Another pair of scary BooksYALove favorites for the witching season: if blood-spatter and dire peril aren’t your thing, search the tag cloud (over there on right) for something else!
Tag Archive | memories
Somewhat scary & completely wonderful: spooky season books pair #1
Y’all know that I cannot read horror books; my imagination is just too good and needs no super-terrifying prompts.
I can take on scary tales in measured doses and do love mysteries, of course..
So as we count down the days till Hallowe’en, check out BooksYALove favorites to get you ghoul and ready for some frights! Today’ pair, future based on past inequities and past predicting the future: Click for today’s titles
DNFs, train wrecks, and award season = reviewer fatigue!
Aspens at Grand Mesa, Colorado, Sept. 2014
Sometimes you just need to get away from it all, right?
But for this avid reader and intrepid book reviewer, the “stepping away for a little while” got a bit lengthier than planned.
A combination of factors is usually the culprit – simple burnout, outside distractions, and so forth.
But this time around, it’s been harder than normal to get back in the book recommending groove despite my best intentions.
Y’all know that I try hard to choose books outside the big bestsellers and copycat stuff for BooksYALove. But sometimes, things just don’t go the way I expect.
Like when… a book gets noticed by the big wide world before I can craft just the right no-spoilers booktalk to post = Revolution by Deborah Wiles, a compelling novel about young people in Jim Crow days during the summer of Voting Rights activists coming to Mississippi.
Darned if those National Book Award folks wouldn’t wait till I’d finished writing my recommendation before they announced it as a 2014 finalist! So I won’t write here about Revolution, but will urge you to read it along with Deborah’s post on NerdyBookClub talking about how some vital things have hardly changed in Greenwood since that pivotal summer of 1964. (Luckily, I already raved here about John Corey Whaley’s Noggin which is also a finalist)
Like when… books that sounded so good, so interesting, and so worth reading turn out to be flops. I have very wide-ranging reading tastes and am very selective about requesting review copies, so I can almost always think of someone I know who would love such-and-such book (not every book is for every reader, of course).
But a few titles in a row lately have just been flat-out duds, due to writing that needed stronger editing (no, that girl isn’t poignantly introspective; she’s a whiner) or pop references which are already dated. If I knew who’d written the jacket-flap copy on some others, I’d give them a piece of my mind as the book in my hands bore no resemblance to their description of plot, motivation, etc. Yep, I finally have some DidNotFinish titles, despite my best efforts to choose ones worth our time to read.
Like when… I just can’t turn the page because I know that a character I’ve become emotionally invested in is about to do something incredibly stupid – it’s like watching a train wreck about to happen. A couple of books are waiting on me to be ready for the inevitable outcome – great books, but I’m not yet ready to uncover my eyes and let those characters go and live with their bad decisions. I will, and y’all will get the recommendations of these books, but not right this minute.
Like when… I couldn’t get to KidLitCon blogger conference this year, so I missed my current and new Kidlitosphere friends, all the great discussions about Diversity in YAlit and Kidlit, and the refreshed attitude toward blogging that this gathering always gives me.
Like when… we really are on vacation – watching the aspens turn golden or discovering an orchard stand with heirloom apple varieties is more important than jumping into someone’s fictional world.
So… a little breather, some homemade apple pie, some visits with family and I’ll be back. My To-Be-Reviewed pile has some dandy books which will be published in winter and spring, and you won’t want to miss them!
**kmm
Me On the Floor, Bleeding, by Jenny Jagerfeld (book review) – thumbtip gone, mom gone, Maja is… where?
Maja really wouldn’t harm herself.
Mum really wouldn’t forget their weekend plans.
Dad really wouldn’t assume the worst (yes, he would).
A classic outsider at her high school, Maja is willing to wander a bit further in search of the truth than the adults in her life are comfortable with.
Not the first book-in-translation that I’ve featured on BooksYALove, but its publisher is my first small press from Sweden. Hope to see more YA from Stockholm Text in the future!
**kmm
Book info: Me On the Floor, Bleeding / Jenny Jagerfeld; translated by Susan Beard. Stockholm Text, 2014. [author site in Swedish] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: When Maja is injured at school, everyone worries that she did it on purpose… except her mom, who’s gone missing. The Swedish teen’s search turns up more answers than she was looking for.
If she hadn’t been trying to make a bookshelf instead of sculpture for art class, the 17 year old wouldn’t have mangled the tip of her thumb in the electric saw after hours.
If Mum had answered her text, Maja wouldn’t have taken the train to an empty house for her visiting weekend and found Mum’s mobile phone left behind.
If Justin next door hadn’t helped Maja clean up after yet another accident, they wouldn’t have gone to the coffeehouse together, or the bar, or his room.
And Maja keeps flashing back to the whirling saw blade and the blood and Mum’s increasingly odd communications. Where are the answers?
Play Me Backwards, by Adam Selzer (book review) – his soul to Satan for chance at her heart
To turn his life around, Leon needs some help.
His best friend Stan has just the solution… for a price.
Socially inappropriate behavior is the norm, whether hanging out in Satan/Stan’s black basement (has anyone seen his parents recently?) or the breakroom of the low expectations ice cream place where the best friends “work” (well, they get paid for being there) – but this slacker decides that another chance at having ultra-cool Anna in his life is worth some real effort.
Even if you missed Leon’s earlier misadventures in How To Get Suspended and Influence People, it’s time to search for the perfect Slushee flavor, visit your local library or favorite independent bookstore to get Play Me Backwards, and decide for yourself if Stan deserves an extra A in his name!
And yes, there is an EP of songs from/inspired by the crazy-funny novel here, each track complete with backward message.
**kmm
Book info: Play Me Backwards / Adam Selzer. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2014. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: Leon’s had no reason to stop his slide from junior high genius down to senior slacker until Anna’s imminent return to Des Moines shocks him into agreeing to Stan’s personality makeover plan – for the price of his soul.
For years Stan has said he’s really Satan, and maybe his unfailing hangover remedies prove it. But can his master plan make Leon cool again before Anna arrives from England – listening to Moby Dick on unabridged audiobook, finding the Great White Grape Slushee, joining the yearbook staff, and going out with a popular girl – whaaat? Hanging out with Stan and the other goths/slackers in the back room at work is more Leon’s style, but he doesn’t want Anna to think he’s a loser, so here goes.
Somehow cheerleader-cute Paige winds up on the Slushee hunt when Leon rescues her after she’s dumped on Valentine’s Day, and and their drives together turn into something more.
Now, to sneak a satanic poem into the yearbook and finish that zillion-CD whale tale…
Afterworlds, by Scott Westerfeld (book review) – transforming death, embracing life
One book with two stories, two heroines.
Two girls, one creating the other.
Lizzie’s plunge into the realms of death and love underscores her creator’s path from aspiring high school writer to published YA author as Darcy Patel discovers what so many authors have told me: writing is hard, but rewriting (and rewriting and rewriting) is so, so much harder.
Scott Westerfeld’s new novel isn’t a tale of writing, but a twinned narrative about rewriting a novel and rewriting a life short-circuited by not-death. Love is a prominent and problematic feature of both stories, a great deal like real life where the darn details of everyday can get in the way of what’s really important.
Releasing on September 23 (most new media goes on sale on Tuesdays…), Afterworlds will get big buzz because Scott is a big YA author – and because this big two-in-one volume is that good.
**kmm
Book info: Afterworlds / Scott Westerfeld. [author site] [publisher site] [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: Deferring college for a year to rewrite her first novel, Darcy is excited to move away to New York City, exhilarated to find love, and mystified about how she can craft her story’s ending that her editor requires in this novel-within-a-novel.
On a routine trip between her divorced parents, Lizzie is trapped in a doomsday terrorist attack, plays dead so the killers will ignore her, and discovers that she can now sense ghosts – so begins the mystical love story that Darcy wrote to add to her college applications (2000 words a day for a month makes a 60,000 word novel).
Her family’s Indian heritage provides the mythic basis for this afterworld, a tragic incident from her mother’s hometown inspires the ghost girl in Lizzie’s house, but Darcy invents handsome Yamaraj, who has been living among the dead for centuries, confirms that Lizzie is a psychopomp who helps dead spirits cross over, and falls in love with her.
Guided by an agent, a publisher, and a math-savvy little sister to watch her budget, Darcy feels even luckier when fellow writer Imogen hand-holds her through apartment-hunting and then holds onto her heart.
As they both plunge into rewrites of their very different young adult novels, Darcy and Imogen walk an emotional tightrope between togetherness and writing time. As Lizzie and Yamaraj fall in love, she ignores his warning against seeking vengeance while trying to comfort a little dead girl.
Two complete and compelling novels intertwined in a single volume = Afterworlds.
One Death, Nine Stories (book review) – his last act triggered many firsts
“Kevin’s dead?”
“I can’t believe it!”
As they did in Pick Up Game (my review here), the editors asked one YA author to write the first story on the collection’s theme of initiation. Then eight other writers took strands from “Down Below” as they introduced teens whose lives were impacted by Kevin’s life and death, each tale one of a pivotal line crossed, a change that can’t be undone.
Like a kaleidoscope’s image changes when it’s passed from one viewer to the next, these nine interlocked stories show many different images of the 19-year-old New Yorker, darkness with glints of hope, questions of racial identity, parental affection, and the bonds of friendship.
Just published today – come over to Kevin’s neighborhood, meet his sister, his running buddies, the funeral home cosmetologist, the dead ends and new beginnings.
**kmm
Book info: One Death, Nine Stories / edited by Marc Aronson & Charles R. Smith. Candlewick Press, 2014. [Marc Aronson’s website] [Charles R. Smith Jr.’s website] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: Initiations in teen life – joyous, bitter, tragic – weave together this short story collection of the many firsts experienced after Kevin’s death by teens who knew him and some who’d never even met the 19 year old.
The anthology begins as Rita Garcia-Williams takes us to a teen’s first day of work at his uncle’s funeral home as drifting-along Morris suddenly realizes that he went to high school with the guy in that body bag.
Mick first meets Kevin as an altar boy in “Initiation” by Ellen Hopkins, but won’t play along to “The Next Next Level” of dangerous deeds in Torrey Maldanado’s story.
Kevin’s track teammate “Running Man” must outrace a bullet, tells Charles R. Smith, while Jackson starts football “Two-a-Days” down in Chris Barton’s Texas wondering about this Kevin guy whose death caused so many messages online.
“Just Once” Candy would have liked Kevin to give his affection without the bleak insults, chronicles A.S. King, while Kevin’s little sister reclaims his personal effects and finds herself saying “I Have a Gun” in Will Weaver’s tale.
Nadira’s “Making Up the Dead” (by Nora Raleigh Baskin) and making something of herself, while the college “Connections” described by Marina Budhos aren’t enough to keep Kevin in this world.
A strong collection of short stories about a life cut short and the choices made by those left behind. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)
OCD Love Story, by Corey Ann Haydu (book review) – counseling, compulsions, Cupid?
Obsessions and compulsions.
An unsought-for chance at love.
5, 6, 7, 8…
What are the odds that the sweet guy that Bea met during a blackout would be in her new therapy group? That they’ll make it past date #8? That Bea can control her obsession with the fabulous couple she overhears at the therapist’s office?
If Bea keeps denying that her OCD is spiraling out of control again, she might lose Beck (everything in 8s – taps, handwashing, daily gym workouts), her best (and only) friend Lisha, and her own sanity.
Find this 2013 paperback at your local library or favorite independent bookstore (these are both search tools – no affiliate links ever on BooksYALove).
**kmm
Book info: OCD Love Story / Corey Ann Haydu. Simon Pulse, 2013. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: When familiar compulsive behaviors won’t keep her most recent obsession at bay, Bea struggles to stay close to her new boyfriend whose own OCD may end their relationship after Date 8.
Whatever triggered Bea’s OCD a few years ago has been firmly locked away by the Boston teen, and she doesn’t agree with Dr. Pat that group therapy will help. But there she finds Beck, the boy she kissed at a dance after the power went out, a guy with his own secrets, sorrows, obsessions, and compulsions.
Suddenly obsessed with the safety of a couple she overheard at Dr. Pat’s office, Bea finds compulsions once again overtaking her daily life, despite the welcome distraction of time with Beck. Can her sanity withstand the strain? Can her relationship with Beck last beyond his obsession with the number 8? (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)
When Mr. Dog Bites, by Brian Conaghan (book review) – Tourette’s & a bucket list of wow
Tics. Swearing.
Bucket list at 16?
Dylan would rather be a normal teenager than have Tourette’s, would rather have Dad home than away with the Army, and would rather live past March than get intimate with Michelle – scratch that last item: he wants to live and be Michelle’s boyfriend.
Filled with involuntary creative swearing from Dylan and racial slurs by his special school classmates, When Mr. Dog Bites has raised eyebrows for its strong language, but is also raising awareness of living with Tourette Syndrome like its author does.
This funny and profane book was published in the US in June – will Dylan fulfill his bucket list before it’s too late?
**kmm
Book info: When Mr. Dog Bites / Brian Conaghan. Bloomsbury, 2014. [author’s Twitter] [publisher site] [video interview] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: When he misunderstands a doctor’s comment, 16-year-old Dylan lists things to do quickly before he dies – and he’s not letting his Tourette’s or the crazies at his special school or that taxi driver stop him!
Inside Dylan is “Mr. Dog” the uncontrollable side of his Tourette Syndrome which causes the Scots teen to bark and swear. Special school, meds, and counseling help a bit, but Dad being away on special Army duty and Mum getting all weepy with the taxi driver don’t.
His best friend Amir doesn’t believe that the doctor said Dylan would die soon, but soon enough is on board with his plan to hook up with Michelle before it’s too late. Get Dad back home, find Amir a new BFF – lots to do before March, if Dylan can keep Mr. Dog quiet…
The tics, swearing, and blackouts permeating every moment of Dylan’s life despite his deep desire to behave normally reflect the author’s own struggle with Tourette’s in this forthright novel.
Forget Me, by K.A. Harrington (book review) – not his twin! who is he?
Facial recognition software,
social media, hidden identities,
why did it tag her late boyfriend as another guy?
Maybe Morgan didn’t know Flynn as well as she thought…
Just released on Thursday (that’s really odd; most books are Tuesday releases) August 7, 2014, Forget Me is a slight departure from Kim’s paranormal books like her Clarity series (my no-spoiler recommendation of book 1 here) with an eerieness all its own. See for yourself with this free excerpt of the first two chapters.
Could you forget someone that you truly loved?
**kmm
Book info: Forget Me / K.A. Harrington. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2014. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: When a social media site tags her late boyfriend’s photo as the face of a teen in a nearby town, Morgan is stunned. When Evan says he got an anonymous warning to stay away from her, they’re puzzled. When accidents start targeting them both, they race to solve the unfolding mystery before they’re the next victims!
Morgan’s Massachusetts home town is withering away after a deadly scandal shut down major employer Stell Pharmaceuticals. Her best friend is suffering from her parents’ unemployment, their favorite amusement park is abandoned, and time with her loner boyfriend Flynn is her only comfort – until he’s killed in a hit-and-run.
Weeks later, she uploads her only photo of Flynn onto FriendShare, which tries to tag it with another guy’s name! Finding out about Evan is simple, discovering that he’s received a photo of her with a warning to avoid her at all costs is weird, learning that his family is part of Stell is disconcerting.
Sneaking into the amusement park to retrace Flynn’s last steps, they uncover more secrets and more threats. A page-turning mystery in the fog. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)