Well, goodness gracious, looks sure can be deceiving: here's your official warning – this dressed up girl is anything but saccharine-sweet, that pink-toned cover comes printed with an "18+" warning, although those turned-in toes actually do belie a twisted sort of innocence ...
What a year 2013 has been for Rainbow Rowell, beginning and ending with two bestsellers (!) – eleanor & park (oh, be still my heart) and Fangirl (a virtual world I never even knew about!). How lucky for me to have discovered a third Rowell title, her...
That the film version of If I Stay is currently in production is reason enough to read the book before Hollywood leaves its indelible imprint too soon. Trust me: 99.9% of the time, the book is better. The intensity and ferocity that author Gayle Forman offers with...
A few months ago when I came upon this fascinating article, "The One Thing White Writers Get Away With, But Authors of Color Don't" by PolicyMic's Gracie Jin, I started trolling around for authors venturing into unexpected 'color'-ful fictional territory. I was fascinated to find two bestselling writers...
How’s this for new math: the first 286 pages hold about the same weight as the final 25 pages. The fictional diary expounds and entertains, revealing a 13-year-old’s West Coast experiences during World War II; the ending “Life in America in 1941” section illuminates and...
In just her protagonist's name alone, author Nina Schuyler imbues linguistic magic in her latest novel about language, communication, understanding, and ultimately, the bonds of family. Schuyler's leading lady is Hanne Schubert, a 53-year-old woman who speaks seven languages including Japanese, German, along with her...
My older teenager tells me the series of the same name is what 'everyone' is watching: "It's the new favorite show," she insists. So when I found the book ("there's a book?" the daughter asks with surprise; there's almost always a book first!) available to...
Well, crud. In spite of making a list and checking it twice, thrice, and more, I read these in about as 'wrong' order as I possibly could. But before I offer two preventative options, some quick background: the full Cemetery of Forgotten Books by internationally bestselling...
Okay, so both Book 1 and Book 2 of this intergalactically stupendous series start out almost the same (Book 2 has an extra, well-placed, close-up "Gyaaaaah!" thrown in), but don't be misled into thinking you've already read it, done that, check! "What's next for Andy Go?" the...
Serafina, who lives in the outskirts of Haiti's Port-au-Prince, has never had the chance to go to school. With rarely enough to eat, her family has nothing left over to pay the school fees, much less buy the required uniform. While her father works at...
In an unnamed conflict zone – not unlike the challenging, changing borders of Israel and Palestine – 13-year-old Joshua lives in a new settlement community, Amarias, surrounded by a guarded, barbed-wired wall. Too soon after his father's violent death, his mother desperately married Joshua's now-stepfather who considers...
In case you need an introduction to the "unique, different, and one of a kind" Marisol McDonald, check out her 2011 debut here: Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match. Now that she's starring in her second book, I hope that means Marisol's got her own series going, so we...
Lan Samantha Chang is a literary success of countless accolades, from her Ivy pedigrees (Yale, Harvard) to coveted fellowships (Guggenheim, Stanford's Stegner, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study) to her directorship since 2006 of what many believe is the country's (the world's?) top creative writing program,...
Along the lines of Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and Neal Bascomb's The Perfect Mile being running books, or Chris Cleave's Gold a biking title, or Thien Pham's Sumo and Gail Tsukiyama's The Street of a Thousand Blossoms sumo wrestling books, Katie Kitamura's debut is a boxing novel – or...
Muthini – whose name means "suffering ...
Although I can't recommend this book, I sure would like to find some readers who might want to discuss it. As it's apparently a "national bestseller" – so touts the cover of the paperback edition – perhaps a few of you who have already read it might...
I haven't seen Patti Kim’s name on a book cover in quite a while ...
Cath and Wren are twins – how they got their name is just too entertainingly clever. They've been each other's best friend their whole lives, sharing the same room which also serves as a near-shrine to Simon Snow (à la Harry Potter, who does get a...
If you don't like spoilers, might I suggest you click here to catch up. This series is so uniquely delightful, you really shouldn't miss a volume; trust me, they do need to be read in order. This latest installment officially hits shelves tomorrow. Welcome to junior high school...
When Dani can't sleep, she doesn't count sheep, she "counted all the times she'd been happy." Now she's also excited, as well as happy: "She'd waited her whole life to start school." Her first day is "'[m]aybe a little bit scary, but lots of fun,'"...
