Fiction
THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak
I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and Libro.fm, online retailers that support independent booksellers. If you make a purchase by clicking through the links in this post, I will receive a commission. For more information, see my “About” page.
The first time Death met Liesel Meminger, the book thief, she was on a train with her mother and her little brother, traveling to a foster home near Munich where the children could escape the shadow of their father’s identity as a Kommunist. It was the little brother’s soul that Death had come to collect. As he cradled the little boy’s soul in his arms and watched the living grieve, Death did not know that he would meet the book thief two more times during her childhood, nor that he would find her journal in the wreckage of a bomb-torn city and would read it again and again, memorizing her story and always carrying it with him. He shares Liesel’s story with the readers in his own way–recounting the mischief she concocts with Rudy Steiner, the complicated but ultimately loving relationships in her foster family, the struggle of learning to read, poverty and hunger in the Third Reich, the terrifying business of hiding a Jew and the powerful friendship that results from it, the complex intertwining of patriotism, loyalty, and morality–all over-layed with Death’s observations of the tragedy of war and the enduring hope and beauty of life.
Ultimately, it is the words—of the author, of the characters, of the past—that bring the story to life so vibrantly and unforgettably. This is a book to be savored. It is at once heartbreaking and heartwarming. There are no real plot twists; Death tells you the ending at the beginning. The book is about the journey of the characters and their complex, beautiful relationships. Zusak does not neglect even the minor characters, making them all irresistibly complicated and human. I warn you, you will fall in love with characters in this book, and their stories will stay with you–as they did for the narrator, Death. Your heart will likely break at some of the tragedies they endure. But it is worth it for the journey you share with them, just as Death demonstrates that even the shortest lives captured in Liesel’s journal have profound and enduring beauty and meaning. The Book Thief has been my Favorite Book Of All Time since I first read it in 2006, and it will take an extraordinary book to ever supplant it in my affection. I cannot recommend it highly enough for teens and for adults.
If you liked The Book Thief for its themes and characters, you might like The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.
If you liked The Book Thief for its subject matter and narrative style, you might like Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION by Nancy Farmer
I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and Libro.fm, online retailers that support independent booksellers. If you make a purchase by clicking through the links in this post, I will receive a commission. For more information, see my “About” page.
Matt spent his early life in a secluded cottage, raised by Celia, a maid for El Patron, the 140 year old drug lord who rules over the land of Opium. But when Matt’s attempt to communicate with three new children leads to a serious injury, he is suddenly whisked into the strange world beyond the cottage. There, he learns that he is a clone of El Patron, a sub-human creation that many people consider to be equivalent to livestock. El Patron decides to protect Matt and raise him with the education and lifestyle befitting of a drug lord’s son, but Matt senses something sinister about the old man and his complicated family business, although Celia and his new bodyguard Tam Lin will not explain it to him. Matt will have to come to grips with his identity as a clone, the reason he was created, and the truth about El Patron’s Opium empire–because his life may depend on it.
Another great Sci-Fi novel from Nancy Farmer! She builds a vivid and terrifying dystopian landscape that explores potential moral consequences of cloning, as well as providing a commentary on how humans treat other humans, particularly immigrants and the working class. The novel has a nice blend of action and philosophical musing and will certainly be relatable to anyone who has ever struggled to find their identity or place in society. I highly recommend it to lovers of dark Sci-Fi novels!
Older teens who liked The House of the Scorpion might like Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood–and of course Nancy Farmer’s earlier Sci-Fi classic, The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm.
Thanks for the suggestion, Grace!
THE LOVELY BONES by Alice Sebold
I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and Libro.fm, online retailers that support independent booksellers. If you make a purchase by clicking through the links in this post, I will receive a commission. For more information, see my “About” page.
Fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon takes a shortcut home from school through a cornfield where her middle-aged neighbor, George Harvey, is waiting. When she accepts his offer to show her his cool underground den, he rapes and murders her, disposing of her dismembered remains in a sinkhole. The story unfolds as Susie’s ghost watches her father, mother, sister and friends deal with the tragedy of her death and search for answers and justice.
This book wasn’t quite what I expected when I first read it. I thought the main thrust of the plot would be devoted to tracking down her killer and bringing him to justice. But it was much more subtle and complicated than that. It’s an upsetting story, but having Susie’s ghost as narrator lends a sort of peace to the story that it wouldn’t have had being told by the father or the detective. The reader knows from the start what happened, so the pressure for justice and the need for the characters to learn the killer’s identity isn’t quite the same as it would be if we needed that information as well. Also, while Susie is dead to the characters, she is very much alive to the reader. It is upsetting, to be sure, but it is not just another serial killer book.
THE EYRE AFFAIR by Jasper Fforde
I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and Libro.fm, online retailers that support independent booksellers. If you make a purchase by clicking through the links in this post, I will receive a commission. For more information, see my “About” page.
Literary detective Thursday Next lives in the strictly regulated police state of England and spends much of her life struggling under the shadow of crimes of her relatives–her fugitive time-traveling father and her dead brother who allegedly led an ill-fated charge of the Light Brigade that left England and Russia locked in the Crimean War for over a century. But when the manuscript of Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit is stolen by the elusive, murderous, and perhaps insane Acheron Hades, Thursday finds that her own work is almost more than she can handle. After killing several of Thursday’s comrades–and nearly Thursday herself–Hades kidnaps the detective’s uncle and steals his Prose Portal, a unique invention that allows a human to travel into a work of literature. The villain uses it as a means of extortion, kidnapping characters from the original manuscripts of classic works of literature and threatening to murder them–forever altering the literary work–if his monetary demands are not met. For Thursday, this case is beyond personal.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I found the literary allusions hilarious and loved the way they were woven into the plot and this sci-fi world. I also really liked the premise of her father’s work with the ChronoGuard of government time-travelers and wish we had gotten to see more of that. The rest of my book group had more ambivalent feelings about the book. Most enjoyed the literary allusions, but many disliked the sci-fi elements. I don’t think they were fans of sci-fi in general. It is worth noting, however–for any hard sci-fi fans out there–that there is not much description of the “sci” behind the “fi” in this one. Still, I would personally recommend it to anyone who likes quirky mysteries and classic literature. It’s a lot of fun!
RECKLESS by Cornelia Funke
I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and Libro.fm, online retailers that support independent booksellers. If you make a purchase by clicking through the links in this post, I will receive a commission. For more information, see my “About” page.
After his father disappeared, twelve-year-old Jacob sneaked into his study searching for answers. Instead he found a magic mirror. For twelve years, Jacob journeyed back and forth from his own world to the Mirrorworld, a parallel dimension where dark fairy tales became real: questers can sell magical objects on the black market, dangerous fairies seek human lovers, and sleeping princesses decay in eternal sleep, waiting for princes who never arrive.
For Jacob, the Mirrorworld is an escape from everything that he does not want to face in his own world. But when his younger brother, Will, follows him and is wounded by a stone Goyl, everything changes. As Will begins to turn to jade stone, Jacob and the fox-girl who loves him have to guide Will and Will’s fiancee, Clara, through his dangerous world, hoping to find a cure, though he is fairly sure none exists. Meanwhile Goyl army, led by the Dark Fairy, race to find the jade Goyl who has been prophesied to protect their king and lead them to victorious dominion over the human empire.
Based in a German fairy tale tradition that is already fairly dark, Funke’s Mirrorworld is chilling and grotesque. The book is marketed for teens, and will certainly appeal especially to an older teen audience, although adults who enjoy these kinds of twisted fairy tale fantasies will find the characters very accessible as well. I enjoyed reading this book very much.
If you liked Reckless, you might like Dreamwood by Heather Mackey or Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu (both for a slightly younger audience).
THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and Libro.fm, online retailers that support independent booksellers. If you make a purchase by clicking through the links in this post, I will receive a commission. For more information, see my “About” page.
In post-World War II London, Juliet Ashton is trying to focus on her career as a writer and to figure out how to deal with Mr. Markham Reynolds, the stranger who has been sending her flowers, when she receives a slightly unusual letter. A man living on the Channel Island of Guernsey has come into possession of a used book that used to belong to her. He loves it so much that he has written to see if she has suggestions for further reading. As their friendly correspondence grows into a friendship, Juliet begins to learn about the impact that the German occupation has had on the lives of the islanders, and of the sometimes humorous ways that they resisted their German conquerors.
This book is a charming, hopeful story of friendship and romance, told through a series of letters between Juliet, Dawsey (of Guernsey), and their other acquaintances. It is a light read, and could be good for a book group.
SHIP BREAKER by Paolo Bacigalupi
I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and Libro.fm, online retailers that support independent booksellers. If you make a purchase by clicking through the links in this post, I will receive a commission. For more information, see my “About” page.
In Nailer’s world, you need luck to survive. You can be small and able to work on light crew, stripping copper from shipwrecks for low pay. Or you can be strong on heavy crew, breaking down the larger metal salvage. But if you get an infection, you won’t be able to get medication, and you’ll die of fever. If you get stuck inside a wreck you’ll drown, or choke in the dust and oil, and the rats will eat you. Of course, even if you have no bad luck and are smart enough to do everything right, you still die on the beach sooner or later. Unless you get a really lucky strike. . . .
After a huge “city killer” hurricane, Nailer and Pima find an isolated wreck and hurry to get the first scavenge. But when they find a rich girl still alive, they have to make a choice. Pima suggests two options: cut the ringed fingers off her swollen hands while she’s alive, or slit her throat first. The girl is, after all, a great scavenge–a true lucky strike. With just the gold rings on her fingers they could feed themselves and more—maybe never have to work again. But Nailer chooses to save her instead, knowing that this decision might be the last he ever makes. Now he and “Lucky Girl” must somehow escape the clutches of her rich father’s corporate enemies and Nailer’s abusive, drug-addict father who wants to turn Lucky Girl in for ransom.
This post-apocalyptic vision of Earth’s future is very violent and very dark. Bacigalupi explores the meaning of family and loyalty and challenges readers to reflect on human treatment of the environment and the extreme gap in wealth and lifestyle between the heads of corporations and the lowest level industry workers. Ship Breaker took the 2011 Printz Award (for Young Adult Literature) and was a finalist for the National Book award. It is a great read for teens and adults.
THE BONE COLLECTOR by Jeffrey Deaver
I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and Libro.fm, online retailers that support independent booksellers. If you make a purchase by clicking through the links in this post, I will receive a commission. For more information, see my “About” page.
Lincoln Rhyme was once the greatest forensic investigator the NYPD had ever seen. That was before the accident that left him paralyzed and bedridden—only able to move one finger. Although he once delighted in the intellectual puzzle of criminology, Lincoln Rhyme now desires only one thing: his own death. But when the NYPD asks for his help tracking down a serial killer with a strange fascination with human bones, Rhyme cannot resist taking a crack at the bizarre case—especially as it becomes clear that this serial killer is leaving clues specifically for Rhyme himself. Energized by the mystery and his new partnership with the incredibly strong-willed and clever police officer Amelia Sachs who serves as his “arms and legs,” Rhyme postpones his assisted suicide and takes up the race to find the pattern behind the serial killer’s madness before he can claim another victim.
This mystery is a fast paced thriller with emphasis on the forensic aspects of detective work. The characters are compelling and while enough information is provided for the reader to piece the mystery together, there are also enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. Don’t read this book if you are squeamish; the serial killings are described in detail. But if you like a good mystery thriller, I recommend it, with the substantial caveat that it is not a particularly sensitive or balanced portrayal of disability. It is the first in the Lincoln Rhyme series.
If you like forensic thrillers, you might like books by Tess Gerritsen.
THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE by Alan Bradley
I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and Libro.fm, online retailers that support independent booksellers. If you make a purchase by clicking through the links in this post, I will receive a commission. For more information, see my “About” page.
Growing up in 1950s England, Flavia isn’t an average eleven year old girl. She loves chemistry, poisons, and plotting vengeful pranks against her two older sisters. But when her father is accused of murdering a man found dead in their garden, Flavia channels her creativity and intelligence toward solving the mystery of what really happened. One thing is certain–whether innocent or guilty, her father is not the man she thought he was. Trying to stay one step ahead of the police, Flavia begins her investigations with a cold-case apparent suicide of a school teacher that has some connection to her father’s and the recent victim’s past. As she learns more about her father’s past she discovers the key to the mystery is more complex than she had first imagined. Flavia is a witty, clever, and endearing narrator, and the mystery itself is intriguing and difficult to unravel. It’s a fun read, especially if you are interested in chemistry (or poison)!
- ← Previous
- 1
- …
- 9
- 10
Susan the Librarian 