Anticipation seven months in the making.

I finally pre-ordered my copy of Sing You Home in paperback today!

(It's available for 50 percent off today only on the Barnes & Noble website.) 

Photo via barnesandnoble.com

The book is scheduled to ship October 18, which seemed way too far away until I remembered I've been waiting for this book since it came out in hardcover seven months ago! I suffered this excruciating wait last year, too, with House Rules, but it's worth it to me. Not only do I love reading Jodi Picoult's novels, but I like to own them. I have quite a little collection, and to keep them all matching, it's necessary for me to wait for the paperback version each time. Plus, I just don't really enjoy reading hardcover books.

Jodi Picoult has written 18 novels in the past 20 years (and a play and a graphic novel - neither of which I have read), and I have read 17 of them. When I get my hands on Sing You Home in a few weeks, I will have read every single one.

I first discovered the masterful writing of Picoult during my sophomore year of high school. I was an insatiable little reader back then, and I often borrowed books from my mom. During this particular year, she had copies of both Plain Truth and My Sister's Keeper. (The latter has since become one of Picoult's best-known novels. It has also been adapted for film, but I still haven't seen the movie for fear I'll be disappointed.) After that, I was hooked.


In the years I've spent reading her work since then, I've recommended her books to countless friends. Picoult is a genius at exploring social issues and ethical quandaries in a way that causes the reader to question every character and action. There is no "right" answer, and there usually isn't a happy ending, either. But such is life, right?

The only book I don't recommend is The Tenth Circle. It might have been because the main question posed in the book was too ambiguous for me, or because I didn't really like the main character, or because the Lifetime movie based on the novel was even more horrible, but it is the only book of Picoult's I can say I did not enjoy.

There are plenty more that I did enjoy, however. (Sixteen others, in fact.) Here are my absolute favorite titles, if you too can't wait for Sing You Home and need something to tide you over until then:

The Pact

Picture Perfect

Perfect Match

Nineteen Minutes