I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez. First read of the summer, even before school's out. This was an enjoyable read loaded with lots of current issues: sibling rivalry, educational achievement, mental illness struggles, heritage, and socio-economic issues. Whew. Plus, the mystery of the death --and life!-- of Julia's older sister, who did seem the "perfect Mexican daughter" of the title.
Left Neglected by Lisa Genova. This book was given to me by a neighbor, and while I found it interesting, it wasn't as gripping as the author's other novel, Still Alice, which I have recommended many times. This follows the story of a wealthy, privileged, suburban mom who must readjust to life after a serious car accident (don't look at your phone while driving!). After the accident, she suffers from a condition called "left side neglect," which means she lacks complete awareness of her left side or anything on her left. She can't sense that she has a left hand or arm, can't eat food on the left side of her plate, because she doesn't realize any of them are there. It's the story of healing and coming to live with the circumstances.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles. A classic. Never read it til now. About friendship and loyalties and jealousies and betrayals. All set against the backdrop of waspy, private school New England and the patriotic opportunities/horrors of World War 2. This one stuck with me for a bit after I finished, and I went back several times to try to find answers in the text on the central question of whether Gene's actions were the result of intention: out of spite or out of curiosity; or accident: out of curiosity or an accident-accident. Couldn't find those answers; still wondering.
No Promises in the Wind by Irene Hunt. This read was prompted by a conversation about 8th grade texts and her claim that it was boring. I couldn't defend it at the time, since I had tried to read it aloud to my two children when they were elementary ages, and we put it aside never having finished it. True: it doesn't seem to have enough action for a modern reader. Despite being set in the Great Depression and about two young brothers who run away, ending up working with a circus, hitchhiking and riding trains, criss-crossing the country from Chicago to Nebraska to Baton Rouge and back again, it's not precisely action-packed.
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly. Okay, wow. This was also handed down from a neighbor. I had no real intention of reading it, and in fact thought I was in for a story about three secretary spies or something (based on the cover art) but boy, was I wrong, and whew, was it gripping. This follows the storylines of a New York socialite/accidental activist (Caroline Ferriday) working to help French orphans, a German woman (Herta Oberheuser) training as a doctor who becomes the only female doctor at the Ravensbruck concentration camp (1940-1943), and Kasia, a Polish Jew who joins a resistance group and becomes an inmate at that same Ravensbruck and is experimented on by Herta. What I didn't realize until I read the author's afterword was that all of these stories are real. Kasia is a fictionalized version of real women (two specific sisters, in fact) who were the "Nazi Rabbits," the women who were maimed and infected, called "rabbits" because they had to hop from place to place because their legs were damaged. This was a compelling read, and because the chapters would stop at cliffhanger moments and then switch to the thread of one of the other characters, I often (shhhh, it's not cheating!) had to jump ahead to read just enough to let me off the hook. It's one of those books that you can't read fast enough.
Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief by Wendelen van Draanen. A quick detour into children's books, recommended by Mrs. Ingerslev whose family loves this series. Super fun, and reads a lot like my family's fave: the Brixton Brothers Detective agency books.
The Adventures of John Blake (graphic novel) by Philip Pullman. I'm a sucker for Pullman, and this was different than his other stuff. It's a take on the mythic Flying Dutchman tale, but includes a crime and time travel. So Pullman, to up the ante!
Kindred by Octavia E Butler. Back to the school's list! This was deep and well written. I'd put it in my top 10 books this summer. The story of a black female academic/writer (?) married to a white man in California of 1976, who is suddenly summoned/conjured to 1815 Maryland. She does not control the time travel back to the age of slavery, but she is always called to save Rufus, who she is in fact descended from. But as a black woman of the modern era, she must submit partially to the rules of the pre-Civil War South in order to survive. Her modern husband, Kevin, time travels with her, and gets stuck for 5 years or so, while she has only aged in "our" time by weeks or months (details escape me). This novel is lusciously complex -- for all of its characters -- and layered and awful. I wouldn't call the ending "happy." Difficult topics, an excellent read.
We'll Fly Away by Brian Bliss. Also on the school choice list. Definitely goes in my top 10 this summer. Gut-wrenching. I saw the ending coming, but not all of it in it's horrible unfolding. And ending which I love for its complexity and ambiguity and for not being a happy ending, but which was devastating. I don't want to write too much because I don't want to spoil it. I most certainly kept turning this one over in my head, willing for there to be another way.
Shangai Girls by Lisa See. I'd read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan way back (2005? maybe) which was amazing. This was a bit harder to like. I felt like the two main characters were shallow and unlikable -- which they are -- but then I kept reading and was captured. I was shattered by some of the losses as they piled up (can't get over Sam, my heart breaks), and then hearing May's perspective, which also sounds right and true, is so upsetting. The reader plays back all of the events on a silent fast forward, realizing that there might be another way to perceive those. The secrets and horrors of war and immigration and arrange marriages and pregnancies and daily living continue to build into a crescendo that is unfinished at the end of this book. What's even more amazing, in retrospect, is to realize how much research went into this book, and how personal it is. Lisa See's acknowledgments show how many aspects of this story are historical facts that happened to "someone." Her personal website highlights her memoir On Gold Mountain which traces her own family's immigrant history, which parallels this novel. I'm interested to read On Gold Mountain. And maybe one of her mysteries (Flower Net or Dragon Bones).