Shortly after I began reading The World to Come a friend asked me what the book was about. As I wasn’t far into the book, I answered, “A stolen painting and its provenance.” Ostensibly that is the premise of the book, however it is about so much more. It is an exploration of faith, an examination of relationships, an immaculately imagined fantasy, and yes, a little bit about a stolen painting.

Benjamin, an introverted, brilliant, quiz show researcher, is the thief. In an uncharacteristic moment of passion he snatches a Chagall painting off the wall of a museum, believing that it once hung in his family’s home. As Benjamin, with the help of his artistic twin sister, tries to find a way out of his criminal predicament, the reader is taken on a spectacular journey tracing not only the painting’s history, but also the people and events from Benjamin’s past that have shaped his life. Along the way we meet Chagall, Benjamin’s deceased father and grandparents, and even his unborn nephew, while also discovering the world to come.

Horn brilliantly and creatively paints a picture of the world to come without dictating what that world actually is. She allows the reader to imagine what the world to come might mean for them personally. Is it life after death, is it life before birth, or is it simply what comes next at any given moment?

This book opened my mind to different ways of thinking. As a librarian, I saw a more flattering perspective on plagiarism than I had previously imagined; as a daughter and a parent, I saw the beauty in seeing how my parents, both alive and deceased, continue to shape my children’s lives; and as an adult, I saw how at any moment any one of us might open the door to discover our next exciting world to come right here in this world.

Upon finishing the book, I could no longer concisely or clearly state what the book was about. Horn brilliantly ties up the mystery surrounding the painting, but leaves it up to the reader to decide what happens in the world to come.

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Chris and Win have  been friends forever, the kind of friends that do everything together and always have each others' backs. So, planning a cross-country bike trip seems like a perfect conclusion to their high school careers. The adventure proves to be everything they imagined and more, until the very end when Win ditches Chris. Angry and alone, Chris returns to the east coast to go to college, but Win never resurfaces. Soon an investigation is underway, and Chris is the prime suspect!

By alternating chapters between the present and the journey, Bradbury adeptly captures Chris' anxiety, frustration, and concern while also allowing the reader to piece together important clues alongside Chris as he searches for his lost friend. I loved the pace of the novel and the intrigue Bradbury creates. While the plot includes several formulaic YA themes (nerdy teen boys do something cool and unexpected and excessively over-bearing parents) I found the positive portrayal of a strong male friendship to be refreshing and well worth reading!
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Eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce is a budding chemist living in a dilapidated English mansion with her preoccupied philatelist father, her two older insufferable sisters, and an unhinged grounds keeper. It is the summer of 1950, and having discovered a dying man in the cucumber patch, Flavia finds herself unexpectedly thrust into the center of a murder investigation. Flavia takes the inquiry into her own hands, and the result is an intricately twisted, double-murder mystery spanning decades. Throughout her investigation, Flavia discovers a different side of her reserved father, uses her scientific mind and powers of observation to solve the crime, and finds herself in more that one life-or-death situation.

It was a treat to read a story about such a well educated, curious, intriguing young girl. Her use of science was both entertaining, as she concocted a lipstick laced with poison to torture her haughty sister, and illuminating, as she solved a murder that left the experts clueless. I took my time with the novel, wanting to savor Flavia’s every thought and trying to piece together the crime alongside her. I am eagerly anticipating Ms. de Luce’s next adventure!
If you enjoyed Flavia’s adventure, you may also like, Agatha Christie’s novels or Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Series.
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When Charles Darwin returned from his voyage on the Beagle, he knew that his research would change his view of the world forever. He also had an inkling that it would cause controversy and possibly incite anger worldwide. His observations and musings formed the foundation for his work on natural selection and evolution; ideas which countered the strong religious belief, widely held in the 19th century, of God as creator of the species. Darwin was also personally vexed by his discovery since he wanted to marry. He knew that his belief in evolution would make it difficult to find a wife who would support his career and not refuse him for refuting religion. Darwin was lucky enough to find such a woman, Emma Wedgwood. Emma was devoutly religious, but she was entirely supportive of Charles and his research. While the couple held contrasting religious beliefs, their powerful love, support, and respect for each other made theirs one of the great love stories of the time.

Deborah Heiligman recounts this intense love story through exhaustive research and engaging writing. Through Charles and Emma’s relationship, Heiligman illuminates the disparity between evolution and religion, as well as the personal and public turmoil Darwin’s discovery caused. Darwin couldn’t help following his belief in natural selection, often seeing the process at work in his own family, any more than Emma could help following her belief in God and the afterlife, yet together they created a loving supportive marriage and family. Heiligman’s book strikes a perfect balance between love and science, just like Charles and Emma.
A great part of the book's appeal for me was Heiligman’s reference to Emma’s diaries. To see pages from her diaries go to http://darwin-online.org.uk/EmmaDiaries.html
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D.J. is stuck in a life that seems to be going nowhere in a town obsessed with football. Her older brothers are at college on football scholarships and her father's bad hip keeps him from working, leaving D.J. alone to run the family farm and shattering her dreams of playing college basketball. She quit the team in the middle of her sophomore year when her dad got hurt. But even if he was healthy, there's no money for college, plus the "F" she got last year in 10th grade English doesn't really help either. Worst of all D.J. has no one to talk to. Her younger brother only communicates with the occasional grunt, and lately even her best friend is acting really weird.

Then Brian Nelson, the rival town's really good looking, wealthy, starting quarterback, shows up to help on the farm to get in shape for the upcoming season. D.J. is puzzled by his presence, angry about his total lack of work ethic, but also oddly attracted to him. But D.J. knows football and by the end of the summer, Brian isn't the only ready to step onto the field. Will D.J. be able to convince her family, the coach, and Brian that a girl linebacker isn't such a bad idea, or will she be stuck milking cows all season?
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D.J.'s junior year is looking up! She's been accepted as a valuable member of the football team, her father's hip is healed enough so that he can handle most of the farm work, and she's even getting decent grades. Plus Brian has become more than just a friend and training partner! Then, suddenly, D.J.’s world starts falling apart.

A shoulder injury forces her to make a difficult decision between playing football hurt, or healing, playing basketball, and maybe even getting a college scholarship. Her best friend leaves town, the farm is losing money, Brian won't acknowledge her in public, and worst of all, her older brother Win is seriously injured in a college football game. Once again, the task of holding her family together falls on D.J.'s shoulders, putting her future in jeopardy. This time around though, D.J.'s stronger, older, and more determined than ever to succeed, but will she ever make it off the farm?
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D.J. is back! Having spent months helping her brother Win recover from a spinal cord injury, D.J. is ready to return to the farm, school, and the basketball court. After the drama of Win’s injury, her stint as a linebacker, and her failed romance with Brian, D.J. would like nothing more than to fade into the background and do what she does best, play basketball. But other people won’t let that happen. College coaches are showing interest, Win is pestering her to make a decision about schools, and she even has a new attention-seeking boyfriend.

D.J. knows she should be happy, but she isn’t. She’s too anxious to talk to college coaches, she’s too exasperated by her brother’s good intentions to even talk to him, she doesn’t want the pressure of playing Big Ten ball, and she really misses Brian (even though she’s still angry with him)! Far from fading into the background, D.J. has been thrust front and center and it’s making her an emotional wreck!

I thoroughly enjoyed Murdock’s trilogy. D.J. is every-girl, facing the day-to-day decisions that are always so difficult to make, dealing with relationship stress, managing family drama, and struggling to fit in somewhere. D.J. is a great model for girls; she is strong, sensitive, responsible, and entertaining. I found myself empathizing with D.J., and cheering for her to succeed athletically and emotionally.
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Ida Mae Jones loves to fly; the only time she is truly feels at home is when she is at the controls of an airplane high above the ground. But it’s 1941 and Ida Mae cannot get her pilot’s license. It’s not the fact that she’s female that’s holding her back; it’s the fact that she’s black.

Her dad taught her to fly when she was young. Together they crop-dusted the Louisiana farmland; Ida Mae couldn’t have been happier. But then things took a turn for the worse. Her father was killed in a tragic accident, the United States entered World War II, and her beloved brother enlisted. Ida Mae collects bacon grease and old stockings hoping to do her part for her country and her brother’s safety, but it’s not enough for her. When she learns about the WASP program (Women Airforce Service Pilots) Ida Mae cannot wait to enlist. However, there’s one problem. While the program is looking for women, it is not looking for black women. Ida Mae, with her light-skinned complexion, makes a life-altering decision: to live as a white woman. But “passing” is not as simple as it seems, and Ida Mae finds herself caught up in a delicate balancing act as she dangerously crosses the color line.

Smith does an excellent job illustrating the risk Ida Mae takes, contextualizing race relations in the South in the 1940s while also demonstrating the disparity between the sexes during the same era. While Ida Mae finds acceptance in the white community, she experiences resistance from the male-dominated armed forces, and rejection from the black community back home. Smith portrays the challenges faced by both African Americans and women during the era, not only educating but also engaging and entertaining the reader.
To learn more about the WASP program, see historical photos, and read about some of the women mentioned in the book visit http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls/
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Cameron doesn’t ruffle feathers, doesn’t demand much of anyone, and doesn’t expect much out of life. He doesn’t see eye to eye with his popular, beautiful twin sister or his academic, high-expectation-setting father. He’s simply hoping to coast through life as effortlessly and unobtrusively as possible, and cannot imagine any reason to change his ways. Then Cameron starts seeing strange visions. His parents and teachers assume they are drug-induced hallucinations, but in actuality, Cameron is sick and has very little time to live. Seemingly overnight, Cameron goes from a nobody to the town’s most cherished cause.  

Although Cameron didn’t expect much out of life, he also didn’t expect to be leaving it so early, and he’s pissed. Just when there seems to be no hope, Dulcie, a pink-haired, punk angel, appears. She tells Cameron that there’s a cure for his disease, but he must go on a mission to save the world to find it. However, there’s a catch. Cameron must take along Gonzo, a hypochondriac dwarf with a really bad attitude. Along the way Cameron and Gonzo experience moments of hilarity, moments of bizarreness, moments of sadness, and moments that make them question the meaning of life. Throw in a talking yard gnome who thinks he is a Viking god and begs to accompany them on their journey and the result is a book that is at times hysterical and at times heartbreaking. Bray’s entertaining, thought-provoking story had me laughing, crying, and pondering questions both big and small alongside Cameron.
Libba put together a hilarious video for Going Bovine. Watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KloEAoKvBqA
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Mikael Blomkvist has been found guilty of libel. His professional reputation and the future of his liberal, investigative magazine are on the line. To give the magazine a chance at survival, Mikael takes a sabbatical to write a biography of Henry Vanger, a wealthy older gentleman. Although Henry ostensibly hires Mikael to research his life and the family business, it soon becomes clear that his real motive is to discover what happened to his niece who mysteriously disappeared more than 40 years ago.

As his research progresses, Mikael finds he cannot solve the mystery alone. He enlists the help of Lisbeth, a nymph-like, tattooed, computer hacker with a troubling history of her own. As they dig deeper into the Vanger family history, Mikael and Lisbeth discover the family’s bizarre, twisted history, uncovering evidence of incest, insanity, and murder. Now it is not only Mikael’s career that hangs by a thread, but also his life.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first novel in a trilogy Larrson completed just before his untimely death. The characters are intriguing, the plot exciting, and the ending will leave you desperate to get your hands on the second novel (which, by the way, is better than the first!).
For information about Larsson, the movie, and rumors of a 4th book, go to http://www.stieglarsson.com/.
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Amazing! I loved every page of this book! The voices, the stories, the history, the friendships, the hatred, and the harsh reality it presents. It would have been easy to read through the entire book quickly; it is well written and extremely engaging. But I found myself limiting how much to read each day; I wanted to savor every word and moment.

The Help tells the story of three women living in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. Two are older black maids and the third is a young white woman with aspirations to become a writer and an emerging sense of social activism. Together the three of them tell the story of “the help,” gathering anonymous accounts describing the disparate relationship between maids and their employers. The finished book details the abhorrent and demoralizing tasks white women assign their maids, the love “the help” feels for the white children they raise, as well as the strange bonds that form between these two classes of women. Through the writing of this book, these three women’s lives are changed drastically, traditional lines are crossed, and new strength is found. Stockett presents an honest and horrifying picture of what life in the South was like for women, both black and white, during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement, and the incredible bravery required to even contemplate changing the status quo.
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Simone has always known that she’s adopted, but it still comes as a shock when her mother tells her that after 16 years her birth mother, Rivka an ex-Hasidic Jew, wants to meet her. Simone’s life up to that point has been fairly uncomplicated and comfortable. Her progressive, non-religion practicing parents have always encouraged her to develop her own thoughts and opinions, and have loved her unconditionally. So when they press her to meet Rivka, Simone is not sure what to think. Reluctantly she gives into the pressure and over time develops a unique bond with Rivka. Unfortunately, Simone soon discovers that her newfound relationship with Rivka, and the insight she offers into Simone’s personal history, will tragically be cut short because Rivka is suffering from a terminal illness.

The book has many of the mundane themes found in YA literature: sex, drinking, and friendship drama, however, Simone’s voice and musing on life have a very authentic sound to them. Both Simone and Rivka are strong female characters and the relationship between them is well written and touching. I found myself empathizing with Simone as she struggles to balance the happiness that accompanies a first love with the tragedy in losing a mother so recently discovered.
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