Category Archives: book review

Best Kisses in Literature!

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lipsTop Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme over at The Broke and the Bookish.  Today’s topic is a FREEBIE!

So, in light of my recent 7 Favorite YA Romances post, I decided to blog about my

TOP TEN* BEST KISSES IN LITERATURE.

*Blogger reserves the right to include more than ten.  Also, she may change up the format a little.

FUNNIEST DESCRIPTION: Lennie and Joe
“Our tongues have fallen madly in love and gotten married and moved to Paris.”
Jandy Nelson, The Sky is Everywhere

MOST CONTROVERSIAL KISS: Jace and Clary
“He bent down, his lips against her cheek, brushing it lightly—and still that light touch sent shivers through her nerves, shivers that made her whole body tremble. ‘If you want me to stop, tell me now,’ he whispered. When she still said nothing, he brushed his mouth against the hollow of her temple. ‘Or now.’ He traced the line of her cheekbone. ‘Or now.’ His lips were against hers.

‘Or—’

But she had reached up and pulled him down to her, and the rest of his words were lost against her mouth. He kissed her gently, carefully, but it wasn’t gentleness she wanted, not now, not after all this time, and she knotted her fists in his shirt, pulling him harder against her. He groaned softly, low in his throat, and then his arms circled her, gathering her against him, and they rolled over on the grass, tangled together, still kissing.”
Cassandra Clare, City of Glass

BEST PROSE DESCRIPTION: Ky and Cassia
“Lightning. Once it has forked, hot-white, from sky to earth, there is no going back. It’s time. I feel it, I know it. My eyes on him, his on me, and both of us breathing, watching, tired of of waiting. Ky closes his eyes, but mine are still open. What will it feel like, his lips on mine? Like a secret told, a promise kept? Like that line in the poem– a shower of all my days– silvery rain falling all around me, where the lighting meets the earth?”
Ally Condie, Matched

BEST THIRD-PARTY OBSERVED KISS: Finnikin and Evanjalin
“He just watched the way Finnikin’s hands rested on Evanjalin’s neck and he rubbed his thumb along her jaw and the way his tongue seemed to disappear inside her mouth as if he needed a part of her to breathe himself.”
Melina Marchetta, Finnikin of the Rock

BEST LEAD-UP TO THE KISS: Froi and Quintana
“Our bodies aren’t strangers,’ he said, his voice ragged. ‘Our spirits aren’t strangers’. He held her face in his hands. ‘Tell me what part of me is stranger to you and I’ll destroy that part of me.’
Melina Marchetta, Quintana of Charyn

BEST KISSING QUOTE (MALE): Jonah and Taylor
“What do you think would happen if we kissed right here, right now?” he asks, digging his hands into the pockets of his khaki pants, grinning right back at me.
“I think it would cause a riot.”
“Well, you know me,” he says, lowering his head towards me. “Causing a riot is what I do best.”
Melina Marchetta, Jellicoe Road

BEST KISSING QUOTE (FEMALE): Frankie and Will
“Will Trombal sees me from the other side of the room and he grins and he makes a beeline for me and my mind is buzzing with the best opening. Hi. Hey. How’s it going? Great party. Love your shirt. Great music. Crap music. And he’s coming closer and closer and the way he’s looking at me makes me think that I’m going to have the most romantic night in the history of my life. I open my mouth to say something and he sticks his tongue down my throat. We’re in a corner, pashing, and I don’t even know what’s got me to this point. A look in a corridor? A flirt outside my nonna’s house? All I know is that no one exists around us. I don’t know whether we’re kissing for five minutes or five hours and my mouth feels bruised, but I can’t let go. Because it feels so good to be held…Will’s arms tremble as they hold me and his heart beats hard against me and I know that whatever I’m feeling is mutual. For a moment I taste the alcohol on his breath, and it brings me back to reality. ‘Do that sober and I’ll be impressed,’ I say before walking away.”
Melina Marchetta, Saving Francesca

SADDEST KISS: tie between Liesel and Rudy and Lir and Amalthea
“She leaned down and looked at his lifeless face and Leisel kissed her best friend, Rudy Steiner, soft and true on his lips. He tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like regret in the shadows of trees and in the glow of the anarchist’s suit collection. She kissed him long and soft, and when she pulled herself away, she touched his mouth with her fingers…She did not say goodbye.”
Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“The unicorn bowed her head, and her horn glanced across Lir’s chin as clumsily as a first kiss.”
Peter Beagle, The Last Unicorn

MOST (LITERALLY) MAGICAL KISS: Celia and Marco
“As he kisses her, the bonfire glows brighter. The acrobats catch the light perfectly as they spin. The entire circus sparkles, dazzling every patron.”
Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus

BEST MAKES-MORE-SENSE-IN-CONTEXT KISS: Perry and Aria
“He kissed her slowly. Everything went slowly so he could follow her temper, and search into her eyes. When they joined, her scent was brave and strong and certain. Perry took it into himself, breathing her breath, feeling what she felt. He’d never known anything as right.”
Veronica Rossi, Under the Never Sky

SWEETEST KISS: Eleanor and Park
She didn’t move, so he thought it was probably okay to touch her face. Her skin was as soft as it looked, white and smooth as freckled porcelain.
“I’ll just say, ‘Eleanor, follow me down this rabbit hole…'”
He laid his thumb on her lips to see if she’d pull away. She didn’t. He leaned closer. He wanted to close his eyes, but he didn’t trust her not to leave him standing there.” 
Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor and Park

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Book Covers!

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme over at The Broke and the Bookish.  Today’s topic is

TOP TEN BOOK COVERS OF BOOKS I’VE READ.

So … since I’m not really someone who especially minds the book covers,* I’m going to do this a little differently.

Two parts.

One, book covers that I have loved.

coverscollage

Two, book covers that are brilliant in every edition: C.S. Lewis’s space trilogy.**

silentcollage1 silentcollage2perelandracollage1 perelandracollage2hideouscollage1 hideouscollage2

 

*Interestingly, I do care about illustrations.  And fan art.  A lot.

**Gosh, don’t these covers just make you think, What in the world are these books about?

My 7 Favorite YA Romances

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pinkiesIn real life, I usually think high school dating is silly.

But in BOOKS … well, that’s another story.  A completely other story.  Here, for your reading pleasure, I count down my seven favorite YA romances.

7. Hazel and Augustus (The Fault in Our Stars)

Theirs was a tumultuous, wonderful, devastating romance.  “It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.”  Wow.

6. Brigan and Fire (Fire)

This is still YA though not technically a high school romance, and it does read like one more mature.  There is something so deep and attractive about the slow burn.

5. Lenny and Joe (The Sky is Everywhere)

I love these two together.  ““He doesn’t have to say it, I feel it too; it’s not subtle– like every bell for miles and miles is ringing at once, loud and clanging, hungry ones and tiny, happy, chiming ones, all of them sounding off in this moment.”

4. Eleanor and Park (Eleanor and Park)

What is not to love about these two???

“Holding Eleanor’s hand was like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat. Like holding something complete, and completely alive.”

“Damn, damn, damn,” she said. “I never said why I like you, and now I have to go.”
“That’s okay,” he said.
“It’s because you’re kind,” she said. “And because you get all my jokes…”
“Okay.” He laughed.
“And you’re smarter than I am.”
“I am not.”
“And you look like a protagonist.” She was talking as fast as she could think. “You look like the person who wins in the end. You’re so pretty, and so good. You have magic eyes,” she whispered. “And you make me feel like a cannibal.”

I want someone to like me because I look like a protagonist, LOL!

3. Ron and Hermione (Harry Potter)

We watched the friendship and sexual tension build for seven books, until we finally got our kissing scene while, “OI!  There’s a war going on here!”  Delicious.

2. Jonah and Taylor (Jellicoe Road)

Oh, Jonah Griggs and his steady, loyal devotion.  Supposedly this scene wasn’t supposed to be romantic, but I’ve always found it dreadfully so: “He stops and looks at me. ‘I’m here because of you. You’re my priority. Your happiness, in some f***ed way, is tuned in to mine. Get that through your thick skull. Would I like it any other way? Hell, yes, but I don’t think that will be happening in my lifetime.”

1. Will and Frankie (Saving Francesca and The Piper’s Son)

As it says in my blog bio, I have a thing for cute nerds.  That’s probably why this romance takes the cake for me.  I want a smart, dorky boy in leadership to love calculus and ancient Roman warfare and me.

“Come here,” she says.
“No, you come here.”
“I said it first.”
“Rock paper scissors.”
“No. Because you’ll do nerdy calculations and work out what I chose the last six times and then you’ll win.”
Will pushes away from the table and his hand snakes out and he pulls her toward him and Tom figures that Will was always going to go to her first.”

Favorite Book Lines

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This was originally going to be a top ten list, but I should have known that that would about KILL me.  So, in the end, I simply present to you a list of some of my favorite lines of literature:

Jude stopped in front of her and, with both hands cupping her face, tried to make a smile. Narnie flinched.
‘Leave her alone,’ Tate said.
‘I need a revelation,’ Jude said. ‘And you’re the only one that can give me one, Narns.”
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

“The words were on their way, and when they arrived, she would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain.”
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

“And Dimble, who had been sitting with his face drawn, and rather white, between the white faces of the two women, and his eyes on the table, raised his head, and great syllables of words that sounded like castles came out of his mouth.”
That Hiddeous Strength by C.S. Lewis

“The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.”
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

“He thought, or said, or sang, I did not know that I was so empty, to be so full.”
The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

“I remember it as October days are always remembered, cloudless, maple-flavored, the air gold and so clean it quivers.”
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

“Do you remember all of your audiences?” Marco asks. 
“Not all of them,” Celia says. “But I remember the people who look at me the way you do.”
“What way might that be?”
“As though they cannot decide if they are afraid of me or they want to kiss me.”
“I am not afraid of you,” Marco says.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

lines3

“Remember how it was when we kissed? Armfuls and armfuls of light thrown right at us. A rope dropping down from the sky. How can the word love and the word life even fit in the mouth?”
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

“It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.”
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

“It was such a romp as no one has ever had except in Narnia; and whether it was more like playing with a thunderstorm or a kitten Lucy could never make up her mind.”
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

“It was a jumble, it was a mishmash, and somehow she pulled it together, somehow she threaded every different thing through the voice of a solitary mockingbird singing in the desert.”
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

“There’s more beauty in truth, even if it is dreadful beauty.”
East of Eden by John Steinbeck

“I saw a beached red dory.  I could take the dory, row out to the guy, and say: Sir.  You have found a place where the sky dips close.”
For the Time Being by Annie Dillard

What are your favorites?

In Defense of “The Last Unicorn”

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The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle is one of my all-time favorite books, and I re-read it like it’s air.  I recommend it quite often.  And yet, people very rarely take me up on my suggestion.  I think it’s because of the title.  I mean, let’s be honest, it sounds like the final book of a trilogy where the other books are Giggle Glitter and Rainbow Smiles.  I get it.

But no.

This book routinely polls as one of the top 10 fantasy novels of all time.  It is stunning.

These are the reasons I love it so much:

1. The lyrical writing.  It’s like this completely gorgeous narrative poem!  On every page, you encounter a gem so beautiful you want to put it in your mouth like rock candy.

“Your name is a golden bell hung in my heart. I would break my body to pieces to call you once by your name.”

“Her voice left a flavor of honey and gunpowder on the air.”

“When you walk, you make an echo where they used to be.”

2. The humor.  Beagle’s timing for tossing out a laugh-aloud moment is impeccable and doesn’t distract from the story, only adds.

“The magician stood erect, menacing the attackers with demons, metamorphoses, paralyzing ailments, and secret judo holds. Molly picked up a rock.”

“You pile of stones, you waste, you desolation, I’ll stuff you with misery till it comes out of your eyes. I’ll change your heart into green grass, and all you love into a sheep. I’ll turn you into a bad poet with dreams.”

3. The meta-writing.  Story about story.  The characters have this self-awareness that they are a part of a story, and it’s a fascinating device I’ve rarely seen used.  Beagle does so with flawless charm.

“Haven’t you ever been in a fairy tale before?. . . . The hero has to make a prophecy come true, and the villain is the one who has to stop him — though in another kind of story, it’s more often the other way around. And a hero has to be in trouble from the moment of his birth, or he’s not a real hero. It’s a great relief to find out about Prince Lir. I’ve been waiting for this tale to turn up a leading man. . . .”

“The true secret in being a hero lies in knowing the order of things. The swineherd cannot already be wed to the princess when he embarks on his adventures, nor can the boy knock on the witch’s door when she is already away on vacation. The wicked uncle cannot be found out and foiled before he does something wicked. Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a very long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.”

If you like the fantasy genre, or even just world-class writing despite genre, then you need to read this book.

last unicorn

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Just finished …

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach | The subtitle on this novel is “The summer I went from a joke to a jock.”  Felton Reinstein has gotten tall and fast, and suddenly his high school football team wants to recruit him to play.  In the same summer, his best friend leaves to spend the summer in South America, a beautiful young pianist moves into town, and Felton’s mother ceases acting like a mother.  This is his story, and I rather enjoyed it, even though it felt more geared toward boys.  That said, I loved Herbach’s great VOICE in this story, and it was a lot deeper and more serious than I thought it was going to be (the back cover copy made it sound like it was all going to be about becoming a jock, but really it was more about his family issues and going through big changes).  Bravo!  And Herbach is from Minnesota– he teaches at MSU-Mankato!

Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos | James Whitman is not related to Walt Whitman, but he is obsessed with him.  He’s also depressed, thinks a lot about suicide, and is trying to piece together why his older sister Jorie was expelled from their high school and kicked out of their family home.  A very impressive debut by Evan Roskos!  Yawp!!

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell | After devouring Eleanor and Park last month, I was desperate to get my hands on anything else written by Rowell.  She has another new book in the works, but her only other publication is Attachments, an adult novel, which was a nice change of pace for me!  This book is set during the Y2K scare, when the internet was still a new commodity.  Lincoln’s job is to monitor the interoffice emails to make sure that people are following company policies.  But Beth and Jennifer’s emails are so hilarious that he doesn’t send out a warning … and instead, he keeps reading their emails, simultaneously falling in love with Beth through her emails.  This book was incredibly well-written and very funny.  I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.  I was trying not to be too jealous of Rowell’s spot-on humor and description, as well as her incredible characterization.  It was definitely different to read a book where the main characters actually don’t interact throughout most of it; in fact, you don’t even know what Beth looks like for a lot of the book!  But quite fascinating.  Highly recommend.  And I will definitely be buying Rowell’s Fangirl, coming out September 2013.

The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle | Brilliant and beautiful. Every. Single. Time.  (More on this tomorrow!)

Plus a bunch of Narnia (as always!) and Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows.

Currently reading …

Quitter by Jon Acuff

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Bonus …

Found out Billy Collins is publishing Aimless Love: New and Collected Poems in October 2013!  So excited!

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Jackie’s Book Awards

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Inspired by Tara, The Librarian Who Doesn’t Say Shhh, and her end-of-the-year Superlatives Awards.

I. Books

Book I’m always recommending: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Best re-telling of a popular story: Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson (it’s a fresh look at Peter Pan)

Best companion book: Fire by Kristin Cashore (companion to Graceling, but it works as a standalone)

Most original and imaginative: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Biggest tear-jerker: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, followed closely by A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Like reading my own biography: Kissing Doorknobs by Terri Spencer Hesser

Most interesting premise: Every Day by David Levithan and Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Deepest meaning: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Best prose: three-way tie between The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson and Peace Like a River by Leif Enger and The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

Best story arc in a series: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Everything-Falls-Into-Place Award: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead and HP & the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Creepiest: This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Best book for boys: tie between Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and Wrestling Sturbridge by Rich Wallace

Hard book to get into but totally worth it: That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

Best short stories: The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel and The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

II. Characters

Most different character: tie between Stargirl Carraway of Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli and Quintana of Froi of the Exiles and Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta

Best boyfriend: three-way tie between Augustus Waters (The Fault in Our Stars), Jonah Griggs (Jellicoe Road), and Will Trombal (Saving Francesca)

Most chilling: Mr. Loomis in Z for Zachariah

Best best friends: Taylor and Raffy in Jellicoe Road and Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Harry Potter

Best animal character: Charlotte A. Cavatica in Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Best narrator: Death in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Sweetest child: Eva in Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Most changed character: Jean Valjean in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Character I want to be friends with: Rae in Rosie by Anne Lamott

Character I love to hate: Dolores Umbridge in HP & the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Character I just plain hate: Simon Price in The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Character you want to live next door to: Sam Hamilton in East of Eden by John Steinbeck and Chaz Santangelo in Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

III. Scenes

Best theological discussion in fiction: a large portion of Perelandra by C.S. Lewis and East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Most intense scene: Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

Steamiest scene: Jace and Clary, all the time, but especially in City of Glass and City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Best sexual tension: Perry and Aria while he teaches her how to tell if berries are poisonous (yes, really!) in Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Sweetest: when Eleanor and Park hold hands for the first time in Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Most disturbing: you’ll know it when you read it in Unwind by Neal Shusterman (I thought I was going to throw up)

Most fascinating conversation in the face of great danger: walking through the Red Bull’s lair in The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

Best opening line: “What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died?” in Love Story by Erich Segal

Biggest cliffhanger: Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta

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My Mixed Feelings about Book Series

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I have complicated feelings regarding book series.

On the one hand, I dislike them.  They seem like an opportunity to milk a cash cow, and they require such a huge investment on the reader’s behalf.  There is something unsatisfying about a to-be-continued ending.  I also wonder if the author wasn’t able to come up with any new, fresh ideas.

On the other hand, Harry Potter.  The Chronicles of Narnia.  The Lumatere Chronicles.

On a THIRD hand (I know, I know), it’s fun to be with beloved characters all over again.

On a fourth hand (get over it), if you really love-love-LOVED a book, it’s really hard for future books to compete.  Agree?

I don’t know.  If I see a book that looks good to me and then I see behind it “(Series Name, #1),” I think, Oh please no.  And I usually skip it.  I suppose that, in the end, it all comes down to the quality of writing, the belovedness of the characters, and the value of the story.  Which is why Narnia will last the test of time and– as a guess– the Pretty Little Liars series will not.

Do you like book series?  Why or why not?

a series I have NO desire to read

a series I have NO desire to read

 

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Just finished …

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell | “It’s 1986 and two star-crossed teens are smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.”  I loved this book, devoured it.  You will just adore the sweet characters of Eleanor and Park and their adorable little romance.  It started with such a slow burn that even holding hands was enough to about make them both pass out.  I loved Rowell’s writing so much and am definitely going to purchase her other books.  I thought the end of this story came a little too abruptly, but altogether, I really adored this YA book.  I think it might end up being a big name in the YA world.  You should probably read it.

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller | Travis is a Marine on leave, struggling with PTSD and learning how to sort through home life when his little brother has stolen his car and his girlfriend.  But there is this other girl in town– Harper– who makes Travis feel like things could be okay again, even after all he’s experienced in Afghanistan.  This book had so much potential— but it just fell flat.  The conflict was far too easily resolved (says the writer who always needs to add more conflict!), and even the climax was just too … anti-climactic.  I plowed through this book, and it had some great moments, but it fell short for me.

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi | Aria lives in an enclosed biosphere; Perry lives on the outside like a “savage”; this is their story.  I got so sucked into this one, especially loving the characters and all the conflict (especially after just reading Something Like Normal).  This book has awesome tension!  However … I have read enough books to anticipate how the story arcs, and as it was nearing the end of the book, it wasn’t arcing.  I began to have a strong suspicion that this was a part of a series and that I wasn’t going to get my ending, and so I started resenting it.  (Ha!  I know that seems wrong: if I was enjoying it, shouldn’t I have wanted it to last longer?)  But no.  It started to feel too long, too drawn out.  I wanted a denoument and it just kept going.  And then the ending was like HUH?  I verbatim said, “What the BEEEEEP?” outloud after I finished it.  Then I looked it up, and yup, it’s the first book of a trilogy.  I was pissed.  (I don’t know what exactly is my beef with series; I love Potter and Narnia!)  So, this one is up to you.  They really are great characters.  And it’s a fascinating world– the “insiders” in the biosphere spend most of their lives in virtual realms, and it’s quite interesting to think about.  And the writing is pretty good– not exactly lyrical or anything.  But if you’re going to read it, you should commit to reading the others (which are not out yet), or the ending is going to be really unsatisfying.

Armageddon Summer by Jane Yolen and Bruce Coville | Jed’s father and Marina’s mother are Believers, members of a religious group that believes the world is ending on July 27th, 2000, and only the 144 Believers on Mount Weeupcut will be saved.  Jed and Marina aren’t quite sure what they think about the whole thing, but they’re up on the “the Cut” for the two weeks leading up to Armageddon, thinking that falling in love at the end of the world might not be the best timing.  I liked this book, but again, it didn’t blow my mind.  I do think it was intended for younger readers (maybe ages 11-14), and I do think it would be a fascinating read for them.  Not that I think anyone should ever “write down” to younger kids.  It just didn’t go as deep into Jed and Marina’s thoughts, fears, and sorrows as much as I’d have liked.  But it did bring up some great questions– I love books that make you think!

Up next …

Not sure yet.  I have SO MANY new books on my shelves, and I really think I want the next book I read to be just a regular-teenagers-in-this-universe book.  Maybe Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach.

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Jackie’s Must-Read Books

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1. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
These are classics!  I seriously cannot get enough of them– I read them over and over and over and love them every single time.  I am just finishing up the series for the first time this year, and– no joke– after book 7 is over, I will start again on book 1.
Must-read: everyone, all ages

2. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
This book is seriously one of the best-written young adult books I have ever read.  In my life.  Period.  I love so many things about this book: the language, the characters, the structure, the humor.  It gets a 10 out of 10 from me.
Must-read: anyone who loves YA or a clever, quirky romance

3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
A Printz honor book narrated by Death himself, this is “just a small story really, about, among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery.”  I love books that are about the joy of words– and it’s even better when you mix in unforgettable characters and gorgeous writing full of incredible imagery.
Must-read: YA lovers, people who love words, anyone interested in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust

4. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
The brilliance of this story is in the masterful writing.  Every single page will leave you in awe, plus the story is so real and deep, and it makes you think about things like miracles and family and loyalty and guilt.
Must-read: lovers of literary fiction, adults who want a great story, parents

5. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
This book is richer than chocolate.  It has magic and competition and romance– and it avoids all cliches.  It is a sensory extravaganza.
Must-read: people who love Harry Potter and are ready for magic from a grown-up perspective, anyone who values great imagery

6. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
TIME’s 2012 book of the year!  This YA book will make you laugh and cry and think.  It’s a cancer book– but not one of those cancer books.
Must-read: people who love YA, philosophy, and incredible characters

I’ll leave you with those six for now.  As I think through this list, I feel full.  They are that good.

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