I am feeling a little tender about my
dismal little 67 new books read this year. Some of my pals have scary
numbers! Melody read 324, but I do believe that she counts re-reads.
Why yes she does, so she really has just a measly 266 new books.
Slacker. Lady C has read a very respectable 106. And here I am with
my tiny band of 67. Quite respectable for a normal person, but for me
a personal low number.
However, I don't count a book unless I
have read the whole thing and I read parts of a LOT of books. Plus,
you know, the internet...
So here are my stats:
21 five star books that you couldn't
have pried from my hands with a crowbar.
33 four star books that I really liked
a lot.
8 three star books that I liked well
enough to finish and that seemed like they might have four or even
five star books for people with other tastes.
2 two star books that I read out of a
sense of obligation.
1 one star book that I had to read to
review and hated just about every minute of it.
I will start with the five stars so
that if you only want to know about the best, you can discreetly stop
reading and wander away.
Fiction
Life After Life by Kate
Atkinson – I put these in alphabetical order, but if I were to put
them in order of how much I loved them, this one would be at the top
of my list. A baby is born and then dies. Then is born and lives a
little longer. And then dies. And then is born and does some other
stuff which might include meeting and possibly killing Hitler. Oh,
Kate Atkinson, I adore you.
Lexicon by Max Barry –
This odd, twisty thing confused me, but it kept me reading. There are
these poets, see, and they can persuade people to do things. Crazy,
dangerous things. And you really can't tell who is bad or who is good
or why anyone is doing anything. I think it all comes together in the
end in a way that made sense, but it is the feeling of wonderful
uncertainty that I took away from the book that I remember.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by
Carol Rifka Brunt – This story concerns June, an awkward girl whose
closest relationship is with her uncle Finn. When he dies of AIDS,
she is cast adrift until she meets Toby, another grief-stricken
loner. This story unfolds beautifully and has secondary characters
that you don't even think you like until the end when you are just
weeping from the beauty of it all.
Someone Else's Love Story
by Joshilyn Jackson – Shandi has a horrible name, an adorable son
and a terrific best friend. She also has a mother who is wound as
tightly as a mother can be, a father who thinks he has tried his best
and a stepmother you will love to hate. And when she is taken hostage
by a gunman in a quickie mart, she meets the man of her dreams. It is
SO not what you think it is! I did not put this down.
My Notorious Life by Kate
Manning – Orphan trains! Reproductive rights! The Gilded Age! These
are a few of my favorite things! One of the reviews on Amazon said,
“My only complaint is that the book ended.” and I feel the same
way. Axie is born in poverty in New York City and eventually sent out
west on an Orphan train. She finds her way back and becomes rich and,
well, notorious.
The Paris Wife by Paula
McLain – It isn't so much that I loved this story, you can only
imagine yourself punching Earnest Hemingway in his stupid face so
many times, but I adored Hadly. She was 28 when she married Hemingway
and lived with him in Paris. I can't count the number of times I put
this book down to just imagine myself in their lives. Helping with
the baby, drinking absinthe, punching Hemingway in his stupid face.
This was a book that really transported me.
The Husband's Secret by
Liane Moriarty – I was a huge fan of What Alice Forgot a
couple years ago and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I loved
this even more! Moriarty has a remarkable way of telling a dark and
painful story with slices of riotous humor that feels like real life.
Cecelia find a letter from her husband to be read upon his death with
a HUGE secret in it. So she reads it. But he's not dead. And, wow,
are there repercussions!
The Golem and the Jinni
by Helene Wecker – Two “mythical creatures” - one a Golem
created to be the perfect wife and one a Jinni freed from his lamp -
meet in New York City as the 20th century is about to
begin. She was created to fulfill the needs of others regardless of
how it will affect her and he is used to being all powerful and
beholden to no one. Their backstories are fascinating and the
direction their friendships take them are just magnificent. I know it
is sometimes considered librarian apostasy, but I really hope someone
makes a movie out of this one, because it was so beautifully drawn in
my head that I want to see how it would look designed by someone who,
well, knows things.
Nonfiction
Rapture Practice by Aaron
Hartzler – Aaron was raised in a family that put the fun in
fundamentalist! I picked this book up because it referenced the song
“The Countdown” (Somewhere in outer space, God has prepared a
place for those who trust him and obey...) which was a favorite of
mine as a kid. Aaron and I would have been best buddies. Christian
kids who wanted to be good, but wanted to be ourselves more. I can't
wait to read his follow-up. He damn well better write a follow-up!
Drop Dead Healthy by A.
J. Jacobs – Thanks, A.J., for doing the interesting things I am too
lazy to do and then writing about them hilariously! He read the
entire Encyclopedia Brittanica for The Know It All and
he lived obeying all the laws of the Bible for The Year of
Living Biblically and now in his quest to be the healthiest man
in the world, he has actually changed my life! (It involves standing
up at work rather than sitting at a desk. Not a huge life changer,
but one that makes me healthier nonetheless.) This book was
hysterically funny and also quite enlightening. I will never look at
my colon the same way.
Girls Like Us by Rachel
Lloyd – This looked like it might be salacious, and ended up being
heartbreaking. It is the story of young girls and human trafficking.
Lloyd juxtaposed her story of escaping from the sex trade as a
teenager with those of the girls she has made it her mission to help
who are in “the life” in New York City. It is the little details
that get to you and humanize children who are often demonized for
circumstances completely beyond their control.
YA
Openly Straight by Bill
Konigsberg – This book was perfect for me! I am a big fan of GLBTQ
teen fiction but it is often so bleak. Gay kids can be happy, I've
seen it! But I love a struggle story as much as the next guy and
this struggle is completely unique. Rafe lives in Boulder, Colorado – a hotbed of liberal acceptance – and is tired of being “the
gay guy”. So he goes to a boys boarding school in New England to
duck back into the closet to lose the label. Not because he is being
victimized, but because he is annoyed. It's a terrific concept and
Konigsberg makes it funny, maddening and emotionally satisfying all
at the same time.
Going Vintage by Lindsay
Leavitt – It is becoming obvious to me as I write these little
review-lets that I am predisposed to love books that look light and
fluffy on the outside but have a nice meaty center. Okay, very
unappealing food-ish metaphor, but apt nonetheless. In this book
(with an adorably retro cover) Mallory decides – thanks to a
cyber-cheating boyfriend – to eschew all modern technology. She
finds a list that her grandmother made in 1963 of goals for her
junior year of high school and decides to make her grandmother's
goals her own. And all kinds of awesome stuff happens, some of which
was completely unexpected. The story is cute and deeper than it
seems. The characters are lovely and the family connections are
realistic.
Boy 21 by Matthew Quick –
Well, I book-talked the hell out of this one this spring for BHS
summer reading and a LOT of teenage boys pretended to read it. Well,
they missed out, because it is a great story of friendship, grief,
love and redemption. I don't know, maybe not redemption. But it has
the Irish Mob, mental illness, basketball and secrets. Lots of
secrets.
Forgive Me Leonard Peacock
by Matthew Quick – What, you again Quick? Are you determined to
break my heart over and over this year? Between this, Boy 21
and Silver Linings Playbook (the movie, not the book) –
mission accomplished. This book was an emotional BEAST! Leonard goes
to school with a gun determined to kill his former best friend Asher
and then himself. But before he does, he has to deliver gifts to four
“friends”. This was just beautifully written and powerful.
Belle Epoque by Elizabeth
Ross – I read this last week for my YA book club and we have yet to
discuss it, but it has stuck with me. Maude is a French girl at the
turn of the last century who runs away to Paris. She answers an
advertisement to be a Repoussier, an ugly girl who attends high
society events with a debutante to make her seem even more beautiful
by comparison. Zoiks! Combine the story of the agency with the family
Maude works for (evil mother bent on marrying off her daughter who is
kept in the dark about, well, a lot) and a bit of a crush on a
musician and you have a very satisfying read.
Eleanor & Park by
Rainbow Rowell – Attachments, Rowell's first book, was a highlight
of my year last year. I awaited E&P with baited breath and I was
not disappointed. This is one of those books that is hysterically
funny and completely wrenching at the same time. Eleanor is a poor,
pudgy, weird girl who loves and is loved by Park a half Korean comic
book loving geek in 1980s Omaha. And it is just perfect. It made me
feel so much that my stomach hurt and I couldn't talk to people for
about 2 hours after I finished it. In a good way.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
– Well, I knew I wasn't going to love this as much as Rowell's
Eleanor & Park, but I expected to like it fine. I did not
expect to be completely pulled out of my own life and into that of
Cath, a college freshman who is on her own for the first time in her
life. Cath writes fan fiction about a series of books about a boy
wizard who saves the world or some such nonsense. I knew that the fan
fiction bits were annoying and pulled people out of the story. Except
they DIDN'T! Oh haters, you had nothing else to grab onto in this
perfectly perfect book. It is hard to say if I loved it as much as
E&P because they were so different, but I loved it.
The Beginning of Everything
by Robyn Schneider – Oh the manic pixie dream girl, she is annoying
and emotional and she just reeks of drama. Of course she is also
adorable and life-changing for the right fictional boy. The boy in
question here is the incongruously named Ezra. Who is the most
popular boy in his high school by virtue of being the captain of the
tennis team. (Tennis??? Whatever.) However, his athletic career is
cut short when he is in a serious car crash that destroys his leg. He
ends up shifting his allegiance from the jock crowd to the forensics
team and learns a lot about himself, blah blah, blah. The thing is, I
love Ezra. And I want the best for him and his friends are more than
just caricatures, even Cassidy, the MPDG. I was taken by surprise by
how much I loved this book.
The Spectacular Now by
Tim Tharp – This one came at me from nowhere. I was a fan of
Tharp's Knights of the Hill Country. It was the football book that
many of the high school boys pretended to read for summer reading in
2010. I loved Sutter, the protagonist of this book. He is a party
hound with a heart of gold. His substance issues drive the story, but
they aren't all he is about. He is good and kind and the fact that he
desperately seems to need a 12 step program doesn't change that. I
loved him and Aimee, the girl he takes under his damaged wing. And I
loved the ending which was as vague as it was true.
Rose Under Fire by
Elizabeth Wein – Well Elizabeth Wein sure hates herself some Nazis!
(Forgive me, I re-watched Inglorious Basterds last night.) She
wrote the stellar Code Name Verity last year and follows it up
with this equally brilliant companion piece. This is the story of
Rose Justice, an American flier in England who is shot down and ends
up in Ravensbruck. The book meanders a bit but the slow build is
necessary and I looked back when I was finished and was amazed at
when Wein took me. It was powerful and beautifully written.
The 5th Wave by Phillip
Yancy – I tried to read The
Monstrumologist. I really did. But it scared me so I put
it down and tried to forget it. In his newest book, Yancy scares me
once again, but he does so in a way that made it completely
impossible for me to stop reading. Nice one, Phil. Thanks for the
nightmares. Cassie has miraculously stayed alive for the first four
waves of invasion. When the fifth wave comes, it is impossible to
know how to survive. And it might be luckier not to. There is a
sequel due out on September 16. So if I am hiding in the supply
closet in the library, you will know why.
Okay, now here are the four stars
because, really, they were quite good.
Children's
The Donner Dinner Party
by Nathan Hale – A graphic novel about the unfortunate pioneers
Fiction
Ladies' Night by Mary Kay
Andrews – A fluffy beach read by my favorite southern lady
Wonderland by Ace Atkins
– Robert Parker might be gone. But Spenser lives on and Atkins does
a fine job aping his style.
The Weird Sisters by
Eleanor Brown – This one was a book club pick about three sisters
trying to take control of their lives as their mother is dying.
Z by Therese Anne Fowler
– A fictionalized life of Zelda Fitzgerald that made a nice
companion piece to the slightly better written The Paris Wife.
Between Georgia by
Joshilyn Jackson – Jackson's second book didn't catch me as much as
her others, but it was still a great raucous tale of a young woman
caught between her birth family and her adoptive family.
The Cheerleader by Ruth
Doane MacDougall – This is a re-read, but I remembered not really
liking it the first time I read it. But I LOVED it the second time.
Snowy is in high school in small town New Hampshire in the 1950s and
her story is like traveling back in time.
Reconstructing Amelia by
Kimberly McCraight – When Kate's daughter commits suicide at her
fancy girls school, she desperately looks for answers to the question
of who her daughter really was. A slick mystery from the perspective
of the dead girl and her mourning mother.
The Death of Bees by Lisa
O'Donnell – Two Scottish teenagers try to keep their home together
after the deaths of their horrible, horrible parents.
Afterwife by Polly
Williams – When Sophie dies, she gets to watch her husband and son
mourn her and her best friend try to help them get over their loss.
Hysterically funny and heartbreakingly sad.
The Interestings by Meg
Wolitzer – Or as I called it, “The Not-Interesting Enoughs” it
was a fascinating story, but I didn't like a single character.
nonfiction
Mary Rhoda Ted and Lou by
Jennifer Keishen Armstrong – A fascinating look at the making of
The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I watched many DVDs after reading
it!
Does this Baby Make Me Look
Straight? by Dan Bucatinsky – A sweet and hilarious look at
being a gay dad.
Escape from Camp 14 by
Blaine Hardin – You know what sucks? North Korean prison camps.
Unbroken by Laura
Hillenbrand – An amazing man who survived shipwreck and horrific
internment in the Pacific during WWII is celebrated in this gripping
survival story.
We Killed: The Rise of Women in
American Comedy by Yael Kohen – Frankly, less funny than
you'd think, but completely fascinating.
The Astronaut Wives Club
by Lily Koppel – An interesting in-depth look at the space program
from the perspective of the women who married into it.
YA
The Elites by Kiera Cass
– The sequel to The Selection. I can not WAIT until May for
the final installment of this Hunger Games meets “The
Bachelor” mash up!
The Moon and More by
Sarah Dessen – Oh Sarah, you don't do it fancy, but you are
consistently creating believable female characters at interesting
crossroads. They all kind of smush together in my head, but they are
appealing.
Better Nate than Ever by Time Federale
– Only the horrible, horrible cover is going to keep this from
being a smash hit with middle graders. Nate is a hilarious, talented
boy who runs away (temporarily) to take Broadway by storm.
Cold Fury by T. M.
Goeglein – A surprisingly well written
girl-finds-out-her-family-is-mobbed-up story.
The Social Code by Sadie
Hayes – Orphaned twins climb from poverty to Silicon Valley success
in this first in a series. I reviewed this one for VOYA.
The Night She Disappeared
by April Henry – April Henry knows how to spin a scary little yarn.
In this one Gabby is the intended victim of an abduction and she
tries to find the girl who was stolen in her place.
Safekeeping by Karen
Hesse – Photographs illustrate this gripping story of a slightly
futuristic post-war migration to Canada.
Promise of Shadows by
Justina Ireland – This is the very clever and entertaining story of
a half human-half God girl who just might be the Nix, a hero destined
to free humanity and from the tyranny of the immortals.
The End Games by T.
Michael Martin – Michael, a teen who is in the midst of a zombie
apocalypse, tries to protect his 5 year old brother from the truth of
their situation by telling him that they are playing a full immersion
game. The only reason it didn't get 5 stars is because it freaked me
out more than I am entirely comfortable with.
Kissing Shakespeare by
Pamela Mingle – Ooh, time travel! Miranda goes back in time to save
Shakespeare from the priesthood. And some other stuff.
The Infinite Moment of Us
by Lauren Myracle – This is a deep dish love story of two teens who
have just graduated high school and who are an unlikely but wonderful
couple.
The Originals by Cat
Patrick – A set of identical triplets being forced to share the
same life? Something is definitely shifty here.
Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick
– The fairy-tale story of a trailer park girl who, upon her
mother's death, is given three dresses that will make her the most
beautiful woman in the world – funny, sweet and snarky.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the
Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz –
Beautifully written story of a friendship between two unlikely boys.It was good enough to be a five star, but the ending annoyed me far too much.
This is What Happy Looks Like
by Jennifer Smith – This is why we tell kids not to make anonymous
friends on the internet. Because they might end up being super cute
movie star boys that will fall in love with them. A little
counter-educational, but lots of fun!
The Statistical Probability of
Love at First Sight by Jennifer Smith – What, her again?
This one is about two teens who meet on a trans-Atlantic flight and
kind of fall in love. Falling in love with a stranger on an airplane
is perfectly fine, of course.
Scorpio Races by Maggie
Stiefvater – In what appears to be an alternate Ireland where
bloodthirsty Waterhorses are raced by only the bravest men, Puck
enters her land horse in the deadly competition.
How to Save a Life by
Sara Zarr – I resisted this so much, but many, many people
recommended it and I finally got into it and fell in love with these
prickly characters in a unique teen-mom situation.
And the three stars that might interest
others.
The Journey by Aaron
Becker – It is quite a lovely picture book. But I am a grown up and
pretty much just read it because I needed more books for this list!
Shameful...
The Doll House Murders by
Betty Ren Wright – A student was looking for a scary dollhouse book
from her childhood and several people thought it would be this one.
But it was not. Still, pretty creepy for a 1980s middle school
mystery.
Dare Me by Megan Abbot –
Mean cheerleaders are mean to each other and their coach is probably
a sociopath. Still, I needed to know how it ended.
The Pregnancy Project by
Gaby Rodriguez – This was a very sweet, but a little slight, memoir
of a girl who
faked a pregnancy for a school project and changed the way a lot of
people perceived teen moms.
I Pledge Allegiance by
Chris Lynch – War, what is it good for? Well, Lynch takes a
look at a quartet of Boston boys serving in Vietnam with mixed
results.
Out of the Easy by Ruta
Sepetys – After loving Between Shades of Gray so much, I wanted to
adore this. It is the story of a girl raised in a New Orleans Brothel
in the 1950s. It seemed I was destined to love it! But it never
really got off the ground for me.
Nothing Could Possibly Go Wrong
by Prudence Shin – A very cute graphic novel about disparate high
school social groups coming together to solve a common problem.
Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink
by Stephanie Kate Strohm – This was a very cute beach read about
Libby, a history loving fashionista who works as a historical
interpreter/camp counselor with hilarious results in this sweet,
light, summer read.
And the two stars about which I will complain.
Gabe & Izzy: Speaking Up for America's Bullied
by Gabrielle Ford – Gabe seems nice, Izzy too. But their story
feels like one of those improving books that schools buy 300 copies
of so that every kid has one. Not that there's anything wrong with
that.
Help, Thanks, Wow by Anne
Lamott – Why did I finish this irritating little book about prayer?
Because I love Anne Lamott. But not this time.
And the one star
that I will warn you against. Although it must be said that I have
written zero books.
Awoken by Timothy Miller
– First of all, it is a fantasy and it has creatures. But also,
usually when I am forced to read a book I don't like all that much I
think, well hey, it's better than I could do. In this case – no - I
could do better. And I really don't say that lightly. The story that
it here is fairly interesting, but the writing is so stilted and
awkward, and the characters are cardboard. The reason I DON'T write
is because I am pretty sure it would end up like this. But probably
slightly better.
If you have read this far you are a
brave soul. I will try to post with more sensible regularity in the
coming year!
Happy 2014!
