recommend this for readers in the 2nd-4th grade age-range, and I think it would make a great bedtime read aloud as well!

P.S. If you're a teacher looking for classroom ideas, my friend Lorraine has some great classroom connections to go along with this text!

Bottom Line Rating: 5/5

Title: Piper Green and the Fairy Tree: The Sea Pony

Author: Ellen Potter

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Expected Publication Date: August 16th, 2016

Price: Pre-order on Amazon for only $5.99

ISBN: 0553499327

Format: e-book

Source: Netgalley

My Spring Break Reads

Since beginning my full-time semester of student teaching, my reading habits have changed pretty significantly. I have less time to read (and sometimes feel guilty when I prioritize reading over schoolwork or planning), so I've developed a more selective attitude towards books. I want my reading time to be spent with quality stories, so I've become more particular in my picks and quicker to abandon a book when it's not working for me.

Over the course of my spring break vacation I finally had the chance for some completely uninterrupted reading. We went down to St. Simons Island in Georgia for a full five days of sun, sand, and salt water (all of my favorite things). If you're looking for a relaxing vacation in a gorgeous setting, I highly recommend the island! 

I mentioned on Instagram that I had been saving Anthony Doerr's Pultizer Prize-Winning All the Light We Cannot See for this particular trip, and I am so glad that I did. I had heard (from just about everyone who's read it) that it was a favorite, so I wanted to be able to fully immerse myself in the setting. I spent two days parked in a beach chair while I sped through the book, and rather than reviewing the book, I'm going to just chime in with every other reader and insist that you put it on your list. Not only was the story captivating and heartbreaking (everything that you want in a WWII novel), it was also just so beautifully written. I stopped countless times to reread sentences and just appreciate the way that Doerr put them together. This book was a definite 5-stars, and you can count on seeing it on my Top Ten list for this year.

After I completed All the Light We Cannot See, I wanted to move on to another book but found myself hesitant to pick one because, well, not much is going to measure up to that. My mom had brought along The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins for her beach read, so the day after I finished All the Light I borrowed it from her. I read it in an afternoon and thought it was an excellent thriller. I guessed the wrong culprit (more than once) and felt that the ending was just superb. The suspense was high and I got so involved in the book that I wound up getting a pretty bad sunburn from failing to move for the entire 5 hours that it took me to read (Oops!) but it was worth it. I definitely recommend it for a vacation read (and I really liked the juxtaposition of the very serious All the Light with the suspense of The Girl on the Train -- they turned out to be an excellent pair). 

Because I've had a habit of reading each night before bed for, well, my entire life, I brought along my Kindle as well (tip for traveling with others -- Kindles are great for night-time because you can use the backlight to read while your travel buddies sleep peacefully in the dark!). So while I was reading more modern and popular books during the day, I was spending nights with Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. I haven't finished it yet, but I do love the story so far (and found myself chatting about what a scoundrel a certain character is to my mom) and I'm going to continue reading it now that I'm home. I love that feeling of checking off a highly-anticipated book from my to-read list, and this vacation allowed me to do that more than once. Plus, having no agenda was probably the nicest feeling in the world. I feel totally refreshed and ready to hit the ground running -- and with only three weeks until graduation and eight more weeks of school, that marathon feeling is exactly what I'm expecting. Here's to a busy spring!

Happy Reading!

-Madeleine-

Author Interview: I.J. Brindle, Author of Balthazar Fabuloso in the Lair of the Humbugs

Greetings from my new favorite spot! I'm currently soaking up the sunshine and spending my days buried in a book while lounging on an island off the coast of Georgia, and let me tell you, I am loving it. You can keep up with my vacation reads on Instagram (@topshelftext), if you're so inclined.

This week I'm bringing you something new: an author interview! I.J. Brindle's new middle grade fiction novel, Balthazar Fabuloso in the Lair of the Humbugs, debuts on May 1st. I am always looking for new fiction to recommend to my students, and I jumped at the chance to read a book that I thought looked both funny and appealing to boy readers -- who are, let's face it, the hardest to find good books recommendations for. Balthazar is one of those quirky books that will appeal to readers who like sassy characters and absolutely ridiculous plots. Balthazar's family is eccentric, to say the least -- they perform wacky magic shows for a living -- but here's the real trick: the magic that they "perform" is actually real. That's right, every one of them has a particular power, that is, except for Balthazar. At the age of 11, it looks like he'll just turn out to be an ordinary kid. One day, in the middle of a performance, Balthazar's entire family disappears without rhyme or reason. It's up to him to save them, and the task set out before him seems nothing if not overwhelming for a kid without any magic. I can see this appealing to my students who are super hard to find books for, and I'd simply recommend it as a crazy adventure. I will say that there were a few points in the book that made me cringe -- jokes that I thought were in bad taste, or things that I found too inappropriate for my fourth graders. For that reason, I'd highly recommend this for those on the older end of the middle grade age group (11 and up), or for readers who are a bit more mature.

Now that you know the premise of the book, let's have a chat with I.J. Brindle!

What was the inspiration behind the book?

My first inspiration was this experience I had in seventh grade. I was staying in Quebec with a host family on some kind of a school exchange trip and they were nice and it was my first time away from home and their house smelled different from my house and the room I was staying in was really different from my room so I couldn’t really sleep. So instead, I spent all my nights reading this classic fantasy series I had with me. I absolutely loved it, but it left me with this out-of-sorts feeling. In part because I was homesick and sleep deprived, but also I couldn’t stop thinking about how, as much as I loved the world I was reading about, it was this somewhere-else world I would never, in real life, get to be a part of, and as much as I admired the hero, he was this mystical prodigy super-magic-genius that I would never be. I wanted a book that showed the possibility of the magic I often felt just floating beneath the surface of my own quirky, random, everyday life. So I wrote to try to do that for the seventh-grade me and for anyone else who ever gets that feeling.

It was also inspired by my firstborn, Theo, who believed in this book before it existed and grilled me about all the little nonexistent details until they became real, and by my sister, Mary, who has been drawing in sketchbooks since before I could scribble and who had the best knife collection, comic book collection and taxidermy animal collection of any kid in St. Catharines.

What makes this book special to you? What important message do you feel it brings to young readers?

A fancy-pants Russian novelist once wrote “any instant of life if deeply enough probed becomes a doorway to infinity.” I believe this idea holds true for people as well as instants.

I would love it if young readers came away from this book being a bit more aware of the incredible power that lies in being deeply true to who you are, even if it’s not who anyone else wants you to be and even if you’re not even quite sure what that is yet.

What inspired you to write, and when did you know you would become an

author?

I think the first clue I would become a writer was in preschool when I used to horrify unsuspecting adults by spicing up stories about my life with alarming details I borrowed off the news. Back then they called it lying. Then somewhere along the line I figured out if I did the same thing but called it fiction, I could have the same kind of fun without the scolding after. I always planned to become an author at some point—and also to buy an island that I'd specifically set aside for authors and readers. I'm still working on the island part.

What advice do you have for aspiring young writers?

Read lots, watch carefully and be real—especially when you’re making stuff up.

***

If you're interested in pre-ordering a copy of Balthazar Fabuloso in the Lair of the Humbugs before its release on May 1st, you can get a copy here on Amazon, or if you'd like to read an excerpt (and see the CCSS connections), you can view the publisher's listing here.

A big thank you (and congratulations on this first novel) to I.J. Brindle, and also to the fun and friendly team at Holiday House Books, who were kind enough to send a copy to Top Shelf Text! (Please note that all opinions are my own, and have not been influenced by my partnership with Holiday House Books).

I'm off to soak up some more of that sunshine!

Happy Reading!

-Madeleine-

 
  



Currently Coveting {April}

April is going to be an extremely busy month around here -- but busy in a good way. I'll be taking over the classroom in my student teaching placement, launching my very own literacy unit (details to come!) and jet setting for a week of pure relaxation at the resort where my brother has been interning. Needless to say, I am so happy that April is here. Since I'll be taking a week to lay on the beach and indulge in my to-read list, I'm queuing up a few books to take with me! First on the list is this Pulitzer Prize winner, which just about everyone has raved about since it first debuted in 2014. I'm still considering other candidates to tuck into my suitcase, including my finds for April below...

The Rivals of Versailles by Sally Christie // I read and loved the first in this series before it's debut over the summer. I remembered recently that the second in the series was due out in April so I immediately pre-ordered the second. Not only are the covers beautiful, the historical detail is rich and the stories are almost too scandalous to believe, but the history behind it all is true! If you're a fan of historical fiction, I highly recommend looking into this series (this second installment came out just yesterday)!

America's First Daughter by Stephanie Drat & Laura Kamoie // I've been re-reading this middle grade historical fiction novel about the children that Thomas Jefferson had with one of his slaves. It casts Martha Jefferson Randolph in a not-so-positive light, and I'm curious to read a different account of her life as the daughter of a founding father.

Salt by Mark Kurlansky // I've realized that my interest in non-fiction mostly centers around small details in history. I stumbled across this account of how salt -- something that seems so unassuming --  has shaped the history of humanity. Definitely worth checking out at the library this month.

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma // This sounds like the sweetest memoir. A girl and her dad make a deal, that he'll read to her every night for 100 nights. When the 100 nights are up, neither of them want the tradition to come to an end. They continue until the day she leaves for college, and here she writes about the many books and life lessons that she learned from that time together. 

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What are you looking forward to reading this month?

Happy Reading!

~Madeleine~

Review: The Empress of Bright Moon

{on Goodreads}

It's safe to say that historical fiction is my favorite genre. I love getting lost in other times and places, and I love the knowledge that I ultimately gain from immersing myself in different time periods. Right now, my fourth graders are working on writing their own historical fiction stories, and going through that writing process with them has helped me to appreciate the enormous task of crafting a well-written historical fiction novel. The Empress of Bright Moon is one of those novels that I've told my students about during this process because while reading it, I was fully immersed and caught up in every moment/emotion. I mentioned before that I generally lean towards European stories, but I've found myself increasingly interested in historical fiction set in Asia, so I jumped at the chance to read The Empress of Bright Moon. 

The story follows Mei, a former talent (aka concubine) to an elderly emperor, after she is exiled from the palace when her lover, the son of the emperor, comes into power. She is transported to a buddhist monastery, where she is expected to live the rest of her days in quiet contemplation. Mei defies her exile, however, when she hears that Pheasant (her lover and the now emperor) is visiting a nearby monastery. There, they are reunited, and he brings her back to the palace. Throughout the years of his rule, Mei has to navigate the dangers of court. Not only does Pheasant's regent uncle constantly undermine his power, he has teamed up with Pheasant's wife, who wants nothing more than for Mei to disappear. The story is based upon true events, and Mei eventually goes on to become the only empress of China. 

Here's what I loved about this book: sometimes in historical fiction, knowing the actual history can ruin the book. In this case, knowing that Mei becomes empress did nothing to mitigate the tension that I felt while reading. There were times when things seemed to be going so well for her, but during those parts I had the uneasy feeling that it was all too good to be true. And most of the time, it was. The story contains love, incredible heartbreak, and the kinds of intrigue and backstabbing that only comes with being royalty. Mei herself was a great character: she was headstrong, clever, fiercely loyal, protective, and, like many of the women in history that I admire, an excellent ruler. 

I will mention that I read this without having any idea that it was the second in a duology. This novel is actually the sequel to The Moon in the Palace, which I hadn't read before, but I absolutely think it can be read on its own. I did enjoy it quite a bit, so I have put the first in the duology on my to-read list. If you're interested in rich historical fiction, I'd definitely recommend giving this a try when it's released on April 1st. There's still time to get the pre-order price on Amazon!

Bottom Line Rating: 4/5

Title: The Empress of Bright Moon (Empress of Bright Moon #2)

Author: Weina Dai Randel

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark, 2016
Expected Publication Date: April 1, 2016

Price: $15.99 (post-release price)

ISBN: 1492613592

Format: e-book

Source: Net Galley

Note: Top Shelf Text was provided with a copy of this text by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!

A Reader's Dilemma

Earlier this year, I picked up The Cuckoo's Calling after owning it for several months. I was looking for a good mystery (these have been my favorite recently) and of course I had high expectations for the book, considering its author. I felt that I was a prime candidate for enjoying it, because not only do I regularly read mysteries, but I've been a fan of JK Rowling since I was about nine years old.

Would I have bought this book if I hadn't known that Robert Galbraith was a pseudonym of hers? There's really no way to tell, but I do tend to seek out lesser-known series so it's certainly a possibility. I've read the Harry Potter series more times than I can count, and -- despite the difficult transition away from Harry Potter -- I did really like Rowling's The Casual Vacancy when it came out a few years ago. So I had high hopes for this one when I started reading it.

My usual marker for judging whether or not I like a book is around the 100 page mark. In this case, I got to that point and was feeling so.incredibly.bored. Not a single thing had happened to draw in my interest, and I wasn't particularly fond of (or even motivated to learn more about) any of the characters. I posted this image on Instagram expressing my boredom and disappointment. Don't get me wrong here, JK is without a doubt my favorite author of all time. I love her writing style and think that she has immense talent, but I didn't see any of that come through. I wasn't captured in the way that I have been in reading her work before.

I put the book down (but haven't yet moved it to the donate pile), and was glad that I picked out a new one. I listened to this episode of my favorite podcast (you can read about how much I love the podcast in general here) about the book and I thought that their guest host, Margaret, did a great job expressing my same feelings/concerns in a much more eloquent way. (But be warned, the episode contains spoilers so if you're interested in reading the book, tread carefully.)

So, there's the dilemma. As an avid reader and lifelong fan of Rowling, do I continue to read this book, hoping that it will eventually hook me and I'll come to appreciate that slow beginning? Or do I move on to read one of the thousands more books that are worthy of my attention and waiting to be read? As a reader, what do I owe this author? A second chance? The benefit of the doubt? Or, as her use of a pseudonym suggests in the first place, do I merely judge this book as I would any other?

Are you one to always finish a book, or do you only continue reading what interests you?

Happy Reading!
-Madeleine-