The Imposter's Daughter by Laurie Sandell

This colorful adult graphic novel surprised me because it isn't a cute and fluffy read like the bright colors suggest. It's a memoir, describing Sandell's relationship with her father. Growing up, she idolized him because his stories were larger than life. He met celebrities and heads of state. He was a hero in Vietnam and graduated from NYU and Columbia and had taught at Stanford. But he also had bad days--grumpy, mean, and depressed. Sandell's world revolved around his father and his moods. As a result, she had negative relationships with men in college and as an adult, even as she became a successful writer.

Eventually she decides to interview her father for a feature story and her doubt grows. She checks her sources and finds inconsistencies and people angry with her father for stealing their money. Hence the title of the book (so I'm not giving away any plot by revealing what the title does). Her world falls apart as her father drops off his pedestal.

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen, Narrated by Rachel Botchman

I always read Sarah Dessen's books and recommend her quite often to high school girls looking for a dramatic or romantic read. This YA novel kind of disappointed me though, mainly because of the slow pace and the constant referral to bikes. Um, I'm not into bicycles.

Auden is seventeen and raised mainly by her mother, an uptight and overbearing professor. Her father has been mainly absent from her life since the divorce a few years ago, but Auden decides to go live with him and his new wife and baby for the summer at the beach. While she plans on studying for her college classes to get a head start, she ends up finding herself a better life. She ends up socializing for the first time in her life, finding some good girlfriends and a boy to love.

Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story by Wally Lamb

Need a Christmas gift for your grandma? Buy her this book! Wally Lamb has already produced two of Oprah's book club books, so he's already popular with the ladies. In this holiday tale, it's 1964 and Felix Funicello is attending Catholic school. Think A Christmas Story and Chris Crutcher's autobiography all rolled into one. I laughed and giggled while reading this book and think that anyone who lived in the '60's would appreciate it. And, no, kids, I didn't live in the 1960's. This is a great stocking stuffer!

The Local News by Miriam Gershow

Teenager Lydia Pasternak is torn. Her parents ignore her so she can stay out late and drive without a driver's license. The popular kids at school are starting to pay attention to her. She's getting invited to parties and the dance team captain wants to be-friend her. But in this case, popularity has its price. Lydia's older brother is missing. Lydia's mother is organizing searches and the football players wear black bands on their jerseys. Lydia is torn. She's trying to help find her brother, but a little voice in the back of her head wonders if she's glad he's missing. After all, he bullied and teased her. His friends called her flat-chested and hazed her in the hallways when Danny was present. But now that he's missing, everything has changed.

In a quiet way, this adult novel tells a sad tale. What happened to Danny? What will happen to Lydia? Her parents? The private investigator? I had to read this in two sittings to find out.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

I absolutely love it when a book isn't what I expected. I knew Zeitoun was about a family in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and, um, I wasn't too interested in reading it. But, whoa, did I get sucked into Abdulrahman Zeitoun's life. He is a respected contractor who has lived in New Orleans for years. He stays in the city during the evacuation so that he can check on his properties and help people out. And, so he does. For days, he uses his canoe to paddle around the neighborhoods, feeding dogs and rescuing people stranded in their homes. But eventually everyone starts to leave the city. Looters are everywhere and people are getting desparate, even the officers. Zeitoun is arrested for something. Um, really, something. He isn't really told what he's arrested for and he doesn't even get to call his wife or a lawyer. He's kept in a makeshift prison/kennel in the Greyhound station and taken to a maximum security prison north of town. He's denied medical treatment, denied his phone call, and accused of being Taliban and a terrorist. Ha! I'm embarrassed by how this good man was treated by Americans responsible for upholding our laws. Eggers doesn't preach as he writes this book and never even mentions George Bush, but the reader is allowed to draw his or her own conclusions. To me--corruption. New Orleans=corruption.

Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult, Narrated by a Full Cast

I must admit that I'm getting sick of Picoult's books, and this one really did almost make me sick. I just couldn't understand the reason why the mother in the book was filing the lawsuit. Her daughter was born with brittle bone disease and the mother sues her obstetrician with a wrongful birth lawsuit. Um, her daughter is alive and kicking. Yes, the daughter Willows has lots of broken bones, but she's brilliant and vibrant and a great kid. So I couldn't see how the mother could assume Willow wouldn't know about the lawsuit. I'm sure glad money isn't worth that much to me. I could never do what the mother does in this book. I was grimacing when I was listening to the audiobook. I can't even vary my sentence structure as I try to review this book because I was so disgusted by the character who lost just everything in her book to get money. Ugh. I think this might have successfully kicked Jodi Picoult books out of my reading lists.

Peter & Max: a Fables novel by Bill Willingham

I've never read the Fables graphic novels, but I'm going to have to hunt them down now! This adult fantasy novel is a twisted fairy tale but is a stand-alone novel in the graphic novel series world.

Everyone has heard of Peter Piper, but Willingham can really tell his tale. Peter and his brother Max are the sons of a traveling piper, but the invasion of the Empire leads them to run away to the Black Forest. Terrible things happen there. Max is selfish and downright evil, while Peter is everything bright and good. Each chapter switches from modern-day Peter and Max to childhood Peter and Max, and the two tales come together in quite the climax. The beautiful dark illustrations by Steve Leialoha help tell the tale and make me want to read the rest of their graphic novels. Anyone who can make Peter Piper marry Bo Peep and have them both be trained assassins is an awesome author in my eyes!

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

If you haven't read Hunger Games yet, read it! And make sure you have this copy checked out, too, because you'll want to read it immediately!

And now I'm sad. Because I have to wait for the third book in the trilogy. :(

(Spoilers if you haven't read the first book...)

Katniss and Peeta were the first co-winners of the Hunger Games and the Capitol is threatened by their popularity. You wouldn't know it by the newscasts, but some districts are starting to revolt. The Capitol wants to use the next Hunger Games to squash the rebellion so, um, guess what? Something very, very surprising and dramatic happens. I'm not telling. You have to read this book. I really like Katniss because of her awesomeness. Yes, she is that cool. :D

Sometimes We're Always Real Same-Same by Mattox Roesch

I do enjoy reading books with different settings, so I was glad to see that this adult novel started in inner-city Los Angeles and ended up in Unalakleet, Alaska. Just that journey makes a good story! Cesar is a white boy with a Hispanic name, running with Latino gangs in L.A. His older brother is doing the same, and ends up in prison for life for multiple offenses and murder. Cesar's Alaskan native mom doesn't want the same for her other boy and moves them up to Alaska.

Cesar isn't exactly someone you like, once you find out his past history. But his cousin Go-boy is very likable, even though you know his mental health is iffy. The two cousins form a friendship and lean on each to survive. Cesar's narrative is jumpy--traveling back and forth in time, and I'm not sure my high school readers would put up with the unevenness. I had to keep reading to figure out what happened though. The story held my attention though, even when the writing style did not.

Identical by Ellen Hopkins, Read by Laura Flanagan

We're pretty excited here at PCHS that Ellen Hopkins is coming to visit in the Spring. So I'm frantically reading the rest of her books that I haven't read! I listened to the audio version of this verse novel, so I know I missed out on the visual representation of the words on the page, but I don't think I missed much of the action. And this novel had lots of it.

Kaeleigh and Raeanne are identical twins who lead a picture-perfect life to the public. Mom is running for Congress and Dad is a judge. But Daddy really likes his daughter. Really likes her. As in visiting her room at night. Raeanne is the tough girl who rebels by dating trouble-making boys, while Kaeligh is the good girl daddy likes. Both girls are looking for love and having a difficult time surviving. Kaeleigh starts cutting to control the pain and Raeanne uses drugs to feel better. Of course, everything comes crashing down. One of the girls has to break. And she does. There is quite the twist at the end--I won't give it away but let me know if you recognized the clues!