Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 4

It was brought to my attention that I missed posting Marisa's summer reading list, so on this Indian Summer day, here's a bit of summertime (or, really, anytime) reading for you:


1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
An otherworldly circus, open only at night, is the setting for a duel between two young magicians. The imagery is amazing and the story compelling. It's a hard book to put down!

2. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

Budo is the imaginary friend of a boy named Max. He gives us the inside scoop on what it's like to be an imaginary friend and a close look at the trials and tribulations he goes through to save Max's life, at the risk of his own.

3. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
I got so attached to the characters in this novel that when I was through, I seriously considered starting over again. A novel about baseball, family, friends and love.

4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
In this futuristic dystopian novel, 24 children ages 12-18 are pitted against each other in a televised fight to the death. It's now a movie but as is often the case, the book is better.  It's worth a read, even if you've already seen it.

A few other books I liked: The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai, Cutting for
Stone by Abraham Verghese and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving
by Jonathan Evison.

I also read Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Half the time I loved it and the other half I felt like "accidentally" losing it so I wouldn't have to read it anymore. Some classics make me feel that way. I know I'm supposed to like them, but sometimes it's hard.

Attica Locke's novel, "The Cutting Season"

Locke's novel is a superb, multilayered, historical/mystrey/thriller. If you like female heroes, courageous but troubled single mothers, African-American history, Louisiana and the trouble caused by the discovery of a dead body, you will love this book. The story protagonist, Caren Gray is a law school drop-out who returns to the sugar plantation-turned tourist attraction where her mother worked and where she spent her childhood. Branded as a failure by the father of her nine year old daughter, Caren is not so much a quitter as she is a person that wants to impose her will on her own life story instead being subject to the wills of others. Her troubles are compounded when the body of a latina migrant worker is found in a ditch alongside the road that divides the ancient  plantation grounds from the cane fields. It is also rumored that the slave quarters that still stand are haunted by the ghosts of her ancestors. I highly recommend this book.

--Edgar

Book Review: Graceling

Graceling, by Kristin Cashore

On the back cover of Graceling, you'll read a snippet of a review comparing the book to Twilight, and of course the publisher would want to appeal to the legion of Twilight fans who are hungry for something new to read, now that Stephenie Meyers' series is finished. If I were to compare this book to anything in the pop culture consciousness, however, I'd lean towards Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yes, it is a fantasy novel with a romantic vein, but this is above all a book about a young woman who is strong and independent and who wants to empower other girls to take care of themselves.

Gracelings are indentifiable by their eyes, which are of two different colors, and each Graceling has his or her own unique abilities. Some are more mundane than others--they can range from an affinity for cooking to psychic knowledge of weather patterns. Katsa's Grace manifested itself when, at eight years old, she killed an uncle who was making inappropriate advances toward her. Since then, Katsa has been employed by another uncle, King Randa of the Midlunds, as his personal assasin and enforcer. She has trained and honed her superhuman skill for killing and maiming until she can take out an army of men on her own.

Although she is forced to deliver horrible and often unfair punishments to her uncle's subjects, the injustices Katsa sees all around her lead her to form a secret Council that works to save victims of tyranny and abuses of all kinds. On one such mission, rescuing an elderly prince from the dungeons of a neighboring kingdom, Katsa meets a stranger who will change her life and everything she believes about herself and her Grace.

Prince Po of the island kingdom of Lienid is also Graced with fighting abilities, and he is searching for his grandfather--the same prince that Katsa helped to rescue from prison. Together, Po and Katsa seek to discover who kidnapped the elder Lienid prince and for what dark purpose.

I was thrilled to read this book, with a heroine whose strength and independent spirit does not give way at the entrance of a handsome, romantic young man. Though she doesn't always understand it, Katsa embraces her strength, protecting others and teaching them to protect themselves. The men she allows close to her are not intimidated by her power but respect and love her for that very strength. This is a book I am very happy to recommend to young women--and young men--looking for a story full of action, adventure, and romance, with characters they can cheer for and admire.

[Note: Graceling has just been published in paperback. Fans will be eager to read Cashore's next book, Fire, which is about different characters, but still set in Katsa's world.]

[Note, part II: Check out Kristin Cashore's website and blog for more information about the author and her books and books-in-progress!]