31:120 The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson

The first in The Familiars series following the adventures of Aldwyn the cat, Skylar the bird, and Gilbert the frog who are the familiars of three student wizards.  Aldwyn has just been taken in as Jack's familiar when the three young wizards are kidnapped to keep them from fulfilling a prophecy to stop the new evil that has entered Vestria.  It's up to Aldwyn and his friends to try and find their Loyals and save the country.

This was an interesting take on the traditional wizard/familiar dynamic with putting the emphasis of the story on following the animal familiars and it being their job to save the day.  Unfortunately, the fresh imagining could not overcome the simplistic writing style, repetitive inner monologues, and plodding pacing.  However, it wasn't written for me but for children like my 10yr old son who loved and read the entire series. I think he's really at the top of the age range that this book series is for but if you have kids in the 7-8yr old range who like fantasy, they may really enjoy it.


Page count: 360p/8,750p ytd/258,797p lifetime

30:120 Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

The first in the Peter Grant (aka Rivers of London) series.  Peter dreams of being a detective in London but when his training period is up it's looking more likely that he'll be in a desk job doing data entry rather than being out in the field.  That's the plan for him until he is doing sentry duty for horrific murder and he sees a ghost.  Now he has been taken under the wing of Detective Inspector Thomas Nightingale who investigates crimes that seem to involve magic.  This murder is just the start of something much, much bigger and not even Nightingale is sure what they are up against.  Peter has the gift and Nightingale will help him navigate that world which is so much bigger, stranger, and more dangerous than anything Peter had ever imagined, if they survive this case.

Read for book club and I really enjoyed it.  Peter Grant is snarky and reminds me of an English Dresden where Dresden had no idea what he was until later in life and was fumbling his way through it.  The mystery was well done with the end being a little surprising but when you thought back you realized it had been laid out but very subtly throughout the book.  I look forward to reading the rest of the series.


Page count: 310p/8,390p ytd/258,437p lifetime

29:120 To Kill a Mockingbirg by Harper Lee

From my first time reading it:

"The Timeless Classic of Growing Up and the Human Dignity That Unites Us All" is what it states on the cover of my addition and truly that is a great summarization.   Jem and Scout are growing up in a sleepy Southern town with their father, Atticus, who is the town's lead defense attorney.  Most days it's all playing outside, making up games, and coming up with stupid dares for each other like going to see if you can touch the house of Boo Radley, a hermit who hasn't been seen in 20yrs.  School starts for Scout who is a few years younger than Jem and she starts having to learn about new ideas and other ways of thinking and it's a complete shock to her.  Then one of the blacks living in the outlying area has been accused of raping one of the poor white girls and Atticus steps up to defend him.  Now Jem and Scout are having to learn more about how the rest of the world operates and how bigotry and intolerance hurt more than anything else but that while those things hurt, there is wonder and love in equal measure to be found.

Page count: 385p/8,080p ytd/258,127p lifetime

28:120 The Book of Merlyn by T.H. White

What was supposed to be the true final book for the Once and Future King but due to mishaps in publishing and editing was never included in the final compilation, Arthur and Merlyn are reunited on the eve of his final battle with Mordred.  Merlyn brings the despondent Arthur to a council of animals as they are trying to figure out man's role in the universe.  Part of this ends up being longer sequences of Arthur's time as an ant and a goose but there is much going on about the evils of war and how to try and put a permanent stop to it.  In this, the author's viewpoints are very much in evidence as different sides are argued but ultimately it's decided that war is awful and needs to be abolished somehow although it's never fully figured out how that would be accomplished.

I don't think the Once and Future King truly needed this book in order to feel complete but it does do a nice job of bringing together all the lessons of Arthur's life in a tidier order.


Page Count: 137p/7,695p ytd/257,742p lifetime

27:120 Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Written when I read this 5 years ago and still true:

This book tells the story of a year in her husband's childhood.  It was a wonderful insight into a boys' life in a different part of the country and the attitudes of the time.  I'm enjoying reading about the earlier times in our country's past and I really enjoyed sharing it with my 10yr old. 

Page count: 357p/7,558p ytd/257,605p lifetime

26:120 Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

The Just 'So Stories tell a fantastical imagining of how things came to be the way they are, told in a delightful and whimsical way.  Frequently telling you to remember "O Best Beloved" we are told how the whale got his throat, how the camel got his hump, how the rhinoceros got his skin, and many more with the Elephant's Chile (or how the elephant got his trunk) perhaps being one of the most well known since it was because of his 'satiable curiosity.  A true delight for young and old.


Page count: 131p/7,201p ytd/257,248p lifetime

25:120 Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire

Verity and Dominic are settling in back at Verity's parents' home when Valerie, Verity's dancing alter-ego, gets invited to a reunion series of the dancing show she was on a few years prior.  Verity had finally started giving up on her dancing dream but now it's come flooding back and she figures this is the way to solve the question once and for all of what direction she wants from life.  She goes with Dominic posing as her boyfriend and things seem to be going quite well until she and a few of the cryptid dancers find week 2's losers dead in an unused part of the studio covered with strange symbols.  Once Verity starts poking around, it's obvious that there is something big and dangerous going on and she needs more back-up, the family sends her Grandma Alice, one of the most dangerous people around.  Hopefully between the three of them and the cryptids in the show, they can figure out what is going on and put a stop to it before anything worse happens.

I really enjoy Ms. McGuire's worlds and this one is just so much fun.  To have the setting be a television dance show with basically a murder mystery involving non-human life is just awesome!


Page count: 356p/7,070p ytd/257,117p lifetime