Books Lately

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Young Adult

If you have not read The Fault in Our Stars, please do so immediately.  This is my number one recommendation of the year so far.  I hereby declare that this book is a YA MASTERPIECE.  It's suitable only for high school or above, and adults will be deeply affected.  I hesitated to read this book because I heard it was a tear-jerker, and I am usually not a fan of making myself depressed on purpose.  However, I agreed to read it with my teachers in May, and WOW it is a book like no other.  I'm not going to lie - I sobbed.  For hours.  On my bed.  By myself.  But, I strangely enjoyed it.  If you've ever had a good book cry, you know what I mean.  First of all, John Green is a GENIUS.  He is just amazing, and I have enjoyed all of his books, but this is the best by far.  The cover and title tell you absolutely nothing about the book, so here's the deal:  This is the story of Hazel and Augustus, two young teens with severe cancer, both in remission when they meet at a cancer support group.  Together, they re-examine life, death, and what it means to leave a legacy.  This book is so intensely realistic, you will feel as if you know the characters.  It is by turns crushingly sad and laugh-out-loud funny.  You will find yourself laughing at the most inappropriate moments.  And you will cry.  A lot.  Do it.

This book is SO WEIRD!!!!!!!!!!  A librarian friend urged me to pick it up, and I'm glad I did, if only for the experience.  There is no text in this book - only pictures.  The book is huge and beautiful - full color, glossy, two page spreads of pictures make up every single page.  Don't buy it - check it out at the library.  OR - you can read the digital edition - there is an app!!  Just look in the iTunes App store.  Talk about crazy - I read the entire book in an hour and when I finished, I said out loud, "What the HECK just happened?!?"  I demanded that Brent read it so that I could talk to him about it, and I proceeded to read it all over again, taking notes this time (nerd alert!) to figure out this enigma of a book.  I am confident that I "figured it out" after reading it 3 times and talking to Brent.  It was SO FUN!!! Essentially, it's a mystery where the protagonist vanishes on the first pages, and you spend the rest of the book figuring out what happened, piecing together clues from the pictures.  If you read this, message me. Let's talk.

Hound Dog True is a feel-good book reminiscent of Ida B.  It's written for a younger audience - about 4th grade - and it will just warm your heart.  Mattie Breen is painfully shy, and her single mom's transient lifestyle has them moving every year.  When they move in with Uncle Potluck, the janitor at Mattie's new elementary school, Mattie decides that she will be Uncle Potluck's apprentice so that she can avoid the other students at lunch and recess.  Of course, things go awfully wrong, and all Mattie wants is a friend that is "hound dog true".  You will just love Mattie.  

I swore off dystopia books for a while because I just couldn't take any more.  But I came back.  I always do.  Divergent is getting a lot of hype right now as the "next big thing" in the wide world of dystopia.  I found it to be a refreshing spin on the classic dystopic tale, partially because parts were so unexpected I just had to keep going.  In futuristic Chicago, Beatrice must choose between one of five factions with which to spend the rest of her life.  After she makes her choice, she discovers she is an "anomaly" who does not fit into any one group and, as a result, the society wants to kill her.  The group she ends up joining is "dauntless" (the brave), and their training consists of many twisted and somewhat violent exercises.  It was like Hunger Games in the sense that as I was reading, I was like, "What the heck am I reading?!?  I kind of like it!"  Never fear, you will find the prerequisite teen romance, action, and questions of "is this society really perfect?"  It's a trilogy, and the second one is already out.

 I've been awaiting The Fox Inheritance for years.  I read Mary Pearson's first, The Adoration of Jenna Fox when it came out in 2009 as a sci-fi thriller.  Jenna Fox was in a fatal car accident with her friends, but her parents, in a last ditch effort to keep her and her friends alive, replaced their minds with computers and their bodies with a high-tech polymer that would never die.  This book, the sequel, tells what happens 260 years later when they are still alive.  I think the summary on Goodreads is awesome, so here it is:  Once there were three. Three friends who loved each other—Jenna, Locke, and Kara. And after a terrible accident destroyed their bodies, their three minds were kept alive, spinning in a digital netherworld. Even in that disembodied nightmare, they were still together. At least at first. When Jenna disappeared, Locke and Kara had to go on without her. Decades passed, and then centuries.  Two-hundred-and-sixty years later, they have been released at last. Given new, perfect bodies, Locke and Kara awaken to a world they know nothing about, where everyone they once knew and loved is long dead.  Everyone except Jenna Fox. It sounds a little chessey, but I truly enjoyed this one.  It kept me going till the very end and was quite thought provoking!

I mentioned The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer on my blog back in March.  It's another very engrossing, very smart read that kept me guessing and made me think.  It's a psychological thriller that turns paranormal at the end.  It's about a teenager, Mara, who wakes up in the  hospital after a terrible accident that killed her three friends.  She has post traumatic stress disorder which causes her to hallucinate and not be able to tell what's real and what's not as she tries to put the pieces of her life back together and figure out what really happened.  This is definitely a page-turner!  

Back to my dystopia obsession - I've been meaning to read Ship Breaker for the last year.  It's won lots of awards.  It's set in a futuristic Gulf Coast Texas, presumably Galveston.  Countless oil tankers and huge ships have washed ashore on a the post-apocalyptic Galveston beach, and kids make a living as "ship breakers" wriggling into tight spaces in ships and stripping them of anything of value to sell on the beach.  It's a violent, harsh world in which survival is the only code.  This is a gritty, fast-paced dystopia that really had my heart racing.  I couldn't put it down!

Adult

I know I'm waaaaay behind the times on The Secret Life of Bees, but I am so glad I finally caught up.  This was a delightful summer read to really escape into.  This is the first book I've found that's reminiscent of The Help, which I LOVED (duh).  It's set in South Carolina in 1964 where Lily Owens lives with her abusive father after her mother is killed accidentally in a domestic skirmish when Lily herself, a toddler, finds a gun on the floor and accidentally shoots her mother.  When Lily is 14, her black maid, Rosaleen, is arrested for insulting a group of white men.  She and Lily escape to Tiburon, South Carolina where they stay in the home of three black sisters who are beekeepers.  Slowly, Lily's past comes to light so that she can deal with who she is and where shes comes from.

This is my latest fix for my historical fiction obsession.  This book concurrently tells the story of two women, connected across time:  Sarah Starzynski, a Jew in Paris during World War II and Julia, an American journalist in Paris in 2002 researching the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup.  In the roundup, Sarah's family was seized and taken to Auschwitz where they were ultimately killed.  Sarah escaped from the camp and ran away, finding safe shelter with a family in the French countryside.  This is an intensely realistic and heartbreaking account of the Holocaust that is hard to read at times, but you just can't stop.  As the two women's stories intertwine and come together, you will be mesmerized and touched.

This is totally different from any of the other books on this post - it'a Christian book written by pastor Francis Chan.  This book is life-changing.  I don't recommend reading it quickly from cover to cover.  It needs time to sink in.  I read it as a part of my daily Bible study, one chapter at a time.  It will challenge you and make you think.  I found myself wanting to talk to Brent about every chapter I read as it stirred things within me and provoked lots of reflection.  Basically, it's about the epidemic of lukewarm Christianity in America.  He argues that God's love for us is so great and so CRAZY that if we really understood it, we could not possibly respond with anything less than our very lives.  It's both intellectual and practical, and it will push you, for sure.  I L.O.V.E. this book.

Top 11 Reads of 2011

2011 was a good year of reading for me even though my goal was to read 50 books, and I only read 39.  I think moving across the country knocked me off track because who can read when you have a whole house to decorate?  (not me)  My goal for 2012 is to read 55 books, so BRING ON THE BOOKS!  I checked out 6 books at the library yesterday that I am REALLY excited about.  Before I dive into 2012 reading, I wanted to share with you the best 11 books I read in 2011.  I realize that I haven't done a book post in quite some time.  Sad face.  Hopefully this will make up for it partially.  Keep in mind these are just the best books I read in 2011 - some are old, some are new.  Two are for adults, one is for teachers, and the rest are for kids. That's just how I roll.

1.  Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This is one of my favorite books EVER.  It was originally published in 2000, but I just discovered it via a staff book club.  It's a Gothic mystery set in post-war Barcelona.  A young boy discovers a rare novel "The Shadow of the Wind" by Julian Carax.  He then finds out that a horribly disfigured man has been destroying every copy of the novel.  But why?  According to Amazon:  Part detective story, part boy's adventure, part romance, fantasy, and Gothic horror, the intricate plot is urged on by extravagant foreshadowing and nail-nibbling tension. This is rich, lavish storytelling.

2.  The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Also one of my favorite books of all time.  I gasped, I cried like a baby... I couldn't put it down.  This book made me fall in love with Kate Morton.  I've since read another book by her ("The House at Riverton") and I can't wait to read her latest ("The Distant Hours")  From Booklist:  In 1913, a little girl, Nell arrives in Brisbane, Australia.  She doesn’t know her name, and the only clue to her identity is a book of fairy tales tucked inside a white suitcase.  When Nell dies, her granddaughter, Cassandra, finds herself the owner of a cottage in Cornwall, England, and makes the journey to finally solve the puzzle of Nell’s origins. Shifting back and forth over a span of nearly 100 years, this is a sprawling, old-fashioned novel, as well-cushioned as a Victorian country house, replete with family secrets, stories-within-stories, and even a maze. 

3.  Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine 

Caitlyn has Apergers, a type of Autism.  She likes things to be "black and white", and anything in between is confusing.  She relies on her brother Devon and her dad to get through everyday life.  Tragedy strikes and her brother Devon is killed.  Her dad is distraught, and there is no one left to help Caitlyn navigate her grief and her world.  What she needs is closure, and she begins a project intended to give her just that and to honor the memory of her brother forever.  Heart wrenching and uplifting and wonderful - this book is FANTASTIC.

4.  Maze Runner by James Dashner

This is one of the most bizarre books I've ever read, but it kept me intrigued until the very end.  A boy wakes up in an elevator to a society of other small boys living alone.  They don't know who they are or where they came from, but they know they were put there by the "creators" who send them a new boy every month and who send them supplies once a week through the elevator.  Their life is spent surviving and trying to figure out the solution to a giant life-size maze which they know is their ticket out.  It's a suspenseful, dystopic thriller.

5.  Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Another dystopia... The society Lena lives in has outlawed "amor deliria nervosa" or LOVE.  In an effort to control everyone in the society, every person undergoes an operation (read: brain surgery) to "cure" them of love at age 18.  This means they no longer feel any emotion at all.  Lena is looking forward to the operation because the society has scared her so much about the effects of the Delirium.  However, before her operation, she meets Alex, a mysterious boy who makes her heart flutter.  Will she let the society choose for her, or will she risk it all to rebel?  I think you probably know the answer, but it's still a great book nonetheless :-)

6.  Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

This is quite possibly the best cover of the year.  The lady at Barnes & Noble told me they put out like 50 copies one day and they were sold out by the end of the day.  It's truly an attention-grabbing cover, don't you think?  I expected a terrifying tale, but it wasn't really a horror story at all.  It's an intense fantasy with some super weird and somewhat creepy elements.  It also contains time travel.  A little bit of everything!  It's basically about this mysterious island where "peculiar" children live - children with bizarre powers like levitation.  If you really want to be hooked, watch the book trailer here.

7.  Ida B by Katherine Hannigan
This book will become a part of your soul.  Katherine Hannigan is such a wonderful writer - she draws you in with her prose and creates the most vivid characters you will just love immediately.  Ida B is a precocious, imaginative little girl who is home schooled and loves to make up fantasy worlds and talk to the nature that surrounds her.  All is right with her world until her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer and her world is turned upside down.  You will shed very satisfying book tears on this one, and you will wish you could put Ida B in your pocket and take her home.

8.  Bunheads by Sophie Flack

Centerstage is one of my favorite movies ever.  If you love Centerstage, you'll love Bunheads.  It's basically Centerstage in book form.  It's the story of Hannah Ward, who's in the corps de ballet of the Manhattan Ballet Company.  It's a behind-the-scenes look at what it's really like to be a full time ballet dancer at Lincoln Center in NYC.  Let's be honest, that cover had me at hello and I ate this one right up. 

9.  Matched by Ally Condie
Another dystopia in the same vein as Delirium.  It's a modern day "Giver".  In this society, you are matched with your mate at a "matching ceremony".  At first Cassia is delighted to be matched with her childhood friend, Xander.  However, when she gets home to view information about her match, it's not Xander's face she sees... it's Ky Markham, an "aberration" or someone who is not allowed to be matched.  The society tells her it was a glitch, but she can't stop thinking about Ky.  She has to choose between the life she's always known and the life that no one has dared to follow.  This is a trilogy, and the second book, "Crossed" is already out.

10.  Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This is a book that I could not read too close to bed because it was so eerily, realistically scary.  It's about a catastrophic "end times" event.  The moon is hit by a meteor and knocked off course, causing cataclysmic climate change.  Most of the US is underwater from out of control tides, volcanoes are erupting, earthquakes are rampant, and basically the whole world is frozen.  Miranda and her family must survive.  The book is told through her diary entries, and I was flipping pages so fast - it's engrossing and distressing.  Makes you think.... this could happen.  What would I do?  If you read this you'll suddenly be grateful for electricity and food and heat and water.  I don't like the way they portray Christians in this book AT ALL, but other than that it was fabulous.

11.  Readicide by Kelly Gallagher
This is a nonfiction book and a "teacher" book.  However, I do think it's fascinating if you are a teacher or in education or even a parent concerned about reading.  He says that schools are unwittingly committing "readicide" and that schools' well intentioned attempts to get kids to read are systematically killing readers.  He offers a grim picture of the state of readers in young adult society today and gives some amazing ideas, especially for middle and high school teachers, to combat readicide.  This book is inspiring and practical, and (in my opinion), couldn't be more important.

Happy Reading!

So You Loved The Hunger Games...

The Hunger Games is a young adult book that has infiltrated the adult world! As a result, dystopian fiction has taken off recently. Did you read The Giver back in the day? The Giver was ahead of its time. Now, there are so many modern versions to choose from! I read The Hunger Games back before it was popular, and when I was reading it, I was like, "What the heck am I reading?" It was so weird and violent. But I kind of liked it. And then everyone else started reading it and liking it too, and I breathed a big sigh of relief that I wasn't weird for liking it!

Wait - you haven't read The Hunger Games? Stop. Close the blog. Proceed to Barnes & Noble. Purchase The Hunger Games. Read it. (It won't take long.)

You're back? You read it? Good. You loved it, right? Now you need to read the next two books in the trilogy. Duh.

Now, if you can handle it, you can delve into the crazy world of dystopian fiction! (You may need to intersperse with lighthearted books every now and then, but it is worth it!) Try the Uglies. It came out way before the Hunger Games, but it is one of my favorites of all time. It's a four book series.

Now tackle all of the great dystopian fiction that has come out in the wake of Hunger Games. They may or may not give you nightmares, but I can't stop!!

(Sequel to Matched... doesn't come out until November 2011. Boo.)

(Sequel to Maze Runner. Already out!)
Super freaky, but good message and frighteningly realistic.
Soon to be (or already is?) a hit movie!

Happy Reading!!

So You Loved The Luxe...

Did you love The Luxe? If you're like the kids at my school library, when you read a good book you want another one just like it. While it can be kind of annoying when kids beg me every single day for more books about gangs, I have to admit I'm kind of the same. Although I don't love books about gangs, I do love certain other kinds of books, and I can't seem to get enough. Namely, I can't get enough historical romance and dystopian books. That's right... they're not even close to being similar categories, but I love them both. So for all you Luxe lovers, here are some books just like it. Tomorrow I'll offer suggestions to all you Hunger Games lovers.

So you like The Luxe... Wait, you haven't read The Luxe??? Stop. Close the blog. Proceed to Barnes & Noble. Purchase The Luxe. Read it. (It won't take long.)

OK, you're back! And you loved it, right? Well now you'll need to read the next three books in the series. Duh.

OK, done with those? Now you want more, right? But there is no more. Sad. Email Anna Godberson. I'm truly jealous of you if you haven't read them yet. However, she has started a new series:

Once you've finished Bright Young Things, you can get to work on all the other great historical romances out right now!

Happy reading!

Book Bonanza

Is is possible to drown in books? Or maybe to be knocked unconscious by an avalanche of falling books? If so, I might be in danger. I'm a librarian, an English teacher, and a reading specialist, so it makes good sense that I have a lot of books in my life. But this week I realized just how much my life revolves around books. I'd call it a book bonanza for sure. My arms have gotten quite toned from hauling stacks and stacks and boxes and boxes of books around! Everyone should be so lucky! Take a look:

Let's start at home. Here's my bedside table. Sometimes I don't even have room for my nightly glass of water.

Here's my desk at school. Most people probably have a few books on their desk. I have EIGHT (count 'em) STACKS of books on and around my desk!!

This week was our Scholastic Book Fair. So in addition to managing the library, I was running this bad boy. It was like a book cave! I also felt quite like I worked at Barnes & Noble all week.

One library is CLEARLY not enough, so here is my classroom library with about 600 books.

...aaaaand here are the, oh, 15 boxes full of books waiting to be entered into the library.

I mean... seriously?!

So as you can see, I am surrounded by books pretty much ALL.THE.TIME. And usually, I love it :-) This week with the book fair and all the books I've been entering into the library, I've been on a book high. I keep pulling books and setting them aside because I want to read them. I've got a towering stack that I seriously can not WAIT to read. Good thing Thanksgiving break is coming up. I've been trying to work hard today to get things done so I can have lots of reading time this weekend. I'm still reading "Bright Young Things" (see previous post), but as soon as I finish, I'm going to tackle these little lovelies. I've posted them in order from little kid to big kid.

Book club, anyone?????

"Candymakers" by Wendy Mass caught my eye right away in Barnes and Noble last week. Quick: What does this book remind you of?

Willy Wonka, right?? I can't believe how similar it is. It looks like pure fun. I've read two other books by Wendy Mass that I LOVED: "A Mango Shaped Space" and "Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life," so I'm sure this will be equally as good.

How fun does this look? It's a mystery / treasure hunt book where you as the reader have to solve all kinds of puzzles while you're reading.

At first glance, this book isn't my type, but it has won some awards, and I've seen it on lots of lists lately. It's a monster book about a kid who watches Food Network all the time and wants to be a chef.

"Return to Sender" intrigues me because I think it will be one I can recommend to my kids. It's about a boy whose family hires illegal immigrants to work on their farm. He becomes friends with one of the immigrants, and the story tells of the complex moral and personal issues that arise. It won the Pura Belpre Award for Hispanic American literature. This book's cover just grabs you, right? This book is described as "an opulent, surreal world of strange beauty, sudden horror, and lush romance". Sounds good to me!

I've read several Libba Bray books - most notably her "Great and Terrible Beauty" series. This one is definitely for a high school audience. Booklist calls it: "an unforgettable, indefinable fantasy adventure." As I'm reading about it, I can't really explain what it's about either. Something about mad cow disease and hallucinations... who knows. But I'm pretty sure it will be good. It won the Printz award.

I might be the only person who hasn't read "The Help" yet. Everyone from my mother-in-law to my colleagues have urged me to read it. I'm getting to it! Looks and sounds amazing.

Also, I may be the only person ever to have not read this. I came across it in the library the other day and was intrigued by this classic novel set in turn of the century Brooklyn. As you can see on the cover, the NY public library selected it as a "book of the century"!

Whew. That's a lot. I have a sickness. And, I know I've got others I want to read soon, too! Two more just popped in my head, but this post is already long enough. Got to save some books for next time!

What do YOU want to read? ...and do you want to come help me organize books? :-)