1222: A Hanne Wilhelmsen novel, by Anne Holt

Excellent Scandinavian locked door mystery, with a train derailment, and a strong, prickly, hard-to-like protagonist in Hanne Wilhelmesen, a paralysed ex-detective.

Belles, by Jen Calonita

Well written, enjoyable YA. Wrong-side-of the-tracks Isabelle's world is shattered when her Alzheimer's suffering grandmother is deemed no longer capable to care for her, and she is sent to live with wealthy relatives she has never known. Pampered Mirabelle, nearly the same age, is supposed to help Isabelle fit into this new world of prep schools and country clubs, but Mira's friends are mean girls. Solid characterizations and believable personal growth lifted this out of standard chick-lit, despite the misleading cover, which I hope changes before it's April pub date. I really liked this.

A Year in The Merde, by Stephen Clarke

SO funny, and so out of control, this was a re-read that I enjoyed and will look for his next book, In The Merde For Love, right now. Ludicous fictionalized look at trying to start a chain of English style tea rooms in France.

My Not So Terrible Time and The Hippie Hotel, by Rosemary Graham

Well done but predictable divorced families issue YA. Really not a lot to say about this. Cute. Charming.

How To Ruin a Summer Vacation, by Simone Elkeles

Not very good YA about a Chicago girl being sent to the Golan Heights to spend the summer with her estranged father and unknown extended family. The culture clash didn't excuse Amy's ignorance, and the buildup to her changing from a silly and spoiled girl into a brave and devoted Zionist was predictable and rather unpleasant.

The Final Crumpet, by Ron and Janet Benrey

Strange and pretty terrible mystery that left me boggled that it got published. Not only was the mystery weak, uninteristing, and unsolvable in fair-play terms, God kept popping in the most unexpected and inappropriate of ways.

The Agency: The Traitor in the Tunnel, by Y.S. Lee

Fun and fast paced YA historical mystery, with a unique heroine with guts and wits to spare. This was so enjoyable, and I want to read the other books in the series.

Trafficked, by Kim Purcell

Thought provoking book about human trafficking out of Moldova. 17 year old Hannah thinks she will be a nanny in Los Angeles, earning $400 a week, which she would use to send home to pay for her grandmother's cataract operation, but upon arrival, she realizes how naive she was.
This could have (and more realistically, should have) been much darker, but aimed at a YA audience, maybe the author didn't want to take it as dark as it really might have been.
Well done, but with some weak spots.

A Million Suns, by Beth Revis

Fantastic follow up to the awesome YA sci-fi Across The Universe. This was a great continuation, much more than a "middle book". Elder and Amy continue to grow as characters, and the ethical conflicts aboard the space ship continue to introduce ideas about the nature of leadership, and the value of freedom. Just a great read, and I can't wait for the next.

The Third Gate, by Lincoln Child

Ludicrous adventure thriller filled with psychics, billionaire eccentrics, Egyptian tombs and curses, and even a nice episode of possession. Quick read? Yes. Good read? If you are into ludicrous adventure thrillers filled with psychics, billionaire eccentrics, Egyptian tombs and curses, and even a nice episode of possession, then this is your book!

Missed Connections: Love Lost and Found, by Sophie Blackall

A little too whimsical for my taste- very Miranda July. I was hoping for more like Leanne Shapton's slightly more edgy Was She Pretty? which is one of my favorite graphic novels. This read like some kind of hipster cupcake.

This Is Not A Test, by Courtney Summers

FANTASTIC zombie apocalypse novel, with an intense protagonist and wonderful writing. This was just so well done, and the ethical conflicts of Sloane, the suicidal heroine of the book, as she is forced into a fight for survival, added an incredible new twist to a well trod road- I really found this to be a special book. Better even than Zone One, which I LOVED. I really liked her mean-girls issue book, Some Girls Are, but this was on a whole new level of awesome.

The Darlings, by Christina Alger

Well written and involved story of a family caught up in a financial Ponzi scheme, and the ramifications of losing all they thought they had. Ethical crisis + family ties = great, dramatic, timely novel.

I've Got Your Number, by Sophie Kinsella

Delightful, light and funny romance from the uneven Kinsella. This one is a winner, though. When her phone is stolen, Poppy steals another phone for reasons already complicated. Through the new phone, she and Sam begin an exchange of messages that are just really well done. One of the better romance/text message books I've read.

Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm, by Juliet Nicolson

Interesting but fragmented social history of pre-WWI England. Nicolson, as the grand-daughter of Vita Sackville-West, has so many anecdotes thrust into the book that it was hard to follow as a cohesive whole, but some bits were certainly memorable.

Desert Wind, by Betty Webb

Excellent topical Betty Webb mystery set in the desert Southwest, this time dealing with the aftereffects of nuclear testing on Downwinders- people whose lives have been ruined by cancer and governmental neglect.

Wake Up, Sir! , by Jonathan Ames

Funny yet wierdly depressing novel about a failed writer/alcoholic who hires a butler named Jeeves to basically run his life, using up settlement money from an accident.

The Little Victim, by R.T. Raichev

Decent Raichev mystery, but this one set in Goa in India wasn't as enjoyable for me as the ones set in traditional English Country House settings.

Rumors, by Anna Godberson

Sadly, as with the first book in the Luxe series, the cover was the best part. Sold as Edith Wharton meets Gossip Girl, it reads more like Danielle Steel got hit on the head and traveled back in time.

Willow Weaving, by Truss Stol

Pretty lovely but short how to book on making sculptures with woven willow, which was lovely, but I was looking for a book on how to work with live willow to make structures, not sculptures.

Deader Homes and Gardens, by Joan Hess

Pretty good for a Claire Malloy series mystery, pretty weak for Joan Hess. I wish she would drop the Claire Malloy books and write more of the Maggody series.

A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting, by Hara Estroff Marano

Interesting and well argued book about helicopter parenting and the squashing of childrens' autonomy.

The Night Swimmer, by Matt Bondurant

Deeply atmospheric and wonderfully written book. American couple Elly and Fred think they have the chance of a lifetime when Fred wins a small Irish pub in Baltimore, on the southern coast of Cork, but resentment from the locals dooms the pub from the start, while Elly becomes obsessed with long distance ocean swimming, and wants to swim from Clear Cape Island to Fastnet Rock.
The scenes of the ocean swimming were haunting and intense, but the book itself was disturbing and sad. Great writing, and made me spend an hour in a Google-hole last night reading about the area.

Death of a Kingfisher, by M.C. Beaton

OK Hamish MacBeth mystery. Not the best of the bunch, by far, but maybe when you get to #28 of a series, you're running out of juice, which is fair.

Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy, by Martin Lindstrom

EXCELLENT book about marketing from a major insider. Lindstrom is coming from a fascinating ethical place- his  career has been about creating demand for products he can't really support, and his guilt is palpable, but for all that, there's an almost viscious glee in his ripping off the veils of his industry. The book is like a fascinating self-flagellation, but at the same time is one of the best books I've read on the topic of marketing manipulation. Fantastic book.

The Spy Who Jumped Off The Screen, by Thomas Caplan

Sweeping Bond-style thriller, jewels and nukes and a pretty great protagonist in an ex-special forces movie star, whose very fame provides him with the perfect cover.
Fun read, and sweetly, blurbed by President Clinton, which makes me hope this stuff doesn't really go down, but makes me love Clinton all the more.

It Looked Different On The Model: Epic Tales of Impending Shame and Infamy, by Laurie Notaro

Hilarious collection of essays, ranging from getting stuck while trying on a too small blouse in a boutique to a disastrous road trip with a 10 year old nephew. So funny.

From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant, by Alex Gilvarry

Very amusing story of a Philipino fashion designer who gets stuck in Guantanamo accused of being part of a terrorist ring.

The Fallback Plan, by Leigh Stein

Wildly depressing quarter-life crisis novel. Esther Kohler had a depressive breakdown during her last semester of college, and has since returned to live with her parents. She spends her days taking prescription pills and smoking pot with a pair of loser-type guys she's known all her life, and then takes a job as a nanny for a couple whose youngest daughter died of SIDS. Esther has an affair with the father, feels terrible for the mother, and at the end, has a bit of what seems to be a breakthrough, but the whole of it, despite being wonderfully written, was too glum for a bright yellow cover. Also, when writing about depressed women in their 20s named Esther, be careful- inviting comparisons with The Bell Jar is bold, but not wise.

Treasure Island!!!, by Sara Levine

Very funny, off-kilter book about a slacker in a quarter-life crisis who decides to try to find the meaning of life in Treasure Island- she tries to adopt it's "core values" of "boldness, resolution, independence and horn-blowing."
So random.
Made me want to read Treasure Island, actually.

Exposed, by Kimberly Marcus

Pretty blah YA novel in verse. Photographer Liz is distressed when her lifelong best friend accuses Liz's brother of raping her.
In verse.
Blah.

Extra Virginity : The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil , by Tom Mueller

Interesting but slightly overwrought nonfiction about the "sublime and scandalous world of olive oil." As much as I do enjoy microhistories, a major potential problem is always the possibility of the author losing sight of the big picture, not to make a joke, and Mueller here lost the forest for the olive.

Falling for Hamlet, by Michelle Ray

Great modern day YA adaptation of Hamlet- with a twist.
Set in contemporary Denmark, the goings on inside the palace and especially Prince Hamlet's tumultuous relationship with Ophelia are tabloid fodder, and their lives are papparazzi stalked and every move is known. Getrude and Claudius are just as evil as always, now with better technology to do harm with, and the story is very faithful to the original, except for the major (and fantastic) change- Ophelia lives.
So well done.

Spin, by Catherine McKenzie

When Kate has an interview for her dream job as a music writer, she knows she should have a good early night and be fresh and ready for her interview in the morning, but instead, she ends up getting horribly drunk- so drunk that not only is she late to her interview, but she gets sick during it.

She doesn't expect to hear from them again.

When she does, though, the magazing offers to send her to rehab- if she will use the time to spy on and report about troubled starlet Amber Shepperd at the expensive, exclusive facility.

This was so well done as Kate begins to realize she did have a problem, and as she opens up to herself and the other people at rehab, she and Amber become friends, and Kate has to question all the decisions she's made to get to this point.

Well written, funny in parts, and surprisingly and impressively thought-provoking, this is a great read.

Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, by Owen Jones

Wonderful and thought provoking book. Jones writes with both passion and scholarly precision, and the book examines how it is possible that is it acceptable, and even encouraged, to treat working class people with such disdain that politicians openly call them a "feral underclass" and fancy London gyms teach Chav-beating classes. Thatcherite policies are discussed clearly, and their impacts on once proud communities are shown with compassion, as Jones takes to task the national trend to blame the poor for their poverty, and demean them.

The Rivals, by Daisy Whitney

Sequel to The Mockingbirds, last year's date rape blah blah blah. Set again at Themis Academy, Alex Patrick- DATE RAPE SURVIVOR - is now the head of the improbable Mockingbirds, the secret society that governs the school in the absence of any adult authority figures. This time,  an escándalo de la droga threatens... something, I'm just not sure what though. ANYWAY, some of the students at this bizarre boarding school have become addicted to some kind of ADHD medication called Annies, and it makes them able to debate even better than before! and to dance! And Alex is asked to investigate the 'cheating ring' of drug using debaters. And when she gets her Julliard-hoping piano playing fingers broken by a bully, no one cares. (I didn't either).
I wanted to like Mockingbirds, but didn't. This I hoped would redeem Mockingbirds, but it only served to reinforce my original feeling that Daisy Whitney writes some of the worst and most pretentious YA around.

It's a Waverly Life, by Maria Murnane

UNBELIEVABLY bad. Blech. This was one of the worst patronizing condescening pieces of crap i have ever come across. this made me angry that it was published. plotless, soulless, absolutely pointless, pallid, putrid, and if it had a smell it would be cheap perfume. Waverly is an incredibly annoying writer of an advice column- you know what, just don't read it. Or do. I DON'T CARE. All I care about is that this piece of garbage ate like 2 hours of my life, and I WANT THEM BACK.

When My Baby Dreams, by Adele Enerson

Fantastic picture book! This is so cute, and totally inspiring. I am not sure if my baby loves it as much as I do, but it was so much fun to try to replicate one of the pictures from the book- if she ever falls asleep again, I might try some others!

Keep the Aspidistra Flying, by George Orwell

Wildly depressing but wonderfully written. Gordon Comstock is a failed poet, scraping by in a dingy bedsit, and although he claims to despice money, he is obsessed with it. He can't afford to take out his girlfriend, Rosemary, and they have one of the most depressing relationships I have ever read about. His wealthy friend Ravelston tries to do him favors, but Gordon seems determined to ruin himself. When Rosemary becomes pregnant, Gordon must return to work at an advertising agency, doing work he despises, and he throws away his unfinished manuscript for his magnum opus, London Pleasures. They get a small flat, and he buys an aspidistra. Freaking DEPRESSING.

Queen Lucia, by E. F. Benson

Very amusing but bitchy social satire. Lucia's  vanities and pretenstions are skewed in this, but it had a really kind of deliciousness too it. Will look for more in the series, apparently there are a whole bunch.

A Charitable Body, by Robert Barnard

Not very good mystery, set in and about a grand country house now open to the public. Plot too strained and muddled to relate.

Death in High Heels, by Christianna Brand

Ok mystery set in a Bond Street dress shop. It was turned into a movie that I dont need to see.

Wolves in Chic Clothing, by Jill Kargman

Fun fluffy bitchy New York socialites Pygmalion thing. Julia Pearce is working in an exclusive jewelly shop, when she is noticed by the heiress for the company, Lell. Lell decides to make Julia the new It girl around town, but Julia's social successes cause trouble between them, especially when Lell's new husband gets into Julia. Bath book- I wouldn't recommend it, but it was a great bubble bath book.
Actually, I really think I've read something else by these two. Going to look that up now.

A Countess Below Stairs, by Eva Ibbotson

This was just wonderful. It has been SO LONG since I have just enjoyed a book this much- and it was such an unexpected treat. I usually don't read romance, and hardly ever read historical fiction, but this was just enchanting. Exiled Russian Countess Anna goes to work at an English country house, and to say much more would be plot spoiling, but I LOVED it, and want to read many more by Ibbotson. YA, but I think if she had spiced it up a bit, it would have been a HUGE adult read too. As is, it is just lovely.

150 Pounds, by Kate Rockland

This was a fun light read that was really enjoyable. Blog stars Alexis Allbright, of Skinny Girl fame, and Shoshanna Weiner, of Fat and Fabulous meet on Oprah, and face off about their opposing viewpoints on weight and health. After their appearance on tv, though, life changes lead to Alexis gaining weight and to Shoshanna losing weight, until they are both 150 pounds, and they meet again on Oprah. This was pretty predictable, but it was really nicely done for a genre I usually don't even pick up.

Breakdown, by Sara Paretsky

I don't know how I never read Sara Paretsky before, but this was surprisingly good, I though. A group of teens attempting to reenact a ritual from a popular YA vampire series in a cemetary late at night come across a murder, and private investigator V.I. Warshawski uncovers a series of links going back to WWII... Well written, well plotted, and engrossing. Not the usual bestseller contemporary crime fiction, at all- yes, Patterson, I mean you.

Level Up, by Gene Luen Yang

Excellent YA graphic novel. Dennis is an excellent gamer, but guilt over his dead father's ambitions for him make him force himself to deny videogames and to  go to medical school to become a gastroenterologist- some magical realism in the form of angels from a greeting card added a surreal element, but this was a powerful and well drawn book.

Teenage Waistland, by Lynn Biederman and Lisa Pazer

Pretty bad YA about a group of teens who get lap band surgery in a clinical trial of using the weight loss technique on teens. The characters were well drawn, but too much trauma drama, and the great endings for everone felt very forced.

Lunatics, by Dave Barry

Freaking HILLARIOUS caper romp of a book- after a disagreement over a call on a girls soccer game, two men enter into a series of retaliations that escalates to truly ludicrous points, and they become international terrorists/freedom fighters, and accidentally heroes and canditates for President. This was so funny, I would love to read it again.

Police at the Funeral, by Margery Allingham

Classic golden age mystery, good plot, and interestingly, in this one Albert Campion didn't anny me as much as he usually does.