I feel as if I spent the entire four star post apologizing
for why those books didn’t get five stars. And now I feel like I am going to
spend this whole post justifying why I gave these ones five stars. So here is
my blanket justification – these books are the ones that I wanted to read to
the exclusion of all else. I didn’t want to put them down for anything. I did,
obviously, but sadly. In some cases they aren’t as well written as some of the
four stars, but they just dug their little claws into me and wouldn’t let go.
So there…
FICTION
Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews – It’s the kind of light fluffy
fun I have come to expect from Andrews. This time a young woman faces the
remarriage of her ex-husband as well as the dissolution of the business that
keeps her small town going. Great summer read.
Gone Girl by Gillian
Flynn – You don’t need me to tell you about this one – everyone was reading it
this summer. A twisty tale of the most unlikable marriage combatants you can
imagine.
Wife 22 by Melanie
Gideon – A woman whose marriage is getting stale agrees to be a study subject
for a very involved survey, and begins to build a connection with her
interviewer. It seems like the sort of thing I would hate – I have no patience
for “cheating” books – but it pulled me in.
A Grown Up Kind of Pretty by Joshlyn Jackson – Three generations of southern women seem to be
making the same bad decisions. And a corpse is found in their backyard. Jackson
writes Southern women like nobody’s business. Funny, touching and insightful
all at the same time.
And When She Was Good
by Laura Lippman – A Washington lobbyist by day, high class madam by night
realizes her life is in danger when her old associates start showing up dead
and she is pretty sure the father of her young son is involved. A couple of
steps up from a guilty pleasure.
The Spellman Files
and Trail of the Spellmans by
Lisa Lutz – A family of wacky private investigators in San Francisco have
adventures. Hilarity ensues.
The Chaperone by
Laura Moriarty – A Midwestern matron with a surprising past and a painful
present is chosen to chaperone a teenage out-of-control Louise Brooks to New
York City. There are so many of my favorite historical bits in here as well as
some great characters.
The Secret Keeper by
Kate Morton – A teenage girl witnesses her mother kill a man. Years later, when
her mother is near death, she tries to unravel a mystery that reaches back to
London during the Blitz. I COULD
NO STOP READING!
The 500 by Matthew
Quirk – A young feller gets a job with a very shady firm. The similarities between this and
Grisham’s THE FIRMI are so minuscule I can barely remember them. And like that
book I was compelled to read it super-fast to see how it turned out. Boy, if I
remembered how little I remember about this I might have given it 4 stars, but
too late!
Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple – Snarky, funny and ultimately moving – this story of
a very odd Seattle housewife who has people issues (to say the least) was a
slow start that had me rooting for weirdness the whole way through.
One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonatha Tropper – I absolutely loved HOW TO TALK TO A WIDOWER and
THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU and while this one wasn’t as accessible, it was
equally as rich and funny.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Chopsticks by Jessica
Anthony and Rodrigo Corral – Man, there were very few words in this book. But I
got a TON of kids to read it and each one that did was able to deconstruct it
with me in conversation. I loved how it brought up different theories from
different readers and yet had an easily definable story. (Piano playing girl
with strict single father falls in love with new neighbor boy and then
disappears. Or not. Or something.) It was awesome.
Unterzakhn by Leela
Corman – This one hurt. Jewish twins sisters in the lower east grow up to very
different ends. It starts in 1910 and goes up to the 30s. Lots of detail and
great story make for a real heartbreaker. This is not even mitigated by the
fact that the title is Yiddish for underpants.
Goliath by Tom Gauld
– Brief and funny, this is a retelling of the Biblical story of David and
Goliath from Goliath’s perspective. Sweet and light, with a nice little punch
at the end. Spoiler, Goliath dies.
HUMOR
Free Range Chickens
by Simon Rich – Just silliness, Damn silliness. My favorite is the one about if
adults were required to behave the way we expect small children to behave.
(“Mr. Smith you HAVE to share your Mercedes with Mr. Jones. Good adults
SHARE!”)
How to Be Black by
Baratunde Thurston – I didn’t quite master all the rules about blackness, but
Thurston did give me a working knowledge that might allow me to fake it for
awhile. Very funny indeed.
MIDDLE GRADE
See You at Harry's by
Jo Knowles – Still a little tender from this one… A family in, I think, Maine,
runs an ice cream place. But the story is in the characters. Four kids, named
for literary characters who have very different personalities and challenges.
NON FICTION
New York Drawings by
Adrian Tomine – Okay, I just looked at the pictures, but they were awesome!
The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity
is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti –
Is it ever. It is a fine line between wanting our girls to be safe and putting
dangerous expectations on them. This book deconstructs that beautifully. I wish
I had read it at 18…
PICTURE BOOK
We Are In a Book by
Mo Willems – We are, indeed. And it is Mo Willems so it is cute, sharp and
funny.
YOUNG ADULT
Bitterblue by Kristen
Cashore
- WRITE FASTER KRISTEN CASHORE! I adored GRACELING, fell even more in love with
FIRE and now the worlds kind of come together with this one. The fallout after
the death of King Leck is epic as his daughter Queen Bitterblue tries to sort
out the lies from the truth. I am not a fan of “other world” fantasy AT ALL,
but this is the exception. The world is detailed and fascinating and the
characters, while not always likeable, are sympathetic and real.
The Selection by
Kiera Cass – CINDERELLA meets HUNGER GAMES meets THE BATCHELOR. This was a
slick piece of awesome about a girl who is plucked from near poverty and
obscurity in a future dystopian North America to compete in a televised pageant
of sorts to find a wife for the prince who will one day be king. The only
problem is that she is completely in love with a boy back home.
The Fault in Our Stars
by John Green – If you haven’t heard of this you probably don’t read books. A
young girl with debilitating cancer is forced to go to a support group where
she meets a boy who is the FREAKING LOVE OF HER LIFE. I laughed, I cried, I
want to read it over and over, but since I am a grown up with responsibilities
I really can’t. But if I were still 15 I would have read it 12 times already.
Gosh, I had a lot of time to read when I was 15.
The Whole Stupid Way We Are by N. Griffin – Disclosure, the author is a good friend. And I am in
the acknoledgements (for a horrible reason…) but I would have loved it anyway.
A quirky girl and her best friend, a boy who is dealing with a lot, take
seriously their part in community. So much is going on here and it is
beautifully written.
Why We Broke Up by
Daniel Handler – Pictures and snappy writing make this first-love account
absolutely wonderful. It blows my mind that this is written by Lemony Snicket
because it is not arch at all. A box of artifacts and a letter tell the story.
The boy is a little one dimensional, but the girl who is writing the letter is
amazing. And it kind of turns teen
stereotypes on their head. Loved it.
Legend by Marie Lu –
A fast paced slice of dystopian fiction where the seams don’t show and the
characters seem like they could actually exist. I couldn’t stop reading.
The List by Siobahn
Vivian – Each year a list comes out that has the names of both the prettiest
and ugliest girl in each grade. The chapters in this story are told from the
perspective of these 8 girls. The story is great, the concept is clever and
most amazingly of all, each of the girls has her own distinct voice. I loved
it.
Code Name Verity by
Elizabeth Wein – I am going to have to reread this, now that I know what was
going on. This is a WWII story of two friends who are shot down in a spy plane.
One is captured by the Nazis and forced to write a confession in order to stay
alive. Good grief, I loved it.
