This past week was midwinter break here in NYC so I was hoping to devour about 10 books & get two posts up. Instead I spent the week rushing one of my cats back & forth from the vet & tending to him post-surgery. Suffice it to say that Monday came back around way too soon.

I did get some great reading in though!

Last Night I Sang to the Monster, Benjamin Alire Saenz – I mostly loved this. If you know BAS from Aristotle & Dante, there is familiar territory here, but I found Zach’s tale somehow enchanting in its rawness. It was a hard read in some respects – at times because of the content, because of Zach’s brutal & honest reactions, & at other times because Zach’s go-to phrases seemed to cheapen or diminish the story. Despite that, & an ending that came too soon & tied up too neatly, this was a beautiful, haunting book about addiction, trauma, secrets, & finding yourself.

The Real Boy, Anne Ursu – Finally! Back in November, I all but camped out at Scholastic’s NCTE booth in hopes of scoring a copy of this lovely book. No dice, though I considered being late to my own presentation to get it. Instead, I had to wait on my local library. Thankfully, I picked up Breadcrumbs, Ursu’s beautiful reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” to tide me over. The Real Boy was wonderful. It grabbed me; I found myself at times gasping & clutching at the book. Some loose ends that never quite came together, but I can forgive that. Really lovely fantasy tale, & awesome cats!

Every Day, David Levithan – I’m definitely hooked so far, but I’m not in love. A is…complicated. It’s nice to have a complicated narrator, though. I become so attached to “good” narrators that I’m often too forgiving, so I’m enjoying disagreeing with A, so far.

On deck this week: