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Born To Read (And Reread)

I learned to read well late (around age 8). I've been trying to catch up ever since. I read to visit far off places, to learn about language, culture, and how people think. I read to argue until I better understand where I'm coming from and why I believe what I believe. I read to fall in love and to learn what I want in relationships. I read to learn how to write better. 


Essentially, I read to learn how to live outside the pages of books. 

Angels And Demons And Vampires And Ghosts

When the leaves start turning and the air grows cold, enjoy a shiver, whether new or old. Whether out of fright or delight. 

<p>When a young boy's sister is born, complications endanger her life. They've also recently moved house and so in addition to worried, he's lonely. While exploring the old shed on the property, he discovers a man. With wings.</p>
<p>One Halloween night changes the lives of a group of friends forever.</p>
<p>Romantic, gothic, autumnal in the extreme; this book full of magic, fandom, and love.</p>
<p>A vampire road trip, a trip into the protagonist's personal past, and one of the darkest love stories to ever hold me spellbound.</p>

But, Have You Read: Lesser Known Works of Well-Known Authors

For every "Pride and Prejudice," there's a "Lady Susan," a work maybe from early in an author's career, maybe long lost and later published after the author's death, maybe just not made into a Hollywood blockbuster or made into a flop. If the book's not known by everyone yet, it makes it so much cooler when you meet another reader who loves it. These books are some I love that I rarely…

Sally Lockhart (yes, this is where Rowling got the name from) is a young woman out of step with her time. Not raised by her father to run a house and raise a family, she's good at math and solving mysteries that would stump Nancy Drew.
Lady Susan Vernon is a worse person and better villain than Mrs. Norris of Mansfield Park. A conniving widow, determined to marry off her daughter to a silly man and to marry very well herself, this early work of Jane Austen offers a glimpse of the shape of things to come.
A teenage girl who loves walking at night becomes a DJ. In the process she learns that love and music don't always mix well, as well as important lessons about trust and dedication. Read with a soundtrack that makes you want to dance.
Graham, perhaps best known for her work on "Gilmore Girls," also writes a coming of age novel with élan. Romantic, but not a romance, funny but not quite a comedy, this novel asks the question: how long is too long to spend on your dream?

Bang Your Head: Mental Health in Fiction and Non-Fiction

 

Whether it's inherited or the result of trauma, or a mix of both, mental illness and mental health matter more than ever. Some of these stories are from the perspective of friends or family; some are in first person. What connects them all is a need for help, the knowledge that help doesn't always come; if and when it does, it doesn't always look like you might suppose.…

<p>Famous people get depressed. The elderly get depressed. Mismedication hurts. Depression hurts. As the title says, the award-winning novelist makes the darkness visible and also tangible in this slender volume.</p>
<p>I read this for the first time when I was in high school. It cracked open my world and my heart.</p>
<p>Eye-opening, thought provoking, funny, and strange. This book also taught me how to recognize the symptoms of an anxiety attack. From the author of "The Men Who Stare At Goats."</p>
<p>When people commit heinous acts, it's easy to brand them monsters. In this graphic memoir, Backderf recalls (and researches) his time as a high school friend/bully of the notorious serial killer Jeffery Dahmer. Thought provoking, painful, and at times deeply uncomfortable, it is nevertheless humane.</p>

Judging Books by Their Titles

These books aren't all the most heavily awarded or lauded. Most will never be assigned in school. What they have in common are great ideas, characters you'll wish you could invite over, and titles that are clever, mysterious, or just weird enough that you have to know what they mean. The only way to find out is to open them up and read. 

It's been said that if you're not worried, you aren't paying enough attention. This book by acclaimed author Matt Haig looks at our very nervous time and says, maybe we are paying too much attention to the wrong things. Maybe the stress we are feeling is affecting the world we live on. And, maybe we can change that for the better.
Normandy and her friends form a Truth Commission. They want to ask the questions no one asks and find out the truth about their classmates. The consequences reach farther and deeper than any of them expected.
In addition to being a book of poetry made by crossing out the words on a page of newsprint that don't make a poem, this volume contains a brief and fascinating history of this poetic form.
When their horrid headmistress's Sunday dinner leaves the students of Prickwillow Academy unsupervised and concerned for what will happen to them next, devious plots (yes, more than one) spring up to keep them together and alive.

Hey Baby, It's Christmas All Over Again

Christmas isn't just a time of year. It's a feeling. It's a story we get to live in, a movie we watch that changes the air around us for the better. 

Every so often a new classic of the season arrives. This slender volume gets my world-weary heart in the Christmas spirit.
When Death takes over as the Santa Claus of the Disc, he needs his granddaughter Susan's help to keep the world as they know it from falling apart. And you thought your Christmas was stressful.
A holiday classic for young and old with Marley and Marley, Charles Dickens, and Rizzo the Rat. Is it really Christmas without "A Christmas Carol?"
A bearded gentleman steps in after a drunken Santa gets fired. The classic and still best version of this film, it just gets everything right.

A Sorta Fairy Tale: Retold and Revitalized

Whether you are a kid, a teenager, or an adult, fairy tales possess an irresistible allure. Some frighten and moralize. Others enchant and engage with real world issues in long ago or far into the future. All of them are for someone, though not every one is for everyone. 

<p>When the villain gets the chance to speak his piece, the shift in perspective can change everything.</p>
<p>A far stranger "Sleeping Beauty" than Walt Disney imagined. Definitely for older teens and adults.</p>
<p>This retelling of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" looks at weaving, parental deception, and the importance of knowing your true name. It has a sequel named (what else?) "West" that fans of the first volume will want to check out, too.</p>
<p>Steampunk, romance, vampires, and fairy tales mash up in this first book in an ongoing series.</p>

Long Story Short: Short Stories For Long Winter Days

C. S. Lewis wrote that you couldn't get him a book long enough or a cup of tea big enough. I see where he was coming from, but during the busy holiday season, and the slow aftermath, there are moments when nothing but a short story will do. Not every story in these collections worked for me, but the ones that did keep me rereading them and looking for more from these excellent writers.…

<p>"Midnights," "The Fox and the Lady," and "Jenny Han's" story are my favorites in this holiday themed collection of short love stories, but there are several other great ones herein.</p>
<p>From three great writers of dark fantasy and horror, this story collection also features author notes on each story about how the stories came to be, as well as the authors comments on one another's work.</p>
<p>I am not going to try to write in the style of Saunders. I will say Fox 8 made me think about how communication works, how the natural world is altered by human interaction with it, and how not acknowledging the poetic power of words set slant harms us all. This, in 48 pages. A slender gold bar.&nbsp;</p>
<p>An oldie that is so good it deserves reading by kids and adults. The alphabet goes under seige on a small island when the letter 'O' is removed from speech by a hostile invasion force. But the citizens don't take this sitting down. Find out more. You'll be glad you did.&nbsp;</p>

Let Us Commence Already: Speeches and Advice On Living A Good Life

Commencement speeches contain reminders to live life well. Here are some of my favorites. I hope they will help you find the answers, or at least ask better questions. 

The title question alone gives great food for thought. Inside, the author shares advice, stories from her life, and reminders that who we become is up to us.
I will read almost anything from Lauren Graham. She's the real deal.
Whether or not you know the difference between a pygmy puff and a bludger, this oration from the creator of Harry Potter has something for you. Service as a way of life and the power of imagination to save us from the horrors of the world are her themes here. Well worth the time to read and reread.
Great questions and how one person answered them. What better way to find your path than to see how someone else made it?

Picture Books For Everyone!

Unless you parent or caregive small children, you may have missed these brilliant picture books. More's the pity, for as A.J. Fikry opined, some picture books are as well-crafted as short stories. These deserve to be read by as many as possible. 

In simple shapes and muted colors, a tale of art and what it means to be an artist.
Julia's inviting heart and sensible system for keeping a wide array of magical creatures well cared for works as a story for parents, roommates, and people working in close contact. The bright magical illustrations draw you in, but the good people skills will keep you there.
A blind and mute princess, a talking tiger, oh my!
Fools being wise, the wise being foolish, and a princess who knows what she needs. This is an oldie but a goodie.

Desert Island Books

I love a new book as much as the next compulsive reader, but, sometimes, nothing will do like an old favorite. These books have stood the test of multiple rereadings. If I landed on a desert island, I'd want these in my Luggage. Sapient pearwood can handle it. 

Tiffany Aching comes from a long line of aching shepherds. She's practical, can make butter and cheese, and she wants to be a witch. In this first volume that's also part of the larger Discworld series, she meets the Nac Mac Feegle, Miss Tick, and embarks on a journey that will take her out of her village and into another world.
The world is going to end next Saturday. An angel, a demon, a professional descendant, a witch-finder private, and a small boy who happens to be the Anti-Christ are all that stand between us and Armageddon. A comedy of epic proportions that will leave you thinking and keep you laughing.
This near-future novel and the other volumes in this trilogy depict a world where America once again lives under Prohibition. This time, coffee and chocolate possession land you time. A mafia story that's more about family than The Family, told with warmth and ruthlessness.
My favorite version of "Beauty and the Beast," the prose pictures McKinley draws keep me coming back to this leisurely retelling.