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Award Winning Coming of Age Novel

Published on by Kathy Lauren MillerLeave a comment

PictureMeGone

Printz Award-winning author Meg Rosoff’s coming of age novel is an unforgettable page turner about a very unusual girl. It is also about the relationship between her parents, love and loss and ultimately, betrayal.

The one person you trust the most to tell you the truth has kept a secret, one that would shed a light not only on their past, but would call into question everything you thought you knew about them.

Mila, our young protagonist, has an exceptionally strange talent. She has the ability to ferret out secrets and clues most other people overlook. She can read a room, body language and people’s emotions as she pieces together the mystery surrounding her father and his missing friend. Equally funny and irreverent, Picture Me Gone is a delightful read that pulls at your heartstrings.

 

 

Against the Odds

Published on by Kathy Lauren Miller1 Comment

41-YkFaghDL__SX302_BO1,204,203,200_ This is the ultimate survival story, with a twenty-first century Robinson Crusoe hero, but on Mars. Any Weir has crafted an amazing account of a what if scenario. What if one of our astronauts was stranded on Mars? What if a rescue was a big if? And even if a rescue was possible, it would take years to get back there. It reads like an actual account, filled with science and technology (which computer and math nerds will swoon over) and page turning suspense. Our hero, Mark Watney overcomes one daunting disaster after another. It’s funny and heartrending and utterly believable. I’m a Lit-chick, but honestly, I couldn’t put this down.

It’s not in the Stars

Published on by Kathy Lauren Miller1 Comment

519kWfgQqqL__SX331_BO1,204,203,200_ “It’s not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves”  ~ William Shakespeare ~

What does it mean to be human? That is the question Rick Yancey poses in this novel. It is a story about an alien invasion, about beings who are determined to wipe out all of humanity. They hide in our bodies turning the true humans against each other. Scary science fiction aside, this novel is about so much more. It delves into the human psyche. What do we sacrifice to be truly human? Is it in our DNA to sacrifice self for the life of another whether or not we care for that person? Time and again we’ve seen it in the headlines, how someone dove into a raging river to save someone, or rushed into a burning building to save an unknown person. Why do we do it? What causes us to self-sacrifice? Is it the ability to sacrifice our selves for another that makes us truly human? Is that the litmus test?

To quote Shakespeare, “To be or not to be, that is the question”

 

 

 

 

A Secret Weapon

Published on by Kathy Lauren MillerLeave a comment

 51mj7DtCJtL__SX277_BO1,204,203,200_  An EMP, Electro Magnetic Pulse Weapon is detonated over the continental US and in one second every electronic device is fried. Cars don’t run, phones don’t work, televisions turn off. All communications through every media shut down, permanently. We are suddenly thrown back into the dark ages. Food runs out, no electricity, no medicine. It’s every man for himself.  What would we do? How would be behave? This is the story of one man’s struggle to save his family and his small North Carolina town.

Science fiction? No, it’s an all too real possibility as stated in a foreword by Newt Gingrich and brought to the floor of the US Congress.  The author, William Forstchen, writes a gripping account of what could happen. After reading the terrifying story, I gave serious thought to stocking up on can goods and supplies. Well written and engaging, I recommend this gripping novel to all who want to find out, what if. . .

Warming Up to the Living Dead

Published on by Kathy Lauren MillerLeave a comment

Warm Bodies

If you saw the movie but have not read the novel, then you have missed a totally engrossing experience. Warm Bodies is so much more than a star-crossed zombie-human love story. Funny, frightening and tragic by turns, Warm Bodies slyly introduces themes about us,  about our human condition, and about our lives in the here and now. The narrator, R, may have forgotten his name and his life before becoming one of the living dead, but his take on humanity is spot on.

The author, Isaac Marion, has a gift, not only for words, but for clarity and insight. His newest offering, due out in October, is a prequel to Warm Bodies: The New Hunger. You may want to read the prequel prior to Warm Bodies, but I warmly suggest you read Warm Bodies  first.

John Green’s Paper Towns

Published on by Kathy Lauren MillerLeave a comment

PaperTowns I’ve read all of John’s novels, most notably the Fault in our Stars and Looking for Alaska, but Paper Towns was unexpectedly good. I had no idea that there are actually paper towns on maps. These towns are just sort of place holders; not really towns at all. Quentin Jacobsen has been enthralled with Margo since forever. She’s an enigma and when she mysteriously disappears,  he’s left with a convoluted set of clues that seem to lead him everywhere and nowhere. Paper towns are the easiest to find. Paper Towns is a rumpus of a novel, both funny and heartbreaking as many coming of age renditions are.

Wild, from Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Published on by Kathy Lauren MillerLeave a comment

WildCherlyStrayed  Wild, by Cheryl Strayed is a gut wrenching memoir I could not put down. Honest and true to the core, Cheryl’s story stays with you long after the reading of it. Cheryl’s journey along a treacherous desert to mountain trail, all the thirteen hundred miles of it, alone, disheartened with life and love and still grieving the loss of her mother, allowed her to focus on the moment. Each harrowing step, each blistering day under a relentless sun or a freezing night under a quilt of stars, brought her closer to redemption, to absolution.  Her account is so riveting, so tremulous and my suspension of disbelieve so complete, that I felt her thirst, her hunger and all the aches, pains, blisters and the fear and the absolute aloneness. But most of all, I felt her awe of nature, wild and at once both exhilarating and dangerous. She gave herself up to nature, to fate and in the process, found the missing pieces of herself she’d lost years before. I highly recommend this wonderful memoir, and I recommend reading it before seeing the movie.

A View to The Giver, by Lois Lowry

Published on by Kathy Lauren MillerLeave a comment

Giver3 Beautifully written and insightful, The Giver is a futuristic glimpse of what life would be like if we all became conformists, where rigid rules of behavior dominate daily life. Individuality in thought and deed are frowned upon. In The Giver, emotions like love, anger and jealousy are against the rules, and breaking the rules results in a dire consequence called, Release. The true meaning of Release is kept secret from the population, only the Elders know and administer it.

The Giver is followed by three sequels: Messenger, Gathering Blue and Son.  It’s best to buy the Quartet because once you start reading The Giver, you’ll want to read the sequels.