I have never done a Best Books list, mainly because although I absolutely love to read these types of lists, I generally have a hard time choosing ten favorites from a given year. I read so much, but for me to put a book on a BEST list, it had better be damn good. And some years, as much as I read, I don't read ten great books. Let's see if I make it to ten for 2011. My favorites, in no particular order:
Marie Lu's smart, fast-paced addition to the dystopia coterie begs for a sequel. Violent and bloody, Legend is an in-your-face commentary on how the chasm between the haves and the have-nots in our society continues to expand.
Not a YA novel, but I'm pretty sure The Magician King, the sequel to Grossman's The Magicians will show up on a lot of high school reading lists. It's Harry Potter for grown-ups, wizardry with humor and intellect. Completely unpredictable and totally original. I loved it.
Of the spate of dystopian novels from this post- Hunger Games YA literary landscape, Delirium stands out. Sure, it's set up for a sequel, but that won't interfere with your enjoyment of this story. Is a life without love a life at all? Delirium is a perfect read for those who grew up reading The Giver and now want a YA experience.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a creepy, weird, atmospheric book. I love the harsh and hearty Welsh island setting. The odd, quirky characters remind me of a kids' version of Twin Peaks. I think the use of the old photographs is a little gimicky, and sometimes, author Ransom Rigg seems more enamored of the photos than how they actually f
Written by Kenneth Oppel
$17.99, ages 12 and up, 304 pages
When twin brother Konrad falls ill, 15-year-old Victor scrambles to find an elixir of life to save him and awakens his obsession for alchemy, in this grim and marvelous take on Frankenstein's youth.
Victor, born just minutes after Konrad, has always felt inferior to him, in schoolwork even sword play, but now Konrad is sick and doctors are bleeding him pale with leeches. As Konrad sees it, it's up to him to save Konrad, and to do that he must turn to darker means.
Against his father's wishes, Victor, his cousin Elizabeth and their friend Henry sneak into a forbidden lab deep beneath the Frankenstein castle for answers, and discover a book of ancient spells with a cryptic recipe for eternal life.
When they initially discover the lab, after accidentally dislodging books in Father's study, Konrad is still well, and Father has warned them never to go down there again. But Victor can't shake his fascination with what he sees.
There are oddly-shaped glassware, metal instruments and shelves groaning with ancient books in Latin, Greek and languages they've never seen. Normally books held little interest for Victor, but these have "dark luster," titles about the occult and pictures of gruesome bodies.
Until Konrad's illness, Victor has no reason to return. But now with doctors baffled about how to cure Konrad, Victor decides he has no other choice but to defy his father. Spurred by his own impulsive nature, he convinces Elizabeth and Henry to help him search the underground chamber for a cure.
There on a shelf, the three find a book with the elixir, but it's written in a bizarre language, the Alphabet of the Magi, and searching further, they find a charred translation of the alphabet by Paracelsus. Realizing they cannot decipher the recipe, they set off in search of a translator, an alchemist named Julius Polidori.
Polidori, who is bound to a wheelchair and lives with an eerie pet lynx, relucta
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