Looking for Alaska by John Green

Do you see the gold seal on the cover of this book? That means it won an award. So you should read it. Okay, okay, I can hear you all groaning in terror. Just because a book won an award doesn't necessarily mean that you yourself will like it at all! I mean look at me! I still haven't been able to get through James Joyce's Ulysses and it's won all kinds of awards! But I digress. You will like Looking For Alaska if you like books that are smart, take place in boarding schools, involve elaborate pranks, have relationships, and have a mystery centered at the core of the book. Meet Miles Halter. He transfers to a new school (a boarding school) and gets thrown immediately (and literally) into the strange politics of boarding school life. Things are not looking up when he finds himself duct-taped up like a mummy and thrown into a lake. However, he meets Alaska (a girl, not a United State of America) and things start looking up. But she has a boyfriend. And then he has a girlfriend. And then halfway through the book, everything changes. John Green is a smart, funny author well deserving of awards. Now go read this book!

The Sterkarm Handshake by Susan Price

The Sterkarm Handshake by Susan Price is one heck of an action-packed book. The premise is very cool. A scientific lab in the future has discovered a way to build basically a time portal. The portal takes you back in time in the exact place you are located. Their portal was located in England so they go from a busy urban area in England in the 21st century to a pristine landscape during early 16th century. The scientists are very excited to bring back the natural resources that were still around during the 16th century because they discover that you CAN transport items from the 16th side to the 21st century side. Of course all this is well and good and things seem to be going fine until they encounter a clan of warriors who live in the 16th century who don't take too kindly to being invaded by people of the future. They can't even really conceive of the people from the future and call them Elves. The Sterkarms are often placated by the simple and cheap (yet magic to them) small white pill called aspirin but this doesn't change the fact that they realize they are being taken advantage of by the "elves." Add to the drama the character of Andrea, a 21st century anthropologist who lives with the clan for the purposes of translating their Old English, and her relationship with Per Sterkarm, a violent yet innocent son of the Sterkarms and you've got one action packed, somewhat bloody, science fiction novel. Enjoy! - Suzanne