Monthly Recommendations

On the first of every month, I will be posting a few books that I have read that I recommend - and why I recommend him.  So here is the first of the month recommendations:

Trapped by Michael Northrop
YA Realistic Fiction
A quick read where you are inside the head of Scotty Weems, who is trapped with seven other kids in school during the worst blizzard.  Having lived in New Hampshire, this kind of storm seems a little unbelievable, but Northrop really gets the terror that Weems is going through.  It is a retrospective story, and in the first chapter, Scotty tells you that not all of them made it out alive.  That had me hooked.  I call it a "snack read" as it is quick and light, but still fun.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
YA Dystopian
While the first book, The Hunger Games, still remains my favorite, the second installment is definitely worth the read if you liked the first.  And if you haven't read The Hunger Games, I highly recommend that you pick it up.  It's more of the first with some twists and turns, and still focuses on Katniss' emotional confusion - love is a complicated thing, isn't it?  Especially when you are both fighting for your lives...

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Adult Dystopian (less extreme, though)
Some of the concepts in this are a little too adult for a YA reader (as in, I wouldn't recommend this for a 16 and under reader).  I think 17+ would be good for it - especially adults.  Since Dystopian novels are all the rage right now, I figured I would pull this recommendation out of my hat.  It was one of my favorite reads in college.  Kathy grows up in a private school, where they learn the "meaning" of their life.  They will all become donors, where they will slowly have their organs harvested.  This is not a rebellion story, but a tragic tale of love and coming-of-age where these children have all accepted their fate from the very day they were born.  Very twisted, but beautifully written.  And hey, they even made a movie that you can watch with some popcorn once you read the book.

That's all for this month.  If NaNoWriMo doesn't consume all of my November, then I will have some more recommendations on December 1st.  I have quite a few books that have been recommended to me by other people that are on my to read list.  We shall see.