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List O Mania – Audiobooks and Quick Picks
Amazing Audiobooks is all about audiobooks, fiction and nonfiction. Anyone who has listened to a book knows that the narration and direction can make or break a book; here is the list of 2013 Amazing Audiobooks. I’ve listened to exactly none of them.
Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers is a terrific list, but it also tends to be a list heavy with the type of non-fiction I don’t typically read. What have I read from the 2013 Quick Picks list?
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Bick, Ilsa J. Ashes. From my review: “One of the things I liked about at Alex? At times, I didn’t like her. She’s in a hurt, bitter, selfish place at the beginning of the story. Her parents are dead, she’s taken their ashes, her own future is bleak because of the brain tumor, she’s gone through years of treatment, she doesn’t even have a sense of smell anymore. There is more than a hint that she brought her father’s gun with her for more than protection. . . . An important part of the story is Alex’s own progress from an understandably self-centered teen to someone who thinks about others. It’ s not just that, of course. Whether by her own hand or not, Alex was preparing for death. Now, she’s fighting to stay alive.”
Blake, Kendare. Girl of Nightmares. I just finished reading this, so look for my review to come soon!
Lyga, Barry. I Hunt Killers. From my review: “Jazz is the son of a serial killer, taught how to clean up evidence and how to dispose of bodies. Every dark thought he has makes him wonder, “am I thinking this because I am a killer?” Despite it all, he hopes – hopes that he is not. Hopes that his friendship with Howie and his relationship with his girlfriend Connie are not just things he’s doing to look “normal,” the way Billy was a good neighbor who coached sports teams to look “normal.” Other lessons, Jasper tries to forget. Like what happened to his dog, Rusty. Like what happened to his missing mother. And some lessons . . . . Jasper uses. And even enjoys a little. Like turning on the smile to get what he wants. Like reading people, to know what buttons to push to get them to do what he wants.”
Ryan, Amy Kathleen. Glow. From my review: “This is classic science fiction, with a space ship and everything! Two spaceships, even! . . . there are allusions to another group of pilgrims. It’s not just the names; religion is significant, with one group religious and the other group secular. Something happens — something pretty bad. It is surprising and shocking and world-altering. Waverly and Kieran, their friends and family are tested in unbelievable ways. It happens pretty early in the book, and it sets everything in motion. It is also the beginning of wisdom, as Waverly and Kieran begin to learn of the secrets that were kept from them.”
Springer, Nancy. My Sister’s Stalker. From my review: “My Sister’s Stalker is a suspense/mystery, building around the questions of who is stalking Karma and what can be done to stop her? Before Rig can do anything to find out what is happening with his sister, first he must address his family issues. His parents were a case of opposites attracting: his all-business father and his arty mother. . . . they split up, and the children stayed with the parent they were most like: Daddy’s girl and Mommy’s boy. Needless to say, that the relationship between Rig and his father is shaky at best. Rig has to set aside the family disagreements and past hurts to help his sister.”
Summers, Courtney. This is Not a Test. From my review: “Sloane is having breakfast with her father. She has been home from school and her father has written a note explaining it was the flu. (It wasn’t the flu.) Her older sister Lily left home six months ago, with a short note (I’m so sorry. I can’t do this anymore) and if only Lily had left her sleeping pills, it would be so much easier for Sloane to do what has to be done. What she wants to do. Sloane is having breakfast with her father, and he burnt the toast to punish her because she was late to breakfast. Not as bad as the punishment that kept her out of school. (It wasn’t the flu). And Sloane is thinking the world is gray and nothing matters and she needs her sister but her sister left, and Sloane wants to leave in the only way left to her – A desperate knock on the door, sirens, screams. A woman crashes through the window, bloody and attacking, scratching and biting, and Sloane runs, away from her father and the yelling and the blood, and suddenly the world has changed. She is with a group of teens, all running for their lives, looking for safety from the bodies that rise from the dead to hunt and kill the living.”
For full lists, including the top tens, go to the YALSA website.
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About Elizabeth Burns
Looking for a place to talk about young adult books? Pull up a chair, have a cup of tea, and let's chat. I am a New Jersey librarian. My opinions do not reflect those of my employer, SLJ, YALSA, or anyone else. On Twitter I'm @LizB; my email is lizzy.burns@gmail.com.
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