Top Five of 2023

06 Feb 2024 Leave a comment

by Amy in Top Five List Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Last year I made the decision to change up my Top Five lists because a few of the books I was simply adoring hadn’t actually breached the five star mark. Which in itself is a fascinating discovering since I am the one scoring these books. These books stuck with me, I found myself thinking about them all the time but somehow they never got a top score. My new plan was to include books that I thought were amazing reads even if I didn’t give them five stars (again, my own logic makes no sense, don’t look at it too closely).

I think realising I had a lot of rereads last year so not having anything to really shout about was weird. Not that rereads are bad, but it’s always nice to have new books to shout about. Having said that, new plan in tow as I went through my reads of 2023, this time I actually have five new reads of top scoring books I want to shout about. Go figure.

I had one book in my Top Five early on, the rest I had to look through my list a few times but I think I’m quite happy with my choice. Picture books I was substantially short on reading last year, but the ones I read were pretty great, just not as amazing as I have experienced in the past. Having said that, a couple snuck is as top reads of the year.

These are my top reads of 2023.

Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli

This was a must read when I read the blurb and I am so glad it held up. There is a wonderful mix of queer rep in this story as well as a wonderful example of the dangers of being too defensive of labels, communities, and not allowing people to feel safe enough to explore who they might be. I love Albertalli exploring new environments to show it isn’t only high schoolers discovering who they are and taking chances. This university story follows Imogen as she takes scary steps to make new friends and adapt to changes in her world. The emotional and societal observations hit all the right notes and the characters bring this story to life making it feel universal despite the US setting.

 

Dracula Daily by Matt Kirkland

I have been talking about Dracula Daily for a couple years now and finally Kirkland released his book that brought together the amazing online community our year long read produced in 2022. This is the same classic story that has been around for a century but is told chronologically the way Dracula Daily produced via email. Instead of emails it’s now in one convenient place but it also includes the commentary from around the world. It also includes the jokes, the typos, the artwork, not to mention the in-depth analysis that made you realise the level of detail and depth in this classic that is often overlooked in film adaptations and what people assume the book is about. I loved both my reads of Dracula this way, and I love this book even more seeing how it brought people together to create something unique like this.

 

Royals by Tegan Bennett Daylight

I adored this book. Bennett Daylight balances the satisfaction of providing answers with keeping some mystery alive and it works phenomenally. There is an easy enough premise but I loved how this story is told and how things are revealed. The story of a group of teenagers trapped in a shopping centre has the potential to be so many things and Bennett Daylight hits them all. The characters are diverse and unique and they bring as much to the story as the environment does. I know I will be rereading this story a lot because I truly could never tire of this amazing story.

 

 

The Eleventh Hour by Clint McElroy

It’s a given these books are going to end up in my Top Five each year they are published. The team does a fantastic job translating this story from podcast to visual medium and they’ve smashed it once again. This a continuation of The Adventure Zone series and takes our trio of heroes onto their next adventure. For all the goofs, jokes, and magical D&D content, this a powerful story about consequence and how decisions we make impact our lives.

 

 

Maybe Next Time

A very clever take on the time loop trope and I loved how Major builds on what you expect from the trope to making it her own. There is heart and humour, but what I loved was how Emma deals with the world around her and how it would be easy to see fault in her but at the same time you understand the situation she is in. This didn’t go where I expected which was great and I loved going on the journey and seeing the characters evolve around the story.

 

 

 

Honourable mentions

If I See You Again Tomorrow by Robbie Couch

The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera

 

PICTURE BOOKS

My Own Way by Joana Estrela

Piranhas Don’t Eat Bananas by Aaron Blabey

Including these books because they were so close to a 5 star it feels wrong not to include them, especially since I’m short.

I Saw Pete and Pete Saw Me by Maggie Hutchings

What Happened to You by James Catchpole

 

Introducing the Aussie YA Challenge

01 Feb 2024 6 Comments

by Amy in Aussie YA Challenge Tags: , , ,

The Aussie YA Challenge is a challenge created by Amy at Lost in a Good Book as an attempt to read more Australian young adult novels.

As I was writing my goals for the year I got the idea in my head of creating a challenge to help me read (and hopefully review) more Aussie YA. I almost decided against it but the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of challenging myself this way. I’m not a stranger to Australian YA, I simply find I never read as much of it as I’d like. There are so many fabulous books out there and it always seems to be such a small portion of my reading list each year, despite me buying or borrowing it constantly. I found doing other reading challenges has helped improve my reading habits until I was picking up certain books naturally and I am hoping this one will do the same thing.

Like my Book Bingo and the former Australian Women Writers Challenge, the #AussieYAChallenge is a reading challenge you complete at your own pace throughout the year, or whenever you chose to start. The challenge itself won’t have regularly monthly check ins, but rather you self-monitor your own challenge and share your thoughts using the #AussieYAChallenge hashtag so that everyone participating can enjoy them.

I have taken some guidance from the style of the AWW Challenge and made different levels to strive for. I always went way over the recommended amounts, but I am starting out small and even if I pick the highest tier and go well beyond that’s not a bad thing, but also I haven’t set myself up to fail. Also if people would like to take on the challenge I want to make it as welcoming as possible.

If you are interested in what’s involved and looking for places to start finding books check out the #AussieYAChallenge page and join up.

I will be aiming for the Nix level, which is 12 books. That means I only need to read one book a month, and having already read one this year I am right on track. I am hoping I will read more but I am trying not to be too ambitious.

I’d love to know if other people are doing this challenge with me, I’d also love any recommendations if you’ve recently read something amazing. I plan to have a few check in points through the year where I can see how well I have gone so feel free to share your achievements and pick up some new titles to devour.

I hope this challenge helps promote the great Aussie YA we have in this country and I will no doubt discover some real hidden gems on this journey.

 

Don’t Call Me Bear by Aaron Blabey

26 Jan 2024 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: , ,

Published: 1 January 2016Goodreads badge
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Illustrator: Aaron Blabey
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★   ★   ★   ★  – 4 Stars

This is the book for me because it highlights my own pet peeve about calling koalas koala bears. It frustrates me to no end, so I sympathise with this koala. It’s worse too because for all the people joking about it, or saying it knowing it isn’t true, there are people out there believing it. There can only be koalas. Unless there is some cross species with a drop bear that gets a koala bear sub species a koala is a koala is a koala.

But that is beside the point.

I am falling in love with Blabey’s rhyming style. I don’t recall liking it as much with the Thelma books, that was more typical picture book rhyme, and I certainly didn’t notice with Pig the Pug, probably because I dislike Pig the Pug so much I wasn’t enjoying any of it. But I’m glad I’ve finally started reading these books because I can learn to love Blabey instead for these remarkable picture books. I must track down some others and see if they are all this fun or whether there’s going to be hits and misses as I’ve already seen.

The writing makes this a great book to read aloud or to yourself, it flows wonderfully, you keep the rhythm going as the story read like a poem. Blabey gets the humour, the melody and the tone right even as his characters become exasperated and frustrated it still works perfectly.

It’s fascinating reading picture books and noticing how differently a story flows depending on the rhyme. There’s fast rhythms and ones that slow your pacing, then there’s some that read like a story but happen to have rhyming in it but you read it just the same. Then there’s others where you are compelled to change your tone and pace as you read, rhythm and speed changing on the various rhymes. It’s amazing how you can do so much with words on a page to make the reading experience different. This is why I like Blabey because even with rhymes in his books, they are all read in different ways with different rhythms.

What also makes this book great is it plays with the formatting, the font, and the size. The position of the characters and the layout of the full page illustrations all play into the reading experience. I adored the illustrations, they were cute, creative, and they told a story themselves. Koala is a great character, their frustrations and exasperation add to the delight of reading without ever become over the top. Their humour and temper work well, and being adorable in little outfits is always a bonus. There’s fun facts, there’s jokes and a little bit of history in there, but there’s also delight in watching the little koala try their best to educate and still falling short because it’s hard to escape how they look.

You can purchase Don’t Call Me Bear via the following

 QBD | Booktopia |

Dymocks | Angus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust

11th Blogiversary + International Giveaway

23 Jan 2024 7 Comments

by Amy in Giveaway Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Whose idea was it to start a blog so early in the new year when there’s barely any time to realise you’re in January let alone plan a celebration for our continual blogging ventures?

But we’re here and it is an exciting way to kick off the new year. Traditionally this is a time for a giveaway to celebrate the books I’ve read this past year, a look back, somewhat rambly, somewhat morosely at my previous years and blogging history. I think there has been way too much of that of late so I’m diving into the celebrations.

Eleven years! I still remember so vividly those early years it’s hard to imagine where the time has gone. This year’s anniversary gift is traditionally steel, I think we all have wills of steel, (wings of steel too if you like) to still be here, still reading this and committing. I know I’m probably a little mad for doing it, but I am honoured and very appreciative for those who have stuck with me for so long, or for those who came late to the party. The more the merrier, try the punch. This blog has been built up and sustained by steely resolve, or it’s being held up by a steel will and determination to persist. I don’t think that’s a bad thing?

I read a weird mix of books last year, I barley scraped through with my challenge, I have yet to announce my top five, and I am trying new things on the blog which I am feeling out of my depth about. But this is why we celebrate. All the achievements, the failed features, the ongoing features, the trying to remember to do the features.

Speaking of features, on to the main reason we’re here. The sharing of the goods. As I say, I read a weird mix of books but I have managed to select the ones I adored and ones I would love more people to know about, read, and fall in love with. I have included my Top Five in these eight so see if you can pick which ones they might be, and I’ve added some others that were too wonderful to not highlight.

An infographic that says Lost in a Good Book's 11th Blogiversary Giveaway. There is a selection of eight book covers underneath and a small picture of an owl holding a balloon. The background is a parchment colour with an ornate black border.

The Selection

Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli

Dracula Daily by Matt Kirkland

Royals by Tegan Bennet Daylight

The Eleventh Hour by Clint McElroy*

Maybe Next Time by Cesca Major

See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon

If I See You Again Tomorrow by Robbie Couch

The First to Die at the End* by Adam Silvera

  *Note: These items are sequels to other books.

To enter: For a chance to win one of the pictured books simply enter here and complete the Rafflecopter form.

Please note: This giveaway is international on the basis Blackwell’s ships to your country (I’m going to give Blackwell’s a shot after the Book Depo loss. Curse you, Amazon).

To see if you are eligible you can check their website.

Thank you for helping me celebrate eleven wonderful years of blogging and if you enter the draw I wish you the best of luck!

Giveaway runs until midnight AEDT on Tuesday 20th February 2024

 

2024 Goals

18 Jan 2024 Leave a comment

by Amy in Rambles Tags: , , ,

2024 is here and well underway by this point. No one is wishing Happy New Years anymore, February is practically here and then we’ll forget we even had a break to begin with. I didn’t plan for my first of the year to be so late but here we are. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, got plenty of reading done, and have already added plenty of books to your TBR pile for 2024.

I have been looking at what I want my goals for this year to be and I am keeping it simple and relatively easy to strive for. I think my evergreen goal is trying to read a lot more Aussie YA. It was the first 2024 goal I made at the end of last year and already have failed because there are so many nice and shiny books from overseas. Of the eight books I have read so far this year, one is from the #LoveOzYA group, even the two I am half way through are both overseas stories. But I have plenty of time. The problem is I wish it was easier to search for them. The #LoveOzYA team fought hard to get the term recognised, I just need bookshops and libraries to have it as a category I can look up. There’s some great lists on Goodreads, I don’t think StoryGraph does lists the same way, if it does I’ve yet to discover it. Right now I am being guided by the #LoveOzYA website, their blog, lists and tags people put on social media, and looking up authors I already know that fit into that category. Of course I also need to read the back catalogue on my own shelves which is also part of my goal. So many potentially great Aussie YA books sitting unread on my shelf.

The problem is those overseas books are so tempting, so I am not making it a sole goal. But one I hope if I put some effort in to I shall achieve. The rise of audiobooks must be a help, but I fear it will be a wait before any back catalogues get converted. I’m doing it partly because I want to find more local authors, but I also need less USA high school books. Or at least if it’s going to be overseas YA it can’t be in a high school. Somehow the UK and Australians can make YA that isn’t set so heavily in the halls of a high school, I like those ones. But that is a me problem, I think I need a break from cheerleaders and football and not quite ready to jump further into the US fantasy quite yet. Years ago they had a great Book Bingo Challenge which I loved. I might make up my own one to aid me. What I need is a #LoveOzYA Challenge like the old Australian Women Writers where there’s goals to aim for. Oh, I may have given myself an idea of a challenge I definitely don’t have time to make but do kinda desperately want to make…I’ll keep you posted.

Away from that I have set my goal at 80 books again, hopefully we can be a bit less dramatic come December when I need to have finished. I am also creating my Book Bingo so that will go up soon as well. My plan was to less intense in January in terms of posting, but that has slackened further now it being the end of January and all with nothing posted yet, but I’ll get there. Keeping it fun and casual I tell myself. Fighting against my organisational instincts and keeping it casual like I promised myself last year.

Next week is my blogiversary, the one post I can’t skip. I have my Top Five up for grabs as well as a few other books I’ve loved. It’s times like this I wish I’d reviewed more because it’s hard to push books you love when there aren’t many reviews to read up on to tell you why I loved it. I will get the reviews up as soon as possible though because I need to tell you about these amazing books.

Other than that I am gearing up for a more relaxed year, reviews when I can, trying not to hold myself too accountable so I am not guilt ridden, but also balancing it so I don’t go full on neglect either.

Shouldn’t be too hard, right?

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