FEBRUARY 2018

American Street by Ibi Zoboi / YA / ***** / Kindle
This was my first book for the month and I think it may end up being one of the best I will read all year. 
It was rich, complex, heart-felt.  It was so gritty and so real.
Most of the story is told from the point of view of Fabiola - an American born teen that has lived the majority of her life in Haiti. As she and her mother are returning to Detroit, the mother is detained by immigration. Only Fabiola is released to her Aunt and cousins. 
Every so often the author included a short chapter from the point of view of the other characters including Fabiola's Aunt, each of her cousins, Fabiola's boyfriend, and even the home they live in. This provided so many different perspectives that really made this book character driven.
This book was so fascinating to me as it touched on the immigration experience, the inner-city experience, the black poverty in America experience.  It tells the story of a girl trying to fit into an America that may not be all she thought it would be. A girl that fights for her family, no matter what.

I can't say enough good things about this book.

90 Days of Different by Eric Walters / YA / *** /Hardback
Sophie is solid. Responsible. Predictable.  As she graduates High School her best friend, her now ex-boyfriend, and even her father are telling Sophie that these traits, while admirable, have made her a little bit boring.  Her best friend, Ellie, decides to expose her to a summer where she does something "different" every day.  
The book doesn't tell the activity of every single day, thank goodness. Most of the activities selected, while different, were not unrealistic for two teenage girls to engage in. 
The book was cute and fluffy with some moments of emotional introspection. It didn't, however, have a lot of literary tension.
There were two things that made me not like this book: 
1) Ellie was mean. Sophie is apparently pretty, which causes Ellie insecurity. Her friend would put Sophie in situations where Sophie looked bad or ended up feeling bad about herself so that Ellie could say, "Now you know what I feel like". Ummmm what friend does that? Maybe if this situation had been built into the narrative where Sophie dumps the friend I would have been okay with it.  Which leads me to the second dislike:
2) Why doe Sophie need to be different? So she isn't on social media. She doesn't drink. She doesn't go to wild parties. How is this bad? What kind of message is this sending?


Summerlost by Ally Condie / Kindle
This was written by the author of the "Matched" series. It tells the story of a 12 year old girl, Cedar, who has just moved to a new town (based on Cedar City, Utah) after the death of her father and brother.  

This was a cute coming of age story as Cedar  makes a friend, gets a job (at the Summerlost festival - based on the Shakespeare festival) tries to solve a mystery, and works to come to grips with the changes in her life and family.  

The characters in this book were the strong point for me.  The dialogue was really good and sometimes quite humorous.   I also enjoyed how appropriate of a summer feel it had to it... it brought me back to my own summers where the days were long and hot and sometimes boring. It did have some really sweet, poignant moments - This book was good but what was frustrating is that it really had the promise of being GREAT.  I wish Ally would have held onto this one a little longer to fine tune it.

Deenie by Judy Blume / JF / ** / Kindle
My friend Kerrie is an avid reader. We have both found that we are more engaged and well-rounded readers when we participate in book challenges. This year we committed to each reading 50 books from the Rory Gilmore book list. This is a list of 300 books either mentioned or spotted or discussed in the show "Gilmore Girls".  I had previously read about 90 of them. 

Kerrie is an over-achiever. She has already read like freaking half of her 50 books from the list even though it is only freaking February. But I love her anyway.  But I can't keep up. Not even close.

I didn't read any from the list in January.  I figured I need to get my literary self in gear so I went through the list and tried to find books that were on pioneer.gov AND actually available AND sounded like something I would actually want to read. My first book was DEENIE by Judy Blume.  This book is about a girl with scoliosis that masturbates.  That pretty much covers it. I was thinking maybe I'd read this book before or maybe read another one by Judy Blume about a girl that masturbates? Do all of Judy Blume's characters masturbate? I started to google books about masturbation before I had a moment of lucidity that maybe this is not such a good idea.  Especially at work. But anyway I didn't love this one. It was too paint by number story of a physically attractive girl that mocks others for their looks and then ends up having to wear a large brace for her treatments. There is some personal growth which is good but overall the book was just a little odd to me.  As Kerrie said, "Rory Gilmore read some stupid damn books".

Othello by William Shakespeare / A / **** / Kindle
I needed some quick wins for the Rory list... and I had never read Othello... so there you go.


Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng / A / **** / Audio
I liked this one. On the surface it is the story of a family whose daughter died. In reality it is a character study of a family. It switches around to different perspectives and history of each family member both before the event and after. Besides the death of the daughter, not much big happens in the book... but it still is this fantastic look at the dynamic of a family. It is a series of small stories that all combine into this really intriguing look at how we can love someone so much and still cause harm. This was great writing.

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green / YA / **** / Kindle

Oh I loved this one.  I loved so much about it. I've said before that John Green really does seem to have his finger on the pulse of teenagers. The dialogue is right. The emotions are right. The choices they make are right. This novel is no exception. It is the story of a high school girl with an awesome mom and a comfortable home and a best friend that she is having a crazy adventure with as they work to solve a mystery. It is also the story of a girl that has invasive thoughts that increasingly lead her to self-harming behaviors.  
John Green doesn't pull back the punches. It is very real and sometimes very painful to read.  The best part of this is that John Green doesn't suddenly make her better.  You want her get better. But that is the point... she can't. But despite this you love her and know she is wonderful.  And that is a great lesson in and of itself.
This book was fantastic.


Everlost by Neal Shusterman / YA / ***1/2 / Hardback
The Librarian sent this one home with Lizzy when I sent her looking for the second Scythe book - which is by the same author. It is the story of children that get stuck between our world and the after life.  The gray world they live in mimics the world they came from in some ways, but is very different in others. 
It took me a while to get into this one, but then it got really interesting with some great characters and a narrative arc that really made you think.  I will read the sequels if I can get my hands on them.