Book Shop Blog
We're blogging reviews and more. Why not sign up for the blog rss feed so you don't miss any?
Reviews are every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday, from staff, local writers, and from our fantastic Teen Picks reviewers. Our Teen Pickers are doing their best to stay on top of the Advanced Reading Copies we get, so we can give you reviews the second the book comes out!
Check out their favorite books on GoodReads here: Clare, Chase, Jenny, Marybeth, Kathryn, and Cynthia.
They're doing a super job staying on top of the freshest new books out there.
Our other reviewers can also be found on GoodReads, and they include local writers K. Bird Lincoln and Tina, former SHBS owner Luanne, and of course, other staff picks from the St. Helens Book Shop.
Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson, teen pick review by Clare K.
Oh, did the tears flow in this one! This book was heart-wrenching. In Fever 1793, I learned about the "yellow" fever and how horribly sad it was. The author cleverly intertwined the facts about the yellow fever with the misadventures of fictional Mattie Cook and her friends. You feel like you are right there! Very good.
Merry Christmas!
We will close early today at 3, and will be closed tomorrow for Christmas. We will reopen at our normal time on the 26th, and reviews will return Monday. We hope you have a wonderful holiday with family and friends.
Happy Holidays to everyone from the St. Helens Book Shop!
Melendy Quartet, recommended by Tina
Wonderful series about the family life of four interesting children. Enright is one of those authors who writes believably and well about the everyday adventures of a family, much like Jeanne Birdsall's Penderwicks series. Fantastic 40's era illustrations.
Good Dog Carl at the Bookstore!
Keep an eye on the blog - we'll post more pictures on Thursday...
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney, teen pick review by Kelly C.
Have you ever walked into an airport or store and seen the missing child posters plastered to a cork board or the wall? Have you ever wondered what the parents must feel or if the child is alive?
Imagine walking into a store and seeing you on that wall, you as a small child kidnapped.
In that one little moment everything seems to cave in on you. It can’t be possible. For 15 year old Janie Johnson recognizing her face on the back of milk carton, it is. As Janie slowly begins to learn more and more about her mother and father the more Janie begins to question and the more the truth begins to unfold.
When I picked up this book it seemed like a book that would be far-fetched, but believe me, it’s far from that. You’ll find that after reading this book it’s not so impossible that it could be your face on that milk carton.
Seduced by Shadows by Jessa Slade, reviewed by K. Bird Lincoln
Seduced by Shadows suprised me in how much I enjoyed the style of writing and characters despite some of the scene to scene action not quite making sense for me.
A counselor to the dying gets posessed by a demon (reformed demon called a teshuva), joins a group of demon-possessed guys fighting bad demons (called djinn), and finds new ways to destroy the bad guys through her bond with one of the hunky demon hunters.
The writing style was much more stream-of-consciousness then I'm used to in this genre of urban fantasy/paranormal romance. I quite enjoyed it, although sometimes it made the flow of the story slightly unclear.
I also enjoyed the emphasis on philosophical questions regarding death and dying and souls. The main character comes into the story with a lot of questions about death and evil and while those questions aren't exactly answered, the consideration of the questions, and how the main character ends up changing things by making friends with an "angel" posessed human, does bring interesting considerations into play.
I hadn't heard much about Jessa Slade, the author, before this, but she's now on my automatically request from Library list.
Best SF Novel of 2009
We want to direct your attention to another bookstore for a moment. Why? Because Barnes and Noble has named Ken Scholes' book Lamentation the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy book of the year!
Not only that, but if you scroll down, you'll see that Ken's second book, Canticle, comes in as fifth best SF/F book of the year.
That's right, Ken beat out himself, and got two books in the Top Five of the year.
If you're curious about his books or bio you can check out the page on this local author right here.
Way to go, Ken!
Schooled by Gordon Korman, teen pick review by Clare K.
This was just another great book by Gordon Korman. I laughed a lot and was reminded of Jerry Spinelli's "Stargirl" in some parts. In this fun story, a boy who is somewhat of a hippie goes to a public school. He runs for president - he is unaware that being nominated is an insult where he goes to school - and many changes occur in him. I will probably read this awesome book again and again - it's just that good!
(Tina adds: Gordon Korman writes a lot of great, funny-but-realistic books for boys - check him out if you have boys to buy for on your holiday list.)
