My goodness, I have read a number of books in August and the first half of September. Let’s see if I can remember all of them.
1. Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge: A coming of age story in graphic novel form. The illustrations are great and spot on, but some of the prose feels stilted and unnatural. Still, I would recommend it to creative adolescents who are navigating the journey of the self.
2. Bossypants by Tina Fey: This is everything I wanted it to be, funny, smart and memoir-y. I do love Tina Fey, so I was inclined to love Bossypants before I started reading it. My favorite chapter is the one about her dad.
3. Eve by Anna Carey: Comes out in October. Disappointing dystopian future book in which spineless protagonist never develops a spine. Read Hunger Games again instead.
4. Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins: Excellent new collection of poetry from my favorite poet. Whimsical, serious, brooding, and fanciful.
5. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos: Fun young adult novel where the protagonist, Jack, is grounded for the entire summer and his only escape is to help the town’s obituary writer. I’ve already sold two copies of this because it is one of the few appropriate books for boys in their early teenage years.
6. Terroryaki by Jennifer Chung: What could be better than a mysterious cursed teriyaki food truck that haunts the suburbs of Seattle? Nothing, I assure you. Terroryaki was written as part of the three day Labor Day writing contest and Chung also thanks Nanowrimo. I will probably end up buying all three copies our store has and sending them out various friends.
7. The 100 Foot Journey by Richard Morais: Foodie novel with a non-white male protagonist. Refreshing. You’ll drool.
8. Fables books 1 and 2 by Bill Willingham et al: I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get to this series of graphic novels. What was I thinking? Read it, especially if you’re into mythology/ fairy tales. Love the shout out to Neil Gaiman.
