By Susanna Clarke
Read: December 2009
Rating: Engrossing
For the record, I am including this in the 2009 50Book list, because I read the vast majority of it during December. So there.
Mein gott, this has been sitting on my shelf since FOREVER. And it is one daunting brick of a book, too. Over 1000 pages in the paperback. [...]

Reviewed for the Feminist Review
By Alaya Dawn Johnson
Bolden
Racing the Dark is unique among fantasy books. The world draws upon Pacific Island and East Asian cultures to create a rich blend very different from fantasy canon—an island nation with an animist religion centering on sacrifice and binding. Though a young adult novel, Johnson is unafraid [...]

By Will Hartzell-Baird
Read: September 2009
Rating: Clever
Do you see that adorable little pyramid thing dusting the title on the book cover? You see that? That’s the most adorable killer robot you will ever see.  Its name is XR-36, but it secretly thinks of itself as Octavius. It can’t announce this because XR-36 is a highly desirable [...]

By Nancy Werlin
Read: June 2009
Rating: Excellent
There must have been some great turnover in the AuthorSphere. Newer YA writers–ie., books published after I stopped reading them (around age… 13?)–are clearly onto something. I mean, really, really onto something. It’s not just The Disreputable History. It’s How I Live Now and Libba Bray and Impossible. Cuz this [...]

By J.R. Ward
Read: April-May 2009
Rating: Cool
My mom got me hooked on these. She bought the whole Black Dagger Brotherhood series (1-6) and she immersed herself in them for about a week. Then she passed them on to me.
Good, solid books. Not perfect, but few things are. As a whole, the series is delicious. It’s smart, [...]

by Judith Lindbergh
Read: December 2008
Rating: Woah
I mean, seriously, woah. I’m still trying to sort out what I really think about this. I mean, it was good. It was really, really good. I can totally appreciate this as a writer, and an experienced reader. I’m not sure if that means its a good read, though… or [...]

By Anne Bishop
Read: September 2008
Rating: Nifty
I don’t know why the Tir Alainn books have sat unread for so long. I snapped the first one up because I love Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels books. Maybe I could sense that the Tir Alainn books aren’t up to the same standard. Still, I’m enjoying them.
Where Black Jewels is [...]

by Stephanie Rowe
Read: 2007/2008
Rating: Mostly fab
I didn’t realize I hadn’t blogged about any of these! They’re so much fun! I found the first one at the grocery store, and by the time I finally read it I was able to hop online and buy the next 3. Yes, they’re that good. I followed them. I [...]

By Philip Pullman
Read: August 2008
Rating: Disappointing
Gentle readers, it is a sad day for my bookshelf. I am usually very good about finishing the books I pick up, I hate stopping partway, unless they’re really trash. Even when something becomes mediocre, I see it through, if only to see how bad it gets. I got 2/3 [...]

By Philip Pullman
Read: August 2008
Rating: Intense
I totally missed the boat on this one. It’s a real shame, because I think I would have quite liked it at the time it was published, and I was just ten years old. At 22, I’m much more critical of some things, and less easy to impress in other [...]

By P.C. Cast
Read: First half of 2008.
Rating: Um?
The Smart Bitches have raved about two of PC Cast’s books so I figured she was a pretty safe bet. And it was really just… so-so. Entertaining, but not madly so. I don’t know what was wrong, per se, they just weren’t as good as they could’ve been. [...]

By Dan Hess
Books at Lulu.com
WWW: http://www.venisproductions.com/angelmoxie/
Read: February 2007
Rating: Qute
Genre: Magical Girl, Parody, Humor
Format: Four panels
Style: Grayscale
Published: In 3 volumes, or a compilation (link above)
If you always thought Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura were too saccharine, look no further. AM is not your typical Magical Girl comic. In fact, it’s a parody. Dan Hess took some [...]

By Faith Erin Hicks
URL: http://faith.rydia.net
Read: December ‘06-January ‘07
Rating: Spellbinding.
Genre: Supernatural, Supreme Good vs. Supreme Evil.
Format: Full page.
Style: Black, white, and watercolor grays for shading.
Published: Not yet, but I would buy it ASAP. (Hear that, Faith!?)
Bonus: It’s COMPLETE!!! No waiting! Wait–it’s over?!
It took me a while to get through this one [...]

By Piers Anthony
Rating: Frabjous
Read: approx. 1998 (age 12), reread August 2005.

I first read the Incarnations of Immortality when I was about 12, and I remember enough to know that I didn’t comprehend nearly as much as I will now, some 7 years later. (Yosh, has it really been that long?) I’ve reread this particular book [...]

By Diana Wynne Jones
Rating: Fantastic!
Read: June 2005

I’m a fan of Studio Ghibli, famous for the films Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Their latest creation is an adaption of Howl’s Moving Castle. I got a copy at the library and now I’m even MORE psyched to go see the movie.