Beartown by Fredrik Backman (translated by Neil Smith), 432 pages

Swedish author Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite authors.  He tends to write sweet tales about eccentric characters who find love and validation through friends.  That is not this book.

Beartown is a dying town deep in a forest and they have one point of pride - the hockey club and its various teams.  Something bad happens to someone and the aftermath threatens to destroy the club and the town.

Yowza, this was brutal and powerful.  Racism, rape, bullying and peer pressure are all explored.  I loved this in a whole different way from my normal awe of Fredrik Backman.  We have this in print, ebook and on audio at the library, and if I have my way we'll have it as a book club selection soon too.

The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian, 272 pages

"The Leisure Seeker" is the story of Ella and John, who have been married for nearly 60 years.  Ella has cancer and has stopped treatment and John has Alzheimer's and sometimes knows Ella, and sometimes doesn't.

He is still a pretty darned good driver though when Ella is the navigator.  To the horror of Ella and John's doctors, she decides they need to take one more trip in their Leisure Seeker camper.  They live in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan and they set out to travel Route 66 in its entirety.

The book is bittersweet, laugh out loud funny and sad.  It is one of the best books I have read in a long time.  Michael Zadoorian did a wonderful job of portraying 80 something year old Ella.  Thank you to Alison for recommending this book to me!

Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes (A YA novel) 328 pages

Anika considers herself a half-breed.  She live in Lincoln NE with her mother and her step-father she refers to as the Ogre.  Her father is from Romania.  She is the third most popular girl in school, a fact she attributes to hanging out with mean-girl Becky.  Becky rules the roost and her favorite past-time is starting vicious rumors and destroying people's lives.  Anika is so terrified of becoming a victim, she follows along.  Then, former nerd, Logan, shows up for school cool.  He drives a moped, got a haircut, and sports a leather jacket.  He starts giving Anika a ride home from school, but their budding relationship comes to a halt when Anika sees a dark side of Logan she cannot erase from her mind.  

This book is all about making choices and I rather enjoyed it, except for the unnecessary profanity, right up to the end, which was really lame. Too bad the author could not have thought of a better way to wrap things up.  Can't wait to see what the teens think of this book.

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, 592 Pages

"Xenocide" is another book in the Ender Wiggin science fiction series by Orson Scott Card.

In this book, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, is in his 60s, though it has been about 3,000 years since he wiped out the "buggers" in a war he didn't even know he was fighting.  He lives on the planet Lusitania and is married to Novinha and is step-father to several adult children.  Valentine, Ender's sister, comes to Lusitania too, along with her husband and children.

Congress has sent a fleet of ships to destroy the planet and Ender, Valentine and others are trying to stop them.

A concurrent story in the book takes place on the planet Path.  The stories intersect and while the plot line on Path is resolved, the one happening on Lusitania is left with a cliff-hanger that the book "The Children of the Mind" will resolve.

This is a great science fiction series with lots of deep moral undertones.  I will continue on to the next book in the series, though I have a few other books to read before I start on the next Ender saga.

Fallout By Ellen Hopkins 665 pages

Fallout is the last book in the Crank series. The final book is the story of Kristina’s teenage kids.  Fallout tells you the story of how Hunter, Summer and Autumn all suffered because of their parent's choices.  You get to read the struggles that each teen faced growing up.  Having parents that were never there for them. Being raised by grandparents, an alcoholic father, and even foster homes. Finding out they have other siblings they never knew about, and then to meet them all on Christmas Day.  Will Hunter, Summer or Autumn turn to alcohol or meth? Find out when you read Fallout.

I really enjoyed this series.  I would recommend this not only to teens (as it is a teen series), but to adults as well.  To me this was one of those series you just wanted to keep reading because you wanted to know what happened next or how it would end.

Glass By: Ellen Hopkins 681 pages

Glass is the second book in the Crank series. It continues to take you down Kristina's path with the monster. It gives you a glimpse of how hard it is to stop meth and the consequences of continuing to take it.  For a long time Kristina was able to hide the fact that she was using from her family.  But the sudden loss of appetite, weight loss, days of not sleeping and then the hard crashes were a dead give away.  Kristina is faced with some important decisions when she finds out that she's pregnant.  Does she keep the baby? Does she stop using meth?  Find out when you read this roller coaster of a story.

Crank By Ellen Hopkins 537 pages

Crank is a young adult book about a teenage girl named Kristina, who gets turned onto meth, better known as the Monster while visiting her dad for the summer.  A boy she met while there gave her a little taste and she was hooked. This book takes you down her path with the monster and tells you the affects of taking this drug.

Crank is the first book in a series of three books (Glass, Fallout).  These books are written in poetry form, but follow an amazing story.  I really like the format in which Ellen Hopkins writes.  She has other series and also some stand alone titles written the same way.