Synopsis: A professional “carer” recalls her idyllic school days, which mask a horror that she and her friends “know but don’t know.” Review: Never Let Me Go is one of my favorite all-time books, and this is the third time I’ve read it. Big life upheavals, like having a baby, always send me back to [...]

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Synopsis: Recruited by an elite medical society, an idealistic doctor discovers dark plans at odds with their stated mission to heal. Review: When I tell you that the secret of The Healers is Nazis, don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away–it’s right on the spine of the book. Set in the year 2021, the book [...]

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Synopsis: A boy marked for termination and organ harvesting escapes into a world where he has no legal right to live. Review: I heard about Unwind from the Queens Library, in an email newsletter talking up good new young adult books. I’m so glad that I did, because it’s a dystopian thrill ride in the [...]

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Synopsis: A summer job turns into a game of strategy with potentially deadly consequences for a young aspiring scientist hoping to learn more about the implications of the regenerative powers of starfish. Review: Of course I had to read a L’Engle as soon as humanly possible, and I wanted to read one I hadn’t read [...]

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I like to be moved by literature, which is why I don’t go crazy for metafiction or postmodernism or overly intellectual fiction (Don DeLillo, Thomas Pyncheon, etc.). Such was the book I read yesterday for work. Otter asks, What are the five books in your library (or memory) that stirred the greatest emotive reaction in [...]

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Synopsis: A jungle adventure turns into a nightmare when six tourists find themselves trapped in a clearing, unable to leave without being shot by Mayans, and finding a gory secret that brings new definition to the word flesh-eating. Review: I had to finish The Ruins during the day time, because I really did not want [...]

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Synopsis: Young Leilani has a deformed hand and a brace on her leg–and she’s just told her alcoholic ex-con neighbor that her differences are why her deranged doctor stepfather and whacked-out druggie mother are going to kill her unless she’s abducted by aliens when she turns 10. Review: I read this book because it was [...]

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