My inner child reads a lot

More than my outer adult, apparently!

I was reading this week's Publisher's Weekly (a trade magazine that I got hooked on during the B&N years), and noticed something about the bestseller lists. They break it down by hardcover fiction and nonfiction, paperback fiction and nonfiction, then rotate with audio, religion, kids, and other topics. Sometimes I study the lists, and usually find that I have read one, or maybe two, books of the top 15.

This week they listed kids, and I realized that of the top 15 kids fiction books, I had read 6, and planned to read 2 more. I looked back to the other lists, and hadn't read a one. That makes 0 for 60 on the so-called adult books, and 6 (or 8) for 15 of kids. Well! I found that quite interesting. I do read adult books, of course, but I'm not really ruled by the bestseller lists (obviously). With the kids books, I think there's more of a tendency for high-quality books to be on the lists, if you permit the generalization. Or perhaps I am talking nonsense. In any event, here are the ones I've read:

1. Eragon, by Christopher Paolini. Good book! The fantasy may not be ground-breaking, but the kid does it well (he was 15 when he started the first one, homeschooled, and his family self-published it at first; by 19, he was on the NYT bestseller list, whew). I've been meaning to blog about this, and the sequel, since my teaser a while back about the good audiobook I was listening to. The audios were very well done, and since some of the names of places and characters are, well, non-intuitive to pronounce, it was nice to hear them before I read them. Although that did mean I could say them but not write them, which was a little odd. I enjoyed both this and Eldest, and am looking forward to publication of the third one, which I think may be next year sometime.

2. Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer. Enjoyable vampire novel. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, just out, New Moon, which is at number 5 on the PW list.

3. Eldest, the sequel to Eragon.

6. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo. I read this cover to cover in a bookstore some time back. Charming story of a conceited stuffed rabbit who learns his lesson through a series of adventures. The illustrations are perfect, too, as I recall.

8. Peter and the Starcatchers, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Funny and enjoyable prequel to Peter Pan. The audio is well read by Jim Dale, who brings the Harry Potter books to such marvelous life. The sequel, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, is the other one on my to-read list.

9. Terrier, by Tamora Pierce. This is a new fantasy series by a great writer of young female characters. Not that she doesn't write men well, too, but the girls are strong and interesting and smart, and if I had daughters, I'd hope they'd enjoy Pierce's books as much as I have. She actually has created two worlds, and one of them I can take or leave, but the Tortall books (the Alanna quartet, the Dane/Immortals quartet, the Kel quartet, and the Ali duo (? three is a trilogy, four a quartet, what's two?) are all really good. I enjoyed Terrier, too, though it isn't my absolute favorite. Still, not sorry I bought it.

And always glad to talk books, so if anyone has any questions about these or other books, bring'em on!