If you are looking for a good book to read...

Who better to trust for a good book recommendation than school librarians? Here are a few must-read titles suggested to Barb and me by our counterparts at our high school librarians quarterly meeting last week. (As an aside, Barb hosted and showed off the ACHS Makerspace. She did a great job!)

Mischling 
​by Affinity Konar

Amazon: "Pearl is in charge of: the sad, the good, the past. Stasha must care for: the funny, the future, the bad.

It's 1944 when the twin sisters arrive at Auschwitz with their mother and grandfather. In their benighted new world, Pearl and Stasha Zagorski take refuge in their identical natures, comforting themselves with the private language and shared games of their childhood. 

As part of the experimental population of twins known as Mengele's Zoo, the girls experience privileges and horrors unknown to others, and they find themselves changed, stripped of the personalities they once shared, their identities altered by the burdens of guilt and pain."

The Light Between Oceans
By M.L. Stedman
​
Tom and Isabel live on a small island, and Tom maintains the lighthouse. Isabel, his new wife, is content there, but desperately wants a baby. After several miscarriages, a boat washes up on shore with a dead man and a small baby girl, swaddled in a sweater. Tom feels it is imperative that they report this, but Isabel thinks it’s a sign that they were meant to care for this baby.

Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir 
By Stan Lee

This is Stan Lee’s life story told in graphic format. He shares some of the struggles of his youth when life was tough. As one of the most prolific comic creators, he tells about his early career, his time in the military, his love for his family, and his visit to the White House.

The Female of the Species 
By Mindy McGinnis

Publisher: “Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it. Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people...”

Elena Vanishing
By Elena Dunkle

This is biography of the author who struggled with anorexia. I liked the fact that she wrote what her head was telling her about her 
looks, intelligence, and worth as a person. It really showed how her inner demons controlled her eating habits.

You Will Know Me 
by Megan Abbott

​Amazon: "How far will you go to achieve a dream? That's the question a celebrated coach poses to Katie and Eric Knox after he sees their daughter Devon, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful, compete. For the Knoxes there are no limits--until a violent death rocks their close-knit gymnastics community and everything they have worked so hard for is suddenly at risk."

The Devil's Intern
By Donna Hosie

Mitchell Johnson is an overworked intern in hell. He’s been there for four years and when the information that a time travel mechanism is in his boss’ hands, he becomes obsessed with finding out how he died. Along with his three best friends, they tackle the mysteries of their death.

Emmy & Oliver
By Robin Benway

Sheltered seventeen-year-old Emmy's childhood best friend Oliver reappears after disappearing with his father ten years ago. (Abe Award nominee for 2017).

The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo 
By Amy Schumer

Schumer brings many issues to the forefront in this memoir: gender inequality in Hollywood, body shaming, parental conflicts, sexual harassment, rape, relationships (unhealthy and healthy), stereotypes, and societal norms for young professionals. Any fan of Schumer will love it, but it should be a recommendation to anyone who has experienced any one of the referenced anecdotes.

The Cellar 
By Minette Walters

School Library Journal: "Stolen from her home in Africa six years earlier, 14-year-old Muna lives as a slave to Ebuka, Yetunde, and their two boys. When she is not cleaning or tending to the family, she is hidden in the cellar, her one refuge. Daily beatings and berating by Yetunde leave her silent and wary. And even the cellar provides no real safety, for she is regularly raped by Ebuka. But when the younger boy goes missing, things change for Muna."

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

A young travel writer is invited on to a luxury yacht that has just 10 guest rooms. She’s already anxious and on edge because her home was broken into and she had a run-in with the burglar. After a night of heavy drink mixed with her meds, she thinks she hears a scream followed by a “splash” from cabin 10 and thus starts her adventure. She reports her suspicions, but is promptly told there is no guest in cabin 10; it’s empty. But that can’t be; she borrowed mascara from the young lady just that previous evening. In fact, it’s right there in her bathroom!

I Woke Up Dead at the Mall
By Judy Sheehan

Sarah had it all — money, friends, and a caring father until she wakes up to find herself dead, at the Mall of America, with several unanswered questions.

The Thousandth Floor 
By Katharine McGee

Science Fiction/dystopia with hope! Very Gossip Girl meets future tech. Diverse characters (class, race, orientation) and quick pacing make it an enjoyable and broadly appealing novel.

My Lady Jane 
By Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows

Goodreads: “The comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey. In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.”

Grunt: the Curious Science of Humans at War
By Mary Roach

This is a really 
interesting book about a lot of things concerning the military that you don’t normally think about—like camouflage patterns on uniforms and equipment; zipper-less clothing for snipers; fly/pest control for desert fighters; shark repellants; and why armor plating on vehicles has decreased soldier deaths, but increased the number of catastrophic injuries. This is the author who wrote Stiff and Spook, and the writing style is just the same—very readable and entertaining.