The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle

genre: young adult

When Ginny moves from the west coast to the east coast, she knows things will be different - but she never anticipates meeting Smitty Tibbs. Smitty, the good-looking boy in her classes that is just...not right. Autism? Maybe. His lack of emotional responses have prompted his classmates to call him "The Alien." But maybe not - Ginny's new friend Caulder doesn't think so, he thinks Smitty is in there somewhere. And eventually, Ginny decides that Smitty is worth trying to find, but the journey is not without heartache and some pretty serious consequences.

WOW. I had no idea where this book was going to take me, but it was amazing. I loved Ginny as my narrator, she had such a unique but completely teenage voice, with this desire to BE something to someone and yet to feel like she fits in. I related so much to her struggle with knowing who she really is and then having the courage to act like that girl. Smitty IS a deep character, a genius that's buried under a mask of unresponsiveness. It's a wonderfully clean story that is sensitive to issues of mental illness and abuse, with love and friendship to boot. Despite Ginny's family being almost TOO perfect (really, it's a pleasant change form the usual dysfunction), I totally loved it.

book 2 of 5 of Tricia's list for the Book Blogger Swap Challenge

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

genre: adult fiction, mystery

Have you seen the movie Clue? The one with Tim Curry and Madeline Kahn? It's a classic whodunit with hysterical acting, multiple murders and many exceptionally quotable lines.

This book really made me think of that movie.

A group of strangers are brought to a secluded island mansion and, as they are murdered one by one by an unknown killer, those left behind are determined to save themselves while determining who among them is a homicidal maniac.

As much as I am not really a mystery lover, I really liked this. Very accessible plot with just the right tension, full of unanswerable questions. I liked that the narrative switched between third person and first person of all the different characters so we were always guessing who the murderer was. I didn't see the ending coming at ALL - which is imperative for me in a mystery. The only reason I can't give it five stars is that we are given so many characters to remember right at the beginning that I felt like I had to work really hard to remember who was who for half the book.

Otherwise, a great twist on your typical murder mystery. No wonder it's a classic!

Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman

genre: young adult

When your best friend is prone to obsession, you learn to get used to embarrassment and for Julia, Ashleigh is that best friend. Her current obsession? Jane Austen and all the Regency Period trappings that go along with her - the long dresses, the dancing and the hope for love. Whilst being dragged about by Ashleigh, Julia stumbles into acquaintance with a mysterious and handsome stranger who may or may not be her own beloved Mr. Darcy.

Oh, this is swoon-worthy young adult fare at its finest. The perfect amount of teenage angst, a fabulous character for a best friend, an all-boys school to crash and a grand (if slightly predictable) finish. With a fun and light romance like this one, I'm always glad when things work out how I want them to. Shulman keeps it romantic and yet wholesome, a nice change from your typical "modern day" young adult fare (she doesn't even mention what everyone is wearing all the time, which I found very refreshing) and I think she demonstrated a nice and firm grasp of the conflicted heart of a teenage girl.

As a reader who acted in high school plays of her own and who already has a fondness for a good Mr. Darcy, this one was a winner.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

genre: middle grade fiction

Do you know why I do like book challenges? Because, like book club, they put books in my hands that I never would've picked up otherwise. Case in point: The Wednesday Wars. My cover has a boy sitting at a desk that has a rodent on it. I never would have picked it up (really, never). Not my kind of book...you would THINK. But luckily, the wonderful Tricia over at Library Queue put it on my list for the Book Blogger's Swap and am I ever glad she did.

Holling Hoodhood starts off 7th grade in the late 60s with a sure knowledge that his teacher hates his guts. And when, by a strange set of religious circumstances, he ends up being alone with her every Wednesday afternoon, he knows he'll never survive it. Between her making him read Shakespeare, the Vietnam war and trying to be a model citizen to please his father, 7th grade could turn out to be the worst year ever.

For us as readers, though, it's spectacular. Holling's got a wonderful voice, sarcastic and thoughtful, so interested in the world and his place in it. The Shakespeare parts were my hands down favorite, I never would've guessed that a book like this could tie so many elegant thoughts together and make the ideas so accessible and relevant. With an exceptional cast of characters and some serious tug-at-your-heartstrings moments, The Wednesday Wars is a five star winner.

book 1 of 5 for Tricia's list

One Second After by William R. Forstchen

genre: fiction

One Second After is a realistic "what if" - one way of imagining the consequences of a weapon called an "electromagnetic pulse," in which, in a moment, essentially all technology is friend. No more working cars - if they had any electrical components. No more running water and no more communication beyond messages run by hand.

For John Matherson, this terrifying possibility becomes a reality when his small North Carolina town is suddenly cut off from the world and dropped back into the dark ages, with no clue as to the state of the world. With no refrigeration, only the food they have on hand to feed the entire population and nerves on the edge of collapse, all John really knows is that unless a few of them band together to start making some tough decisions, chaos will be the ruin of them all.

Yes, it scared the pants off of me. His scenario is plausible and well thought enough that the narrative is believable and keeps you interested (you'll be wanting to go out and stock your basement with food and pioneer-living equipment). Yes, I had tears well up a couple times and I appreciated that he kept his plot realistic enough that I wasn't needing to suspend my disbelief that often. There is a nice balance between his experiences at home and in the community and I think what I liked most about the way the story is told is that there is only one point of view. We only know what John sees and hears - there aren't any flashes to news stories or other parts of the world, we are just as in the dark as John is and that made the story that much scarier.

The language is a bit rough at times and there is some gore, for sure - when all the rule books are burned, the cuckoos come out to play and this book is no exception. My only gripes were dialogue that sometimes fell into obvious statements and some of the chronology at the end of the story felt poorly done, but he smoothed it out and even the ending felt just ambiguous enough. If you don't like disaster and survival stories, this won't get five stars from you, but as a reader that loves this stuff, it was an interesting twist.

Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea

genre: memoir/non-fiction

In the early 1950s, when Elizabeth Fernea was a young bride, she joined her researcher husband as he journeyed to a remote tribal village in Iraq, to live and study for nearly two years. As a Western woman, Elizabeth chose to integrate herself into tribal society by donning the traditional abayah (the long black cloak/veil), avoiding being seen by unfamiliar men.

Her time in the village is so full of learning, misunderstandings and bizarre experiences. She attends festivals and feasts. She lives in a mud hut and uses the same transportation as everyone else. She is bluntly honest about her short comings and blunders - as well as her wounded pride. I loved that she taught me as a reader so much about the lifestyle and nuances of the tribal culture but, yet, she didn't loose sight of herself as an occasionally anxious participant in the narration. There were no long explanations or interludes of "historical context," we just learned as she did.

Her need to have a friend and fit in, her concern about inadvertently causing offense, the way she purposely doesn't paint a perfect picture of the experience - these things made me trust her as a narrator and really connect with what she was going through. Most intriguing to me was the laws of purdah - the seclusion of women - and the intricacies of the relationships between women. There are so many social conventions to remember if you want to be a polite guest or hostess I loved to see the Iraqi womens' sense of self and their history, of their sureness of place in their family and in their society. I'd be interested in reading a follow up - to find out how women in this same part of Iraqi are faring today, nearly 60 years later.

Thank heavens for the "cast of characters" chart at the beginning! By the end of reading I maybe recognized ten out of dozens of names - they are just unfamiliar enough to me and similar enough to each other to take some patience. Despite my frustration at being unable to connect people on my own, I really did enjoy this very readable journey.

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

genre: young adult fantasy

I love retold fairy tales that twist many old stories into one new one. In Wildwood, we meet Jena who goes out dancing with her sisters in another world, a world that she trusts but whose power is deeper and farther reaching than she can imagine. Set in the deep forest of Transylvania, Jena feels responsible for the safety of her sisters and the creatures of the wood when suddenly everything she loves seems to be at stake.

So, I started listening to this one last summer, on a long drive to and from Chicago, but when my ipod died a sad death, I was stuck in the middle of the story. For some reason, I wasn't grabbed enough by the beginning to rush out and get a copy to know how it ended. That's really the reason it gets 4 stars instead of five.

When I finally got my hands on a copy of the book, I was glad that I finished it. I love that I listened to part of it first, because I knew how to pronounce all the wonderful names and places - the heady Romanian influence over the whole story makes it feel dark and mysterious, which I liked. Fairy Folk and Night People are different sides of the same coin and when you meddle with one, you meddle with the other, with sometimes disastrous results. Jena is a character with a lot to learn and her stubborn pride makes for some tough decisions and not a little bit of hard-earned humility.

True love. Mysterious castles. Frog friends. Sisterly love. I enjoyed this read muchly. (if you want to know how to pronounce those wonderful names, go to the glossary in the back before you start reading, you'll be glad you did!).

Crunch by Leslie Connor

genre: middle grade

What if gasoline ran out? I mean RAN OUT? As in, you are stuck where ever your last tank took you? This is what happened to Dew's parents, and suddenly he and his siblings are on their own for the foreseeable future in a world where cars can no longer take you where you need to go.

Luckily, they are a resourceful bunch - and Dew and his brother happen to have a knack for fixing bikes. In a world where cars are useless, bikes very quickly become a hot commodity. Between keeping the house running with his older sister and staying on top of a bike repair business that begins to boom, Dew stays plenty busy as they wait for their parents to somehow make their way back home.

This was a smart story that I really enjoyed. Dew is a hard working but imperfect character who learns a lot through the course of the summer. I loved the incredibly probable future and how people have to handle the complete upheaval that can result when just one small resource runs dry. While it is absolutely a feel good story, there are some tense moments and Dew has to deal with some frustration. I fell for the whole thing, a great read.