More and more and more...New Books!

Gosh, I love getting new books. Not only do I get the whole book purchasing thrill, I also get to tell everyone about them and try to force others to read them.

My friends will tell you that trying to force other people to read books I like is my favorite hobby.

I loved If I Stay by Gayle Forman, so I added Sisters in Sanity to our stacks. It's about Brit, who gets sent to a work camp for rebellious teens. I'll do a full book review when I finish.

Also, I adored Melina Marchetta's Saving Francesca (upcoming book discussion!) and Jellicoe Road, so I went ahead and ordered her first novel, Looking for Alibrandi.


Looking for Alibrandi was a huge hit in Australia (where Marchetta is from) and it was even made into a movie Down Under. A movie I wish I could see. I wonder if it is on Netflix...


I think that Tantalize (by Cynthia Leitich Smith) will be a hit for the Twilight crowd. It takes a humorous look at the whole vampire/werewolf love thing. I would imagine it is a bit like Buffy the Vampire Slayer for those of us old enough to know what that show was all about.

Hooray for the '90's. I miss you. Gosh. I sound old. Is 24 old?

By the way, if you don't know Buffy...seasons are $15.00 a pop at Wal-mart right now. 'Nuff said.

We also now have Scott Westerfeld's Extras. I know you were waiting for it! While you're at it, check out Westerfeld's blog...


And finally, The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray.


The sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels. Think Victorian lace and corsets meets magic and dark secret societies bent on controlling...you'll see. These books are fun, exciting, and just a bit girly--the perfect summer beach read.

Oh, and make sure to click on the cover picture (or, if you're too lazy to scroll up, right here), Bray's website is neat. I always like it when authors take a little time and come up with a fun site.

As always, when we've got new books, you'll be the first to know!

More new books!

I walked into the office today and found we'd received two new books!

I am particularly excited about this one...


Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi

I picked this especially for all the Japanese history, martial arts-loving guys out there that also love a good read. There is also a manga series based on the novel, and it's being adapted for television. The novel was written in Japanese originally and translated into English and--there are more to come in the same series!

The story follows Balsa, a woman destined to protect the innocent in a quest to make up for the eight lives lost for her sake. She rescues the Second Prince, Chagum, who is also the Guardian of the Spirit. He must deliver the egg of the Water Spirit to its home in the distant sea. If he fails, the country will be ravaged by drought.

So no pressure.

Meanwhile, they're being hunted by the monster Rarunga, who wants to eat the egg, and the prince's father.

I'm hoping it's as good as it sounds (I'm about to read it)...

The second book that came was Giving Up the Ghost by Sheri Sinykin which is a ghost story (obviously) set in a Louisiana plantation home called Belle Foret. Davia has arrived there with her family to care for her ailing aunt and discovers Emilie, a young Creole girl dead since the 19th century.


While dealing with Emilie's unpredictable nature, the fear of her mother's cancer returning, and the illness of her aunt, Davia learns about her family's past and works toward finally releasing Emilie's spirit from Belle Foret.

New Book: On Jellicoe Road

Melina Marchetta's new novel, Jellicoe Road, is the winner of the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. If that doesn't convince you that it's a great book, I'll give it a whirl myself.


Taylor Markham's mother abandoned her at a gas station when she was just 11. She is sent to the Jellicoe School, a state-run private school that draws some local students, some young criminals (arsonists included), and other kids like Taylor who are wards of the state--in this case, Australia.

Now 17, Taylor is abandoned again by Hannah, the only person she trusts. Hannah took Taylor in after her mother left and has been a mentor and friend ever since. Not quite a mother, but still the closest thing Taylor has to family.

Or so she thinks.

As the novel progresses, Taylor finds that her group of school friends, Raffaela and Jessa are more like family than she wants them to be, and her so-called enemies in the territory war between the Townies, Cadets, and her schoolmates are really the closest friends she's ever had.

Taylor also learns more about Hannah from the manuscript of her novel, left behind when she left. She discovers the depth of Hannah's childhood friendships and how they come to play in both their lives now.

Through her friendships and Hannah's manuscript, Taylor deciphers the deepest secrets of her life: who she is, where she came from, why the Hermit begged her for forgiveness, and why Griggs has stayed with her.

The hazy story progression reflects Taylor's disconnect from the world around her after Hannah leaves. As the world comes back into focus, she is able to clearly remember what has happened to her. She also can finally put the fractured events in Hannah's novel together into a cohesive story.

Marchetta's flawless prose will leave you wanting more. In fact, I'm on the hunt for her other novels right now...

Check Out All the New Books!

We just got tons of new books! This is always exciting for me, because they always have that new book smell that I love. If they made a perfume of that smell, I would wear it.

Confessions from the Principal's Chair by Anna Myers


All of the Above by Shelley Pearsall


Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby


Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane (this is book two of her Young Wizard's series--we have the rest too! And, just for the record, I love Diane Duane).


Kissing Coffins by Ellen Schreiber (look for her name again).


Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr (she wrote Wicked Lovely too).


Listen by Stephanie S. Tolan


Naruto 8 by Masashi Kishimoto


The Last Battle of Icemark by Stuart Hill


The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh


One Handed Catch by M.J. Auch


The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer


Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury


Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber (of Kissing Coffins), another new manga.

New Book: What I Saw and How I Lied

Another recent addition to our collection you should know about is Judy Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied.



This post-WWII story follows Evie, a young woman whose step-father, Joe, has just returned from the fighting in Europe

The cryptic title drew my attention right away, though I usually avoid novels set in this time period. All through the book, I eagerly awaited the grand revelation.

Evie and her family travel to Florida following a telephone call for Joe. They impulsively drive, off-season, south from New York City, hoping for a vacation. When they arrive, they find the majority of the hotels are closed. In fact, only one place is available for them to stay and many of the shops and restaurants are closed. As a result, the family turns to their fellow guests for entertainment.

Evie is especially attracted to a young man and former soldier, Peter Coleridge from her step-father's company. As her attachment to Peter grows, she begins to notice peculiarities in her parents' behavior that only become clear to her as the novel concludes.

An undercurrent in the novel is the Holocaust and how it is viewed by each character. The start of the novel shows us Evie and a friend, Margie, walking home and teasing a Jewish girl to keep her away from a boy Evie likes. Evie wishes Margie had not treated the girl so harshly, but doesn't move to stop her friend. Later Evie sees the harsh prejudice against Jews in Florida as a couple she meets at her hotel is mistreated.

Throughout the novel, Evie is met with subtle and overt references to the genocide overseas. She watches friends and family deal with the Holocaust differently and eventually comes to her own conclusions.

The way Blundell addresses the Holocaust appealed to me far more than the main plot of the novel. She took a heroine with little understanding of the war and Hitler's crimes and developed Evie until she was more compassionate than many other characters. Evie frustrating naivete becomes silent strength by the novel's conclusion.