Trouble

"If you build your house far away from trouble, then trouble will never find you" is the mantra of Henry's upper-class father and current custodian of the rock steady, 300-year-old family house by the New England sea. But everything changes for the comfortable, tidy, rooted Smiths when their oldest son Franklin is struck and gravely injured by a car. The fact that the car was driven by a teenage Cambodian refugee (who, by the way, had been bullied by Franklin and his friends) adds a few more layers to the Trouble. Racial tensions in the town ignite, and when Franklin succumbs to his injuries, Henry decides he needs to hitch-hike to and climb Mount Katahdin as he was planning to do with his brother. Only, the only driver who will pick him (and his friend, and his dog that he rescued from the sea) up is Chay, the guy whose truck hit Franklin.
Man this book is good. It's written for young adults, but completely transcendent of its genre and reading level. The plot twists around in beautiful and unexpected ways- layers on layers, and everything interconnects. Gary Schmidt tackles real issues here- death, racism, the moral ambiguity of lying to protect the person you love, the impossibility of dodging grief in life, the tragedies that happen when you try. I mean with all those issues, the book should feel like dragging your feet through wet concrete. And at times it's pretty emotionally hefty, but there is also a lot of Grace (first bounding into the story in the form of Black Dog, the bedraggled, irrepressibly friendly animal Henry saves from the sea. There are light-hearted moments all through. There's some real friendship recognized and created.
I love what Gary Schmidt finally pulls out of all this: forgiveness is freeing. Grace is the way to live well with Trouble, because you sure can't hide from it.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Ever read a book that made you desperately wish you could buttonhole the characters and demand they immediately become your friends? That's this book. Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows create a witty, plucky English author who has used her literary gifts in wry short stories that manage to make a nation under fire laugh a little- no small feat. But she needs a new project, one a little more substantial. Inspiration comes in the form of a letter from a man she has never met who lives on the Guernsey Islands (which were occupied by the Nazis during the war). He and his friends accidentally created an unusual and eclectic literary society that becomes something rich and extraordinary in the lives of all its colorful members.
The book is epistolary for the most part- written as letters back and forth- a form I usually abhor as something contrived and frankly rather boring; here it's fresh, witty, and impossible to put down. I startled my husband several times by bursting into laughter reading this book, but I think he became slightly concerned when he caught me wandering through the kitchen with a stricken expression and tears streaming down my cheeks. Amazing story about the power of really great books, true friends, deep tragedy and triumph over it, and of course, true love. The best book I read this year, and one of my new favorites.

The Hunger Games

Could a concept for a young adult book trilogy be a little darker please? In a future America ruled by an evil totalitarian government, the twisted punishment for a rebellion generations ago is for each district of the country to randomly choose two teenagers to fight to the death in the Arena. Worse, the Hunger Games are a giant production and mandatory televised sport. Gutsy Katniss volunteers for her Appalachian district in place of her beloved younger sister and is immediately swept into a world of glamour, danger, and forced brutality where each decision is life-or-death for her- but as she fights to save herself, her desperate choices make her a hero for an entire oppressed country.
Fast-paced, gritty, and moving, Collins creates a fascinating plot and a deeply nuanced character in Katniss. Growing up is hard enough without having to fight for your life to do it, but you're rooting for this tough- skinned survivor of a heroine every step of the way. Seriously, if this book doesn't at least make you tear up a little, you might want to check and make sure you still have a soul.
*Some of the scenes get pretty graphic. Young kiddos might want to use caution.