Odd Hours

by Dean Koontz

Odd Thomas is one of the most unusual and endearing characters in modern literature. (My opinion only, but a number of critics agree with me.) The Barnes & Noble website will tell you that he is one of just a few characters in all literature who can be recognized by his first name alone. Odd has supernatural gifts that continually draw him into adventures, usually involving truly evil people and a significant amount of violence. And shining through all the darkness is Odd Thomas, fighting, sometimes almost completely by himself, against that wickedness. Odd Hours is Koontz's fourth installment of the Odd Thomas saga. In this story, Odd finds himself traveling with the ghost of Frank Sinatra and his spirit dog, Boo, to a small California coastal town. There, Odd gets a job cooking for an elderly former actor. He's not there long before he has a terrifying dream in which a young, pregnant woman figures prominently amid a burning, armageddon-like scene. Odd has no idea what the dream means, but he knows he has to look for the woman. The moment he locates her, his troubles with the evil men of the town begin, and he finds himself in the middle of a plot to incinerate four large U.S. cities with nuclear weapons. Suffice it to say that Odd has his hands full for the rest of the book. Koontz has succeeded again in creating a tense, and frightening story of good against evil, featuring an original character, marked by gentleness and grace.

--reviewed by D. Sams

BEING
by Kevin Brooks

This book had grabbed me and was dragging me along by page 2. I had to keep reading. The main character, Robert Smith, discovers during a routine digestive tract checkup that his body is filled with alien stuff. He doesn't have any of the normal organs, but plastic boxes, shining filaments, metal bones, and white and black liquids. He wakes up before he's supposed to, and hears scary men in black suits discussing the contents of his abdominal cavity. He realizes they mean him no good, and proceeds to take over the situation so that he can escape. After being on the move for a couple of days, he makes his way to a girl's apartment whom he had met a year earlier. This girl, Eddi, has the computer equipment and knowledge to create a new identity for Robert, and she realizes she will have to leave her own life behind and go with him, because Robert's pursuers will never stop looking for him, and they will eventually find her. Within another couple of days, Eddi has arranged for them to leave the country for Spain. There they live a carefree life for months, and the plot slows down considerably. Within pages of the end of the book, the men in black suits track them down, shatter their idyllic life, and I realized there just wasn't time to tie up all the loose ends, of which there were many. I certainly hope Kevin Brooks is planning a sequel, or he will be leaving a lot of frustrated readers! However, unfinished plot notwithstanding, this is a great sci-fi thriller and a good story about learning to trust. Being is on the 2008-2009 Tayshas list.

--reviewed by Dail Sams

Not Like You

by Deborah Davis

I have to say that it took me until the last page to like this book. Another title on this year's Tayshas list, Not Like You has many of the things I really dislike in a book--a depressing plot, dysfunctional and angry characters, and too many "mature" references. But I just couldn't help cheering for Kayla, the main character, on the last page, when it became obvious that she would not allow life to defeat her.

Kayla lives with her single, alcoholic mom, Marilyn. For the fifth time in two years, Marilyn is moving them to a new place, because she just can't make things work where she is. Her solution for trouble is to leave. After a year in foster care a few years back, Kayla is willing to do whatever it takes to help her mom out, including helping with groceries and rent from her own earnings, even though she is only 15. For a change, this move is toward someone, instead of just away from trouble. Marilyn has found her own mother from whom she has been estranged for many years. But when they arrive in her home town, they find that Marilyn's mom has just recently died. They stay anyway, and Kayla finds herself making some friends and putting down roots. She meets a guy much too old for her, but he treats her well, and Kayla is smitten. Meanwhile, Marilyn's attempt at a fresh start doesn't go as planned, and she starts drinking again. This makes Kayla furious, and she finally decides that it's OK to live for herself instead of constantly propping up her mother. She steals some money from friends and takes off for Denver, where her boyfriend is living with his band. Some hard knocks move Kayla in the right direction, when she realizes she's done what she swore she would never do--she's become like her mother at her worst.

--reviewed by D. Sams

Check out the new Tayshas list for 2008-2009. Most of these titles are available for checkout at the LHS library. Go to:

http://www.txla.org/groups/yart/Tay0809.pdf

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

by Sherman Alexie

This really strangely named book, was the 2007 National Book Award winner for Young Adults, and is on this year's Tayshas list. It is truly the saddest funny book I've ever read. Junior Spirit was born and raised on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State. He knows all about being poor and powerless. The reservation schools are no good, so Junior makes the decision to go to school at an excellent rural white school 23 miles away. His parents agree to help him, but there are many days he has to hitchhike or walk most of the way. His best friend Rowdy won't forgive him for leaving the "rez" and most of his people think he is a traitor. But Junior is determined to make something of his life, and to escape the cycle of poverty. This book is peppered with Junior's cartoons, most really funny, and stories of life on the reservation, alternately funny and heartrending. At his new school, he manages to make friends with a brainy geek, who helps him study, and gets a girlfriend named Penelope. But it's his basketball playing ability that really wins him the respect he craves.

Be prepared to learn something about Native Americans by reading this book, and be prepared to be touched by a character who has to work like crazy just to get what most American kids take for granted. Although this is a great guy book, it is one that everyone should read.

--reviewed by Dail Sams

lock and key

by Sarah Dessen

Ruby is used to her mother being irresponsible. She's used to having her mother come home drunk, often with another man. She's used to having to help her with her job. She's used to getting no emotional support from her. But it surprises her when her mother just doesn't come home at all one night. After two weeks, Ruby realizes her mother isn't coming back. If she can just hold on for a few months until she turns 18, she will be home free. But it gets harder and harder. She can't pay the rent and the water is turned off. Finally, the landlord gets suspicious, and calls in social services, and the game is up. She is sent to live with her older sister Cora, who left home ten years ago to go to college and never came back. Her sister is married to a wealthy man, a good man, and Ruby's life changes overnight. But she has locked away her heart, and finds it difficult to open herself up to love. It takes the patience of her sister and the friendship of Nate, the guy across the alley, to unlock her heart for the first time in a long time.

Dessen hits the nail on the head with her new novel about teens who learn how to survive when the adults in their lives fail them.

--reviewed by Dail Sams

Twisted

by Laurie Halse Anderson

Tyler Miller is walking on the edge. He manages to maintain his balance by escaping into a video game for hours at a time, and by hanging with his best friend, Yoda. Tyler is doing penance for his Foul Deed of last spring, a major act of vandalism on the school building, by working tons of community service hours with the school's maintenance crew and a local landscaping company. His mother is a nice but unhappy lady. His sister is about to enter high school and is itching to break lose. His dad is an autocratic workaholic there's no pleasing. Tyler has been a scrawny, bullied victim for as long as he can remember. But, after a summer of physical labor, he's bulked up and shot up to 6'3". The impossible has happened. The school's hottest girl, and incidentally, his dad's boss's daughter, is showing interest in him. But what starts out to be the best thing that has ever happened to him in his life, ends up pushing Tyler off the edge into a dark place. Tyler is a character most guys could identify with and most girls could sympathize with. A great read.

The newest book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, is due out on August 2.
Go to Barnes & Noble website for a video of Stephenie Meyer speaking on Twilight and the writing process.

http://media.barnesandnoble.com/index.jsp?fr_chl=eeef1c48b137ca6f7002930b78484d1eab3a0a7d Click on "new shows and interviews" and scroll down to Stephenie Meyer.

The third volume of Paolini's Inheritance trilogy, Brisingr, is scheduled for release on September 10.

Multiple copies will be available in the LHS library.

Stephenie Meyer's New Book Captivates!

With the publishing of The Host, Stephenie Meyer proves she is more than a one story author. It's hard to imagine more captivating characters than Bella and Edward, but the world Meyer creates in The Host is every bit as fascinating, and even more original than the vampire/werewolf world of Twilight. By the use of an alien invasion of Earth, Meyer examines what it means to be human, both the good and the dark sides, and causes her reader to sympathize equally with human and alien.

Melanie Stryder is one of the last humans left on earth, as far as she knows, who is not inhabited by an alien. Then she finds Jared, another "uninhabited" human and falls in love. When Melanie is finally captured and taken over by the alien, Wanderer, she refuses to fade away as most humans do, leading to a strange and complicated relationship with a being who has control of her body. The dynamics become even more difficult, when the two endanger their body to find Jared and the group of humans hiding in the Arizona desert. Though the focus of the plot is definitely on the characters and relationships, this is interesting science fiction as well. Meyer ties up plot complications pretty well in this novel, but there's plenty of room for a sequel, if she wants to further develop her new world.

--reviewed by Dail Sams

Do you need your Harry Potter fix?

There is life after HP7!

Are you still grieving over the end to the Harry Potter series? Don't despair. Great reading options are out there. Check out the following websites for more HP and gang info, AND suggestions for meeting that fantasy reading need.

http://www.bcplonline.org/kidspage/kids_harrypotter.html#ifyoulike

http://harrypotterfanfiction.com/

Don't forget our online database Novelist at http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=uid&profile=novelist for more information about books like Harry Potter. (Go to the library for passwords.)