You may think that if a person reads and reviews a book every day for a year, that person would feel like there was nothing left to read by the end of the year.  This is sadly untrue, and as year-end lists appear, I find myself wishing I had had the time and inclination to read a few more books.  This will be my final 2018 wrap-up before I take a few weeks of vacation.

The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M. T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin

Published by Candlewick

Look at that shiny new National Book Award Finalist sticker on the cover.  Candlewick even sent me a free copy, but every time I opened it and saw all those detailed black-and-white illustrations, I thought, “I just can’t”.  Not my cup of tea, but many others loved it.

 

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier

Published by Harry N. Abrams

I have to force myself to read fantasy, and usually leave it for vacation weeks.  This came out the end of September, so I never got to it.  It had multiple starred reviews, and I loved Jonathan Auxier’s The Night Gardener, so I’m sorry I missed this one.

 

The Serpent’s Secret (Kiranmala and the Kingdom book 1) by Sayantani Dasgupta

Published by Scholastic

I never saw this until it appeared on School Library Journal‘s best books list.  It like good fun for fans of Rick Riordan or Aru Shah and the End of Time, which also features Indian mythology.  Book 2 will be out at the end of February.

 

Apple in the Middle by Dawn Quigley

Published by North Dakota State University Press

I actually checked this out of the library a few weeks ago, but it was close to the end of the year, and it looked a little YA for my blog.  Still, a middle grade novel with a contemporary Native American protagonist is a rarity, and I wish I had gotten around to it.

 

Hope in the Holler by Lisa Lewis Tyre

Published by Nancy Paulsen Books

As someone who imagines purgatory as a place where I would be forced to spend eternity reading As I Lay Dying, I tend to shy away from books with quirky Southern settings.  But I enjoy a good coming-of-age novel as much as anyone (maybe more than most), so I should probably have pushed past my prejudices to give this a try.