Top Ten Tuesday -- My Top Ten Books this Year

Top ten books I read during the 2011-2012 school year:

1. The Fault in our Stars by John Green. It's John Green. Do I really need to elaborate? Beautiful story about teen relationships and cancer.
2. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. This book takes a lot of flak for its main character who at the beginning of the book is completely unlikable.  Really, she and the high school social scheme she represents are reprehensible. But the book is lovely and redeeming and makes me trust that teen popularity is a phase my students will eventually grow out of.
3. My Family for the War by Anna Voorhoeve. WWII historical fiction centering on a ethnically-Jewish  German girl placed in foster care with an Orthodox family in London. I love the questions this book raises about what makes a family.
4. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. One of only two fantasy pieces on this list, primarily because the story is so great and the fantasy universe is revealed so gradually that it feels like a great novel set in a fantasy universe, not a fantasy novel. In other words, Twilight is a "book about vampires," this is anything but a "book about angels."
5. The Less-Dead by April Lurie. This LBGTQ novel centers not just on acceptance of a gay teen, but religious tolerance of gays, without being saccharine or preachy. This gives me faith in people changing their minds when they're faced with other real, live people.
6. How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely. Funny and irreverent. A failed author working at a company that writes others' academic papers for money decides to write a bestselling novel based entirely on market trends--and succeeds. It makes me smile a little smile whenever someone brings yet another James Patterson or Nicholas Sparks novel up to the checkout desk.
7. How to Save a Life by Sarah Zarr. I really identified with the main character Jill as she tried to sort out her relationships with her boyfriend, family, and friends after her father's death, using her anger and sadness to keep everyone at arm's distance. 
8. REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. Intricate and kind of amazing. Complete with CIA and KGB agents, terrorists, computer hackers, and grizzly bears.
9. Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King. A really touching book about a teen boy coping with depression--his own, his parents', and his extended family's. 
10. Tyger, Tyger by Kersten Hamilton. Fantasy novel with a very accurate basis in Irish mythology and folklore. It's dark, and rich, and awesome.