Team Human, by Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan

I picked up this book because it was recommended through the Common Sense Media website.  (For their Halloween read column.)  In part I wanted to see the degree to which the Common Sense Media recommendations were actually good quality literature.  I'm happy to report that I think this book deserves glowing recommendations.  It is indeed a of paranormal romance/fantasy book.  However, I found the characterizations but nuanced and the plot line intriguing.

The stories set in New Whitby, a vampire/human city founded in the 1800s when a vampire ship landed to establish a community where vampires could be free from persecution and discrimination.  It is essentially a city like any of the other but cities in the original Colonies.  There are some unique characteristics including antidiscrimination regulations assuring that vampires and humans have equal rights.  However, it quickly becomes clear that the vampire and human populations are for the most part mutually exclusive.  They do live together peacefully for the most part.

Larbalestier & Brennan have done a masterful job of imagining the complexities of the vampires and humans coexisting.  This is not just a YA takeoff on True Blood .  It does echo some of the themes that Charlaine Harris has introduced in her Sookie Stackhouse series, however there is clearly enough difference that Team Human avoids imitation.  The authors are quite explicit and acknowledgement of the contributions of other vampire literature including Anne Rice, Stephen King, Richelle Mead, Stephanie Meyer, Bram Stoker, Scott Westerfield and a long list of other well-known writers who have also composed in this genre. (In fact they have created a reading list for me.)

Two themes that I find particularly compelling in this book are those of the qualities of true friendship and what true love looks like in practice.

A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby

Penguin Books, 2005

Suicide--well, at least an attempt.  The four narrative voices in this novel meet on New Years Eeve as each had planned suicide from the roof of a building.  They don't manage suicide that night.  Instead all four leave together.  The rest of the book tells their stories and the strange relationships that develop over the next few months.

The tale is told with Hornby's usual wry humor and realistic crafting of personalities.  Technically, I have to admire his tale and the ability to twine the four stories together.  There are a few things anchored in British popular culture and language that went over my head.

However,  it's not a book that I ended up enjoying.   It's too close to home.  I've had suicides in my family and among close friends and colleagues.  It's hard for me to read about.  I've had the same response to Jonathan Franzen's book, Freedom.   I don't enjoy reading about my own life.  (At least I'm not a main character from this book--rather one of the family members/associates.)  Others may find this sort of book enlightening or confirming.  I'd rather read something that adds to my knowledge base.  It does have its humorous moments.  But, they did not bring the overall reading experience up out of despair of my own experiences.

A Sunless Seam, by Anne Perry

Random House:  2012

This latest addition to the William Monk series is equal to any of Perry's other works. Those of you unfamiliar with Anne Perry's work, she sets most of her books in Victorian England. Thus, in addition to a gripping detective story, you also gain an appreciation of the Victorian era. The book continues the theme from Perry's most recent Monk novel, but she provides adequate details so that readers who have not completed,  Acceptable Loss, will not find following the plot difficult.

This book explores the opium trade and the opium wars that marred this period of  British history. Her portrayal but seems realistic that I have no expertise to be able to evaluate the accuracy of her research. I find it extremely believable and detailed enough that but I am willing to take it at face value.

Thea plot and characterizations are among Perry's best. I appreciate the way that she actually develops characters over the series and rejoice in William Monk's change of relationship with his former antagonist Runicorn.

I had the opportunity to travel to London this summer. Doing so has changed my reading experience. Although the docks are no longer the dangerous and dirty territory portrayed in this novel, having been there and on the Thames, I have a much greater sense of place. Envisioning Perry's books while I visited enrich my time in the city as well. I found myself wanting to purchase copies of them so I could work through the details. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to really walk through either Anne Perry's books or Sherlock Holmes adventures. In my next trip, I will plan more time so that I can complete these literary explorations.

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

Penguin Group. 2012

This may become the John Green book but I recommend first.  The main character, Hazel Grace, has an ultimately fatal cancer (her diagnosis is "terminal"). At the insistence of her mother, she attends a teen cancer support group where she meets the other major characters of the book. Hazel's cancer has limited her ability to move through the world because of being tethered to oxygen as well as her limited energy levels. Her boy friend, Augustus Waters, has lost his leg.

Although I have not had to live closely with cancer, my general experiences with colleagues and friends tells me that Green has done his homework. Readers will develop an understanding of both the physical and emotional tolls that cancer takes upon the individual, the family, and friends around them.

Readers will find the prose in this book a bit more challenging than other works by Green. However in the era of CCSS it provides opportunities to draw developing readers into increasingly sophisticated text. Both Hazel and Augustus have become sophisticated users of language. Possibly their lengthy hospital stays and recuperations have given them opportunities to develop linguistic sophistication not typical of most young adults. However, I believe that both were excellent students even before their cancer diagnosis.

As a special treat me, Green also includes a trip to a Amsterdam. His portrayal of daily life there and a visit to the Anne Frank Memorial, are realistic and helped me a relive my recent trip.

I believe that ultimately this will be an award winning book. Some of the issues that have created problems for teachers wishing to bring Green into the classroom are not as prevalent in this book.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Leviathan

Those of you familiar with David Leviathan's writings will not be surprised that gay teens are some of the main characters in this book. That being said, this is a book that I would be most interested in trying out with a straight adolescent males. I also think that young women would enjoy it greatly.

Both Green and Leviathan have a wonderful ability to capture the angst of adolescent social relationships, both romantic and platonic.  They're also able to create extremely amusing scenes that turn on a point. Many readers will both laugh and cry on the same page. Something else that I appreciate about this book  is that contemporary parents and other adults are represented with empathy and sensitivity.

 Although the two Will Graysons are the main characters of the story, Tiny Cooper, a football player/playwright is equally important within the story. Although much of the plot focuses on romance, I believe that the primary theme has to do with friendship. Much of the plot centers around his dramatic aspiration but as both a playwright and producer of musicals.

Also important part of the book is Will Grayson's struggle with depression. I believe I detect John Green's influence here. Readers who have lived with a close friend or family member suffering from depression below find this a very helpful but look at the inside experience.

Some will undoubtedly suggest that the but story is too much like the popular television series " Glee." It does have similarities, but I do believe that the authors' have also created a more nuanced look at friendships and romance. Certainly any adolescent who enjoys the television show will thoroughly appreciate this novel.

Between, by Jessica Warman

2011,  Bloomsbury Teens

Young Adult Choice--International Reading Association

I can easily see why this book was chosen as a favorite read by adolescents.  It is a book that I will recommend to many.  It is a ghost story and also but sensitive but look at many of the stresses that too many teens face in their lives.

Liz (Elizabeth) has died mysteriously on her 18th birthday.  Her ghost narrates the book.  She has been joined in the afterlife by Alex, another team from her high school, who also died recently in an unsolved hit and run accident.

Liz, and all her friends, live privileged lives.  They have wealthy families, are beautiful, and hold the top positions in the social structure of their high school. Her boyfriend, also her next door neighbor, is smart, good looking, totally devoted to her, but also a drug dealer.

I found the mystery in this book compelling.  I did not deduce the answer to the mystery until almost 2/3 way through the book. I expect that teen readers may take just a little bit longer.  Even once I had resolved the mystery,  I was still compelled to finish reading to discover what happened to the various characters.

In addition to the mystery of how and why Liz died, themes of anorexia, exercise addiction, teen drug use, high school social structures, and blended families are all explored.

the Distant Echo, by Val McDermid

2003

This stand alone novel by Val McDermid is helping elaborate my background for an upcoming trip to Scotland. I am probably going to be seeing murderers everywhere I turn. To keep in balance I'm also watching the BBC Hamish Macbeth television series.

McDermid tells the story of four male college students who happen upon a young woman who has been brutally attacked and dies as they try to help her. The four become the police's primary suspects although they are innocent of the murder. No charges are ever brought against them and the murder goes unsolved. The four have to live of with the suspicions of the murdered girl's brothers and other community members. The investigation is reactivated as a cold case with the advent of DNA testing and other advances in forensic science.

I have read almost all of McDermid's Tony Hill novels. The Distant Echo did not really capture my imagination as much as the Hill novels do. The novel spans 25 years and has to keep two parallel time frames sensible to the reader. I thought McDermid handled this quite well however, it did make for some mental exercise on the part of the reader. She also took two of the main characters to America for their adult lives. I still don't quite know how I feel about this intrusion of America into her world in Scotland.