The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
Dragon Flight by Jessica Day George
July/August 2008 issue of Analog
General Winston’s Daughter by Sharon Shinn
Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Weighed in the Balance by Anne Perry
July 2008 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction
The Year’s Best Science Fiction 24th Annual Collection by Gardner Dozois
Ghosts Who Went to School by Judith Spearling
The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren by Wendy Tolliver
Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction July 2008
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
The dead and the gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Cicada Summer by Andrea Beaty
Ever by Gail Carson Levine
The Safe-Keeper’s Secret by Sharon Shinn

Sara Zarr,

I am talking to you when I say there are some writers who make me wonder if I will ever write anything that feels that perfectly real and true.

I finished Sweethearts this morning and cried and thought about how somehow it felt like this book, when I opened it, had turned out to have my own heart, still beating, wrapped up inside. It's not that I had similar experiences to Jenna's specifically, only that I felt like she was me, like her skin was just a mask over mine.

It also made me think to myself how funny it is that the books that are about transformation, discovering yourself, about true love, difficult decisions, finding the right path, negotiating social networks--are about young adults. Jenna is a teenager, sure, but if you think that because you're 30 something or 40 something or 50 something you aren't going to have your life turned upside and how to rethink everything and come back to yourself, well, you don't live in the world I do.

Small Favor by Jim Butcher
Year’s Best Fantasy 7 edited by David Hartwell
Breath and Bone by Carol Berg
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
Predators, Prey and other Kinfolk: Growing up in Polygamy by Dorothy Allred Solomon
Renegade’s Magic by Robin Hobb
A Castle of Air by Diana Wynne Jones
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
IGMS #8
The Sharing Knife Vol. 3: Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Curse of Addy McMahon by Katie Davis
Double Fudge by Judy Blume
Ender’s Game (again) by Orson Scott Card

A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz
Blood Rites by Jim Butcher
Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko
Magic’s Child by Justine Larbelestier
Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
Death Masks by Jim Butcher
White Night by Jim Butcher
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon
The Water Song by Suzanne Weyn
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Deadline by Christ Crutcher
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Micah by Laurel K. Hamilton

A Dish Taken Cold by Anne Perry
Shoulder the Sky by Anne Perry
No Graves as Yet by Anne Perry
A Christmas Visitor by Anne Perry
A Christmas Guest by Anne Perry
Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan
Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
Farthing by Jo Walton
Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz
The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
The Sweet, Far Thing by Libba Bray
A Christmas Secret by Anne Perry
Angels in the Gloom by Anne Perry
At Some Disputed Barricade by Anne Perry
We Shall Not Sleep by Anne Perry
Dark Assassin by Anne Perry
The Bar Code Rebellion by Suzanne Weyn
The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn
Ha’Penny by Jo Walton
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George
Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine
Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Storm Front by Jim Butcher

I read a lot more when I love the books I'm reading and can't put them down. This was one of those months where I just found a lot of books I loved!

Darcy’s Story by Janet Alymer
Gifted Grownups by Marylou Kelly Streznewski
Jane Austen: Her World by Marghanita Laski
Best Foot Forward by Joan Bauer
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles
Extras by Scott Westerfeld
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Right Behind You by Gail Giles
The Nixie’s Song by Holly Black
Beastly by Alex Flinn
Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley
Betrayal by Robin Wasserman
Truth by Robin Wasserman
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Devilish by Maureen Johnson
Magic or Madness by Justine Larbelestier
Magic Lessons by Justine Larbelestier
Flora Segunda by Ysabeau Wilce

Lots of great reads here!

One of the joys of being a writer is getting to meet other writers. Writers are just plain interesting people. And they also tend to be nice, usually fairly humble, and good talkers. After all, we spend all of our time using words, even if we're not around other people, and we all know what it is like to be rejected now and then.

I love to pick up books by writers I have met (either in person or on-line) and discover their words and their worlds in this other way. Often I am delighted. Sometimes I am amazed and enthralled. But every once in a while, I am disappointed. Or worse--completely unable to finish reading the book.

I hate this because if I liked someone, I want to be able to tell them how much I loved their book. And it makes life awfully awkward the next time you meet them and either have to pretend that you never read their book (thus making yourself look pretty self-absorbed) or that you read it and liked it. I'm not a particularly good liar. Or maybe I just don't like to lie. Anyway, it makes me squirm, so I am glad it doesn't happen often.

And no, I am not writing this because a writer friend of mine recently wrote a bad book. Quite the opposite. Although I love to read writer friend books, sometimes I open them with just a hint of anxiety, or even put off reading them for a bit because I'm not sure. This month, in fact, I have not read a single book that disappointed me, and that is about the best treat I can imagine. Christmas come early!

I have now finished watching Season 1 of Angel and Season 4 of Buffy. I am having lots of fun. I tend to watch while exercising in the morning, however, which makes it difficult if there is whispering going on. On the other hand, the silent episode was great.

I was talking to my husband enthusiastically about the shows the other day and telling him that I intended to steal everything I could from Joss Whedon, the writer. I did the same with Lost, which I thought did an incredible job of backstory, making it as interesting as the front story. I steal from pretty much every writer I read, which is why I think reading is so important. And the great thing about writing is that in fiction, it's called "influence," not stealing--and it's allowed!