8 New Novels for Teens and Tweens

If you like young adult and middle grade fiction, then you're going to love October. I have a number of good books on my radar, some of which have already been generating critical praise and high anticipation (for example, Maggie Stiefvater's All the Crooked Saints and Nic Stone's Dear Martin). The 8 books I feature here may have escaped your notice, but I recommend adding them to your fall reading list.

• The Breathless by Tara Goedjen (Delacorte, Oct. 10): This Southern Gothic debut is set in two time periods and involves a missing girl and family secrets. Reviewers note the elements of dark magic and the story's skin-crawling creep factor. Perfect for Halloween reading. (young adult)
• Calling My Name by Liara Tamani (Greenwillow, Oct. 24): Part coming-of-age story, part social commentary, this novel follows Taja, the middle child of a conservative African American family, as she navigates high school while balancing her family's wishes against new opportunities and friendships. Reviewers have loved this debut set in Houston, Texas. (young adult)
• Nevermoor: The Trials Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Little, Brown, Oct. 31): From birth, Morrigan was cursed to die on her 11th birthday, but before she meets her doom, she is spirited off to a magical world, where she's invited to attend a special academy and can stay to live a long life . . . if she manages to pass a series of initiation tests. This exciting first in a new fantasy series has earned several starred reviews. (middle grade)
• The Perfect Score by Rob Buyea (Delacorte, Oct. 3): The students in Mrs. Wood's sixth grade class are in a tizzy, not only do they have to work hard to please their parents, coaches, and tutors but the mandated standardized tests are coming up. Can students and teachers pull together to get through this stressful year? Another winner from the author of the Mr. Terupt books. (middle grade)

• Snow & Rose by Emily Winfield Martin (Random House, Oct. 10): Based on the classic Grimm's fairy tale about Snow White and Red Rose, this reworked story focuses on the sisters' relationship and the creatures and magic that inhabit the woods surrounding their hidden cottage, where they live with their mother. The book is beautifully illustrated with the author's paintings. (middle grade)
• Strange Lies by Maggie Thrash (Simon Pulse, Oct. 17): Set in a boarding school, this mystery / thriller focuses on three teens who are intent on investigating a science fair accident (or was it?) that disfigured a fellow student. Broader social issues (including the racial divide) and dark humor round out the novel. (young adult)
• The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (Dial, Oct. 3): Ada, recovering from an operation that corrected her congenital clubfoot, is sent to live with her aunt in the English countryside to escape the Blitz. There, Ada deals with her losses, finds new beginnings, and discovers her inner strength. Issues of disabilities, mental abuse, prejudice, and death underlie this beautifully written coming-of-age story that will have wide appeal. Although the second Ada novel, this much-praised book can be read as a standalone.
• We All Fall Down by Natalie D. Richards (Sourcebooks Fire, Oct. 3): This spooky paranormal thriller is about two troubled teens, each with mental health issues, who together must overcome the demons of a haunted bridge and their own fears to find peace and perhaps romance. Read this one with the lights on. (young adult)

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Review: Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

You shouldn't judge a book by its cover or by its title. Despite the glowing reviews of Carol Rifka Brunt's debut novel, Tell the Wolves I'm Home, there was something superficially off-putting to me (title? cover?), which meant I kept pushing this book to the bottom of my reading list.

Last week I was looking through my audiobook stash and decided to finally give the novel a chance. Within minutes I was spellbound and ended up finishing Tell the Wolves I'm Home, in a combination of reading and listening, all in one go.

If you want the bottom line, then here you go: A beautifully written, emotionally strong coming-of-age story with an authentic point of view and underlying themes of family and acceptance.

What's it about: Fourteen-year-old June Elbus has always felt at odds with the world, feeling understood only when she's with her uncle Finn exploring New York City. His death, in 1987, of a disease no one understood, leaves June anchorless on a black sea of grief. Just days after the funeral, though, she learns of a mysterious man named Toby, whom her mother accuses of killing Finn. As kids do, June has only ever seen Finn in terms of their special relationship. Although she was aware he was gay, she now realizes she may have never truly known him and that Toby may be the key to understanding who her uncle really was.

Being gay in the late 1980s: Set in the worst period of the AIDS epidemic, before the drug cocktails and when fear and judgments were running high, the novel also explores gay issues, as June discovers the parts of Finn's life that had been hidden from her. Brunt, writing from June's perspective, carefully and sensitively addresses Finn's lifestyle and sacrifices, keeping the voice of the young girl believable and true.

Siblings: Tell the Wolves I'm Home explores two sets of siblings: Finn and Danni (June's mother), and June and her older sister, Greta. Here again, Brunt has the relationships just right--that familiar mix of love and competition, protectiveness and exasperation. In addition, both sets of siblings go through the cycles of being close when young and then drifting apart when they start along their own paths. Sibling dynamics is one of the strongest themes in the novel, and anyone who has a brother or sister will see the truth here.

Other themes: Trust, loyalty, being comfortable in one's own skin, finding oneself, battling external expectations against your own wants, parenting, art, obligations to one's talents, love, grief, acceptance, forgiveness

Recommendation: Just read the damn book. Seriously. And if you haven't read it since it first came out, consider a reread.

Audiobook: The unabridged audiobook edition (Blackstone; 11 hr, 46 min) is brilliantly read by Amy Rubinate. Her voice is utterly believable as June: her inflections and emotions are perfect as is her level of drama. Tell the Wolves I'm Home is one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to.

Published by Random House / Dial Press, 2013 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780812982855
Source: Review (print) & bought (audiobook) (see review policy)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

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Best in Fiction: 2014

I know there are still two weeks left in December and I'm not done reading for the year, but I want to get my best-of lists up before everyone scatters for the holidays.

This year I have only two lists: fiction and nonfiction. I'm not making a separate audiobook list or food writing list.

Here are my top ten in fiction, in alphabetical order. Links lead to my reviews or blurbs. If there isn't a link, it's because I haven't yet reviewed the book. (Note: books read in 2014, not necessarily published in 2014.)

1. Nell Leyshon, The Colour of Milk (Ecco paperback, 2014): "beautifully written, almost lyrical in its pacing."
2. Tim Johnston, Descent (Algonquin, 2015): The tension is so exquisite it's almost unbearable.
3. Rene Denfeld, The Enchanted (HarperTorch, 2014): "A haunting novel that makes you think about what happens to children who have no protectors."

4. Lin Enger, The High Divide (Algonquin, 2014): "balances the wonder and dangers of the wilderness with a deeply emotional and complex psychological landscape."
5. Carrie La Seur, The Home Place (William Morrow, 2014): "about the complex ways home and place intertwine to make us who we truly are."
6. Colm Toibin, Nora Webster (Scribner, 2014): "[This] beautifully crafted novel is a testament to the importance of being true to oneself, even (or especially) during times of great change."

7. Peter Heller, The Painter (Knopf, 2014): "The stark prose and sharp descriptions [balance] us on the knife edge between beautiful and ugly, good and evil."
8. Christine Heppermann, Poisoned Apples (Greenwillow, 2014): "stark, beautiful, haunting, disturbing, and oh so very honest."
9. Bill Roorbach, The Remedy for Love (Algonquin 2014): "about what happens when two people who would have never normally met are thrown together under dire circumstances."
10. Elizabeth McCracken, Thunderstruck (The Dial Press, 2014): "a powerful, emotional collection that should be read slowly and savored."

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Review: Thunderstruck by Elizabeth McCracken

So often short stories leave me wanting me more, but Elizabeth McCracken is one of the few authors (Sam Shepard is another) whose careful and pregnant prose fills a small space to perfection. The nine pieces in Thunderstruck are each complete and utterly satisfying.

Although every story in Thunderstruck stands on its own, overall the collection explores death or loss or loneliness. Yet the stories are not depressing in a conventional sense; McCraken shows her characters in their most unguarded moments, and in those moments of vulnerability they remind us of our ourselves.

A few of the stories ("Juliet," about a library patron, and "Property," about a widower) involve unrelated characters, but most of the pieces focus on parents (or caregivers) and children. For example, in "Something Amazing," a woman copes the loss of her young daughter, in "Thunderstruck" a teenage girl changes her family forever, and in "The House of Two Three-Legged Dogs," a couple learns their grown son's true worth.

Despite the darkness, the burden isn't more than we can bear. McCracken occasionally lets her sense of humor shine, and sometimes the broken people find kindred spirits, and through those connections they have moments of, if not peace, at least understanding.

Thunderstruck is a powerful, emotional collection that should be read slowly and savored. Forget what you think you know about short stories; Elizabeth McCracken will leave you, well, thunderstruck.

For more on Elizabeth McCracken and Thunderstruck, see Largehearted Boy's Book Notes for this collection.

Published by Random House / The Dial Press, 2014
ISBN-13: 9780385335775
Source: Review, audio (see review policy)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

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Review: The Telling Room by Michael Paterniti

When Michael Paterniti graduated from the University of Michigan, he stuck around Ann Arbor to work part-time on the newsletter put out by the now-famous Zingerman's Deli. One of the more esoteric items sold in the store was the world's most expensive cheese: Paramo de Guzman, made by a family in Castile. Although he was too poor to taste it then, Paterniti never forgot the cheese. A decade later, looking for a good freelance story, he decided to go to Spain, hoping to track down Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras, the man behind the cheese.

Traveling with a Spanish-speaking friend, Paterniti figured he'd get an interview, taste the cheese, and take some photos. What he didn't expect was to fall in love with the village of Guzman and to get caught up in the stranger-than-fiction tale told by Ambrosio. In The Telling Room Paterniti introduces us to a corner of Castile that seems isolated from the twenty-first century. It's a place where men still spend the evenings in their family caves (known as telling rooms), sharing food, wine, and gossip.

Although the cheese, which proved to be elusive, is at the center of the story, The Telling Room is really about Ambrosio, miracles, family bonds, fortunes won and lost, friendships, chirizo and wine, and the beauty of Castile. In fact, the history of this artisan cheese and its maker is the stuff of classic novels, complete with (as the subtitle of the book proclaims) love, betrayal, and revenge.

Paterniti was profoundly affected by the years he spent traveling to Spain and by his friendship with Ambrosio. He shares his naivete and slow awakening to the truths of Ambrosio, his obsession with the cheese, and his struggles to turn his experiences into a book.

As other reviewers have noted, The Telling Room is a mix of memoir, travelogue, food writing, biography, adventure, and even mystery. It has won wide-ranging praise from a number of food writers and from major newspapers and review sites; it was also an Indie Next pick for August 2013.

I too enjoyed hearing about Paterniti's adventures, but The Telling Room was not an A+ read for me. I had three principal problems with the memoir. My biggest issue was the repetition; some parts of the story were told several times, not to add details but, perhaps, to remind the reader of important or key events. Second, Ambrosio's personal drama (mostly involving the cheese) eventually became tedious; I understood his personality early on and didn't need it be drummed into me. Finally, although I sympathize with Paterniti's problems with finding a way to shape this story into a coherent package, I felt the ending was a bit of a letdown; however, I suppose it was for him as well.

I listened to the unabridged audiobook edition (Audible, Inc.; 13 hr, 29 min) read by L. J. Ganser. I had mixed feelings about his performance, which was entertaining but toed the line of over the top. My complete audiobook review is available from AudioFile Magazine.

Random House / The Dial Press, 2013
ISBN-13: 9780385337007
Source: Review (audio) (see review policy)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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