Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue

I won't even waste time commenting on my lack of consistent book reviewing. I've read literally hundreds of books since the last time I've blogged, but mostly record them on my Goodreads account.

So often I am asked for book recommendations, and I still love giving out suggestions.
I'm hoping to at least throw quick posts up with ideas and not make them be such looooonnng extravagant posts as before.

Here's my latest and since I still love a "theme" I'm going with the old wedding mantra of "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue" with some of my top rated books I've read in the past year.

Something Old


A String in the Harp
by Nancy Bond

Look at that one, not a great cover right?
There are other covers and they are all MUCH worse. So here we go with the whole "don't judge a book thing"...

This is a mix of fantasy and everyday. Peter, a boy in Wales, finds an old harp key and soon it is transporting him back and forth into the world of Taliesin (who is according to Wikipedia an early Brythonic era Welsh poet who wrote the Book of Taliesin.) So basically an ancient Welsh bard.
I loved this book as it transported me to Wales and left me with the desire to go exploring the ancient fells of Wales.

But it's also fantastical, and mysterious and filled with adventure. 


Something New


The Lie Tree
by Frances Hardinge

The more of Frances Hardinge's books that I read, the more that I love them. Her writing style is beautiful and clever. It's also another mystery with some good fantasy thrown in.
We follow Faith, a young 14 year-old daughter of a famous Natural Scientist who has taken his family to hide away on a small island to run from the scandal of being recently labeled a fraud.

There are wonderfully written nuanced scenes of Faith observing childhood and adulthood and the roles in which woman are relegated in her time period. It's also a fun romp of a mystery and sometimes a little spooky!

Something Borrowed


When the Moon Comes
by Paul Harbridge

Sometimes I "borrow" a book from the library. If I love it, I end up buying it.  This one I loved and is now on my list to buy...

This books doesn't say it's a lovely Minnesota winter night, but it could be.
It's a lovely picture book of children playing hockey on the flooded beaver pond under a full moon.
It's simply beautiful. I can picture my little nieces and nephews as the characters of this story.

It is also a book that I would label as "quiet". It's a must read!

Something BLUE


The Someday Birds
by Sally J. Pla

I loved this book. I'm still unsure why this didn't win any awards except that many awards are biased and overlook smaller, lesser read books like this.

This follows Charlie, a boy who is on the autism spectrum (not labeled that way, but obvious to me) as he is forced to travel cross country with his siblings to go be with their injured father (a news correspondent).  Charlie doesn't just change his routine easily so there's some funny moments. There are also some really sweet and heartwarming moments.

Charlie is obsessed with birds, and has a list of birds to "observe" with his father. He decides that the road trip is the perfect time to look for each of them. I loved it.


So there are four recommends.
I'm contemplating beginning my own annual BBA's. (Becky Book Awards).
I love me a shiny label on a book but so often of late find the "winners" disappointing so I may start my own...
Hope to blog again soon.
Happy Reading!