Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a teenage boy? Well, if you have, this is a book for you.

Tyler Miller is an overlooked, average teenage boy until he pulls a prank at school at the end of his junior year. Suddenly, he's notorious, but also facing all of the consequences that come with getting in trouble.

The first page of the book states: "NOTE: THIS IS NOT A BOOK FOR CHILDREN." This is true. I found this book in the Young Adult section, but I would not recommend it for young teens. It's heavy and has mature themes. I would recommend this book to adults though. It's well-written from a very different perspective.

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs

I read The Year of Living Biblically, also by A.J. Jacobs, and loved it. It was so funny.


This one, about him reading through the Encyclopedia Britannica (33,000 pages!), was not as entertaining. In fact, it was downright boring at times.

Since I check most of my books out of the library, I can tell how into a book I am by how many times I have to renew it. Some books are a breeze and no renewal is necessary. My library allows for two renewals, and I had to renew this book both times. That means it took me nine weeks to finish it.


But I haven't given up on A.J. Jacobs. His new book, Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection is coming out in April, and I'll probably read it.

The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery by David Benner

Most of my friends are also avid readers. I love to ask them for book recommendations. And when I visit them, I love to spend time looking at their bookshelves.

On a recent trip down to southern California, I met up with my friend, Lisa, at Bruxie (which was amazing!) and she recommended this little gem of a book to me. It's about how knowing your true, authentic self is intertwined with knowing God and who He made you to be, so it's important to know yourself well and to also know God well.

It's a short, little book, and I appreciated the few exercises that are suggested. I've been putting some of them into practice, and it's been pretty cool.

The Bungalow by Sarah Jio

This is by the same author of The Violets of March that I recently reviewed. Yah, I know. I didn't give that one a great review, so what made me pick this one up? Sometimes you feel like a nut.

It's 1942, and Anne is about to marry a guy who is right on paper, but maybe not so right in her heart. She graduates from nursing school, decides to postpone the wedding, enlist, and head to the Pacific island of Bora Bora. There, she finds new love, excitement, adventure, etc. etc. etc.

Just like The Violets of March, this one was a page-turner. I read it in an afternoon with a cat by my side. Again, it was like a bad made-for-TV movie. Like I said, sometimes you feel like a nut.

Revelations of a Single Woman: Loving the Life I Didn't Expect by Connally Gilliam

This was recommended to me by a friend who is a single woman in her 30s. She claimed that it was the best Christian book she's read on singleness.

This book is a series of essays about living life with unfulfilled expectations/dreams, or, more simply put, being single when you don't want to be single. She writes about how difficult it is to live as a single woman in a world/culture/church in which being married with kids is seen as the norm. She touches on a variety of subjects like career, friends, and interacting with men (both single and married).

There are nuggets of good advice hidden in this book, but for me, the writing was distracting. Sometimes although I knew the topic and title of the chapter, I was confused about what the author was writing about. The writing seemed to lack cohesion and clarity, and that distracted me from the overall book.

Also, I think the title might be a bit off...Gilliam seems to definitely be LIVING life and trying to enjoy where she's at, but I didn't really get the sense that she is LOVING where she's at right now. Who knows.

Eh, I can't bring myself to tell you to check this one out, mostly because of the poor writing. But if you can overlook that, then go ahead.

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

I was excited to read this one since I LOVED Mudbound, a book by the same author. However, I was quite disappointed with this one. It started out well - it's a dystopian novel about Hannah who aborts her child and finds herself as a Chrome, meaning that she's dyed red to indicate that she committed murder.

Then, the book started to go downhill. The writing was great, and it was a pretty quick read, but the plot was lacking and kinda boring.

I can't recommend this book. It's not really that awful, but I'd feel misleading if you were actually convinced that you should go and pick this one up.

I gave this book to my sister (who recommended Mudbound to me) for her birthday before I had a chance to read it, so sorry to my sister.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Lia and her ex-best friend Cassie are "wintergirls," skinny, skinny girls with eating disorders competing to see who can be the skinniest. Written from Lia's perspective, this book goes into what it's like as an older teenage girl dealing with a messy family (divorce, step-sister, step-mom, unavailable mom) and a messy life and what she does to try to escape the pain.

This book is classified under "Young Adult," but I think it could be good reading for anyone. It's heavy and chilling, and well-written. Highly recommended.