As you probably know if you stop by here regularly, I read a lot. More when I’m taking a break from writing, but generally I devour around 150+ MG & YA books a year (plus a few nonfiction and adult titles). That’s an average of 2.88 books per week. Sometimes, on Need To Read, you will find long gaps where I don’t post. This is for two reasons. One might be I’m writing, so I don’t read very much. But the other reason is when I run into a string of books I don’t like. It is my policy to only post about the books I like. Good karma and all that…plus, why do you need to know I didn’t like a book you loved?
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My recommendation is Sherman Alexie’s YA novel, THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN. Yes, it is the new winner of the National Book Award, but people should read it because it is full of truth and humor. I have never cried about a basketball game, believe me, but this book made me cry too. I loved it. The boldness of his writing reminds me of Flannery O’Connor’s work. Anything and everything written by Flannery O’C is another recommendation, although her work is not considered YA. It’s simply gorgeous…southern gothic, dark, hilarious, powerful.
OK, this isn’t YA but it’s one heck of a good read: SNOW by Maxence Fermine, pub. by Acorn Books. A very sweet but untraditional love story that reads like the haiku poems which inspired it. Just a beautiful little book that’s easily finished in one evening.