Y is for Young Adult

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter Y. There are only two more days left in the A to Z Blogger Challenge. As you probably know, the vast majority of the books that I read are classified as Young Adult. I’ve managed to pepper one or two or five YA novels into every single one of my previous so called genres. And now here we are at Y. And obviously, Y is for Young Adult. Picking my favorite five YA books would be really really hard. Thankfully, most of my favorites have already been listed in other genres. So here are five more of my favorite YA novels, that I haven’t figured out how to reclassify yet so I’m listing them here. What’s your favorite YA read?

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen. Sarah Dessen is probably my favorite YA author. I can’t wait for her next book What Happened to Goodbye to come out next month. But since it’s not out yet, Along for the Ride is her most recent publication. I really really really like this book. It’s kind of reverse coming of age story, about an 18 year old girl who grew up way to fast and then realizes she never had a childhood, so she decided to try and cram her entire youth into the summer between high school and college. It’s a cute story, with a lot of really great characters.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. Laurie Halse Anderson is seriously competing with Sarah Dessen for that title of favorite YA author. I love all of her stuff too, and Wintergirls is my favorite Laurie Halse Anderson book. It’s about eating disorders, and it’s heavy. Lia is in the final throws of anorexia and could die of starvation on any page. She’s so malnourished she’s crazy, and she’s the narrator. So the voice. OMG, this book has an amazing voice. I have never read anything else like this. Laurie Halse Anderson is a rock star.

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. This is a book about death, that isn’t really all that sad. Because it’s a book about life after death. Maybe I should have listed it in the U for Undead category. Lennie spent her who life being Bailey’s litter sister. Her older sister defined her identity, right up until Bailey died. Then Lennie had to figure out who she actually was and how to live in a world full of grief and sorrow and no older sister’s to hide behind.

Heart on a Chain by Cindy C. Bennett. This is a book about child abuse. It’s a hard read, but a good read. Kate is a victim who sees the entire world in terms of fear and doubt. Thankfully, I don’t relate to Kate and even though I know there are people who have lives as horrible as Kate, a part of me hopes that nobody relates to Kate. The thing that struck me the most about his book were the other characters. The people that Kate didn’t think she could trust and didn’t tell. It’s easier to relate to those characters, and to wonder how the cycle of abuse can ever be broken. This is a book that haunted me, it still haunts me. And even though it’s scary, I’m grateful for all the nightmares it inspires.

Deadline by Chris Crutcher. This is the YA version of The Bucket List. Ben is told he has a terminal illness and a year to live shortly after his eighteenth birthday. Instead of spending his last year in hospitals, he opts to tell nobody and instead cram an entire lifetime into his final year. It’s YA in overdrive, and it’s powerful.

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X is for Expository

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter X. That means I’m supposed to come up with a genre that starts with the letter X. X-ray isn’t a genre. So I’m cheating and picking a genre that starts with E and just has an X as the second letter. Excellent isn’t a real genre. And simply listing my five favorite books wouldn’t really work ‘cause I’ve already listed them in their own genres. Except for my favorite memoirs. I haven’t listed those yet, and M stood for Middle Grade, so I missed Memoir. So I’m just going to lie and cheat and break all the rules. X is for Expository, and in my own twisted mind, that means Memoir. I know that it doesn’t but I just don’t care. So deal. Here are my favorite five memoirs. What’s your favorite X book? Or your favorite memoir, if you can’t think of a book about X-rays either.

Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet. Daniel Tammet is an autistic sevant. His story may be hard for some people to read. But the things he has to say are amazing. He is amazing. And this peak into the mind of an autistic man is definitely worth reading.

Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robinson. This book is slightly more approachable than Born on a Blue Day. John Elder Robinson has Asperger’s Syndrome and comes across as a much higher functioning version of autism than Daniel Tammet’s. I actually met John Elder Robinson (or at least heard him speak) last week when he was touring for his latest book Be Different. I haven’t read Be Different yet, but I still totally love John Elder Robinson. His voice is so honest, and his life is beyond amazing. The autistic community is lucky to have him.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The horror of life in Afghanistan during the reign of the Taliban is something I’m glad I didn’t have to live through. I’m sorry that Khaled Hosseini had to live through it. But I’m glad he found the courage to share his story. It is powerful and poignant.

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman. I’m a bit of a geek, okay maybe more than just a bit. For my day job, I’m an engineer. And when I was in high school my number one goal in life was to grow up to become Richard Feynman. This book is hilarious. This guy is just so, well he’s Richard Feynman, what more can you say. For anyone reading this book who isn’t a total geek, Feynman is a physicist who taught at Cal Tech for a while. He won the noble prize once, worked on the Manhattan Project back in the day, and mainly just spent all of his time coming up with crazy pranks to keep his over active mind entertained.

Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson. Of all the memoir’s on my list, Bill Bryson definitely had the most “normal” life. He’s a great travel writer, which is another form of memoir, but that was back on T day. But this particular memoir of Bryson’s is all about growing up in a small town in the fifties. I’m not that old, so I never lived through good old days of the American heartland. But my dad claims this book brought back a lot of memories. And I did enjoy it. Bryson is a funny guy, so reading this book was more entertaining than talking to my parents about their childhoods.

Tune back in tomorrow for the letter Y. Also don't forget to enter my 100 followers contest.

W is for WW2

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter W. Way back on H day, I said that H was for Historic. If you’re extra perceptive, you may have noticed that none of the books I listed were set during WW2, even though there are TONS of great books about WW2. Why would I do that? I was holding out on you for a reason. Because today is W day, and W stands for World War Two. Here are five of my favorite WW2 stories. What’s your favorite WW2 tale?

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. There are two things about this book that make it beyond amazing. First, it’s about the Germans during WW2. Not the Nazis, just the regular everyday normal German’s who are normal everyday people and happen to have a guy named Adolf Hitler as their ruler. Nobody ever talks about the German’s and this story did a good job of showing that forgotten point of view. The second amazing thing about his book is the point of view. It’s kind of third person, but really its first person, and the POV character is death. Death was everywhere during WW2, of course death saw everything, of course death is the perfect narrator for this story.

A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell. This book is about Jewish refugees in northern Italy during WW2. It’s another part of the WW2 story that is often forgotten. The Italians were allied with the Germans. But the Italians were not anti-simitic. The Roman Catholic church gave fake baptism papers to it’s Jewish citizens to hide and protect their Jewish population from the Germans. And as the war stretched on many European Jews crossed the alps into northern Italy in order to hide from the German’s behind the Italian lines. This is a book about those people. And it’s amazing.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. In this WW2 tale, a young girl from Denmark helps her best friend and her friends family sneak to Sweden and hide from the Nazis. This is the most innocent and least gut wrenching story on my WW2 list, but then it’s also written for the youngest audience. And sometimes, a little girl lying to save the life of her best friend is gut wrenching enough.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Everybody’s heard of Anne Frank. Her words are honest and true, and speak for themselves. There is an endless supply of fiction written about the Nazi invasion of Europe. But sometimes the truth is far more powerful.

Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson. This story doesn’t take place in Europe and it isn’t about the Nazis. It takes place in Washington State and is about the camps we sent American citizens to. Just as the holocaust should never be forgotten. The internment of Japanese American’s must be remembered. We didn’t gas the Japanese or organize mass executions, but that doesn’t mean what we did was right.

Tune back in tomorrow for the letter X. Also don't forget to enter my 100 followers contest.

V is for Vampire

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter V. If you’ve been reading for the last twenty days, you know that I’m pretty loose on my definitions of “genre” and I’ve been doubling up as much as possible on genres that I actually read, so I can come up with enough titles. It is true that F was for Fairy, P was for Paranormal, and U was for Undead. But did you see how I failed to mention a single vampire novel in any of those posts. That would be because I planned ahead. I was waiting for today. Because, you guessed it, V is for Vampire. Here are five of my favorite Vampire stories. Which blood sucking adventures do you like best?

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. As easy as it is to make fun of the whole sparkly vampires idea, I’ve got to admit, these books are gripping. I read all four books in the Twilight series in a week. And I enjoyed every minute that I was reading. It wasn’t until after I finished the books that I stepped back and asked, what the hell was that? Sparkly vampires? Seriously? Yes, seriously, sparkly vampires make for a gripping read. I know it isn’t logical, but it still is.

Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer. This is a YA vampire series that is easier to admit to enjoying. It’s a perfect blend of funny and adventurous, and the romance is basically non-existent. Vladimir Todd is just your typical teenage boy, except for the whole being a vampire thing. But he’s a good vampire, who lives off of blood bags that his nurse aunt steels from the hospital after they reach there transfusion expiration date. Too bad the not-so-good vampires think Vladimir is a curse, or an abomination, or maybe a prophesized savior of humanity, so they have to try and kill him.

Fat Vampire by Adam Rex. No series here, just the one book. Life Vladimir Todd, it’s a mix of humor and danger without much romance and no sparkles. Becoming a vampire changes Doug. He’s still a fat kid without much going for him, but after he’s turned his personality starts to change and he becomes more like a predator. The transition from good to evil of the POV character is an interesting concept, but it’s kind of hard to love an unlikable character.

You Suck by Christopher Moore. Totally hilarious vampire book. Christopher Moore has to be the funniest paranormal author out there. And when he writes about vampires, he doesn’t disappoint. There are no sparkles, and there really isn’t much danger or adventure either. Just a lot of laughs. I like the world created in this book a lot, and the hijinks that some hapless vampires and vampire hunters get into.

Soulless by Gail Carriger. This series is actually steampunk, but there are a few vampires in this world, so I’m sneaking it onto my vampire list anyway. Alexia isn’t supernatural, she preternatural, and has the ability to negate the supernatural powers of creatures who go bump in the night. Her BFF is a vampire, and her love interest is a werewolf, and Queen Victoria thinks her skills might be useful. And on top of all that, there are more steampunky gadgets than you’d ever want. This is a very fun series.


Tune back in tomorrow for the letter W. Also don't forget to enter my 100 followers contest.

U is for Undead

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter U, which stands for Undead. No, I’m not writing about zombies. Trust me, if I’d read five zombie books (which I haven’t) I’d hold off for Z. Seriously, what genre starts with Z. There isn’t really a genre that starts with U either, which is why I’m going for Undead. These are books about ghosts, or death, or near death, or whatever I feel like classifying undead for the sake of making up a fake genre. Given my very loose definition, what’s your favorite undead drama?

If I Stay by Gayle Forman. This is high on my favorite books list, and I had to find a place to put it so I made up this Undead category. Spoiler alert, nobody dies in this book. Instead, it is told from the point of view of a girl in a coma. Her entire family died in a car accident, that left her in a coma. She’s kind of like a ghost, in that she can float around the hospital and see her grieving friends. And she has to decided, does she want to die with the rest of her family, or does she want to wake up an orphan. Like I said, it’s amazing.

I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroder. This is a book about a ghost, but it isn’t spooky, it’s just touching and sad. It’s a lyric novel (written like a really long poem) about a teenage girl who is haunted by the ghost of her dead boyfriend.

Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison. This is an “angel” book. I normally don’t give bad reviews, but there is a reason Hush, Hush, and Fallen aren’t on today’s list. I just don’t like most angel books. Creepy stalker type vampires I can handle, their vampires after all. But I don’t like creepy stalker type angels, something about that whole genre concept just sits wrong with me. But I did like Once Dead, Twice Shy a lot. It’s about a teenage girl who is slain by a grim reaper and then winds up getting recruited to fight in the whole guardian/reaper angel war. There aren’t any stalkerish boy angels, just some good clean after-death fun.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. There is nothing “undead” about this book, it’s only dead. But it’s also AMAZING. So I’m including it in this list anyway. This is a book about suicide. Specifically the thirteen reasons why a girl named Hannah chose to off herself. And it’s told from the point of view of Clay, the boy who liked Hannah, and didn’t stop her in time. It’s really sad, and intense, and I wish that it was undead, because I wish that Hannah didn’t really kill herself. But she did, so it’s only dead, there is no un about it.

The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore. Okay, I decided to put one zombie book on my list anyway. This is a really funny zombie book, because I don’t read scary zombie books. It is a Christmas book, not an Easter book, so deal. I seven year old boy sees a drunk guy in a Santa suit die. Then a Christmas angel shows up and offers the boy one special Christmas wish. He wishes Santa would come back to life. So the angel raises Santa, and all of the other dead bodies in the nearby cemetery, and a red suited zombie proceeds to stalk the merry Christmas party hungry for brains. It’s a very funny Christmas story that isn’t appropriate for any child that would be terrified by the idea of a zombie Santa.

Tune back in tomorrow for the letter V. Also don't forget to enter my 100 followers contest.

T is for Travel

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter T. I’m not going to lie, I love going on vacation. Shocking I know. But sometimes, I’m stuck at home, not on vacation. All I can do is pine away longing for foreign adventure while looking at picture on Google Earth. Or I can read travel books. That’s fun too. I really like reading travel books, because I really like traveling, and like to let my mind wander even when my body is stuck at home. Which is why today, T is for Travel. Here are five of my favorite Travel books. What do you like to read when you’re pining for days of adventure while stuck on your couch?

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. Sarah Vowell is a very funny lady. And anyone’s desire to make a vacation out of visiting the locations of all the presidential assassinations and doing lots of research about their assassins, while that’s just good clean fun if you ask me. I like history, I like traveling, and I like to be entertained. So I loved this book.

In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. I really want to be Bill Bryson’s best friend. Seriously, some books totally entertain me, but I never even think about the author while I’m reading the book. With Bill Bryson, everything I read of his just makes me think, I wish this guy was my next door neighbor. Probably because he only writes non-fiction. I haven’t read everything Bryson’s ever written, he’s written a lot. But I have read six of his books and they all left me with that same feeling of “let’s hangout sometime”. In a Sunburned Country makes me want to hang out down under, because it’s Bryson’s travel log of Australia. Australia is a big and interesting place, and Bryson does a good job of highlighting the quirky.

Getting Stoned with Savages by Maarten J. Troost. I don’t want to be Maarten Troost’s new BFF. He reads like he’d probably be pretty annoying to live next door to. But his travel memoir of life in the South Pacific is still fascinating. I totally quote random Pacific Island fact’s I learned from reading this book all the time. And even if Maarten Troost wouldn’t be fun to live next door to, he’s eccentric enough to be entertaining to read.

Adventure Capitalist by Jim Rogers. Forget wanting to hang out with Jim Rogers, I want to be Jim Rogers. Seriously, this guy has the greatest life ever! He’s some kind of investment banking tycoon with gazillions of dollars, which is the reason he has such an awesome life. He’s smart enough to know that putting all your money in the US stock market isn’t the wisest plan, so he travels all over the world and invests in emerging markets. Adventure Capitalist is his memoir of the 3.5 year road trip he took to 110 countries all in order to better spend/invest his gazillions of dollars. It isn’t the most entertaining read ever, but OMG, I want to be this guy.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Obviously, not everyone can be Jim Rogers, some people have to be Elizabeth Gilbert instead. In a slightly more believable non-existent future. I could be Elizabeth Gilbert. She had a mid-life crisis and decided to run away from home. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to go to Italy, India, or Indonesia, so she went to all three spending four months in each country. I love to travel, and if I decided to have a midlife crisis in another decade, I could totally see myself doing something like this. But really, I think a 3.5 year old road trip to 110 countries sounds way cooler. Too bad I’m not a gazillionair.


Tune back in tomorrow for the letter U. Also don't forget to enter my 100 followers contest.

S is for Sci-Fi

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter S. I was going to say that S stood for Space. But then I realized that sometimes aliens come to Earth, so then they’re not in Space. So instead, S stands for Sci-Fi. I’m not actually a big reader of science fiction. I’ve never watched episode of Star Trek, and I don’t normally devour books about alien invasions. Most of the sci-fi books that I do read fall into more of the dystopia category, which was already covered back on D day. But I have stumbled across a few really great alien adventures. In fact, my all-time favorite book is technically Science Fiction. So without further ado, here are five of my favorite Sci-Fi stories. What’s your favorite space caper?

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. The Sparrow is my favorite book of all time, and it isn’t even YA, it’s Sci-Fi which I almost never read. It’s about Jesuit’s in space. This isn’t really as weird of a premise as it sounds. In the future, humans discover life on another planet. So who are the first humans to make the voyage to meet these other sentient beings? The Catholic missionaries, of course. Their mission is simply, meat God’s other children. The result is almost as disastrous as the Spanish missionaries in South America shortly after Europeans discovered life on other continents.

The Host by Stephanie Meyer. I have read all four books in the Twilight series, but I wouldn’t consider myself a sparkly vampire fan-girl. But I did love The Host. I found the story of invasive parasitic aliens that attach themselves to the brains of humans and take over the world way more interesting than stone cold lover boys. The Host even ends with a great cliff hanger that made me die to find out what happens next, but it’s been several years and all news related to the future publication of The Soul is super vague.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis. This is a fun YA sci-fi debut that just came out this year. It reads more like dystopia than traditional sci-fi, but the futuristic less than perfect society is on a spaceship 250 years into a 300 year journey from earth to a new inhabitable planet. There is danger, mystery, and romance, and all the other things you want in a fun YA sci-fi adventure.

Livathan by Scott Westerfeld. This book is normally described as steampunk, but it’s really a war of steampunk verses biopunk. At the dawn of WW1, the clankers (steampunk Germans and Austrians) and battling against the Darwinists (biopunk British and French). It’s a fun story with great characters and even greater contraptions.

The Hitchhiker’s Guild to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. This is the classic YA Sci-Fi novel. The meaning of life is 42. Mystery solved. And the adventure that delivers this great truth is so fun it’s practically started a cult following. I may not be a fan of Star Trek, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.


Tune back in tomorrow for the letter T. Also don't forget to enter my 100 followers contest.

R is for Romance

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter R. Love sweat love. Oh wait, back on the L day, I said that L stood for Literature. But love is still a wonderful thing, so today R gets to stand for Romance. I’m not a big reader of “romance novels”. I’ve read exactly one book published by Harlequin in my life. But I do read a lot of YA, and teenagers are always hormonal, so romance sneaks into a lot of the books I read. Here are five of my favorite romantic titles. What’s your favorite love story?

Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen. I LOVE Sarah Dessen. I can’t wait until her next book comes out in May. All of her books are amazing, so it’s hard to pick which ones to include in my A to Z challenge and where to fit them in. But Keeping the Moon has a very cute love story, so it’s landing here. Colie’s mom is a motivational speaker, and is off on a motivational tour, so Colie lands at her aunt’s house for the summer. Despite having a professional pep talk giver for a mother Colie’s self-confidence isn’t all that stellar. Until she meets Norman, the artistic boy who rents her aunt’s basement. Keeping the Moon is a very cute romance that is definitely worth reading.

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger. The words “romance novel” tend to make me think erotica more than sappy love stories, even if that isn’t what they are. And when it comes to young adult, The DUFF is probably about as close to erotica as you can get. There is A LOT of sex in this book. It’s pushed all kinds of boundaries in what is considered acceptable for teenagers to read. The interesting thing about it, is the author was 17 when she wrote it. Even though Bianca and Wesley do a lot of rolling between the sheets, underneath all that this book also has a very cute love story.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. This is my token OA romance novel. It isn’t erotica, just romance. It’s been made into a movie, so I probably don’t have to describe it to anyone, but I read it way before the movie came out which makes me feel less like a lemming. It’s a cute story about a man and a woman who loved each other through time as the man popped in and out of the present traveling to visit his wife at various ages and places.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. This is the quintessential cute love story that is YA romance. If you even think you might like romance, and you like your characters to be strapping young teenagers with big puppy-dog eyes, then you will love Anna and the French Kiss. It takes place at a boarding school in Paris, what more do you want?

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. Jane Austin was totally the original chick-lit author. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett are the perfect leads in this classic love story. Hearts go pitter patter, but actions are properly chased as to not cause too much scandal in old-timey England. I feel safe in assuming that anyone who likes romance novels has already read everything ever written by Miss Austin, so I’ll just stop writing now.


Tune back in tomorrow for the letter S. Also don't forget to enter my 100 followers contest.

Q is for Queer

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter Q. There is a genre known as GLBTQ. I know that the Q is the last letter not the first, but I don’t care. Very few words actually start with Q so I’m going with it. Q is for Queer, and today is all about those great GLBTQ books. I actually feel kind of bad admitting this, but when I went to pick my five faves for this genre, I had a hard time coming up with a list of titles. Mainly because I’ve kind of make an unwritten rule for myself to never pick two books by the same author, and apparently David Levithan is the only GLBTQ author I read. So I’m cheating and picking to books that David Levithan co-written by different authors. Since I appear to be a little farther out of the loop on this genre than I thought, I need your guidance. What is your favorite GLBTQ book?

Attack of the Theater People by Marc Acito. I’m actually friends with Marc, and mildly bummed that he recently moved from Portland to New York so I never see him now. But at least I can read his books. They’re all very funny, just like Marc. They are also all pretty gay, just like Marc. Attack of the Theater People is about as gay as it sounds, and guaranteed to make you laugh so hard you nearly wet yourself.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. John Green and David Levithan, two of my all-time favorite authors teamed up to write a book, obviously the results were amazing. I’m not sure which Will Grayson I like best, the shy closet case Will Grayson who thinks he met the boy of his dreams on-line but is still too scared to tell his friends the truth (written by David Levithan), or the kind of cool, but mainly just awkward straight Will Grayson who is still struggling to figure out where he fits in the world and kind of loves is totally gay best friend, even though he likes girls too (written by John Green). When Will Grayson and Will Grayson meet on that fateful day in a porn shop both of their lives change, and a really great book unfolds.

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron. This book is the least queer of all the books on today’s list, but that is actually what I love the most about it. James is just a normal eighteen-year-old kid trying to figure out where he fits in the world. Everyone keeps asking him if he’s gay, but why does his mom even care? Yes, he has a huge crush on a guy, but it’s not like he’s ever kissed anyone boy or girl, so his sexuality shouldn’t be a big deal. He’s just a confused kid, trying to figure out who he is and where he belongs.

Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. When Rachel Cohn and David Levithan teem up nothing but magic can be made. They have written three books together, all fabulous, but Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List is the gayest, or the queerist since today is Q day. Naomi is straight and has been totally in love with her BFF Ely since forever. Ely is so incredibly flaming you can see his rainbow flag from outer space. But he loves Naomi too, he just doesn’t want to sleep with her, and can’t figure out why she’s not getting that. I mean hello. This is kind of the YA version of Will and Grace, and as much as I love the 90’s sitcom, this book is way funnier.

Naked by David Sedaris. I included a David Sedaris book on my J is for Jovial list, ‘cause David is a very funny guy. But he’s also more than a bit queer, so he’s popping up today too. Naked isn’t my favorite of his books, but I like all of his stuff so much I really don’t know which of his books is my favorite. And Naked somehow feels the most gay to me. Maybe it’s the story about when he visited a nudist colony to help himself feel better about his body image issues that did it for me. Not sure. Anyway, if you want a good laugh, written by a totally out there guy, Naked is an acceptable choice.

Tune back in tomorrow for the letter R. Also don't forget to enter my 100 followers contest.