December 8, 2013 Christmas Wish List Event

What books have they liked?

I didn't know Ali Smith had a new book out. On my list! The Accidental was so good. I'm really enjoying The Goldfinch, but it's huge! I shlepped it around with me on the bus for a couple of weeks and just about keeled over walking down the street.

I mentioned earlier that I would like to read My Ghosts by Mary Swan, and I noticed a few of you recommend her work as well. Should I read Boys in the Trees, first?

Also, a book that might straddle the adult/young adult sphere is Almost Criminal by E.R. Brown, about the pot smoking and growing biz.

Hello everyone, and thank you Gail for the invitation.

The list is a mash-up of books I’ve enjoyed this year, am giving for Christmas, or would like to receive:
Recent titles of all authors participating in today’s forum, of course. (Full disclosure, I know Mary Novik so not only read her gorgeous Musebut also an earlier manuscript version.)
Black Liquor by Dennis E. Bolen (because the world needs more poetry)
The Orenda by Joseph Boyden (I hear it’s good)
Kicking the Sky by Anthony De Sa (I know it’s good)
The Illuminaries by Eleanor Catton (for an inlaw who is fond of New Zealand)
Three Souls by Janie Chang
Harvest by Jim Crace (loved his quirky Being Dead)
419 by Will Ferguson (paperback release this year, and I have a family member in mind for it)
Emancipation Day by Wayne Grady (Windsorites in the family, too)
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
Oh, My Darling by Shaena Lambert (for short story lovers)
The Survival Rate of Butterflies in the Wild by Murray Reiss (because the world needs even more poetry)
My Ghosts by Mary Swan
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

Don't you love books like that. I dragged Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell around for weeks. I think it gave me tendonitis.

For something different, I thought I'd list books that I'm actually giving to people for Christmas:

For my husband: Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2014 and two splashy coffee table books, The Louvre and Musée D'Orsay, since we're planning another trip to Paris. I also bought him Métro Stop Paris by Gregor Dallas.

For my grandson, age 8: several graphic books by Marcia Williams, including King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and Bravo Mr William Shakespeare. Both have very funny drawings. Also The Hand Book by Pat Murphy (from Klutz), which includes 22 bones to build a hand, and Mesmerizing Math by Jonathan Litton and Thomas Flintham, which has nifty interactive flaps and tabs.

For my granddaughter, age 4: Since she's just starting chapter books, I've bought her the first three books in the Ivy & Bean series by Annie Barrows and also Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate diCamillo. I've also bought several Klutz books for her.

Further to YA, my younger d loved The Hunger Games series and is now devouring the Divergence series. Not literary, but a fat book, which features an active female protagonist, that has a 12 year old refuse to budge until she has finished it, has my vote.

Did you finish it? It's still sitting on my shelf, tempting me . . .

Well, we're in the UK, so they've devoured Enid Blyton and really enjoy Helen Moss who writes similar adventure stories. They also enjoyed the Narnia series, and The Hobbit. My son loves all the Rick Riordan series.

YA recommendations:
Feed, by M.T. Anderson. It will blow you and your kids away with its prescience, since it was written in 2002 and yet captures the scary possibility (maybe already a reality) of advertising and social media gone wild.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. Wonderful, funny, very real.
Someone else mentioned Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. Such a fabulous book that just might change the way kids feel about poetry.
My youngest son is very much into Avi's books at the moment. If your kids are partial to historical fiction, the Crispin series is very good.
Me and Death: An Afterlife Adventure, by Richard Scrimger, is a fabulous read and very funny, about a young hoodlum who is killed and then gets a chance to come back armed with his knowledge of the afterlife.

Stop me, please, or I'll go on.

Yes! Thanks for the reminder, I'd nearly forgotten this one. He's incredible.

For us, it was anything by Ruth Ohi, and Barbara Reid. We also loved Barbro Lindgren! For a 2 year old I think you can't beat Emily's balloon, it captures a 2 year old's relationship with balloons just beautifully. I would also recommend the magazine (is that allowed?) Babybug for very young children.

While we're requesting -- does anyone know of any good graphic novels in French for 8 year olds (or older -- she's pretty precocious)

I've just announced this discussion as HAPPENING NOW on both facebook and twitter, so if any of you are popping in there, please share and re-tweet to get the word out. There's some amazing suggestions here, so let's share them with others. What a great idea this is, Gail!

I'm always looking for books for a 7 and an 8 year old who read beyond their age--that tricky business of finding the right subject matter. YA subject matter can veer into the mature pretty quickly. I'd love suggestions, if anyone has any...

Oh, gosh, I've got tons. I don't know if I should admit this, but I rarely read adult books anymore. Ever since I decided to focus on writing for children, I pretty much only read middle grade and young adult fiction. I'm not sure why...

I'm also picking up The Sisters Brother by Patrick DeWitt which I haven't read but I've heard is quite an excellent and bloody book.

Lastly, I'm asking Santa for Caught by Lisa Moore (I died over February -- what a supremely beautiful book) as well as How to Get Along with Women by Elisabeth DeMariaffi. I've been wanting to read more of Elisabeth's work ever since I heard her read in a little book store in Perth, Ontario. And now I'm broke.

For us, it was anything by Ruth Ohi, and Barbara Reid. We also loved Barbro Lindgren! For a 2 year old I think you can't beat Emily's balloon, it captures a 2 year old's relationship with balloons just beautifully. I would also recommend the magazine (is that allowed?) Babybug for very young children.

While we're requesting -- does anyone know of any good graphic novels in French for 8 year olds (or older -- she's pretty precocious)