Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos. I’ll review this one soon. Short version: I liked this story of brokenness and restoration by a first time author, published in 2004, and I’ll look for more from Ms. Kallos. Recommended by Carrie at Mommy Brain and by Literary Feline.
The Declaration by Gemma Malley. Semicolon review here. Great dystopian fiction with a Little Orphan Annie sort of atmosphere.
Burning Up by Caroline B. Cooney.
Unwind by Neal Shusterman. Semicolon review here. Brown Bear Daughter read this one, too, and liked it so much that she went looking at the library for more books by Shusterman. I don’t know how she liked those yet.
Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. Newbery award winner, and it was good enough to win.
Walking From East to West by Ravi Zacharias. Thoughts on this Biblically Literate Book Club selection for April.
Heroic Conservatism: Why Republicans Need to Embrace America’s Ideals by Michael J. Gerson. Good ideas. A little dated, and I hate to say it, but I felt like a cynic in comparison to this White House speechwriter. If you want to know what “compassionate conservatism” is really about from one its proponents, read this book.
The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman. Interesting nonfiction set in Warsaw during World War II, but I didn’t really like the people involved very much, even if they were hiding Jews and fighting the Nazis.
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad. Semicolon review here. Fascinating view of family life in Afghanistan, but I didn’t like very many of the people in this book either. I don’t think I was supposed to like them, but was I supposed to feel antipathy for author, too? Recommended at Bookfest.
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman. My first book by this very popular author. It was pretty good, but she could have left out a few too detailed descriptions.
Ironman by Chris Crutcher. Also my first book by this popular YA author. I see why guys especially would like Crutcher’s books, but I could have done without the gay-is-great propaganda.
Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Semicolon review here. Good historical fiction by a solid YA author. Recommended at The Reading Zone.
Home by Witold Rybczinski. A history of the idea of “home” and “comfort in the home.” It was sometimes a bit too slow and academic for me with more details on interior design and homemaking in seventeenth century Holland than i ever knew existed, but I did find myself thinking about some of the ideas in the book a week or two after I finished it. Recommended by Carol at Magistramater.