77 books later--A Summary

I've blogged about 77 books in nearly 4 years; here's a short re-cap of the best. 

Best nonfiction: Remember: The Art of Memory & the Art of Forgetting. (Also, shout out to The Light We Carry, by Michelle Obama)

Fave Fiction Humor: Where'd You Go Bernadette? 

Fave Dystopian: Handmaid's Tale (Atwood)

Fave Banned Book (YA): Looking For Alaska (Green)

Fave Book about Banned Books: Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury)

Fave Book Turned Movie: The Secret Life of Bees (about the crap females put up with, and racism, and coming of age)

Fave Foreign Book-Turned-Movie: A Man Named Ove (pronounced uuu' vah). Backman's other book that made us smile: My Grandmother Told Me to Tell You she's Sorry. 

Fave Book We Know Will be made into a Movie Someday(!): Hidden Pictures (spookiness! I read this in two sittings) 

Fave bust-yur-gut-laughing autobiography: Driving Over Lemons, An Optimist in Andalucia

Fave biography: Z, a novel of Zelda Fitzgerald 

Fave war/sci-fi book: Slaughterhouse Five (Vonnegut)

Fave "classic" fiction war book: Watership Down (like War and Peace but with rabbits...yes, really); another classic is Animal Farm, by Orwell...less than 100 pages, it slams you with the reality of those who embrace power at all costs (war, duplicity, etc).

Fave Historical Fiction on racism: The Nickel Boys (Whitehead)

Both of Julie Kibler's books. Her focus on women and kids is laser-like, her writing is wonderfully skilled. Home for Erring & Outcast Girls; Calling Me Home; both books will make you re-think humanity. Both will push you toward the kleenex box (snif sniff). 

Best Ann Patchett book: The Dutch House, A Novel.

Best Anna Quindlen book for "older" women: Still Life With Bread Crumbs 

Best Anna Quindlen book with mystery, intrigue...and heartbreak: Every Last One

Best book about triplets and autism: One Two Three, by Laurie Frankel.  Also, Frankel's book on a transgender kid is eye opening, This is the Way it Always Is. 

Looking for Alaska, by John Green

I read this book on my own-- for the specific reason that it's listed as a Banned Book. It's a YA (young adult) book, and as Green says, "I wrote it for that audience!" 

Here's why it's banned. It deals with sex among high schoolers and suicide. Main character Miles comes from Florida to a boarding school in Alabama, where he rooms with Chip (likes to be called The Colonel), a girl named Alaska, plus Takumi and Lara. The latter becomes a bit lovey with Miles, even though he's really enamored with Alaska. There's an awkward, and equally tender, scene between Miles and Lara. No spoilers but it's the kind of "first" that you can imagine happening. 

As for the topic of early death, I didn't read about the story ahead of time, though it says on the book jacket that Alaska passes. So, they're dealing with this loss. And at the end, the author leaves us with a nice message of hope. As in, as a high schooler going thru this loss, what message do they take from it? Do they blame themselves forever? Find self-forgiveness? 

Radical hope. Those are the words the author uses. Honestly, if the small sexual content scenes put this on lists of banned books, YA's are really missing out on a book that could help them untangle some of the. ...confusion of being a teenage human. 

I do recommend for YA audience, though as a mature reader, I tired of Miles' pining and whining. And that's why this book was written for YA!