What Should I Read? Book Talks and More

Virals by Kathy Reichs.  Lots of people told me this was a great book, and I liked all of the Bones books I read.  Tory is Temperance Brennen's niece, so she, like, automatically has an interest in science?  A little bit of a reach, but I guess it serves its purpose. Tory and her friends are trying to solve a mystery on an island owned by a University where there's a big science lab.  The kids live on the island because their parents work there and they attend a snotty school on the mainland.  Of course they are the smartest and nerdiest kids in the high school.  They are poking around trying to find a lost wolf cub...and that's when the trouble starts! Science Fiction is the Genre. http://kathyreichs.com/seizure/

Dystopic.  Zombies.  No parents--well they and all the grownups are the zombies ready to eat kid brains!  In the book The Enemy by Charlie Higson, children 15 and under are the only ones who didn't get sick.  The place where the kids are staying seems to be unsafe now and they have run out of food.  A kid shows up and tells them to come to Buckingham Palace where there are other kids and gardens and safety.  All they have to do is get there.  I had a hard time finishing this book. http://www.charliehigson.co.uk/books/uk/

Drought , by Pam Bachorz, is another YA book I found on our Scholastic Bookfair. Wow. It is complicated and sort of hard to explain. There is a Christ-like figure, Otto, around whom a cult (the Congregation) started and lives. Before he left them, Owen married and had a daughter, Ruby. His blood (a few drops in the drinking water supply) gave the Congregation prolonged life. Since he left, they were enslaved by Darwin West--that happened 200 years ago. West forces them to collect water from the forest, because he believes that is what brings the prolonged life. What he and most of the congregation do not know is that now Ruby's blood is what prolongs their lives. This book seems dystopic because of the power struggle, but the Congregation is living a secret life and ordinary American life seems to exist away from the forest. It qualifies as fantasy. Thankfully, the publisher provided an annotation, see below. http://www.pambachorz.com/ You can listen to the first chapt...

  Over the summer I read Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien. This novel is dystopic--you know the end of the world has come and gone, and re-formed, there are those in power and those who aren't. It is also a conspiracy novel. The Enclave, is the powerful community in this story and they live in a walled city. Some of the children from outside have been adopted and live with the conveniences of the privileged. The outside families are not allowed to know anything about them. But, 16 year old Gaia has followed her mother's trade and become a midwife. The first three babies she delivers each month are given by her to the Enclave. Gaia's parents are taken from her and the community by the Enclave and it seems to be because they know something about what families the babies came from. I like dystopic novels, but I used to like them more when they were rarer. As always, there is a lot of coincidence which allows the major characters to come together--but maybe that ...

One of my favorite authors, Donna Jo Napoli, has written a historic fiction novel set in Venice , Italy.   I n  Venice and each person, whether s/he is a noble, citizen, or worker. Young women of noble families were very protected and most were not allowed to read and write or be anywhere alone or without a family member or trusted servant. I learned so much about this period. Napoli showed me that only the first son of a noble was allowed to marry in order to protect the family's fortune. One or two of the girls might marry, but a dowry was expected to secure that marriage. Sons were expected to go into the family business, and one daughter might be allowed to live at home and be the maid to her brother's family. Otherwise, girls were expected to join a convent. the 1600s. Life is very prescribed for all the citizens of None of those options sounded good to fourteen-year-old Donata. She wanted to learn about the world and read and write. So, she sneaked out to s...

Dante's Daughter written by Kimberly Heuston is a historical fiction novel set in 1400s Italy . This book explores the possible life of Dante Allegeri's (famed poet who wrote the Divine Comedy ) daughter. Some travels in the story mirror the journey Dante took in the Divine Comedy --and the author describes the same areas and background Dante must have tread. That is interesting to me since I recently re-read The Inferno (part I of the DC). I also like hearing the history surrounding the wars/feuds of Florence in the context of a story where I can relate to the events in an understandable narrative. So, the character of Dante's daughter, Antonia, is compelling and strong and interesting. Her life is crazy due to her father's obsession of poetry and his knack for not getting along with very many people, including his wife! Antonia is taken to live with an aunt when the family is exiled from Florence (the whole family split up), and there she learns to love drawin...