Best Book I've Read This Year

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Historical Fiction

This is, no question, the best book of the year for me.  That's quite an honor considering I have met my goal of reading 200 books (so far!).  This book has an unfortunate title (with Fifty Shades of Gray--these two aren't even distantly related literary cousins!).

Fifteen-year old Lina lives in Lithuania.  One day, Soviets invade her home, arrest her family and send her to a Siberian work camp.  The trip is tortuous and they all barely survive.  The conditions are brutal but Lina's stubborn persistent connection to art and her hope in love keeps her safe, and alive.

The writing style is haunting and lyrical and beautiful.  The narrator seems so detached from the writing and yet is through this detachment that one realizes the special kind of horror that is in the story.  I have read many Holocaust books but none quite like this.  It is unique for many reasons but the purpose of singling out a professor's family really hit home for me.  Getting rid of all the people who know better is the worst kind of evil--the destruction of knowledge.  This book should win all kinds of awards--nothing else this year even comes close!

Rare Game!

Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice

Adolescent Survival

A hunting book!  Be still, my teaching heart!  This is literally only the second hunting book I've ever found written for young people.  How rare!  And, how very delightful that is was also well-written! 

This is my favorite type of genre (adventure/survival) and even if you don't like hunting, there's still plenty enough for you to sink your teeth into.  When both of Erik's parents are deployed to Iraq, he has little choice but to go and stay with his maternal grandparents, people he barely knows.  Naturally, this means he's going to miss his friends and school but missing his first grown-up hunting trip is almost more than he can bear.  Combine that with the pain of his parent's leaving and Erik is in true turmoil.  To make the situation worse, his grandparents are strange and don't know quite what to make of a young boy.  His grandfather, Big Darrell, almost seems to hate him.  When Erik finds and rescues a hunting dog from a porcupine attack, he's sure that he's found a friend at last, until Big Darrell says, "No dogs!".  Erik decides this is the last straw and heads out on his own.

This book hasn't stayed on my shelf since I put it out at school--that's the true sign of a good read!

Left Me Cold

Iced by Carol Higgins Clark

 Cozy Mystery

This is book #3 in this series and while I enjoyed the first two, this one just left me cold.  This is a cozy mystery so I knew not to expect hard-hitting crime, but still, there should be something that felt dangerous or thrilling.  There just wasn't.  This book was awkward and felt amateurish at times.  There were very cheesy jokes, cheesy dialogue and even a cheesy plot.  As a reader, you are aware the whole time that this is a book; none of it felt remotely real.

Reagain Reilley, a private investigator, is looking forward to some winter relaxation with her parents-down-to-earth funeral home director father, Luke, and mystery author mother, Nora.  Reagan's vacation time turns suddenly into a working vacation when some expensive paintings are stolen from a friend's residence and, of course, the Reilley's are right in the thick of it.

Normally, I would probably already be giving up on this series but I know it has to get better because I have read a later installment that was quite good.  Please don't disappoint me on the next one or we will have to part ways for good, Reagan Reilley.

Not As Good As I Wanted

Infinity Ring #1:  A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner

Adolescent Time Travel/Alternate History

I really wanted to love this book.  The premise is fascinating.  But, alas, I only liked it.  Kind of.

This first book in the series was written by James Dashner, author of Maze Runner.  While I know he is a popular writer, he is not really the best choice to write a short, thrilling work.  Personally, I find him a bit boring and dry. 

Best friend Dek and Sera stumble onto the secret of time travel in Dek's basement and travel back in time to fix the current mixed up history.  While the premise is interesting, it is also confusing. I suspect many young readers will have no idea about some historical allusions and much of it will just fall flat.  Or perhaps that was a problem with my own feeble brain rather than a plotting issue, although I suspect the latter.

This book is similar to the premise of the bestseller series 39 Clues.  Each book is to be written by a different author, a passing of the literary torch.  It was such great fun in 39 clues.  I loved seeing how the author's style changed the story and characters.  This book is also a multi-platform with the book having some kind of secret code for an online game.  But, it comes nowhere close to the magic of 39 Clues and I predict will fizzle in just a few books.  I don't know if I'll hang around for it or not. Overall, I felt kind of cheated of a good story and kind of like I was trapped in some type of weird marketing scheme.

Better and Better and Better.....

D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton

Adult Mystery

This is book 4 in the Kinsey Milhone Alphabet Mysteries and I am both glad and sad. Glad there is 22 more but sad there is only 22 more. 

Kinsey's new client doesn't last long.  He appears in the first chapter but he makes a big impression.  Somewhere along the lines of $25,000 worth!  Kinsey is supposed to deliver the money  to a young man but that proves pretty difficult because the young man doesn't want the money and a lot of other people do.

I liked this one the best so far.  The ending was an absolute stunner for me.  I never saw it coming!  (Doesn't that make for the best mysteries?)  I really like the character of Kinsey.  At first her demeanor was off putting--she's so emotionless and clinical and dry.  Of course, those are also the qualities that make for such  a good detective.  Needless to say, I'm in this for the long haul and can't wait to see what Kinsey comes up with next.

Unmatched By Lesser Books

Matched by Ally Condie

Adolescent Dystopia Fiction

This read, for me, was like falling in love slowly.  I only really liked the book for awhile and then it started to grow on me and then I was reading it feverishly, desperate to begin the next as soon as I finished this first installment.

This is a dystopian book like The Hunger Games but Cassia is no Katniss Everdeen.  Which isn't to say she is a lesser protagonist.  Cassia is satisfied with her life, never coloring outside the lines of what is expected of her by her family and by society.  What's not to be happy about?  She has a loving family, good friends and she has been 'matched' (as in government-sponsored betrothed) to her childhood BFF who adores her.  The feeling is mutual.

Until.

Until Cassia glimpses a different future.  When she witnesses a supposed computer glitch that 'matches' her with Ky, a boy she knows but who has always been an outsider, she is intrigued by the possibilities.  Her intrigue starts a small revolution, first in her own heart. This is why I like her a little better than Katniss.  Revolution is not thrust upon Cassia; she absorbs it and projects it all for love and justice.

This book just got better and better.  I felt like I was growing and becoming more aware with Cassia, rather than through her.  And, while you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, the covers of this series are pure delight for the eyes.  I cannot wait for the next one!

Another Good Show!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid #3:  The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney

Adolescent Graphic Novel

What's not to love with this series?  A funny and true version of middle school life told through the jaded view of a slacker, Greg Heffley.

Will Greg's father ever despair of changing his sons?  Apparently not!  This third book has the oldest male Heffley encouraging his middle son to toughen up and play team sports-or else!  Well, the else turns out to be military school.  Greg, of course, resists all attempts at change and stays his adorable, hilarious, selfish self.  One of the funniest parts of the book occurs at the very beginning when Greg makes his own New Year's resolution to be more helpful.  So, he gives his mom advice about her junk food habits and growing waistline.  Gotta love him!

These book are just so funny, even for me, an older woman.  I know they are targeted for middle school male reluctant readers but I love them, too!  I often have to fight over my own copies in my open classroom.  This is a really fast read and you can devour the entire book in about 90 minutes or so.  I can't wait to jump into the next one!