Authors | Readers Be Advised

Best of 2023: YA nonfiction

Nothing that replace the feeling of learning about a new topic while reading. The special way that an author meticulously researches, bears their soul, and creates fluidity with factual information. It’s why nonfiction is my jam.

There is always overlap on lists– of course there are several graphic novels on this list that could have easily knocked off others on the YA graphic novel list but again, there are too many amazing books this year to limit ourselves. You’ll see iconic YA nonfiction authors like Steve Sheinkin and Don Brown, but you also have vivid memoirs and American history.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 23, 2023 in Authors, Graphic novels, Illustrators, Nonfiction, Reflections, Young Adult

Best of 2023: YA fiction

22 Dec

Next up is YA fiction. So much is published each year that it feels like it’s a never-ending battle to read it all. I try to do what I can!

There is a distinct beauty to each of these stories. For the books whose authors have been around for some time or the newcomers, sentences, paragraphs, and pages can be read and reread. There are some explosive scenes, hidden histories, and even a little fun between the pages of these fiction titles.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 22, 2023 in Authors, Cover Love, Fiction, Reflections, Young Adult

Best of 2023: YA graphic novels

21 Dec

As promised, there were just too many amazing books for teens this year to have *just one* top ten list. Today I continue to highlight different categories and formats with my end-of-year listicles and today is graphic novels.

For several of these, I continue to be obsessed with the series such as Something is Killing the Children, Sheets, Fangirl, and Frights from Feral while there were standalones that stuck out for their coverage of emotional stories, humor, or thoughtfulness in addressing adversity.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 21, 2023 in Authors, Fiction, Graphic novels, Middle grade, Reflections, Young Adult

Best of 2023: YA romance

20 Dec

Coming up on young adult literature for the best of lists for 2023 was too hard so I had to create several categories including today’s romance, nonfiction, and fiction (but I’ll also throw in a few bonus titles too). Romance is having a moment and I’m here for it!

There are some names that wouldn’t surprise you to be on the list along with some newcomers. Each spans the categories of magical realism to realistic, features queer and straight characters, and even representation such as in the Deaf community, Judaism, and women in medicine (from way back!) Indulge!

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 20, 2023 in Authors, Cover Love, Fiction, Reflections, Young Adult

Best of 2023: Middle grade

19 Dec

… and today is middle grade, which was probably the hardest top ten to make. As with all of my top ten lists of the year, these are all books published this past year that were read and enjoyed.

The overwhelming statement of these middle grade were *chef’s kiss* one liners, paragraphs, and pages that readers can go back to revisit whether it’s a snarky gecko sidekick like in The Spirit Glass or Maldonado’s emotionally charged reading of Hands. Words have power.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 19, 2023 in Audiobooks, Authors, Fiction, Middle grade, Reflections

Looking for love? Look no further than the library

28 Nov

Wouldn’t it be adorable to meet your significant other in a library? Of course it would but that’s not what I mean. I just mean that today I had fun recommending more romance titles to a student who came back having loved Elise Bryant’s Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling that I had recommended to her and was looking for others.

Unfortunately, the other Bryant titles didn’t come in from our new order, but there were others. I recommended Dustin Thao’s You’ve Reached Sam— a student favorite– and because it was also newly-arrived, J.C. Cervantes’ Always Isn’t Forever.

Looking for love? Look no further than the library! There are plenty more where it came from.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 28, 2023 in Authors, Cover Love, Fiction, Young Adult

Animals

25 Nov

One of my favorite booktalks each year is for the AP Language classes because it’s all nonfiction and each student has to have a different book than every other student across the multiple classes. And my opening lines to start the booktalk each year always have to do with curiosity; essentially, permission to love what you love without fear of judgement by others.

Serial killers? Sure!

Psychology? Done!

Mongol Empire? We’ll make it work!

Animals? I’m your woman!

I use the example quite frequently that little kids love to read about animals and you don’t have to grow out of it. I haven’t. I’m more into animal books as an adult than I ever was as a kid. I recently read a 2023 book that got me thinking about my love of these types of stories. Here are my recommendations.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 25, 2023 in Adult, Audiobooks, Authors, Childrens, Illustrators, Nonfiction

Over this next year

24 Nov

The day before Thanksgiving I turned the page to chapter 40 (a bookish pun I couldn’t resist). Coming up on the day, I thought about the fun little things I could do to make it special because I was excited about moving to another age bracket. So I came up with a list of 40 books that I would reread this year– generally books I own because books I own are books that I had previously read and knew I needed to own.

But I admit that I rarely reread books. It’s either a committee assignment that forces a book reread, an upcoming author visit, or in the case of Saga, a comfort read during the pandemic. It’s still rare. Yet, I wanted to recapture the feelings I had years or decades ago with this retrospective over the course of this upcoming year.

These books have changed my thinking, warmed my soul, or hearken back to another time in my life. I’ll be updating my journey periodically on Instagram. Here were the books I settled on.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 24, 2023 in Adult, Authors, Childrens, Comics, Cover Love, Fiction, Graphic novels, Illustrators, Manga, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Poetry, Reflections, Style, Verse, Young Adult

Fueled by audiobooks

20 Nov

Last year I was training for a 15K in the summer which would lead to running my first half marathon in the fall. Eight years ago I would have laughed at you if you told me I was going to be a runner. And seven years ago, I would have laughed (as I did my friends and colleagues) if you told me you listened to audiobooks while running. Because I was decidedly *not* a runner, I could only imagine getting pumped up to run with music.

Fast forward to last year’s training and I couldn’t imagine running WITHOUT an audiobook. I’m sure there were mornings where I ran farther because I didn’t want to stop reading. And even now, now that we’re also dog owners again, the daily walks also include audiobooks if I’m not walking with another family member in addition to any running I do. Here are a few of the memorable audiobook runs and walks.

This was my first ever audiobook run. You can never go wrong with Steve Sheinkin’s nonfiction.

My first Colleen Hoover book was this audiobook while running. Spicy!

Nugent’s Little Cruelties was so complicated, deliciously messy, and screwed up (in all the best ways) that I remember my eyes bugging out a little while I was running. What was I listening to?!?!

Beautiful storytelling and a vivid setting combined to immerse me in a mystery that absolutely took me to another time and place. I definitely ran longer than I had planned to keep reading.

This poetry collection includes nature sounds while the the multiple narrators share the poetry and while you’re actually walking in nature, it was captivating.

When books are memoirs, you need to have an audiobook narrated by the author. This one was not only perfectly executed as an audiobook, but it also spoke to me on a deeper level that I ended up buying the book to own in addition to listening to it a second time.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 20, 2023 in Adult, Audiobooks, Authors, Fiction, Miscellaneous, Nonfiction, Young Adult

Romance, romantasy, & cuteness

18 Nov

In a recent professional development, the portmanteau romantasy was dropped and in the last 48 hours I’ve used it and seen it used in publisher emails. With the publication of certain new titles that are making book nerds swoon, it has officially entered the lexicon heavily. Then there are the romance titles which have been heavily requested for the last several years. And happy love stories that lay on the cuteness. Here’s a short list of some favorites in the three categories: