Read by Michael Urie.

Talk about a one-two punch to the feels! I was not ready. Until I finished this novel, I didn't realize I had already read another Rowley novel, which also dealt with death. I could not stop reading this novel. Anyone who has ever felt love for a pet needs to read this novel. I felt such a connection to this character, especially since I have gone through a very similar experience. The way that Rowley gently introduces the situation and treats it with such gentle humor and sincerity strikes right to the heart. I truly fell in love with Lily and Ted. Urie's reading is wonderful - it's my second Urie book with an octopus - but he knows what he's doing. I laughed. I teared up. I might have to read it again at some point.

5/5

Quotes:

• "I have to be better about living in the not-knowing."
• "I guess I just don't have the killer instinct. Lily always makes fun of me when I want to be the wheelbarrow or the shoe. She considers these the game pieces of weak, feckless players. She always wants to be the cannon or the battleship or the 'shot glass' (I haven't had the heart to tell her she's been playing that piece upside-down and it's actually the thimble. She would be furious if she ever found out)."
• "I don't know where the rage first takes root - my heart, my gut, my brain, my soul - but it has been metastasizing over the four days since the octopus first came calling."
• "My heart sinks to depths normally reserved for my stomach and it becomes difficult to think or breathe."
• "Monday's always Monday, but at least it's the start of something new. Wednesday is 'hump day.' Thursday's almost Friday, and Friday brings the weekend, but Tuesday? Nada."
• "'Yours is, by far the harder lot, but mine is happening to me.'"
• "A heart is judged not by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others."

Read by Nile Bullock.

This is one that I want my students to read. It's straightforward in message - right there in the title. There is such tension that hits hard as you read very real scenarios for these young characters. It's not something I was unaware of but learning some of the measures that have to be taken in order to stay safe was eye-opening. The characters are well-written and the emotional plea is prevalent throughout the novel. I would like to see more novels for children from Buckmire - he has the perfect blend of blunt factual reality mixed in with sentiment.

5/5

Quotes:

• "[...] does the color of my skin dictate how much weight my words will hold for the rest of my life? 

#2 - Great Cities

Jemisin's work is brilliant. I'm almost angry at myself that I waited so long to read this second book in the duology, having loved THE CITY WE BECAME so much. Perhaps I knew this was the end of the story. In the author's note, Jemisin remarks upon almost not finishing this story and pushing through with sheer stubbornness. I am so very glad we got this closure; it's such a wonderful story full of fierce, unapologetic love for a world that does not always love us back. I half-wish there were more tales in this universe but I am more than satisfied with the tale we have. It's fantastic (in both senses of the word) and furious and fabulous. Needless to say, I loved it. 

5/5

Quotes:

• "Hinduism is full of 'demons,' but half of them are just gods having a bad day. As far as Padmini can tell, the same applies to Christian demons, who are supposed to be fallen angels. But Hindu demons don't run around trying to trick people into shady spiritual contracts; they mostly just start fights and kill people while obsessing over their own personal affairs. Christian demons really need to get a life." (16)
  
• "But gotta remember family ain't always the one you got born with. Real family's the people who are there when you need them." (215)
• "Every court is a horror movie setting at its core, where property matters more than human lives and justice gets measured in billable hours." (226)
  

Read by André Santana

I loved this book. There was something about it that reminded me of Susanna Clarke's Piranesi and a bit of A Christmas Carol. I don't know; the child in me responded to it. The writing is deceptively simple and appears heavy-handed but there is a delicate beauty to the story that sings. Moon is similar to Kacen Callender's other protagonists in their mix of fire and sugar. There's something about them that just draws the reader in and the world of the spirits is described in vivid color. It's an iron bar in a loaf of bread and one I would recommend to my students.

5/5

Quotes:

• "There are a lot of wishes in this world that people mistake for pearls. There are a few in your own world also."
  
• "Why do adults do that so much - laugh when something isn't really funny? Smile when they aren't really happy?"
  
• "[...]I can't hold the weight of life in this language that we humans have made with our hands and our tongues. I think we should create a new language; words that we can use to describe the feeling when you sit and breathe and grow an entire universe, blossoming and curling and dying in your chest. What is the word for that?"
  
• "And what about me? Maybe I'm just a piece of someone else's imagination. Maybe you are too. Hmmm."
  
• "Just because I'm younger than adults, I don't always have to be happy. Even when I'm sitting alone in my bedroom with nothing but myself and my four walls and my journals, I can't escape my head. There isn't any point."
  
• "Memories aren't real but they live inside my body anyway. I can feel the ache of them beneath my skin."
  

#20 - Inspector Gamache

I loved it. I mean, I always love Louise Penny's books. She has a knack for writing such wonderful characters. Although I missed the adventure happening in Three Pines, I was along for the ride as the wider political stage was set for disaster. She always keeps me guessing and it really had me on the edge of my proverbial seat near the end. I can't believe she still is able to create such intricate plots. This being a duology (The Grey Wolf and now The Black Wolf), it was an unusual deviation from her normal storytelling, though it still held all of her charm. The plot itself was terrifyingly close to real possibility. Many of the quotes that struck a chord were composed in notes of fear and warning. As a balm, I was happy to read her author's notes. Despite the darkness of many of her stories, Louise Penny just seems like someone I would want to know personally.

5/5

Quotes:

• "[...] was far from the first politician whose reins of power were around the necks of their citizenry." (30)
• "She knew that in refusing to name him, she was giving him more power than he deserved. More power over her. He'd become, inadvertently, not less than human but, in his anonymity, superhuman." (122)
• "The ludicrous happens every day. The unthinkable is made real not through rational thought, but feelings. We'll follow a charismatic leader if they tell us that we have a legitimate grievance. That they'll give us back our dignity. Our threatened way of life. If we follow them, our enemies will be vanquished and we'll be heroes. Who doesn't want to be part of something bigger than ourselves? Who doesn't want to be a hero? Even if it's all fabricated. When was the last time you read Animal Farm?" (133)
  
• "Good, reasonable people, and some idiots, were made to believe a life, then act in the most unconscionable way. Never, ever underestimate the power of social media, of groupthink [...] Or the power of toxic nationalism." (210)
• "Every group ever targeted, ever rounded up, refused to believe their neighbors could do it. Every people who found themselves under the thumb of a tyrant must wonder where it began, and how they didn't see it coming. And what moment they missed, when it could have been stopped." (223)
• "There doesn't have to be proof. Fear replaces facts." (229)
• "They're beating plowshares into swords." (314)
• "They'd happily trade freedom for safety. History had taught those in power that frightened people always did. Which made fear of an attack a far more effective weapon than any actual attack. And less messy." (322-323)
• "The less rational, the better. The point was not to engage brains but emotions. And emotions could be manipulated ridiculously easily." (329)
• "[...] sometimes we need to leave, so that a haven does not unintentionally become a prison." (372)