Rooms by Lauren Oliver. This was a ghost story, but a really good one. Creepy at times, though that wasn’t the main point as far as I could tell. It is more of an exploration of a family. There are a couple ghosts that live within a house, or they are the house, and they witness everything that happens when a family comes to pack up the house. It was clever and the characters were interesting.
Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci. This was a really good young adult novel about a girl who is looking for her place and her people. This is a well-written and simple story. It is a coming of age story, but it is unique and creative. I liked it.
Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer. As many people know, Foer wrote my very favorite book of all time, so I was very anxious for this book to come out. It wasn’t as good as Extremely Loud and Incredible Close, but it was a very good book. It is about a family on the verge of collapse, but also about the world on the verge of collapse. There were parts when I laughed out loud, and parts where I cried, and parts where I was just really confused about why I was reading it (if you’ve read it, you probably know that chapter I’m talking about). All in all, I’d say I liked this book a lot. It was hard to get through, but worth it.
Fly on the wall by E. Lockhart. Another young adult novel about a girl who is looking for her place and her people. She wishes to become a fly on the wall of the boy’s locker room, and her wish comes true. Obviously an homage to Kafka, this modern story is pretty good. Katya is a likeable, creative girl and her exploits are realistic and funny.
Big Little Lie by Laine Moriarty. I read this because I was watching the HBO show and it wasn’t going fast enough. I just couldn’t wait to know what happened and who died and who did it! This is such a good mystery book. The characters are all really interesting and the plot is so very creative. It starts with someone dying at a school fundraiser, but you don’t find out who did it or even who died until the very end. It is a difficult book because it tackles some difficult subjects. But it’s a story of women and strength and relationships. I really liked it. Both the book and the show.
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. This is the first book in The Mortal Instruments series – a fantasy series for young adults. I actually really liked the book and found it compelling. Clary is the protagonist and she’s pretty cool, but it isn’t really the girl-power story that it could be. Maybe that comes in the later books. It’s mysterious and clever, but the dialog wasn’t super believeable. I started the second book, but couldn’t get into it. I think maybe I needed to take some time off before starting it.