The Rest of Us Just Live Here / Patrick Ness / 319 pages

You know who they are, those indie kids-- the ones who end up being The Chosen One when the supernatural happens, the ones who have the unique powers, the ones who pretty much save the world from the Ultimate Evil?

Well this is not their story.

This story focuses on (somewhat) ordinary kids who just want to graduate high school before it gets blown up.  Again.  Mikey wants to ask Henna out before her family goes to Africa and has a severe case of OCD.  Mel has to graduate a year late while coping with anorexia.  Jared keeps a lot of secrets from his friends, revealing to them only 1) he's gay, and 2) he's part-god (the God of Cats to be exact; cats love this guy).  Each chapter also begins with a short side story on the indie kids' battle against the Immortals, particularly focusing on a girl named Satchel, though there are other characters like Finn, Dylan, Finn, Kerouac, Finn, Wisconsin, Finn, Finn, and even a prince.  Oh, and not to mention Finn.

This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I must say: this was a witty, yet sad, yet heartwarming book all at the same time.  Every character faces a different conflict, both internal and external, while having to deal with the flaws he or she has, making them more realistic.  As the books tagline says, "Sometimes you have to find the extraordinary in the ordinary."

Look Who's Back / Timur Vermes / 352 pgs

I thought the idea of this book was so intriguing, but did not expect what I ended up reading. First of all, the Hitler in this book is a master of twisting people's ideas and thoughts to a point where he seems quite logical. It's almost no wonder that he was elected by the German people. I think it's an extremely poignant book to read considering our current election year. However, this book was first published in Germany in 2011 and was only translated and published in America last year. Because of this, there are a few German popular culture references sprinkled throughout that don't make a bit of sense to anyone who is not intimately familiar with current German popular culture. That said, the translator does do a good job of explaining those references at the end of the book, as well as giving small bios of all of Hitler's cohorts back in the 1930s and 1940s.

The premise of the book is that Adolf Hitler did not commit suicide in 1945, rather he wakes up in 2011 Berlin. The Berliners believe that Hitler is merely a very method actor/impersonator who is poking fun at the long-dead Fuhrer. He is given a spot on a variety show and quickly become a YouTube sensation. The book is definitely satire and is alternately, surprisingly funny but, most of the time, very chilling.

Ella Minnow Pea / Mark Dunn / 208 pgs

This little book was a quick read, but very cute. It is a satire all about censorship and totalitarianism. The residents of the little island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina find themselves having to speak and write without the use of certain letters when the town's monument to the sentence "The Quick Brown Fox Jumped Over the Lazy Dog" starts to disintegrate, and the governing High Council decides that it is a supreme being who wishes  the island's population to stretch their vocabulary by no longer using those particular letters of the alphabet.

The entire book is epistolary with letters written between the titular character and her cousin, her mother, her father, her cousin's mother, and a few other characters. At first, the epistles' vocabulary grow as the characters are forced to find more quaint and archaic words to get around the growing number of illegal letters of the alphabet, but as more and more letters drop from the monument, the epistles go in the opposite direction. They start to sound as if a small child had written them.

***FAIR WARNING*** You will find yourself having to sound out the gibberish in the letters towards the end of the book just to make sense of what is written.

Animal Farm / George Orwell / 118 pgs.

So, I've been in a bit of a classics kick lately. For my different book challenges that I am doing (#ReadHarder, PopSugar, Geeky Girl Bingo), some of the challenges call for you to read books over 100 years old, classics of the 20th century, books you haven't read since high school, etc. I chose Animal Farm to reread after at least 15 years' absence, and I'm so glad I did. I feel like I understood more of what Orwell was trying to get across to the reader than I did in high school. Nineteen Eighty-Four was always a favorite of mine, but I have a new appreciation for Animal Farm now.


The plot consists of a farm in England where the animals are fed up with how they are treated by their human master. They mount a successful revolution and try to govern themselves, but find themselves soon under a worse situation than before when the pigs take over government. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Animal Farm / George Orwell / 113 pages

Animal Farm is a political satire, but comparisons to others are hard to make.  Orwell is even more critical of human nature than Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels, where the weary Gulliver comes home to find he much prefers the company of horses to that of people.  While the work was originally meant to criticize Stalinism, lessons can be applied to almost any human civilization.  Foremost is the pigs' use of "the enemy" to strengthen their status as leaders of the farm.  While a short book, it has many deeper themes that take time to digest.  This is a book meant to challenge the way a person sees the world and it is successful if you are not already cynical about government.

The 100-Year-Oled Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared / Jonas Jonasson / 384 pages

     If you are looking for a hilarious romp through history, poking fun at just about every important figure, this is the book you are looking for! Allan Karlsson is about to turn 100 and he doesn't want anything to do with it. The nursing home is throwing a birthday party complete with the town's mayor and media but Allan has made a decision. After working his way through a window, Allan makes his way to the bus station. He picks up a rather large suitcase and takes off on the bus. No, the suitcase isn't his and yes, the owner is very angry.
     As Allan travels across the breadth of Sweden, we flashback to his life and where he has been. His father wasn't happy because Socialism wasn't taking hold in his country so traveled to Russia where he could help their cause. The father left Allan and his mother behind. Thus Allan's life is set. He becomes interested in explosives and becomes a rather rich business man. He blows up his own house and his travels begin on a bicycle. I am not sure how he does it but Allan does manage to meet just about every major figure during the 20th Century. He first goes to Spain with a friend to help in the revolution only to end up saving General Franco's life. Franco offers him a chance to go to New York and from there he ends up in New Mexico. It is a little head shaking at all the connections but read the book, you will laugh out loud at Allan's madcap adventures.
    The one thing I thought about with recommending this is someone has to be familiar with all the historical events of the 20th Century. One has to be of a certain age or even a true history buff to understand all the hidden innuendos. The author really did his research and Jonasson admits sometimes a bit too much. I found this a quick read. I was very curious about what was happening in the present as well as what happened in the past. Excellent satire on our world and historical events.

Six degrees of reading: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin.

Fobbit / David Abrams 369 pages

“Fobbit: A U.S Army employee stationed at a Forward Operating Base, esp. during Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2011).”

Everyone hears the stories of the conflicts fought during Operation Iraqi Freedom, such as Fallujah, Mosul, Sadr City, Basra and the heroic men behind those battles.  However, little is mentioned about what happens on the FOB (forward operating base) regarding those who sit at a desk for twelve hours a day determining what gets published in the press releases, the incredibly long emails from HQ about whether the enemy is an “insurgent” or “terrorist,” or the true definition of “death by PowerPoint.”  Fobbit starts off a little slow and can be slow in some spots (who wouldn’t want to cringe every time you start to read an email from the higher ranks?) but the wit and humor of the writer with the occasional vivid, nail biting scene (e.g. suicide bomber lodged underneath a tank) is worth the read.  Most might see this book as a satire on Fobbits, maybe even criticizing those who are not on the front lines, but I believe this book satirizes the war in general because whatever occurs during the war, the Fobbits are on it making sure the American people (or the public, for that matter) only see what they want them to see.  To understand what I mean, read the book…

New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2012

Publishers Weekly Top 10 Pick for Fall Literary Fiction

Barnes and Noble Best Books of 2012

Stupidest Angel: a heartwarming tale of Christmas terror / Christopher Moore 275 p.

Pine Cove, Ca. is all out in getting ready for Christmas where ringing the bells for donations includes badgering ex-s for donations, digging up live Christmas trees for the needy, parties to plan, when a 7 yr. old boy sees Santa get it in the neck and offers up a prayer that Santa comes back from the dead; enter a new arrival who glows, Archangel Raziel, set to grant a child’s wish. At the town Christmas party, a gruesome Christmas arises with resurrected zombies seeking to feast on their brains.  They need an angel to rescue them from a Christmas massacre?  So where is he?

A comic satire from the author of Lamb: the gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood pal. 

Apocalyptic fiction