An Awakened Life: Uncommon Wisdom from Everyday Experience (annotation)

Author:  Christopher Titmuss

Title:  An Awakened Life: Uncommon Wisdom from Everyday Experience

Publication Information:  Boston : Shambhala, 2000

Number of Pages:  207

Subject Headings:  Buddhism -- Doctrines.
Appeal:  This is a thoughtful work on personal enlightenment.  The author presents his understanding of Buddhist teachings in a straightforward manner that offers spiritual advice without condescension.  The book is formatted in a series of concise, easily digestible essays grouped together by theme.  Each essay is illuminated with relevant, often humorous anecdotes or folk tales that support the particular idea being taught. 
Plot Summary:  This non-fiction work is a series of essays and thus, has no actual plot to speak of.  The essays are interconnected, though, under the unifying theme of spiritual awakening.  Each essay speaks to an everyday experience and how the teachings of the Buddha, or dharma, pertains to that experience.  The essays often contain cogent anecdotes and stories of enlightenment that help the reader better understand a particular element of Buddhist teaching.  These essays are short and often infused with humor or an overall light tone.  This approach serves to create an enjoyable reading experience that moves at the reader's own pace.  This calm and thoughtful text proves an excellent entry into Eastern philosophy. 

Similar Authors and Works:  Bloom, Pamela (ed.) The Power of Compassion: Stories That Open the Heart, Heal the Soul, and Change the World (2010) - explores personal reflections on Buddhism; Piyananda, Bhante Walpola, The Bhodi Tree Grows in L.A.: Tales of a Buddhist Monk in America (2008) - positive impact of Buddhism on lives; Nisker, Wes, The Big Bang, the Buddha, and the Baby Boom: The Spiritual Experiments of My Generation (2004) - exploring spirituality and culture

Relevant Fiction Works and Authors: Hesse, Hermann, Siddhartha (1951); Wheeler, Kate (ed.) Nixon Under the Bodhi Tree and Other Works of Buddhist Fiction (2004);  Roach, Michael, The Garden: A Parable (2000)

Vintage: A Ghost Story (annotation)

Author:  Steve Berman
Title:  Vintage: A Ghost Story
Publication Information:  New York : Haworth Positronic Press, Harrington Park Press, 2007
Number of Pages:  148
Geographical Setting:  Small New Jersey town
Time Period:  Contemporary
Subject Headings: Gay teenagers, Ghosts, Depression in teenage boys, Runaway teenagers, Friendship, Athletes, Goth culture (Subculture), Thrift shops, Supernatural, Jealousy, Funeral rites and ceremonies, Interpersonal relations, Suicide, Depression, Paranormal romance
Appeal:  This eerie ghost story works on a few different levels.  On its main level the book works as a coming-of-age story for gay teenagers struggling to come to grips with their homosexual identity.  However, it may also appeal to other “outsider” groups as well such as those within the Goth subculture.  In addition to its social commentary, the book also works as a straight-forward ghost story, playing upon the common small-town ghost legends with which many readers will identify.  Further, the story incorporates elements of paranormal romance, which will certainly appeal to many readers.  It is a slow-paced, atmospheric read with a few suspenseful moments sprinkled in for balance.
Plot Summary:  A Goth teenage boy has run away and is living with his aunt in a small New Jersey town after a disastrous coming out to his mother.  He works at a local thrift shop instead of going to school and has become friends with Trace, a girl obsessed with cemeteries and spirits.  While walking home alone one night, the boy (the narrator remains unnamed throughout the book) sees a good-looking guy wearing an old-fashioned letter jacket.  Since the narrator works in a thrift store, he is interested in where the guy got the jacket.  The guy seems confused by the question and then disappears.  When the narrator discusses the strange meeting the following day with Trace, she gets excited, and a little jealous, that his meeting was probably with a legendary local ghost.  She wants to see the ghost for herself and the following night they try to recreate the scene.  Sure enough, the ghost appears, but it only talks to the narrator.  Trace sees it, but only for a moment.  Things get even more weird for the narrator when he returns to his house, only to find that the ghost, named Josh, has followed him there.  The narrator is both frightened and excited by the prospect of being with Josh.  When they do finally embrace, the experience leaves the narrator extremely cold and close to death.  He’s exhilarated, but also extremely wary of this dangerous experience.  During the following days, the narrator starts to become close with Trace’s younger brother, Mike.  When Josh finds out, he becomes furiously possessive and attempts to hurt Mike.  Trace and the narrator try to figure out how to get rid of Josh and learn more about who Josh is by tracking down some of the people from Josh’s past.  Trace thinks that Josh will leave them alone if he can let go of whatever is keeping him from passing on, so they attempt a seance to convince him to leave.  After the seance, the narrator can finally form a real relationship with an actual boy and live as close to “normal” as possible for a gay teenage Goth boy who sees ghosts.  
Similar Authors and Works:  Jenkins, A. M., Beating Heart: A Ghost Story (coming of age, ghosts, sexuality); Wallace, Rich, Restless: A ghost's Story (teenage boys, ghosts, death, small towns); Block, Francesca Lia, Baby Be-Bop (gay identity, ghosts)
Relevant NonFiction Works and Authors:  Gibson, Marley, The Other Side: A Teen's Guide to Ghost Hunting and the Paranormal; Zoehfeld, Kathleen Weidner, Ghost Mysteries: Unraveling the World's Most Mysterious Hauntings; Huegel, Kelly, GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens; Basso, Michael J., The Underground Guide to Teenage Sexuality: An Essential Handbook for Today's Teens and Parents

Cherry Bomb (annotation)

Author:  J. A. Konrath
Title:  Cherry Bomb
Publication Information:  New York : Hyperion, 2009
Number of Pages:  290
Geographical Setting:  Chicago, Illinois and other Midwestern locations
Time Period:  Contemporary
Series:  6th book in the Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels Mystery series
Subject Headings:  Policewomen Illinois Chicago Fiction; Fiancées Crimes against Fiction; Daniels, Jacqueline (Fictitious character) Fiction; Chicago (Ill.) Fiction; Chick lit; Mystery fiction.
Appeal:  This book offers a lot of suspense and graphic violence wrapped up in dark humor.  The characters aren’t terribly deep, but still have enough personality to keep the reader wondering what might happen next. The action takes its fair share of twists and turns, but nothing too outlandish and nothing so simple that the reader becomes bored.  This being a book about a cop hunting a serial killer, there are several episodes of violence and the author pulls no punches in his descriptions of gruesome events.  Readers who appreciate dark humor intertwined with a fast-paced game of cat and mouse will likely enjoy this book  
Plot Summary:  Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels and Alexandra “Alex” Kork both have revenge on their minds. For Jack, a lieutenant in the Chicago Police Department, revenge means tracking down and finally getting rid of serial killer Alex; for good this time.  Locking her up didn’t go so well and resulted in the murder of Jack’s fiancé, Latham, upon Alex’s escape.  At Latham’s funeral, Alex calls and informs Jack that her revenge has only just begun.  There are more people on Alex’s list that she’s planning to kill and, just to make it interesting, she’s added more than a few distractions along the way.  The first distraction is to save a man that Alex has tied up somewhere.  The problem is, though, that Jack doesn’t know who he is or where he is and she only has twelve hours to find him.  Adding to her difficulties is the fact that she has been taken off the Alex Kork case because she’s personally involved.  But that doesn’t stop her and her friends from trying.  Joining her for the chase is her partner, Herb; her private-investigating ex-partner (who may actually be her half-brother) Harry and his Crimebago; her cancer-stricken, yet still desirable bank-robber friend, Phin, and a monkey with no sense of modesty.  Though they don’t all get along, they manage to keep their misfit crime-fighting team working as they trail Alex all over the Midwest, searching for clues to her next victim.  
Similar Authors and Works:  Reichs, Kathy, 206 Bones (female investigator, fast-paced, suspenseful); Paretsky, Sara, Body Work (Chicago, female investigator, gritty, violent); Castillo, Linda, Sworn to Silence (violent, suspenseful, fast-paced)
Relevant NonFiction Works and Authors:  
Phelps, M. William, Perfect Poison: A Female Serial Killer's Deadly Medicine; King, Jeanne, Signed in Blood: The True Story of Two Women, a Sinister Plot, and Cold-blooded Murder; Buss, David M., The Murderer Next Door: Why the Mind is Designed to Kill.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes (review)

Author:  Chris Crutcher
Title:  Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
Publication Information:  New York: HarperTempest, 1993
Recommended Ages:  grades 10-12

Eric was overweight before he joined the swim team.  It was Eric’s weight that led him to Sarah Byrnes, a severe burn victim.  They were both outcasts and outcasts tend to stick together.  The difference between them, though, is that Eric can change his appearance, and he’s afraid that he’ll lose Sarah as he loses weight. But that’s only part of Crutcher’s wonderfully complex examination of teen life and the pressures kids feel as they make their way through school.  Crutcher creates a clever forum for discussion of difficult and important issues by having his characters participate in a unique class called Contemporary American Thought.  In the students’ discussions, Crutcher introduces sensitive topics and thoughtfully develops each of his characters in relation to the topics and beliefs that the students talk about in class.  Eric is preoccupied with Sarah, who is currently in a psychiatric hospital for being abruptly uncommunicative.  As such, he wants to discuss the cruelty of the world and why good people like Sarah have to suffer.  Others use the class to talk about their beliefs and related issues like abortion.  Those discussions lead to predictable ends, but that’s the point, and Crutcher uses these discussions to examine the lives of the characters involved, to uncover the complex reasoning behind a person’s beliefs.  The depth of Crutcher’s characters is one of the book’s many strengths. “Boy, ain’t it a trip where heroes come from.” That’s what Eric says after being surprised by one character’s exploits.  Crutcher makes that surprise satisfying, using a bit of misdirection and literary sleight-of-hand to guide the reader to false conclusions, only to reveal that the character’s inner struggles belie outward appearance.  That theme is mirrored in the character of Sarah Byrnes, herself.  On the surface she struggles with her scars, but her inner struggles go far beyond appearance.  She’s not sure she can even trust her best friend with her problems, but trust, along with respect, is something that Sarah and the rest of them are going to have to learn along the way in order for each of them to move on from the problems and pressures they face. 

Kitten's First Full Moon (review)

Author:  Kevin Henkes
Title:  Kitten's First Full Moon
Publication Information:  New York: Greenwillow Books, 2004.

When Kitten sees a full moon for the first time, she mistakes it for a small bowl of milk and tries, over and over, to drink it up.  That is the story in Kevin Henkes' Kitten's First Full Moon.  Henkes' illustrations, with their stark black outlines and shades of gray over an off-white paper, give off a glowing, shimmery feeling that mirrors Kitten's sense of wonder as she attempts to reach the elusive bowl of milk.  The format of each picture matches the pace and direction of the action spelled out in the text.  When Kitten is chasing the bowl of milk, the lines of the text seem to pick up speed and the accompanying page has a series of five scenes stretched length-wise that echo this up-tempo pace.  When Kitten climbs up a tree, the illustrations are narrow and vertical on the page.  Each time Kitten fails to get to her bowl of milk, Henkes simplifies the drawings, leaving a great deal of white space on the page.  This slows the pace of the story, showing Kitten resting and plotting her next move.  Henkes repeats this cycle of action and rest many times throughout the story, giving the book a nice predictable format that children may easily follow.  Children will also love the repetition of "Poor Kitten!" each time she fails to get the milk, culminating in the satisfying "Lucky Kitten!" when she returns home in the end to find a bowl of milk waiting for her.