The Teens have spoken! The Top Ten YA books of 2019 have been decided.
You can read reviews by other teens on the DogoBooks website.
Interested in borrowing one of this year’s winning titles? Just click on an image below to find it in the CCLS catalog.
See all the Teens’ Top Ten books, plus titles from YALSA’s other awards and booklists, in the Teen Book Finder App.
Invisible Monsters RemixAre you looking for an adult choose your own adventure? Are you surrounded by people that are changing their gender identity and you’re confused as to why they are undergoing such radical operations? Well, have I got the summer read for you!
I give you Invisible Monsters Remix by Chuck Palahniuk published in 2012. This man knew how to answer our questions way back then. A male author writing from a female protagonist voice that sounds vaguely like a man wearing heels – you don’t have to get that mixed-up sense of gender identity like in Andy Weir’s Artemis published in 2017 – you can gather up your perceptions and question your gender back in 2012.
I recommend you keep a running tally next to you as you read the chapters in this book – make sure you start with the introduction – a guide is provided, but there are chapters that are somehow included that were not part of the read – I think – and have a mirror handy. The interesting part is that Chuck knew our queries and answered them way back in 1999. It wasn’t until later that he was able to publish it in the way he intended it to look. So, if you’d really like to enhance your reading, you can read both – the Remix version and the original Invisible Monsters.
As an added bonus, Invisible Monsters is currently in development for a movie – this way you can read it before you watch it! Imagine that!
About the reviewer:Â Cosette is an average reader who enjoys reading things she shouldn’t. You can often find her picking up more books at the library. You may see her occasionally lost on the Chester Valley Trail.
This review was submitted as part of SummerQuest 2018.
A Canticle for LeibowitzIn Miller’s version of the future, humanity practically destroyed itself with the advent of nuclear weapons in the twentieth century. This book is comprised of three separate jumps in time (each about six hundred years apart, starting about six hundred years from the nuclear holocaust) in the company of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz, brothers in the southwestern United States devoted to preserving knowledge in a world that now doesn’t trust it.
City of Brick and Shadow
City of Brick and Shadow is original, thoughtful, funny, and asks more questions than it attempts to answer. I loved how Tim Wirkus throws the reader into the Mormon missionaries’ world without much explanation – you pick up on the vocabulary and norms of their lifestyle by osmosis and it’s a different and fascinating approach to a somewhat unfamiliar landscape. Continue reading
When She WokeThis novel was a huge disappointment for me. I thought When She Woke had so much potential, but didn’t really deliver in the execution; it never made it past the “meh” stage, really. For me, this novel was all about the tease. You’re given a little bit of information, but not enough to be truly satisfied, though there were some really good parts—the futuristic world, its technology, the morality laws, etc. While I thought the America created by Hillary Jordan was interesting and thought-provoking, again I didn’t get quite enough of the backstory to really be a part of that world. Continue reading
I Shall be Near to YouI Shall Be Near to You is one of the rare cases where the novel itself lives up to the author reviews and jacket cover blurbs. While primarily a love story (a moving and realistic one at that), I Shall Be Near to You surprised me with its terrifying and riveting portrayal of 19th century life during war. The two main characters (Rosetta and Jeremiah) were extremely well-drawn, and Rosetta’s narrative voice was every bit as unique, engaging, and believable as any in the literary canon. Throughout the novel, I kept thinking, “I really wish Rosetta could somehow share a meal and conversation with Ada Monroe.” Continue reading
The NixThe Nix is a great rambling family saga, alternating chapters between a mother and son. The majority of the mothers’ life is told in five chapters that take place in 1968 and the five chapters primarily about the son take place in 2011. The chapters alternate and often enlighten each other. The story is huge, it tells the dynamics in their familial relationships as well as both of their underlying reasons for how they interpret the world. Continue reading
Under the Banner of HeavenFor non-fiction, this book captivated me right from the very beginning. The title! This is the true story of the double murder of Brenda Lafferty and her 15-month old daughter, Erica, at the hands of Ron and Dan Lafferty (the older brothers of Brenda’s husband). I would have liked more information on the actual Lafferty case; that being said, Krakauer does an amazing job relating the gruesome details that we have. Continue reading
Testimony“Life had taught me a cold truth, that the long-savored dream, when tested by reality, rarely approached expectations.”
Bill ten Boom decides to quit his lucrative job as a partner in a law form, leave his life in the U.S., and take a job with the International Criminal Court in The Hague. At 54 years old, he is not sure where his life is going and he is hoping that the ICC, a permanent war crimes tribunal charged with prosecuting crimes against humanity, will help give his life some meaning and purpose.   Continue reading
Camino IslandIf you are a John Grisham fan, you may be slightly disappointed in this latest novel. It does not have quite the drama, pace, and legalese of previous novels. However, it is a good story and worth reading.
The novel begins with an intricately planned and nearly perfect heist of rare F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts from Princeton University by some very clever thieves.  Although the manuscripts are insured for $25 million dollars, the university wants the manuscripts back and the insurance company also prefers this outcome. Continue reading
