Drama, YA graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier. Meh. Not written for me.
The Mighty Odds, by Amy Ignatow, from Sasquatch list. So disappointing. Maybe the age group (tweens) it was written for will find it funny and clever, but I did not.
Shouting at the Rain, by Lynda Mullaly Hunt (who wrote Fish in a Tree). Also a Sasquatch, and now I will permanently add Hunt to my Must Read Author list.
Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout (there's a sequel and a 2014 miniseries...what?!?!)
Look Both Ways: A tale told in ten blocks, by Jason Reynolds, YA
Jason Reynolds gets a lot of well deserved credit for being a voice of urban teens. Urban is often code for "black", and yes, Reynolds and many of his characters are black, but the books
Jason Reynolds and Jacquiline Woodson are masters of lyrical prose.
Golden Tresses of the Dead, by Alan Bradley, YA-ish chemistry/mystery.
Flavia DeLuce gets another book out every year or so. The schtick is getting a little old, but it's been revived a bit as Dogger's character comes out more. I do appreciate that for a book about small English village tropes, there are very few stereotypical elements to Bradley's acclaimed series.
My Fake Rake, Eva Leigh, NPR had a review of this https://www.npr.org/2019/11/30/783294614/my-fake-rake-turns-the-makeover-trope-on-its-well-coiffed-head. Could have been frolicky, but I don't have the stomach for romance-stories-for-the-sake-of-romance anymore. (Though, if you are going to write a thousand page book, I'm am going to need a love story or two woven in.)
Beside Herself, by Elizabeth LaBan. Meh. Got this title from something, but the story falls short. To get over an unfaithful spouse, a wife decides to have her own affair as they stay together.
Forever or a Long, Long, Time, by Caela Carter. Wow, a Sasquatch book that I read aloud to the 5 of us over a series of weekend car rides together. We were all really engaged in this story of siblings who had been recently adopted out of the foster system. So much depth in this book, and I am really impressed by the author's ability to get deep into the heart of family and particularly this heroine.
So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oulo. One of the top books for white people to get a real conversation about hot topics and long, long standing racial injustices and perspectives. Worth it.
The Many Reflections of Miss Jane Deming, by J. Anderson
From this year's Sasquatch list, this is the story of a Piper-aged girl who makes her way over to baby Seattle with the Mercer girls. The geography might be a little inaccurate, or I am misinterpreting information, but as a read-aloud, it was an entrancing story. No Pollyanna, but with a pioneering spirit, we Pacific Northwesters all learned more about our history.
One for the Murphies, by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. I how this YA author tackles problems--a 6th grade with dyslexia, and preteens tackling what it means to be family, especially when you have been abandoned by your mother. This one is close to my heart, as a girl is entering foster care after a brutal betrayal by her mother and stepfather.
Red at the Bone, by Jacqueline Woodson. Woodson is a master of lyrical writing--her novels read like free verse and powerfully compacts a story of every member of a family in a generational transition.
Mrs. Everything, by Jennifer Weiner. "I think this book changed my life," said BFF Susanne, and she might be right. Her story telling talent has been contained in novels that were maybe a decade in duration--and could rightly be considered chick lit. This, though, this is Every Women's life, told over an entire lifetime with the generations before and after. I'm still buzzed over this book, several days later.
Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger.
I had just read the forward to an Ivan Doig novel, and then pressed play on this William Kent Krueger story. Dreamlike, Krueger’s 1961 Minnesota intertwined with Doig’s historical Montana and I was lulled into teen Frank’s brain and life. The trestle outside their tiny town where Frank’s father is a minister is a more than an allegory of the trains and river that continually flows through their lives, both taking an extraordinary number of lives during this stranger summer. I can’t quite dissect why I couldn’t put this story down, but as soon as I finished it, I bought another one of his novels.
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