The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani
In the early 1930's, a young Floridian girl, raised in an extremely insular, family-oriented environment, is sent to a camp/boarding school for equestriennes in the North Carolina mountains after a dalliance with her first cousin results in tragedy. Though exclusive to the privileged daughters of the South, the school provides enough contrast to her upbringing to give some perspective on her family's dysfunction. I found myself wishing I cared more about Thea; the author seemed to have trouble balancing her strong will with more sympathetic qualities, which made the going a little slow, but overall an interesting portrayal of a very specific section of society in a very particular time and place.
When We Were the Kennedys by Monica Wood
Wood's memoir of growing up in Mexico, Maine, in the 1960s is wonderfully atmospheric and compelling, both for the events that shaped her childhood and for her portrayal of a long-gone way of life. Her intermingling of the history of the Rumford/Mexico area (and its dependence on the mill) with her personal story and the national events of the 1960s is deft and engaging, and though sure to please readers familiar with the area or who remember the era, Wood's work will appeal to readers of all ages and from any part of the country.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (Young Adult; Audiobook)
A young boy's journey into manhood is marked by self-discovery after his best friend's suicide isolates him from his peers, and he is taken up by an older crowd in high school. Through a series of letters to an unnamed "friend", we learn of Charlie's struggle to come to terms with a repressed past; this style works particularly well as an audiobook, and the narrator did an excellent job of conveying Charlie's damage and fragility without making him maudlin.
Wild by Cheryl Strayed (Audiobook)
A memoir of Strayed's solo hike of the Pacific Coast Trail, and the events leading up to it, this reads more like fiction as Strayed must overcome one obstacle after another on her impulsive, ill-conceived trek. But overcome she does; she also grows up a little, and learns self-reliance and how to tolerate her own company along the way.
That Summer by Sarah Dessen (Young Adult; Audiobook)
We've all had "that summer"--the summer when, as teenagers, the veil is lifted, and we realize other people's inner lives and motives are just as rich and mysterious as our own. Dessen's portrayal of the angst 15-year-old Haven endures the summer her older sister gets married is fresh and spot-on; her appeal to a young adult reader is clearly evident, but she will also appeal to those of us with just as clear a memory of adolescence as her own.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Somehow I had never read one of the original dystopian, sci-fi/fantasy novels. Taut, economical, and the granddaddy of novels like The Hunger Games, this reminds you to question those decisions made for "the good of society".
Divergent by Veronica Roth (Young Adult)
Let's do all the dystopians in a row, shall we? Like Fahrenheit 451, this novel is set in a future Chicago after some unnamed disaster has (supposedly) reduced the United States to a small area in the city, with desolation reigning outside of the fence enclosing civilization. All of society is divided into 5 factions, each with their own responsibility and function; teenagers are screened at 16, then must declare their allegiance and leave their families for initiation into their chosen faction. But what if you don't completely fit into just one faction and are "divergent'?
Delirium by Lauren Oliver (Young Adult; Audiobook)
The end of the dystopian ride; this book takes place in a future Maine. Another fence protects what remains of the city of Portland from the wilds of Falmouth and beyond. In this society, love has been identified as the source of all evil in the world; thus everyone is made to undergo a brain operation at the age of 18 to "cure" them of the possibility of infection. As you may have guessed, not everyone is buying into the cure...
The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny
Last year's installment in the wonderfully atmospheric series about Armand Gamache, the head of homicide of Quebec's Surete de Police. This time Gamache and his assistant Beauvoir find themselves investigating a murder in a secluded monastery, far from Montreal as well as the charming village of Three Pines, where many of the books are set. The questions that have been dogging Gamache about the bad apple in the Surete follow him even to this remote location, however, and even as his suspicions increase, a plan to drive a wedge between Gamache and Beauvoir is set into play.
Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
Several years down the line in this followup to The Devil Wears Prada, the characters you grew to love (and hate) are back. Andy and Emily have become friends and business partners in a successful new venture, drawing the interest of Miranda Priestly. She's baaaack!
The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout
Inspired by the difficulties encountered when real-life Somali refugees tried to build a new life for themselves in Maine, this book follows two brothers who have left Maine for New York City. Both are lawyers; one is hugely successful, with national recognition and a seemingly perfect life, and the other, though loved by all who know him, has been haunted all his life by an incident from his childhood that he doesn't even remember and accepted that he will always live in the shadow of his older brother. Their sister, who remained in Maine, calls for their help when her son is accused of a hate crime, and when the family reunites old secrets come to light and the pecking order between the siblings implodes.
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
The master of horror's first big success, about the strange events in Jerusalem's Lot, Maine, leading to the town's abandonment. King deftly blends suspense with an insider's knowledge of small-town Maine life, tackling big themes such as good vs. evil along the way.
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