Lots of folks have been putting up lists of books they are looking forward to reading this year. I enjoy these lists a lot - they usually give me a few ideas for future reading myself or they make me wonder just why in the heck people want to torture themselves with such boring sounding books (just my opinion of course....) Here are a few that I'm particularly looking forward to reading (and not all of them are 2008 releases). At the end of the post are links to several other sites that decided to jump on the bandwagon and offer up lists as well.

Those Who Went There Remain There Still by Cherie Priest. This novella is due out sometime later this year from Subterranean Press. It's not up at the publisher yet but here's a bit of description from Cherie:

In 1775, Daniel Boone and a band of axe-wielding frontiersmen struggled to clear a path through the bluegrass hills, but they did not work unopposed. Hounded and harried by an astonishing monster, they overcame it by sheer numbers and steel -- and they tossed its body into a nearby cave.

Because live there or die there, no one ever really leaves the Witch's Pit.

Oh yeah - I'm so all over that! (Be sure to follow the link and read the full description - it sounds very very cool.)

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear. The latest Maisie Dobbs mystery, a series that has been consistently smart and compelling and has delved into aspects of post-WWI society in Britain in ways that never fail to blow.me.away. I love this series (and this time there is a zepplin!):

In her fifth outing, Maisie Dobbs, the extraordinary Psychologist and Investigator, delves into a strange series of crimes in a small rural community With the country in the grip of economic malaise, and worried about her business, Maisie Dobbs is relieved to accept an apparently straightforward assignment from an old friend to investigate certain matters concerning a potential land purchase. Her inquiries take her to a picturesque village in Kent during the hop-picking season, but beneath its pastoral surface she finds evidence that something is amiss. Mysterious fires erupt in the village with alarming regularity, and a series of petty crimes suggests a darker criminal element at work. As Maisie discovers, the villagers are bitterly prejudiced against outsiders who flock to Kent at harvest time-even more troubling, they seem possessed by the legacy of a wartime Zeppelin raid.

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt. This one has shown up on several lists this year. Here's a bit:

The Invention of Everything Else luminously resurrects one of the greatest scientists of all time, Nikola Tesla, while magically transporting us — a la Steven Millhauser and Michael Chabon — to an early twentieth-century New York City thrumming with energy, wonder, and possibility.

I also have Hunt's first novel, The Seas, here on deck and I'll be reading that shortly.

Black Glasses Like Clark Kent by Terese Svoboda. Championed by Dan Wickett, this one from Graywolf sounds amazing:

As a child Terese Svoboda thought of her uncle as Superman, with “Black Clark Kent glasses, grapefruit-sized biceps.� At eighty, he could still boast a washboard stomach, but in March 2004, he became seriously depressed. Svoboda investigates his terrifying story of what happened during his time as an MP, interviewing dozens of elderly ex-GIs and visiting Japan to try to discover the truth.

In Black Glasses Like Clark Kent, winner of the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize, Svoboda offers a striking and carefully wrought personal account of an often painful search for information. She intersperses excerpts of her uncle’s recordings and letters to his wife with her own research, and shows how the vagaries of military justice can allow the worst to happen and then be buried by time and protocol

Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers. One of our great American writers takes on the Iraq War from the perspective of the young soldiers who find themselves fighting there:

In this new novel, Walter Dean Myers looks at a contemporary war with the same power and searing insight he brought to the Vietnam war of his classic, FALLEN ANGELS. He creates memorable characters like the book's narrator, Birdy, a young recruit from Harlem who's questioning why he even enlisted; Marla, a blond, tough-talking, wisecracking gunner; Jonesy, a guitar-playing bluesman who just wants to make it back to Georgia and open a club
and a whole unit of other young men and women and drops them incountry in Iraq, where they are supposed to help secure and stabilize Iraq and successfully interact with the Iraqi people. The young civil affairs soldiers soon find their definition of "winning" ever more elusive and their good intentions being replaced by terms like "survival" and "despair."

Caught in the crossfire, Myers' richly rendered characters are just beginning to understand the meaning of war in this powerful, realistic novel of our times.

I can not think of a better YA author for this book at this time. I hope it blows everyone away.

The Explosionist by Jenny Davidson. As a big fan of Jenny D.'s blog it's no surprise that I'm looking forward to her first YA book. But this alt-history title is right up my alley - and I'd be eager for it even if I had no clue about the author. To wit:

My new novel THE EXPLOSIONIST (formerly known as DYNAMITE No. 1) will be published in 2008 by HarperCollins Children's Books; it is the story of a 15-year-old girl growing up in an alternate version of 1930s Edinburgh, one where the legacy of Napoleon's victory a century earlier at Waterloo is a standoff between a totalitarian Federation of European States and a group of independent northern countries called the New Hanseatic League. This world is preoccupied with technology (everything from electric cookers to high explosives) but also with spiritualism, a movement our world largely abandoned in the early twentieth century; Sigmund Freud is a radio talk-show crank, cars run on hydrogen and the most prominent scientists experiment with new ways of contacting the dead.

And not one evil cheerleader in sight - I might faint from sheer joy!

I should also mention that Jenny is the one who brought Dry Storeroom No. 1 to my attention. I am second only to her in my excitement over this behind the scenes looks at the Natural History Museum of London. (Here's more from the Guardian.)

Wit's End by Karen Joy Fowler. She could write on a cereal box and I would read it. There has been little released on this one although I have on good authority that it is fab. I'm not worried; Fowler hasn't let me down yet.

The McElderry Book of Greek Myths retold by Eric Kimmel. Betsy raved about this one last month and I'm quite pleased to see it. I'm sure the art (by Pep Montserrat) is stunning.

Pierre Loti by Lesley Blanch. Barbara Hodgson introduced Loti to me just last month and the idea of a biography of this intriguing man by the wonderful Blanch delights me. I just barely started reading this one last night. After Loti, I'm looking forward to Blanch's autobiography, Journey Into Mind's Eye.

There's also Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, Dingo by Charles de Lint, Forever Rose by Hilary McKay, Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, A Crossing of Zebras from Wordsong, Show and Tellby Dilys Evans (Jules and Eisha do you know about this one?) and Women Travelers: A Century of Trailblazing Adventures (thanks Mom for this one!). I could go on and on and I haven't mentioned any picture books - I'll leave the Seven Imps to pick up the slack there! I'll keep you posted on all of these books; here's hoping they are just as good as I hope they will be.

Now onto other lists posted today:

Jules has posted an amazing list over at Seven Impossible Things, which includes a ton of picture books. I have requests out for many of the same titles, but I have to admit it is this adult title she mentions that really hit me - Woman’s World: A Novel by Graham Rawle (published by Counterpoint; this man assembled this novel from 40,000 fragments of text snipped from women’s magazines. Yes, that kind of thing could fail miserably, but it was reviewed well in the UK. I’m intrigued).

If Rawle pulls that off it could be quite the fun literary experiment.

Betsy has a killer list at Fuse Number 8 and teases us with several descriptions including this one: "The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson. It's Wanda Gag meets Virginia Lee Burton. And gorgeous. Did I mention gorgeous? Gorgeous."

And at Finding Wonderland we have a very cool list including these impressive plans: "...my mother-in-law gave me a copy of Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad, which I was putting off reading because it's based on the myth of Penelope and Odysseus and I worried that I wouldn't get enough out of it unless I'd read The Odyssey in its entirety. I've been told that is not the case, so I plan to read it this year. From my mother, I borrowed Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf.

Trisha at the YA YA YAs gives us an incredible alphabetical list (I kid you not) broken down into all sorts of categories that includes:

"Scarletts: In any given year, you can find multiple characters with the same name. Still, I thought it interesting that there will be at least two books about girls named Scarlett. And, yes, I want to read both Kiss Me Kill Me by Lauren Henderson and Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson.

Plus, it looks like there’s a Scarlet in ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley, which makes this list mostly because of two words: gummy bear."

Little Willow chimes in with a month-to-month breakdown (you guys are all so organized it kills me!) including one I'm looking forward to in particular: "Mind the Gap: A Novel of the Hidden Cities by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon - It's like Neverwhere, but with Golden touches and Tim trimmings."

Sarah Miller calls her list "Books I Want" (including cover images for all of them!!!) and she mentions: "The Floating Circus, by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer. I have a thing for circuses. Not to mention authors who writer readers guides for MY books and then go and win Schneider Family Book Awards. (Woo, Tracie!)"

Sarah's list also includes "Books I've already read that I'm going to wave under your pretty little noses one more time. (I like to buzz. Sue me.)"

Charlotte also chimes in with some Forever Rose love and goes on to say: "Finally, and most obscurely, I'm looking forward with great anticipation to Kate at Melling, by Margaret Biggs. This is a new book written by the author of a great English girls school series (Melling being the school). The series, originally all published before 1960, has been republished by Girls Gone by Publishers, and the author has written this brand new story!"

Jen Robinson also has some '08 titles she can't resist (go Jen!) and she shines the spotlight on several of them, handily broken down by age group which includes another title I've requested: "Jim Fusilli: Marly Z and the Bloodstained Violin (Dutton). First children's book by one of my favorite adult mystery authors."

Jackie has some thoughtful comments on many titles including Tanita Davis's A La Carte: "I've been waiting over a year for this title. Tanita was a panelist with me during the inaugural season of the Cybils, and she's awesome in every way. I love her lots (clearly I'm completely biased). But, her book is about a girl wanting to be a chef and there's food and cooking and love and, well, I am a girl, and I like food, and cooking. It even turns out I'm a pretty big fan of love. Plus, it comes out on my birthday. Knopf, 6/10."

I am also looking forward to Tanita's book and hey look - a girl who wants to cook as opposed to spend all her time whining about boys and snarking on her friends!!! Yea!

Leila at Bookshelves of Doom gives us a list organized by publisher where she sends some more love in this particular direction: "Peeled, Joan Bauer -- A new Joan Bauer! Do I really need to explain myself here?"

Lots of folks mentioning that one and yes - I've requested a copy as well!

She also mentions Triskellion which I have right here in front of me - I had no idea it was about "foreboding English bees". That is so cool!

Miss Erin's list has lots of covers (and there's Peeled again!): "Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale - A graphic novel by Shannon Hale and husband, plus it's a retold fairy tale. Bring it on."

Am I the only one who had no clue the Hales were doing a graphic novel???

Vivian at Hip Writer Mama gives a nice list of old and new titles which includes the best cover I've seen in ages, Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter. (She's also looking forward to The White Darkness - I bet a bunch of folks are turning an eye in that direction these days.)

Gwenda checks in from Vermont where she is kicking writer ass (go Gwenda!) and points out: "Ysabeau Wilce's Flora Redux (compleat (sub)title not available) - No Amazon link yet, but I believe it's out in spring? I can't WAIT."

Okay, how come no one else has mentioned the new Flora? Have we all been asleep at the wheel on this one?

Gwenda also throws Jenny some love: "Jenny Davidson's The Explosionist - Like Colleen, I'm unbelievably excited about this one. Jenny has the best taste in YA since, well, ever, and that can be nothing but a good sign. Plus, with a title like that, you really can't go wrong."

Tanita checks in from Scotland with her list (also divided by age group and including graphic novels and nonfiction) like The Periodic Table: Elements With Style! by Adrian Dingle illus. by Simon Basher (Kingfisher). I will take a moment to be very proud of myself right now because I'm the one who nominated this gem for the Cybils. It's very cool Tanita - you'll love it!

And Kelly gives us an extensive category list (my heavens - even board books!) over at Writing and Ruminating: "Naming Liberty by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Jim Burke, out in June or early July from Philomel. I’ve got the f&g and it is spectacular - it tells two stories simultaneously. On the even (left) pages, it tells the tale of Gitl and her family who are coming to America to escape the pogroms; on the right (odd) pages, it tells the story of the creation of the Statue of Liberty."

Kelly also mentions the sequel to The PLAIN Janes from Cecil Castellucci, Janes in Love and Wave from Suzy Lee - another picture book that I thought looked pretty darn awesome.

Over at The Reading Zone there is more love for Walter Dean Myers (yea!) and also: "The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson: I can not wait to read this. I managed to snag an ARC at ALA Midwinter and it is at the top of my to-be-read pile. Reviews have been glowing and it has a gorgeous cover! Plus, I love butterflies, so the cover immediately caught my eye. This sounds like a great read and I think I have a few students this year who will also enjoy the novel."

And Sarah at Archimedes Forgets adds a few more titles including: "Tell Me, Pretty Maiden, by Rhys Bowen (I should probably start at the beginning of the series, but I've recently become a Rhys fan through her posts on The Lady Killers)."

Abby (the) Librarian reminds everyone of Rob Rummel-Hudson's new parenting memoir, Shuyler's Monster: The number one, top choice book that I am looking forward to is one that I haven't heard a lot of buzz on. Albeit, it's an adult memoir, not kidlit, but it's going to be awesome. This I know. I've been waiting years (literally years) for blogger Rob Rummel-Hudson's book Schuyler's Monster: A Father's Journey with his Wordless Daughter. I've followed Rob's blog for a long time. What drew me to the blog was the story of his gorgeous, spunky daughter Schuyler (pronouced SKY-ler). She was born with a condition called Congenital Bilateral Perisylvian Syndrome, which is a neurological disorder that affects her speech. His book is about fathering a child with a disability, about constantly fighting for her, and about how she is constantly fighting to best her monster.

Over at Wizards Wireless, Susan gives us some new titles to consider like: "Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett - I plucked this book out of a stack of galleys (early reader copies)... and it made me feel like I discovered it. It's a fabulous read aloud for little kids and will make an excellent board book one day. I think anything that Emily Gravett writes is terrific (see Orange Pear Apple Pear for confirmation)."

Jocelyn at Teen Book Review also loves Joan Bauer (does anyone not love her?) and also has a few titles to add like: "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert sounds like a really fantastic book, and very music-centered. I love books about music. I’ve also read the author’s blog, and she sounds like a really cool person. This one is out in July."

Okay, Joey Ramone is in the title and I missed it? How is that possible?

From over at Angieville we've got a few more new titles listed by month of release: Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
Favorite urban fantasy find of last year. Cry Wolf is the first in a spin-off of the Mercy Thompson series (if you haven't read them do it now). I read the initial short story "Alpha and Omega" and it was scrumdiddleiumptious.

I think Angie is like the hundredth blogger in a row to mention A Curse as Dark as Gold; I'm thinking that book is going to be BIG.