Fall Reads

The air is starting to get chillier and you know what that means...time to snuggle up with a good book!  Let me tell you about a few I've read recently.

First up, is a potential Truman nominee for next year called Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek, by Maya Van Wagenen.  This is a memoir that Maya, who is currently 15, wrote about her eighth grade year when she embarked on a huge social experiment.  When a popularity guide written in 1951 turns up when cleaning out their house, Maya's mom suggests to her that she try following the advice of the author to see how well it would work in today's day and age.  Maya, who proclaimed herself to be at the very bottom of the social ladder in her school, decided to give it a try.  Each chapter is dedicated to a month in which she follows advice in areas such as: hair, makeup, posture, and more.  I think this is a must-read for every teen-aged girl.  It was hilarious, yet brought back so many memories of how awkward and completely unpopular we all feel during middle school (and sometimes even adulthood!).  If you're interested in this title, you can pick it up at MCPL or in our own CMS Media Center.

Another potential Truman nominee I recently read is Minion, by John David Anderson.  The main character Michael Morn was abandoned as a baby in a fast food restaurant and lived his first nine years in an orphanage.  Adopted at age 9 by a mad scientist sort-of-guy, Michael is getting along just fine, even when he realizes that the little black boxes his dad invents are being sold to the mob-like criminals who run his town.  Michael knows that he and his dad aren't the good guys, but they're definitely not evil either - just doing what they have to do to get by.  But when a super hero comes to town...one who is working to clean up the criminals, Michael worries that he and his dad are no longer safe.  They're going to have to decide - stay or go.  This was an entertaining book and is a companion book to Anderson's Sidekicked, another super hero story.  You can find this title at MCPL or in our CMS Media Center.

A final potential Truman nominee I've read is called Falls the Shadow, by Stefanie Gaither.  In this book, Cate's sister, Violet, died a few years ago and was immediately replaced by her sister's clone.  After a devastating plague wiped out a large chunk of the population when her parents were younger, they decided to clone their children in case the worst happened.  But when Violet's clone is accused of murdering a classmate and disappears, Cate knows she has to find her.  The anti-cloning community wants everyone to believe that clones are violent and unpredictable, but Cate feels a responsibility to find and defend her "sister".  She ends up caught in the crossfire of a battle between two sides that both think they're right.  This is a science-fiction action-adventure that will keep you turning the pages as you read it.  You can find a copy at MCPL and in our CMS Media Center.

Let me also tell you about two books that are set to release this coming Tuesday, October 6th.  I was able to preview both books thanks to NetGalley.

First up is A Thousand Nights, by E.K. Johnston.  This is based on the story known as 1001 Nights or Arabian Nights.  This was a fascinating story, but I will warn you that it is a slower-paced story.  It is beautifully written and thought-provoking story, though, if you're willing to give it the time.  In this story the only named character is a ruler named Lo-Melkhiin, who has married and killed 300 girls by the time he arrives at the main characters village looking for his next bride. Our main character knows her sister is likely to be chosen and in order to save her sister, she makes herself stand out and is chosen. She manages to survive one night, then another until she becomes the longest-surviving bride of Lo-Melkhiin because of the stories she weaves for him. And as she survives, strange things start to happen and she starts to develop her own strange magic that just might save her people if she can survive her husband.



For a faster-paced read, you might enjoy Spinning Starlight, by R.C. Lewis. This is a futuristic science-fiction action-adventure in which the major planets in the world are known as the Seven Points and they are connected through portals called conduits. When Liddy Jantzen, the heiress to the most powerful tech company in the galaxy is nearly attacked in her home, she learns that the person running her family's company, Minala Blake, is responsible. The conduits are failing and Minala has trapped Liddy's 8 brothers within the conduits and then implants Liddy with a device that will kill her brothers if she tries to get help for them. Liddy manages to escape to what everyone believed was the lost eighth point where she meets Tiav, who may be the only person who can help her. But she has to find a way to communicate without her voice. This is a page-turner of a book, and it will keep you guessing. My only complaint about this one is that it gets quite technical at times, which can be a little confusing, but the story is a good one.


That's it for now. More to come in the future!