Books I've Read This Week

1) Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley / JF / ***
Favorite line: “If you had to pick between living on the East Coast or the West Coast, which would you choose?" I never told her what I wanted to give as my answer, that I would choose whichever coast my brother happened to be hiding on or locked in a basement near or buried under. I never told her that even if I did know what I wanted to be, I couldn't bear the thought of leaving Lily as long as I knew my brother might show up one day or that whoever was responsible for his leaving was still out there somewhere waiting to do it again and again and again until a thousand Cullen Witters were seeing zombies of their dead brothers standing by their beds at night. I would need to be there to protect him.”

This book won the PRINTZ award for excellent in YA literature.  I found myself confused much of the time. The narrator of the story often switched but the main voice was that of Cullen Witters. The problem is that Cullen would sometimes talk about himself in the third person. It was really annoying.  Some books can take all these different narratives and weave them into the fabric of a whole or at least at some point can tie the stories together, but I didn't feel like this every really happened.  I found myself trudging along. Honestly the only reason I kept reading is to see if it is ever revealed what happened to his younger brother Gabriel.
2) The Brave: A Novel by Nicholas Evans  / A / ****
Favorite line:  "He wore his happiness like new shoes that were still a little stiff but would be fine when they were broken in.  He didn't even want to think about it.  In case it took fright and flew off".
The story starts as thirteen year old Tom is saying goodbye to his mother who is on death row in California for murder in the 1960's.  The rest of the book alternates between telling the story of young Tom and his life to the point and the adult Tom whose son is facing his own charges of murder for actions taken while he was a soldier in Iraq.  Only Nicholas Evans could combine such wildly disjointed story lines (such as a love for old Westerns, 1950's Hollywood Glamour, English boarding schools, the modern day issue of soldiers and their difficulties after service, and the love of a parents for their children) into a story that made sense and was compelling.  I have enjoyed every book of his that I've ever read, even if I didn't always love the way the stories turned out. He has a gift.
3) Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott  / YA / *1/2
Favorite line: “The world will knock you down plenty. You don't need to be doing it to yourself.”

When I tell people that my current favorite genre is Young Adult Literature, I get some crazy looks.  I'm guessing it is because these same people have read books like "Perfect You" and think that I like reading  about annoyingly love sick teenagers whose only fulfillment in life is to get the hot guy.  Sigh.... after reading this book I would give myself that same uncomprehending look.  I could change my favorite quote of this book to say "The world willl give you bad books plenty. You don't need to be reading them yourself".
4) The Secret Hour (Midnighters #1) by Scott Westerfeld / YA / ***
Favorite line:  “You are so... 11:59”

From the back of the book, "For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt the shadows. Only a small group of teenagers know about the secret hour - only they are free to move about the midnight time. They call themselves the Midnighters.  Then Jessica Day moves to town... and everything changes". 
A new girl moves into town and is drawn to a group of outsiders that have a secret..... doesn't this sound so Twilightish? There really are not a lot of other similarities, however.  The appearance of Jessica seems to have activated all the dark and devilish creatures out there.  I thought it was a funny that the things darklings don't like is light, steel, and math.  I always knew I had a dark side (HAR HAR).  I was a little confused by the story... I didn't really get what it is the darklings were trying to accomplish and why they were interested in Jessica  and why only non-adults were midnighters and how the midnighter lore got written on the rock and why exactly the number 13 was a defense.  That being said, if I get my hands on the other books in the series I will likely read them.