Jane

Jane, a Seattle native, has been shopping at Elliott Bay since she was six. Her first favorite book was Matilda by Roald Dahl. she spent many of her teenage years skipping classes to pass the hours reading and drinking way to much coffee. Now, all grown up (yeah, right...), she finds herself reading more and more Science Fiction/Fantasy. Jane loves Haruki Murakami, livres de Tricoter, novels for young adults and environmental books. In her spare time she enjoys playing with balls of yarn, creating scrumptious vegan baked goods and chasing squirrels with her daughter, Mo. Someday she hopes to be an octopus.

The God of Animals
by Aryn Kyle
Aryn Kyle is an amazing (new) writer. Her prose is so vivid that I don't remember reading this book, it's as if I just absorbed it. This is the novel that I have been waiting for to break me out of my fiction slump. I want to give it to everyone. It's about an 11-year-old girl who lives on a horse ranch, her reasonably dysfunctional family and then some. Gush, gush, gush.

Grotesque
by Natsuo Kirino
Many anguishing months after exhausting my supply of Murakami, I finally stumbled upon another great Japanese author, Natsuo Kirino. While Kirino has published many novels in Japan, so far only two are available in English, Out and Grotesque. My desire to read more of her work has me considering picking up my Japanese studies again. Kirino writes unique novels about women in difficult situations. She is able to shamelessly explore the darkest aspects of the human psyche. Most of her characters are unlikeable and sometimes disgusting, but they are also persistently haunting. This is not light reading, but it's just as fun.

Catalyst
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Kate Malone, preacher's daughter and distance runner has her life after high school all planned out; MIT and no exceptions— but what happens when plans unravel, when you take a wrong turn on the course? Who are you without your credentials, anyone at all? I wish I had read any of Laurie Halse Anderson's novels when I was 17. I don't know if they would have curbed the angst, but at least I could've seen my angst as a common ailment instead of a personal flaw.

This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn
by Aidan Chambers
Do not be intimidated by the scope (808 pages) of This Is All. It only takes about twenty pages for Cordelia to feel like a treasured friend, a confidante. Intimate, funny, poignant, honest, erotic, witty, sad, and suspenseful is this novel of growth. It is a lovely book, meant to be savored and like big lovely books meant to be savored it moves right along, burrows itself into your heart and then it's over. Poof! The sadness of finishing a great book ensues.

Henry Hikes to Fitchburg
by D.B. Johnson
Oh, how could I have not noticed this book before!
Based on an excerpt from Walden, Henry Hikes to Fitchburg is the story of Henry the Bear and an unnamed friend. One day they decide it would be lovely to go to Fitchburg. Henry chooses to walk the thirty miles. His friend opts to work for the train fare to get himself there.
Being that Thoreau is one of my personal heroes, this sweet picture book sets my heart aflutter with longing for the countryside everytime I read it. A great read-a-loud for the budding existentialist or the haggard cynic.

The Teahouse Fire
by Ellis Avery
The Teahouse Fire is a story of Japan at the turn of the Nineteenth Century. Through the eyes of a young girl taken into the family due to extraordinary circumstances we follow the story of the Shins, a family well respected for their practice of tea ceremony. Avery's writing is outstanding. She manages to subtly weave together an unexpected, often juicy plot with an obviously meticulously researched subject. One of my favorite aspects of this novel was the inclusion of Japanese language factoids. I am a huge fan of both books by Japanese authors (well, mostly Murakami) as well as books about Japanese culture. The depth of The Teahouse Fire surpassed all my expectations.

Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine
by Steven Rinella
This is the best kind of non fiction, highly detailed and informative but not afraid to use the word "damned" as an adjective to describe just about anything. As a long time vegetarian, sometimes vegan, at first glance I wasn't interested in this book. I tend to clump hunters all into one camp, meatheads. But this book kept calling to me ("Read me, read me") and so I picked it up and couldn't put it down!
Rinella is a life long hunter who happens upon a copy of Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire. He notices that many of the ingredients for recipes are not the kinds of things found in the flourescent lit aisles of plenty, but foods he would need to collect and capture himself. He decides to prepare a giant feast for his loved ones and spends a year traveling around the U.S. collecting ingredients. From cod fishing in Alaska, to frog gigging in Michigan and trapping pigeons in Montana alleys Rinella's story is either a goofy murderous rampage or the new ecological/subsistence treatise. Four stars!
Also see Holly recommendation.

Z for Zachariah
by Robert C. O'Brien
Published in 1976, Z for Zachariah is the story of a sixteen year old, Anne, who appears to be the only survivor of a nuclear holocaust. That is until the man in the green suit shows up in her valley...I first read this book for an assignment in the sixth grade. It was haunting enough to find a spot in my subconscious. I found myself drawn back to it recently where the book was just as gripping and intense as when I was twelve. I love to fantasize about being left alive after a terrible disaster, be it bomb or plague or zombie invasion. If you are a fan of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, you will love this book.

The Green Glass Sea
by Ellen Klages
Set in Los Alamos, New Mexico, The Green Glass Sea is a fresh look at a pivitol time in American war-mongering: The Manhatten Project. Dewey, the misfit math-nerd daughter of a phyisicist heads the cast. With solid themes of friendship and individualism (and a cameo from Richard Feynman) this wonderful work of historical fiction would make a great addition to the bookshelf of any young girl, math-nerd or not.

The Looking Glass Wars
by Frank Beddor
Alyss, Princess of Wonderland, is back to tell her "true" story and, pardon the cliché, it's no trip down the rabbit hole. This book, the first of a trilogy, is action packed, fast paced, scary and magical. Beddor takes a different slant on the well known cast of characters; the Cat is an assasin, Hatter Maddigan a royal guard and Queen Redd is more evil than ever. Get ready to enter a world where imagination is the most powerful weapon.
Also see Becca's recommendation.

Willful Creatures
by Aimee Bender
When I read this collection of short stories about six months ago I was helpless to put it down. It seemed like a breezy, albeit wierd, read at the time. Little did I know how much these stories would seep into my subconcious, how often I would be reminded of them. I recommend her to anyone who enjoys feeling like they are dreaming while awake, aspiring writers who need a push out of the box (or cage), people who think potatoes are just root vegetables and those sad individuals born with keys for fingers.

I am a Bunny
by Ole Risom
My two and a half year old has loved this book since she was a wee bundle. Now, at the age where nothing is fun unless done repeatedly, this is one of the few books I do not mind reading again and again and again. The illustrations create a subtle lonesomeness that I find slightly heartbreaking. And if nothing else, what could be cuter than a bunny in overalls?

The Time Traveler's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger
I expected this book to be fluffy or overly dramatic or just somehow lack-luster. I was so wrong. Time travel works as a perfect metaphor to describe the nuances of love and long term relationships. For example, the question "where were you last night?" takes on a whole new meaning. what could be more perfect than meeting the man you will spend your life with when you are six and he is thirty-six, except he does not meet you until you are twenty and he is twenty-eight? Love is never easy, nor is it often sensible...it just feels right.
Also see Tracy's recommendation.

Paint It Black
by Janet Fitch
Janet Fitch's second novel is one of the most unique books I have read lately. In the aftermath of her boyfriend's suicide Josie is left to pick up the pieces. She ends up spending most of her time swilling vodka and driving her Ford Falcon around L.A. late at night. At first I found her character tedious but at the same time I could not stop reading this book. What unfolds throughout the novel is a subtle revelation of truths as Josie begins down the road of self-discovery.

Endgame: The Problem of Civilization Volume 1
by Derrick Jensen
"Government has no other end but the preservation of property"-John locke (No, not the one from Lost)
Are you fed up with the state of the world? Ready to stop brooding and take action? Check out the work of "anarcho-primitivist" Derrick Jensen. Every page is thought provoking and powerful. In a world gone very wrong; in a civilization fueled by commerce and perpetuated by destruction Endgame has become my snuggly. (Seriously, I hug it.)

The Boy Detective Fails
by Joe Meno
Billy Argo has a magnifying glass, a fingerprint kit, a fake moustache and the uncanny ability to solve any puzzle he encounters whether he wants to or not. After a magical childhood fighting New Jersey crime Billy heads off to college, while at home his best friend balloons to three hundred pounds and his beloved sister, Caroline, kills herself. Billy's world falls apart and he ends up in a mental institution for ten years. Where this novel really picks up is upon the boy detective's transfer to a half-way house. He must join the working world (as a hair replacement salesman) and deal with running into villians on the bus, not to mention fall in love... The Boy Detective Fails is a magical, quirky, sweet, funny story. And for the puzzle loving reader there are plenty of clues for you to solve on your own. (See decoder ring included on back jacket.)

Manstealing for Fat Girls
by Michelle Embree
I confess. I am obsessed with books about teens and Manstealing for Fat Girls is the best one ever! If you are one of those who read Go Ask Alice six times or watched Heathers over and over and over, then you totally, like, need this book.

Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
This book will stay with you like a vivid dream during a sweaty nap on a hot day. It's a page turner without being fluffy. Usually when I finish a book I just shrug and move on to the next one. But after Never Let Me Go I have kind of stalled out and do not feel ready to move on yet. It's melancholic, nostalgic and a whole bunch of other words that end in "ic".

Mad Cowboy
by Howard Lyman
Join Howard Lyman, a no-nonsense Montana cattle rancher turned vegan, as he explores the dark world of factory farming. Lyman's writing style is informal, unsophisticated and at times goofy, yet the content is fundamentally disturbing. Mad Cowboy will repulse you, it will infuriate you, it will inspire you, and it will change you. Try something new this summer.