Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen

We listened to this on a road trip to LA a few weeks ago. 3 1/2 hours (which is short for an audiobook), gripping wilderness survival story. Like many books in this category it made me want to up my wilderness survival game, and keep matches and water purification tablets in my purse at all times. Read by Peter Coyote. Great for 9 year old boys and 50 year old women alike. Recommend!

The Rules Do Not Apply, by Ariel Levy

I read this review/profile of The Rules Do Not Apply in The New York Times and reserved it at the library right away. Memoirs are a guilty pleasure for me, and especially gossipy ones about someone my own age, living in places I've lived, struggling with problems I've struggled with myself. The self-focused preference most kids have for reading about kids their own age and gender has, I guess, never left me. So I read it, fast. I don't want to give away the details of the story but it was a juicy diary. But it felt somehow unfinished. Too much like reading someone's diary, not enough narrative motion, not enough about the characters, and maybe not enough gossip. I've loved other memoirs much more.

That said, I do love the cover and the Jennifer Reese signature pink & red color combo. And can we all agree that she looks quite a bit like Annie Parr from Roco Dance?

Mister Miracle, by Tom King

A great comic book miniseries about a lesser-known hero, Scott Free, AKA Mister Miracle, legendary escape artist. He was born son of the benevolent god Highfather on the planet New Genesis, but raised in the fiery slave pits of the planet Apokolips, ruled by the tyrant Darkseid. He comes from a group of characters called the New Gods. Knowing the mythology of these characters helps with the enjoyment of Mister Miracle, but the book works on many levels so it's not necessary. The best superhero stories use the otherworldly aspects of the characters, their powers and cosmic origins, in tandem with their very human vulnerabilities and problems. This book begins with Scott, now living on Earth, attempting suicide. He states it was an attempt to escape death, but we see that he's depressed and disassociated. He wasn't trying to escape death, he was trying to escape life. The art of the book is presented like an old television set, often being interrupted by static. The narration is that of an old mystery serial or golden age comic book. This all feels like a representation of Scott's disassociation with reality. Everything feels off, he keeps showing signs of some inexplicable unrest, not knowing what's wrong with his mind, something like what motivated his suicide. He says he can escape anything, as he proves in many cases, but he can't escape this disconnect. Until one day he realizes he can. And for reasons I can't spoil for you, he decides not to. Check it out.

The Ghosts of Belfast

I recently finished The Ghosts of Belfast, a first novel by Stuart Neville.  The story is set in Northern Ireland after the truce that brought relative peace following "the troubles."  The protagonist is Gerry Fegan, a former paramilitary hitman, recently released from 12 years in prison.  He is a broken man, a drunk who talks to himself and is generally considered to be insane.  In fact, he is tortured by guilt and is haunted by the ghosts of 12 of his victims who follow him, demanding that he atone by taking revenge on the men responsible for the orders that resulted in their deaths. And so he goes about more killing until the ghosts are finally satisfied.  The book is well written and gripping.  Bad as Fegan is, he emerges as a sympathetic figure here. The treatment of the ghosts is very effective:  they don't speak, but appeal to Fegan with gestures and expressions to identify the men they want killed. They have the moral force to make him act, and as each is avenged he drops out of the picture and no longer haunts Fegan.  This actually works, and it is very powerful.