Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

This book is kind of set in a modern-day Harry Potter world, where some people are magic and most people aren't, and the magic people go to school to learn magic and all the other things they need to know. At one of these magical schools, there's a grisly murder in the school library, and the principal hires a non-magical private investigator to find out whodunit. This investigator is the twin sister of a magical teacher at the school, although they haven't talked in years--so there are all sorts of layers about family and belonging and being left out that are a part of this story. I really liked the magic in this book--it seemed more "real" and believable than the magic in Harry Potter--and I liked how the murder mystery got resolved in the end. 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

I've read this so many times and this time I was finally reading it out loud to my boys. And they loved it just like I knew they would. This one is actually my least favorite of the Harry Potter books, but it was so much more fun reading it with them. The chapter in the Chamber of Secrets was so dramatic and they were barely breathing waiting to find out what happened next. I loved it. 

Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder

I absolutely loved everything about this book. It was such an interesting idea--a graphic novel about how the author lost her mom to cancer while she was in college. I loved how she wanted to honor her mom by writing about grief and about her story with her mom and her family and how hard it was, and how she used this graphic novel format to make it really accessible. The pictures and the words were impossible to take apart--I think it would have been a way less interesting story without the pictures to illustrate what she was writing. I loved this and am so glad I read it. 

Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years by Julie Andrews Edwards

I basically wanted to listen to this because Julie Andrews read it aloud herself, and it feels like a treat to just hear Julie Andrews's voice for hours. But it was also fascinating listening to her stories about acting in the 50s and 60s and what it was like in Hollywood back then. She knew so many famous people and was a part of so many really important plays, and it was really neat to learn about. It was a little sad hearing about how she and her children were moving around so much and were split up so much being raised by nannies--I wonder if she regrets that now. But she did do such fascinating things and I loved learning about what it was like for her doing all of her amazing work, and in her marriage with Blake Edwards. 

Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary

Once again, re-reading Ramona with Graham and Lucy. I actually got choked up at one part in this book, where Ramona is so angry and upset that she's crying face-down on the couch, and her mom comes over and says, "Ramona, what are we going to do with you?" And Ramona says, "Love me!" That was just such a poignant answer, especially now as a parent where I've had my children doing that same thing, throwing that same tantrum and having a meltdown--and just seeing that they're begging for love. Ramona feels so real to me. 

Rage Against the Minivan by Kristen Howerton

I actually really liked this parenting book. It was kind of an anti-parenting book, not one that gives actual techniques and advice about what to do, but one that tells you how to chill and stop stressing so much about things that don't matter. Kristen Howerton seems like a fun person I'd love to hang out with sometime, and her realism was really refreshing and entertaining. I was laughing out loud at her story of the ants being all over her bag when she was running to teach a class and how she was picking ants off of herself while teaching. I also have no idea how she did it, having four children in four years (two by birth, two through adoption). Pretty amazing.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

This book was an interesting idea, which kind of reminded me of Dark Matter, with the whole "infinite possibilities of lives in the multiverse" kind of thing. Except in this book, you get to be more intentional about which life you choose. The book is about a girl who has nothing but regrets and choices she wishes she hadn't made, so she tries to end her life. After she does, she wakes up in a giant library, with millions of books that each have a different life she can try to enter. Like what would her life be like if she had ended up marrying that guy? Or if she had tried to go all in on her band? Or her Olympic swimming career? It was interesting seeing what she learned from each life she visited and how she realized each one was disappointing in different ways--none of them were totally perfect. It ended in a good way, where she went back to her original life and tried to make it better, make it actually hers. I thought it was pretty good but kind of long.