The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

I really liked this.

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

I bought this because I loved The Lovely Bones (even tho it was scary!), but this was pretty lame.

Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher

I read this out loud to the boys; it is a good but not exceptional back story to The Arabian Nights. There's some good language, strong female characters, interesting plot twists, and age-appropriate but intriguing explorations of serious issues, but it just didn't rise to excellence. (NB: Be prepared to explain to your kids what "eunuch" and "lover" mean.)

Traffic : Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says about Us) by Tom Vanderbilt

This was fabulous--all sorts of interesting observations from the intersection (ha!) of engineering and psychology. Highly recommended.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

I read this out loud to the boys; it was pretty good.

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

This was a wonderful light read--I can't think of how to say anything without giving the story away, so I won't. But this is an innovative plot with interesting social commentary and was very well written. Highly recommended.

Massacre at Mountain Meadows : An American Tragedy by Richard E. Turley, Glen M. Leonard, Ronald W. Walker

I was very impressed with how interesting this book was--I thought it might be dry but it definitely wasn't. Highly recommended.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher : Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale

This was an excellent book--kind of like a Victorian murder mystery except that it was true. Great details from everyday life and a well-told story.

Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan

This was great . . . in a completely disgusting sort of a way.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

People seem to either love or hate this book but I thought it was kinda middling. Someone said that Meyer writes terrible sentences but great stories and I think that's exactly right--some sentences in this book were so horrible I re-read them just to gawk.

Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916 by Michael Capuzzo

This was pretty good. And it's been a long time since I've read a book that was even just "pretty good." It may seem that I'm not reading much because I'm not blogging much, but what I'm doing is reading the first 20-50 pages of a book, deciding that it stinks, and then moving on. I think I've done that a dozen times in the last month. Where are all the good books?

The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois

I read this to the boys; a good, creative story with a smidge of science in it. Recommended.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Let me preface: the last book that my husband read to the boys was actually Around the World in Eighty Days. I was so annoyed with the writing style that I left the room after the first few pages. My husband convinced me to give it another try the next night and so I did and ended up running screaming from the room with my ears bleeding.

Anyway, this book was much better. It has a lot of fun word play and therefore is better for older children.

Angel Falling Softly by Eugene Woodbury

Did nothing for me.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

I read this out loud to the boys. It started out very strong and then petered out. (The boys loved it. I was sick of it by the end.)

Hershey : Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams by Michael D'Antonio

eh.

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

My husband read this out loud to us; it was an ideal family read-aloud. Highly recommended.

Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff

I read this out loud to the boys. I kept thinking that they would hate it because the prose was so dense and the story so complicated and subtly stated, but they loved it. I did, too. Historical fiction at its best.

Alexander the Corrector : The Tormented Genius Whose Cruden's Concordance Unwrote the Bible by Julia Keay

This was mildly interesting.

The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer

This book made me terribly sad but I liked the ending.