The Goddess Test, by Aimée Carter

Kate and her mother have just relocated to Eden, Michigan, the town where her mother grew up and where she intends to die after an unsuccessful battle with cancer. Kate is having trouble coming to terms with saying goodbye, and starting over as a senior at a new school compounds her worries. Ava, the school’s [...]

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Hourglass, by Myra McEntire

Emerson can see dead people. Or, to be more precise, she can see people from the past. Sometimes they are easy to identify—the Scarlett O’Hara wannabe in the hoop skirt was easy to peg—but others look just like the living. It’s not until she brushes against them, or tries to interact with them, that she [...]

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Human.4, by Mike A. Lancaster

Kyle’s story begins with what is expected to be just another annual Millgrove talent show. Things begin to take a strange turn when Danny Birnie, “The Great Danielini,” takes the stage to perform his new hypnotist act. Danny, who’d never been particularly successful at anything, claims he was actually able to hypnotize his sister only [...]

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Divergent, by Veronica Roth

People are thought to be pretty complex, but in the world of Divergent everyone is categorized into groups based on one of five personality traits. Each person is best suited to life in one group. If you are brave, you are Dauntless. If you are selfless, you belong in Abnegation. If you are smart, you [...]

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Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

One thing that seems to be drawing readers to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is the bizarre vintage photography that author Ransom Riggs has integrated into the book. It is definitely the first thing that caught my attention, and it does give the book a little something special. You might think that a novelty [...]

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Classical Destinations: An Armchair Guide to Classical Music, by Matt Wills

This companion guide to the excellent DVD series by the same name presents so much new information about the great classical composers and the places where they lived that I thought it deserved its own post here on BFGB. One of the first things you will notice about this book are the hundreds of beautiful [...]

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Classical Destinations: An Armchair Guide to Classical Music (2007)

Anyone with an interest in classical music must see this amazing travelogue, which explores some of Europe’s most beautiful cities and the composers whose lives and music had such a great impact upon them.  It includes 13 episodes (5 ½ hours total time) with over 14 major destinations, including my favorites, Salzburg, Vienna, Prague, and [...]

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The Reservoir, by John M. Thompson

Author John Milliken Thompson created a captivating novel, The Reservoir, after researching an old court case involving the death of a woman in Richmond. On the morning of March 14, 1885, the body of a young, pregnant woman was found floating in the Richmond reservoir. Investigators first thought the woman had committed suicide, but evidence [...]

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A Lifetime of Secrets, compiled by Frank Warren

“I want someone, anyone, to look at my secrets and feel something.” I found this book on the library’s mending shelves with a broken spine. As I flipped through, I began reading the thoughts, dreams, heartbreaks, sadness, and desires of strangers who felt compelled to share their secrets with the world. If you aren’t familiar [...]

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Strings Attached, by Judy Blundell

Our first post this week is from Youth Services Director Noreen Bernstein. Much of what is being published today for teens deals with vampires, werewolves, Goths, zombies, and so on, but there are a few titles that are equally exciting and, even better, they are historical fiction. Strings Attached by Judy Blundell is one of the [...]

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5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth, by Matthew Inman

Caveat reader: The links contained in this review, possibly excepting the one for Zombie Harmony, lead to content that many will find offensive. Dear Matthew Inman: Hi, this is Jessica. I’m a librarian in Virginia, and I’m a longtime fan of your work. For years I’ve satisfied my social needs with your website Zombie Harmony [...]

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True Grit, by Charles Portis

Frank Ross, a fair-minded farmer living in Arkansas in the 1870s, tries to intervene when a barroom fight breaks out one day in Fort Smith. One of the fighters, Ross’s own farmhand Tom Chaney, takes the opportunity to kill and rob the farmer. Chaney then flees on horseback to Indian Territory. Ross’s fourteen-year-old daughter Mattie [...]

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Before I Go to Sleep, by S. J. Watson

Christine wakes one morning to find herself sleeping next to a stranger. She does not remember how she wound up in bed with this older man– she must have been very drunk– and she is dismayed to see that he wears a wedding ring. When she finds her way to the bathroom, the woman in [...]

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Turn of Mind, by Alice LaPlante

Amanda O’Toole is dead. The attacker bashed in her head and surgically removed four of her fingers. Shortly before she was murdered, Amanda had fought with her neighbor, Dr. Jennifer White, a retired orthopedic surgeon. Jennifer is probably guilty as sin, but the police don’t have the proof they need, and the suspect refuses to [...]

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A Small Hotel, by Robert Olen Butler

It is a significant day for Michael. He is sojourning on a Mississippi River plantation with Laurie, his new girlfriend, young enough to be his daughter. Michael expects to consummate the relationship tonight, after his lawyer calls to confirm that his divorce has been finalized. But when Michael’s phone rings, his lawyer has upsetting news. [...]

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The Wreckage, by Michael Robotham

It takes a special kind of writer to see a connection between two disparate events and create a bright line that links the two. In his newest book, Michael Robotham does just that by connecting the global financial crisis with the anarchy in Iraq.  (Please, please, please let it be fiction!) First, a word about [...]

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The Zombie Autopsies, by Steven C. Schlozman, MD

Oh noes, another zombie book! Can the world sustain yet more coverage of the apocalypse brought on by the undead? Well, in this case, it not only must sustain it, but the world will be better for it. You see, we now have a clue, brought to you in this Max Brooks/George Romero-approved journal, of [...]

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Calling Mr. King, by Ronald DeFeo

Being a killer-for-hire isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You’ve got your airport security to get through, the mooks you occasionally use for backup can be unreliable, sometimes the targets are inconvenient, and the wrong numbers–always with the wrong numbers!– can drive you around the bend. It’s too bad that  Mr. King is finally [...]

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