Summer Reading Recommendations

It's really trendy to read contemporaries in the summer, and I admit, there's something about them that reminds me of summers when I was kid and my mom would take us to the library or the park or my sister and I and the neighborhood kids would have water gun fights. That's what all the best contemporaries should be reminiscent of. And that's the criteria I went for when looking for recommendations. This list is mostly contemporaries, but there is one historical fiction series. Enjoy these fun beachy reads!

Graffiti Moon and Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

  When I sat down to create this list, Cath Crowley's novels were the first to come to mind. They are summer incarnate, the kinds of chick lit-y YA I should hate but love despite everything- Aussie contemporaries can do that to me. I paired these books together because they have the same author, but I do prefer one to the other, and it's Graffiti Moon. I loved Graffiti Moon so much that it landed in my contemporary top five almost immediately after I read it. I wrote about this book at length, first in its own review, then in my wrap-up, then in my Five Favorites, and now here, so you're probably sick of seeing it. It's about a group of three boys and three girls who fall in love over the course of one summer night, and also about art and life and it's funny as all hell. I gave it a 9 out of 10. Words in Deep Blue is about a girl who, after losing her brother, moves in with her aunt and starts working at a bookstore with one of her childhood best friends. The two reconnect and find love while also trying to save the bookstore from going out of business. It's definitely not the kind of book I'd usually pick up, and it is a little cheesy and the two main characters sound almost exactly like each other, but it's such a cute romance, and solidified Cath Crowley's place as one of my newest favorite authors. It got a 9 out of 10. 

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

  Hannah Moskowitz isn't exactly a very popular author, and frankly, it seems like this is the only book of hers that has mostly positive reviews. I would say this novel is on par with The Lies About Truth, which I will write about more below. Both are beachy summer reads with a bit more depth to them then your usual summer books, but make no mistakes, they are romance heavy. Still, it does heavily evoke the feeling of summer, and I loved following the two families through these four summers at the beach, and the prose is beautiful. I mean, are there flaws, sure. Like, what 8 year old can read and comprehend Camus, even if The Stranger is a short book? But it's an enjoyable, quick read for those who want a bit more depth in their vacation reads. I gave it an 8 out of 10.

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

  I've written about this novel  before, first in my Five Favorites Contemporary list and then in my wrap-up as I reread it fairly recently. So I'll be short here. I first read this book in a New Jersey beach house my family rented one summer, and I loved it. It was so easy to fall in love with this beautiful, beautiful novel, and I can't believe how underrated it is. It's about a boy who gets playing cards in the mail with addresses written on them, telling him where to go in order to make people's lives better. That's a horrible summary, especially when this novel is one of my favorite books of all time. Highly, highly recommended. It got a 9.5 out of 10.

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

  No, this is not contemporary. But it is a damn good series following three flappers through the last summer of the Jazz Age. Cordelia, who has my least favorite plot line, discovers she is the long lost daughter of a famous bootlegger and moves to New York, where she finds and falls in love with two guys over the span of what seems like 3 weeks. Letty, her best friend, comes to New York with her in order to become a star (baby). She's okay, but I love her F Scott Fitzgerald-expy of a love interest. And lastly, there's my favorite brainless blond, Astrid, who's a flapper through and through, the daughter of an aging grand dame and one half of a relationship with Cordelia's brother, one so tumultuous it makes Scott and Zelda look downright compatible. This is the perfect beach read for any history lover, or maybe someone who just wants a bit of historical escapism. The writing's also a lot of fun, as it's written in that kind of Lost Generation style. Anna Godbersen's my favorite guilty pleasure author, and this series is the reason why, even though the last book is, in a word, a disappointment. The series got an average of an 7.5-8 out of 10 from me, with the first two books getting an 8, and the last book getting a 7.5. Those more interested in the 1890s might also be interested in her other series, The Luxe.

The Lies About Truth by Courtney C Stevens

This is another book that is summer. I read it on a cold, January day and, for the first and only time in my life, wished I lived in Florida. I wanted to hang out with Sadie and her friends, I wanted to play Pirates and Paintball, because it reminded me of when I was little and did all of that stuff with my friends. This book called forth some of the strongest feelings of nostalgia I've ever felt, which is especially amazing from a book I had no strong childhood connections with. So what is this book about? It's about a girl whose group of formally inseparable friends have split up after a bad car accident in which one of them ended up dead. It's about her reconnecting with her friends, them all going through the grief process in their own way, and how to attain forgiveness when the one person who you need it from is dead. It's a sweet, perfect contemporary, and one that made my Favorite Books of 2016 list. I gave it an 8.5-9 out of 10.

The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds

  The Boy in the Black Suit is one of those books that seemed to be everywhere when it first came out, always on the tops of shelves or its cover on display in bookstores and libraries. But it seemed like nobody's ever actually read it. Me included. It took me over a year to pick this one up, and when I did, I loved it. Basically, it's about a boy named Matt whose mother died recently, and he needs to get a job because his father fell into the bottle after her death. So he gets a job at the neighborhood funeral home, befriending the guy in charge. He also meets a girl named Lovey, who he immediately becomes attracted to. His life's kind of a mess, but he's an endearing and lovable hero with a great cast of characters behind him. The book's also written in a New York African American patois, which I love because I love books written like that, and it's just really, really good. I gave it an 8 out of 10.

The Dead I Know by Scot Gardner

  This book pairs nicely with the above one, in case you were wondering. Both are very different takes on the funeral home plot line (funeral homes are one of my favorite places for books to be set, as I have a very dark sense of humor), and this one is a bit creepier. The Dead I Know, like Burial Rites, is one of those favorite books in retrospect, and it contains one of my absolute favorite male leads in the form of Aaron Rowe, who is a sleepwalker suffering from reoccurring nightmares he can't figure out. He takes a job with a funeral director and finds himself connecting with the family of the funeral director while trying to understand his dreams. It's dark and funny and one of Australia's most underrated exports. I gave it an 8.5 out of 10.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and The Haters by Jesse Andrews

  I grouped these books together because they're both by Jesse Andrews. Like Cath Crowley's books above, I do like one over the other, but in this case it's a clearer distinction as I much prefer Me and Earl and the Dying Girl over The Haters. That being said, Both are laugh out loud funny books, one about a girl dying of cancer, a boy whose mom is making him become friends with her because, again, she's dying, and his best friend, Earl, who has serious anger management problems. Despite this, it's both funny and deep at the same time, and also not The Fault in Our Stars, which is always a plus. It even made the bottom of my Best Of 2016 list, and I gave it an 8.5 out of 10. The Haters is basically the book version of One Time at Band Camp, in which the usual YA trio of two guys and a girl break out of jazz camp and form a band. It's not as great as Me and Earl and the Dying Girl- it doesn't hit as hard and I never really liked any of the characters- but it's still funny and almost Spinal Tap-esque. I'm sure music nerds would love it. I gave it a 7 out of 10 (more like out of 11).

So what kinds of books do you like to read in the summer? Do you agree with any of these choices? Let me know in the comment section below!

Spring Reading Recommendations

For some reason, in the spring I find myself drawn to dark books, especially mystery-thrillers and more realistic horror novels. Maybe it's the gloomy rainy nature of the days, maybe it's because everything is coming to life again and it's so bright and cheerful that I want to read the darkest books I can find. Also, because "April is the cruelest month/breeding lilacs out of the dead land/ mixing memory and desire/stirring dull roots with spring rain". Interestingly, the spring months are always my worst for reading because as much as I love the mystery genre, it does not love me back. As such, I only have five recommendations for you. So here are my top five recommendations for those rainy spring days.

In the Woods by Tana French

  What, did you think that this would be a list of recommendations centering around thrillers and not have a Tana French entry on the list? It's no secret that she is one of my favorite authors and, while I could recommend any one of her books to the right person, I think this is the best possible introduction to her writing. This book follows Det Rob Ryan who, along with his partner, Det Cassie Maddox, is called to investigate a case in which a girl was found dead on an old sacrificial altar during an archaeological dig, though the case is a recent one. However, this is the same area in which three kids went missing and only one was found at all, alive, but with a sneaker full of blood. That kid was Ryan as a child. This is a character driven crime novel that focuses heavily on the psyche of Ryan as he investigates the case that may or may not be connected to his own. This is my second favorite book in the incomparable Dublin Murder Squad series, and I gave it an 8.5-9 out of 10. A warning though, this one's a slow-burner.

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

  This was one of two books on this list to make my best of 2016, albeit at very low spots- in the case of this book #11 out of 13. Regardless, I still loved this novel, which is about an investigation done by the FBI into a group of girls who went missing but ended up at a place known as the Butterfly Garden, where they received wings tattooed on their back and were essentially held prisoner until dying at their 21st birthday. Not the best summary, and the plot is rather implausible, but still a novel I highly recommend if you love dark and twisted thrillers. It got an 8.5 out of 10.

Pretty Little Things by Jilliane Hoffman

  If you like crime novels as much as I do, this one's for you. Pretty Little Things follows a girl who goes missing after talking to strangers online. Around the same time, grotesque paintings of the bodies of girls are being found, with the actual bodies of the girls being found shortly after. The killer, Picasso, may have some connection to the disappearance of the girl, as well as another disappearance, one involving the agent investigating the murders daughter. While it's not a perfect novel, anyone who loves crime books will be sure to be satisfied by this twisted book. Fans of The Butterfly Garden should definitely pick it up. I gave it an 8-8.5 out of 10.

Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta

  This was the second book that made my best of 2016, even if it was at the #12 spot. This action-packed book is about a boy who, while swimming, accidentally witnesses a killing take place. Because the case is high profile, and the killers haven't been caught yet, he is forced to go into witness protection at a survival camp up in the mountains of Montana. From there we meet several other characters and also the most interesting villains in a novel I encountered last year. There's plenty of twists and turns and murders happening that glued me to the page. I gave it an 8.5 out of 10, and those who love action and impeccably researched fiction would absolutely love this book.

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman

  No, I didn't like this book very much (I gave it a 6 out of 10 and was being generous). However, when I recommend books, I do my best to recommend ones that I think people who aren't me will like a hell of a lot more than I did. This mystery (with some crime elements) is about a woman who, in order to get out of a car accident she caused, claimed she had a connection to the Bethany Sisters, two sisters who disappeared in the 70s. More specifically, she claims that she is the younger of the two, Heather Bethany. However, the police are suspicious of who she claims to be, and open up an investigation into the case. There's also a lot of flashbacks in which we track the mother and father of the sisters as they cope with their daughters' disappearance. Someone who loves Gillian Flynn novels with her unlikeable heroines are sure to love this one.

So what kinds of books do you like to read in the spring? Do you agree with any of these choices? Let me know in the comment section below!

Winter Reading Recommendations

I don't know about you, but I find myself to be very seasonal genre-specific. Sure, I don't stay strictly by these genre rules- if I want to read a, say, historical fiction novel and it's summer, then I will read it. But I still have a tendency to lean towards certain genres of books certain times of the year. Like in the winter, I read a ton of historical fiction, especially from cold climates, like Russia, or during Wartime, as well as some literary fiction sprinkled in. So based off these traits, I give you some winter book recommendations, along with some of my favorite books I've read this past winter. I'll try not to do obvious book recs- you all know I adore The Book Thief, for instance, but I assume most bookworms have at least heard of it, and either have read or want to read it. So here are my top ten winter reading recommendations for those cold, snowy days. I've linked my reviews to the ones that I've written them for.

Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck

  One of my favorite discoveries so far this year- I believe I gave it a 8.5 or 9 out of 10- Wolf Winter is a dark historical mystery with some magical realism elements following a woman, her two daughters (especially her eldest, Frederika), and the local priest as they uncover the mystery of who murdered a man in the Swedish Laplands during the early 1700s. This atmospheric novel is perfect for the winter, with its cold prose and dark, slightly unsettling subject matter.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

  If you want another atmospheric historical mystery, Burial Rites is the book for you. I read this book last year, and, though it didn't make my official favorite books list, it became one in retrospect. I gave it the same rating as Wolf Winter. This book is based off the story of the last execution in Iceland, in the early 1800s, following a woman who is accused of the murder of two men. It also includes the perspective of the family she is sent to live with her final days (which also includes two daughters) and the village priest who is meant to spiritually guide her. If you loved Wolf Winter, you will love this book, and vice-versa. The prose is a bit more ornate, but the atmosphere is just as good. 

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

  Read this book fairly recently, in December. Sadly, though, this book was a bit overshadowed in my eyes because of his other book The Tsar of Love and Techno, which would have been my favorite book of last year if it wasn't for The Road. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena follows mostly three people- a man, a doctor, and an eight year old girl in Chechnya in 2003. The girl's father has been kidnapped by Russian soldiers, and her neighbor finds her and takes her to a hospital where a lone doctor, Sonja, who is also dealing with the disappearance of her younger sister, can take care of her. There are some other storylines in this wonderfully complex story, but they all come together at the end. The writing is unmatched. It takes a while to get through, but it's worth the read and I gave it an 8.5 out of 10.

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit

  This book is a literary YA historical fiction read, though I think anyone can read it. It's also another book I read last summer, though in my opinion it's perfect for the wintertime. It's about a Polish girl in 1939 Krakow, which, if you know your WWII, is when Hitler invaded Poland and kickstarted the European war, and the Germans have taken her father, a linguistics professor. She runs into the Swallow Man, and the two begin to travel across the Polish wilderness together. There's some magical realism elements, and don't try too hard to figure out the plot, but this book is one of the only books I've ever read that deserved its comparison to The Book Thief. I gave it an 8 out of 10, but I'm sure those who like magical realism more than I do would love this book.

All That Is Solid Melts into Air by Darragh McKeon

  The second of the Russian novels (believe it or not, I limited myself to only 5!). This is an end of the Soviet Union novel- something you don't see much in Western literature- following a 9 year old piano prodigy living in Moscow, his aunt who used to be a journalist but now makes car parts, her ex-husband, a doctor who is sent to Belarus to deal with the outcome of Chernobyl, and a Belarusian boy who loses his home because of the meltdown. I read this book in January, and it has stayed with me since. The subject matter may be dark, and a little scary, but the writing is completely engrossing. I gave it an 8.5 out of 10.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

  My third favorite book of last year, which I read in September, the same month it came out. I enjoyed his first, but this book just completely blew me away. It's a lot more light-hearted than prior entries, one of those books you can just curl up in some comfy chair during a snowy Sunday and just get lost in. This book follows Count Alexander Rostov, who is placed under house arrest by the Soviets in the 1920s, soon after he returned to Russia. It's very much a meandering story while we get to know the inhabitants of the hotel and the various pieces of his life. I was utterly charmed by this book, and gave it a 9 out of 10.

History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund

  Despite the fact I didn't actually like this book all that much, it's on this list because I'm sure someone might like it more than I would. This is a literary fiction novel about a girl whose family used to be the leaders of a failed cult, who, when a new family moves in across the lake, becomes close with the mother and her young son. This book takes place in Minnesota, and does also have a dark, cold atmosphere to it, and is relatively short, making it a perfect snow day read. And it is well-written, even if I only gave it a 7 out of 10.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

  This is the most well-known of the books I chose, but it is still perfect for this list. This book, if you've never heard of it, follows a Lithuanian girl who is taken by the KGB in the middle of the night with her mother and younger brother and put on a train to Stalin's Siberian labor camps. It's a really engaging story about something I knew little about before reading this book, and is the book responsible for my interest in Russia and the Soviet Union. It's well written, impressively historically accurate, and a great read for a winter's day. I gave it an 8.5 out of 10.

City of Thieves by David Benioff

  The perfect book for a budding russophile, City of Thieves takes place in Leningrad after the Nazi takeover during WWII. Our main character has been arrested for looting, and thrown in jail with an army deserter. Instead of being shot, they are sent on a mission across enemy lines to find a dozen eggs for a Soviet colonel's daughter's wedding cake. It's funny, gripping, and short, the kind of book you can read all in one sitting. I gave it a 9 out of 10.

We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen

  Yes, this book is over 600 pages. But it's the perfect book to read during the cold winter season. I don't know about you, but this time of the year my thoughts often turn towards the sea, and as such I picked up this book. It takes place over the course of roughly 100 years in a small shipping town in Denmark called Marstal, and four generations of its inhabitants. While it does drag a bit in the middle, and despite its seemingly dry subject matter, it's one of those books where once you finish it, you'll feel so accomplished. Also has one of the most unique narrative styles and best endings I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It got an 8.5-9 out of 10.

So what kinds of books do you like to read in the winter? Do you agree with any of these choices? Let me know in the comment section below!