I recently tried to reread one of my childhood favorites: Judy Blume's "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing." It was not nearly so entertaining as when I was an actual fourth-grader! I laughed myself to tears and read that book over and over and over as a kid, but as an adult I found it almost obnoxious!

Most recently I read "Dark Shimmer," by Donna Jo Napoli. It is an absolutely amazing retelling of "Snow White" from the Evil Queen's perspective. She was actually raised on an island of dwarves and was told she was a freak for being taller than everyone else. The dwarves were very cruel to her. She took a job as an apprentice mirror-maker to earn herself some respect, but the process of making mirrors by hand is toxic and she starts to get ill. When her mother (who is a dwarf) dies, she knows no one else will care about her, so she runs away. She meets a man and they fall in love and he takes her back to his home city of Venice. That's when she discovers that most people are tall like her and in their society dwarves are usually slaves. To rectify the situation, she begins expertly making mirrors to buy the dwarves' freedom until there are no slaves left. But the mercury poisoning and fumes drive her mad so she tries to kill her own stepdaughter - Biancaneve (Snow White).

It is brutal and realistic and tragic. It was the best book I've read this year and highly recommend it!

And, I also keep a list of all the books I read! I've read 25 so far this year.