Inspired by In My Mailbox and Top Ten Tuesday. Shopping My Shelves is something I plan to do when I don’t get a whole lot of books in the mail. Basically, I talk very briefly about books I already own, but still have not read yet. These are books that I find very appealing, however have yet to have time to read. This week I am highlighting 10 young adult books from my Fill In The Gaps project.
1. Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce. I’m eager to read this one because it’s YA feminist fantasy, or at least, features a strong leading lady, plus everyone seems to have read it but me.
2. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I still can’t believe I’ve never read any DWJ. Aside from really wanting to see the movie, Fiona at The Book Coop raved about this book as did one of the ladies from Forever YA. Therefore, it’s on my Fill In The Gaps List.
3. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers. Hello historical fiction with black people that has nothing to do with slavery or civil rights movement, um yes plz.
4. Sabriel by Garth Nix. It’s the beginning of a trilogy with zombies, plus my copy has blurbs from Lloyd Alexander and Phillip Pullman. HOLLA.
5. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. This was one of those cool books awhile ago. As I am typically a day late and a dollar short, this is totes on my list.
6. The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. A) It’s a Jewish National Book Award Winner. I’m not Jewish, but I like Jewish interest books, and books with Jewish characters. I know, that’s sort of weird, but I find it interesting. B) It’s got historical fiction and time travel. C) Everyone’s read it except for me, and I desperately want to fit in.
7. The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud. A librarian recommended this a long time ago. Plus I’ve had this one on my bookshelves for forever.
8. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen. Really, it’s for the bright orange cover which called to me as I made my Fill In The Gaps list.
9. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. Do you even need to ask why a John Green book is on a Shopping My Shelves list? For real? FER REAL DAWG? Yes. Good. That’s what I thought. Carry on.
10. Looking For Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta. So, in my life before blogging and goodreads, I went to library book sales. At one sale, I was snapping up anything with a YA on it, hence how I got this book. I had no clue Marchetta was kind of a big deal in the YA world, BUT now I know. Thus, I have got to read this book sooooon. Plus I think reading it will make me more comfortable when I read Jellicoe Road, as I will know whether I like Marchetta’s writing or not.
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Oh! I LOVED Jellicoe Road! It’s one of my favorites! I haven’t read the one on your list by Marchetta, but I’ve also read Saving Francesca which was very good too.
Hoot was a lot better than I thought it would be and it reads fast.
And, I read and loved The Devil’s Arithmetic when I was in 6th grade, and I’ve read it a few times since then. I’m excited to see what you think about it!
Yay, I am glad to hear your positive feedback on the books I ‘shopped’! Also, I get excited when I hear a book reads fast 😛
I have An Abundance of Katherine on my list, too!
PS. I’m coming up to my dad’s around the Thanksgiving timeframe and Melanie and I were going to try to get together..I know you are in that vicinity but I don’t know exactly how far..but I’d love to hang out!!
Dude, John Green is awesome.
Yes, I am in the vincinity AND I have vacation during Thanksgiving week, therefore am down to hang out.
I can’t wait to find out what you think of Sabriel. The Old Kingdom trilogy is another one of my favourites.
See, I’ve heard great things about Sabriel, and the whole trilogy. I can’t really consider myself a true fan of YA fantasy unless I read the foundation books.
I loved the Benedict Society books!! I hope you find time to read them soon, they are so much fun.
Not gonna lie, I love hearing a book described as fun! Yayy!
I have An Abundance of Katherines as well! It’s been on my shelves for awhile but I haven’t been able to “shop” it out yet 😉
I feel a lot of people have an Abundance of Katherines to read, but from what I hear it’s great. Then again, I have come to expect greatness from John Green.
Hope you like Looking for Alibrandi. It was good for a first novel. She actually released her second novel, Saving Francesca, about 11 years later. So her writing, I believe, grew a lot over those years. Really hope you get around to reading Jellicoe Road; so far it’s the only book that has blown my mind. 😉
I actually did not know that. Well, I really am excited now about Looking for Alibrandi! I also heard there was a movie based on it as well. 🙂
This is a great idea! My tbr pile has many books in common with yours here as well as your Fill In The Gaps project.
That’s awesome! I love having books in common with people. Are you doing a Fill In the Gaps Project? I will have to check that out!
Not officially, no. But I have the list in my mind 🙂
I hope you write the list in your blog somewheres, because looking at lists is something I quite enjoy 🙂
Yes, I should. I admit my mind is a bit muddled at the moment so it’s hard to keep track of everything. If only I had a pensieve or a remembrall…
I love this meme! You always pull out books I’ve never heard of and may want to write down. I still have yet to read Jellicoe Road myself. Don’t feel weird. I like to read books about Jewish people too!
You should participate! It’s so much fun discovering new reads 🙂
Yeah, I’m holding off on Jellicoe Road until I’m in the mood to have my brain challenged.
Alanna is high on my list too…one of the librarians in my booktalking class booktalked it last week and it sounds just awesome!
The Amulet of Samarkand is really good, it’s my favorite of Stroud’d Bartimaeus series.
Every reading list could use a dose of John Green! An Abundance of Katherines is great, but I have to admit that my favorite book of his is Looking for Alaska.
I am so glad you like Stroud, I’m a little apprehensive since the covers aren’t gorgeous, but I’ve heard universal praise for them.
Also, I am quite jealous you get to go to book talking class!
An Abundance of Katherines is on my TBR too! I like this feature. It’s good to remember it’s not all about getting new books–I’m sure we all have a ton of great stuff already on our shelves that we could dig into!
I love your Fill in the Gaps project too. I’m doing something kind of similar for next year, but focusing on classics mostly. I like the idea of having a list to go from–much more structured and easier to stick to!
I’m often overwhelmed with new books, despite the perfectly legitimately good older books that I already own.
There’s a whole blog for Fill In The Gaps projects that you might want to check out. It’s pretty cool and you can post your list there as well.
As for list making, I love it, and it’s helpful for me in choosing books to read between review books!
Lots of great books in your pile! Tamora Pierce is awesome and the Song of the Lioness books are pretty easy to read. My favorite Tamora Pierces are actually the two books that are about Alanna’s daughter. 🙂
Ooooh you’ve never read DWJ? Howl is my favorite of hers and I look forward to seeing what you think of it.
Sabriel is another favorite, even though I’m not a huge fan of zombies. I really liked the worldbuilding in the Abhorsen Trilogy.
The Bartimaeus Trilogy is hilarious, I’ve recommended it to several friends and they’ve all enjoyed reading it so I hope you like it too.
I read Looking for Alibrandi because I loved Jellicoe Road so much that I checked out Melina Marchetta’s backlist. I enjoyed reading it but I still like Jellicoe and Saving Francesca better.
I like that you’ve read all of these books that I’m really pumped to read, and enjoyed them, because I value your opinion. 🙂
I didn’t think it possible, but I am even more excited to read these books now!
It’s a great list because you have so many of my favorites in there. Can’t wait to see what you think of them. 🙂
Oooh forgot to mention that I also liked An Abundance of Katherines, it’s the first John Green that I’ve read.
I’ve never read Diana Wynn Jones either. Sadly, I’m not sure she’s the sort of author I’d like! I feel so conflicted.
Well, maybe you should try one of the books Nymeth has read and recommended? And then see from that. Plus it’s not like you can’t set it aside after 50 pages.
A while back, I couldn’t keep Fallen Angels on the shelf. Any boys who like war books will eat this one up. Really good. (Has the “f” word, though) Sunrise Over Fallujah is related — I think a descendent of someone in Fallen Angels is in that book. Haven’t read it, but it’s supposed to be good too.
1, 2, 4, 9 = love
OMG HURRY UP AND READ ALANNA! YOU MUST READ ALL OF THE TAMORA PIERCE BOOKS.
ALL OF THEM