DigitalLit

5. Ash, by Malinda Lo. This is a different take on the Cinderella story. There are many common elements with the well-known fairy tale: Ash, or Aisling, is a happy, contented girl until her mother and, later, her father dies. Her stepmother makes Ash a servant to pay off her father’s debts. Ash serves both the [...]

Flash Burnout, by L.K. Madigan. Blake is 15, with a good homelife, a girlfriend and good circle of friends. Life becomes complicated when one of his friends and fellow photography student, Marissa, needs his help due to her less than stellar home life. Her mother is addicted to Meth and wanders in and out of [...]

Obstruction of Justice, by Perri O’Shaughnessy. I actually started this late last year, and finally got around to finishing it. All in all, it was pretty enjoyable. A bit slow in places, but it keeps you guessing. There’s more twists and turns in this than a double knot. Basically, there are two different mysteries: the [...]

(Read in 2009) Fool, by Christopher Moore. In a nutshell, this story is inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear, told from the point of view of Pocket, the king’s fool. This book manages to be charming despite itself. It’s sophomoric one moment, and very sharp the next. Pocket, along with his dim assistant Drool, are part [...]

Bucking the Sarge, by Christopher Paul Curtis. I listened to this one on CD while my best friend and I were working on various projects. This was one of those “saw it on the shelf, and it looked promising” choices. I had read “Bud, Not Buddy,” and “Elijah of Buxton,” and had enjoyed those. This, [...]

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larrson. Don’t let the near 600 pages fool you; this book moves fast. There actually are two main stories covered in this first book of Larrson’s trilogy, both of them concerning Mikael Blomkvist, a well-known financial journalist. Blomkvist’s stellar career is tarnished after he loses a high-profile [...]

Linda Legeza’s first novel is about a young man’s struggle to meet everyone else’s expectations, and still be true to himself. How can he extract himself from his father’s business without impacting his parents’ livelihood? Is it possible to spend enough time doing what he loves (fishing) and still have enough time and energy to [...]

Sean McCartney brings the first in his adventure series for 8 to 14 year olds to the Learned Owl Book Shop Nov. 6 from 2 to 4 p.m. The Treasure Hunters’ Club: Secrets of the Magical Medallions follows four ordinary 8th graders on a quest to recover two ancient and powerful stones. McCartney is a teacher [...]

I saw a staged version of this a while back (very well done, too) and my best friend found me a copy of the book. Finally got around to reading it. Excellent story! Ponyboy, a “greaser” takes the reader through his world, which in his eyes basically is made up of people like him and [...]

This is a very charming story, mixing real life with magic in a very believable and credible way. Omri is given two birthday gifts that at first are less than thrilling: an old medicine cabinet from his brother and a plastic Indian figurine. But when he puts the plastic figurine in the cabinet, Omri discovers [...]