May Reads (& Listens).
After School Nightmare: Volume One by Setona Mizushiro
Mashiro Ichijo is seems like an ordinary high school boy, but he is harboring a secret which could destroy him if others discover it (or so he believes, anyway). He is forced to participate in a special after-hours class in which his secret is revealed ... An interesting look at gender and conformity.
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder (read by Cherry Jones)
By The Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder (read by Cherry Jones)
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (read by Cherry Jones)
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (read by Cherry Jones)
I read these (and had them read to me) as a child, yet I find myself continually astonished by how much I had forgotten and by how well these books are suited to adults as well as children. All the railroad construction, house building, and farming factoids are utterly fascinating. And the food ... Farmer Boy left me starving.
The Twelves Kingdoms: Volume One, Sea of Shadow by Fuyumi Ono
We've been watching Twelve Kingdoms a while ago and while it's been enjoyable we haven't watched it with enough consistency or pleasure for me to be eager to shell out twenty-odd dollars for the next disc. Yet I've liked it enough to buy the first book and, wow, it's much better than the anime. Oh, yes, there are stilted, hurried sections and redundant bits, but it is still pretty damned good. Good enough I'd like to read Volume 2: Sea of Wind right now.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read by Mandy Siegfried)
Brilliant. Read this book a couple years ago and it struck such a cord with me that I found myself thinking about it long after I had returned it to the YA collection. The audiobook, too, is very good but it rendered me a little too emotional, perhaps, for rush hour driving.
You Suck by Christopher Moore
Christmas present I'd been very slow to start, but quite enjoyed once I did. Of course, I did. I've liked everything else I've read by Moore. His books are a bit like "Terry Pratchett does San Francisco" with a bit of Robert Aspin sprinkled in, but better.
City of Pearl (Wess'har Wars, Book One) by Karen Traviss
An Eco-Vegan-Feminist-Pagan-Police adventure and a Philip K. Dick Award nominee -- what more could a girl want? Only Lin's pregnancy and Mesevy's conversion kept me from completely enjoying this book as I couldn't understand what those storylines had to do with anything.
Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce
"Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog." Fantastic.
Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black (read by Renee Raudman)
I don't know if I liked this better than Tithe, because Valiant was read to me or because it seemed less a homage to De Lint than Tithe ever did, but this was fantastically good and I look forward to listening to Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale whenever it comes to audio.