"Once upon a time, there was a family with two daughters, and a mother and father who promised to love them both exactly the same." "She was my twin, my fun-house mirror, my whirlwind other half. It's important to note that I was also all those...
When Jace Witherspoon arrives at Christian Marshall's address after 19 hours of driving straight from Chicago to Albuquerque, he's not quite sure what he's going to say. "'I was in the neighborhood,' ...
Open this penultimate volume, and the belly begins flip-flopping over how it might – must? – end. Creator Shuzo Oshimi has clearly shown himself to be one scary manipulator, so already I'm trying to prepare for the inevitably shattering shock this October when that final installment comes out. Oh, but the agony of...
Not to discourage anyone, but feel free to stop reading any further and just go to your favorite bookstore, walk to your nearest library, click online, or visit your most literary buddy's shelves, and open to the first page of Our Happy Time as soon...
So here I sit facing a familiar conundrum ...
Micah is a boy. Micah is a girl. Micah is 17, a senior in a progressive New York City private school. Micah's father went to Marseille in search of his unknown black French father and came back with a white French wife. Micah's father is an...
Apparently, I've jumped way ahead and will need to go backwards sooner than later: GTO: 14 Days in Shonan is the sequel to the wildly successful original GTO which debuted in 1997 and quickly thereafter became a TV drama, live-action film, anime, and more. And the...
See the entwined pair of hands? Although the girl and woman never meet, they remain forever bound by both blood and experience over a tumultuous century in Afghanistan. The woman is Shekiba, the only daughter in a family of sons, whose gender alone makes her a target of abuse...
Two genres set my reading heart aflutter: novels in verse (highly ironic as I am an utter poetry dullard) and interlinked short storied novels. Hapa Hawaiian native Letitia Moffit’s Sidewalk Dancing falls in the latter category ...
Nate Foster, who at "four foot eight" looks much younger that his almost-14 years, makes up for his diminutive height with outsized dreams – and the grandest of plans to make them come true. While his parents are away for a romantic weekend (Dad's trying to make...
Some time in the recent past, a video link came through that began with birthday wishes for Anne Frank, as if she had miraculously survived the Holocaust and lived many fulfilling decades. [I can't seem to find the link again, so if anyone recognizes the description...
If, like me, you have trouble with accents, dialects, or unfamiliar vernacular, choose audible here. Narrator Peter Macon couldn't be smoother and clearer: I couldn't figure out "meejit" on the page, but in Macon's voice, no problem (turns out I'm just the "eejit" who can't understand 'midget,'...
You can go two ways here: 1. Just read this as is, without context or background, and you would enjoy it immensely because it's just so much fun; 2. Invest a little research time before you open the book and reach the final page satisfied and...
Canadian lawyer/author Jennifer Gold’s debut novel starts with such promise: a contemporary teenager's discovery of the eponymous "soldier doll" is interwoven with the doll's near-century-long journey from Europe to the U.S. to Vietnam, landing in a garage sale in Toronto to be bargained for a mere...
"Look at us. A family of four. Seated around the dinner table," 16-year-old Simone observes. "We do this every night. ...
Let's start with the bottom line: read this. [Or listen – narrator Adenrele Ojo is superb.] I guarantee this stupendously epic, unforgettably affecting story of Aminata Diallo will haunt you long after you finish. Born in 1745, Aminata is 11 when she's violently abducted from her...
Without a doubt, Kimberly McCreight's bestselling debut contains every parent's every nightmare, beginning with the absolute worst at the end of the first full chapter: "I'm sorry, Mrs. Baron. But your daughter, Amelia, is dead." Her 15-year-old body lies broken on the grounds of her posh private school...
Get ready: E. Lockhart's latest is apparently the young adult read of the summer. That John Green cover endorsement alone should sell endless copies. So when everyone is chattering about what happened, you're going to want to join in. An aging, wealthy, widowed patriarch spends his summers on a private...
As epigraphs go, Chris Bohjalian couldn't have chosen better (as if we would expect any less), not only for the words, but for the poet who originated the verses: "Before you know what kindness really is / you must lose things, / feel the future...
When her father dies, a girl and her mother's futures are forever altered. As a 14-year-old living in a 17th-century Persian village, she expected to be contentedly married, looking forward to starting her own family, not unlike her best friend who is already heavy with...
