Along the Maine Turnpike, there’s a rest stop at mile 81. Closed by the state to save money, it once housed a Burger King, gas station and other typical rest stop fare. 10 year old Pete Simmons, on his own for the day when his older brother won’t let him hang out with him and his friends, explores the rest stop and discovers among other things, a bottle of vodka. After partaking in some of the alcohol, Pete takes a nap, and while he’s asleep, a mud-covered vehicle that could be a Chevy or a Ford pulls up, and the door opens. If you’re a fan of King or just horror in general, it’s pretty clear what’s going to happen, but King’s masterful storytelling keeps the reader — listener in my case — enthralled by the story. The ending was a bit abrupt, but in hindsight, it was one I should have seen coming.

In addition to the title story, the audiobook also contains “The Dune,” a short story about a nonagenarian who’s been visiting a small island since his childhood. What he learns at the island horrifies him, but he can’t stop going back. He finally tells the story to his lawyer, for good reason, and the ending to this one is a bit more satisfying than to the ending of “Mile 81.”

Finally, the last segment on Mile 81 is an excerpt from 11/22/63. However, if you haven’t read the book, I wouldn’t recommend listening to the excerpt, as in my opinion it gives away a bit too much of the story. Entertainment Weekly published an excerpt from much earlier in the book and it’s a much better glimpse into the story.

Notes on the Audiobook: As mentioned above, the Mile 81 audiobook consists of a novella, a short story and an excerpt from 11/22/63, so the whole thing is only 2 discs. At a running time of 1:45, the “Mile 81″ novella is good for housecleaning or other chores, and “The Dune” is only 30 minutes. I listened to the whole thing over the course of a weekend.

Nancy doesn’t read much horror these days, but enjoys the occasional foray into the genre. She writes about her 2 boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.

But other then having an overactive worrying imagination, he’s a perfectly normal kid. He and his best friend Gigs have a made-up language and made-up games that, along with time, has cemented their friendship. He’s waiting for the switch to turn on that will make girls interesting and attractive, and that might be happening when free-spirit Sydney moves to his class and they are partnered up on a project.

No one really talks about Ma — not his siblings, not Uncle George (who is really his father with just an odd name that has stuck), but Frankie worries about her too. He worries why she doesn’t leave the house, and begins to wonder if he might end up like her. But Sydney asks a lot of questions. At first he does everything he can to avoid them, but in the end letting himself get to know her and be known by her, helps him to figure himself out a little bit more.

I can’t put my finger on why exactly, but this book feels firmly like a book for middle schoolers and above. It doesn’t have a lot of swearing or any activities that would worry the parent of a child younger than 13, but there are some mature themes mentioned. I love that there is a true coning-of-age YA book that should appeal to ages 13 and up out there that isn’t full of explicit language and sex.

It’s also one sure to appeal to adults who are fans of the coming-of-age tale (like me!). I like that it has a boy protagonist, but because the emotional quotient is very high it will also appeal to girls (and of course he has a girl best friend/perhaps more than a friend).

And if you like quirky — this one has just enough to keep you smiling, though not enough to annoy you if you don’t like quirky (although if that’s your opinion, I strongly feel you are missing out). A father called Uncle George? A cat named the Fat Controller? A made-up language? It’s all there.

AUDIOBOOK NOTES: The accented reader Stig Wemyss added to that element of place (New Zealand) that resonated loudly with this American listener.

Jennifer Donovan realized that she was addicted to audiobooks when she knew she had to replace her lost/stolen ipod within weeks — and not so she could get her groove on. She blogs about other likes at Snapshot.

I enjoyed the writing in each one of these stories, and even the brain-hurting part of dissecting some of them, but sometimes I just wanted a plot! Some of them delved into character and prose at the expense of plot.

The stories are not at all connected, but do have some similarities: a few, including the title story, are set in New York, and as with any good story set in New York, the city becomes part of the story. “The Starveling” was one of my favorite stories, though it was light on plot, in which a man spends his day seeing movie after movie — taking to the streets of New York and using the subway maps to navigate from one showtime to the next.

“Hammer and Sickle” and “Midnight in Dostoevsky” each deal with institutions of a sort — prison and a college campus. They also both nod to Russia, and were also stories that I enjoyed, because the characters completely came to life. What’s more “Midnight in Dostoevsky” was especially effective in the audio version that I listened to, because of the plotline involving peppy TV hosts that the narrator really brought to life.

AUDIOBOOK NOTES: The 9 stories have 5 narrators: some male, some feamale; some reading only one story, and others appearing a second time. Each story is read wonderfully, and I think that listening to them as opposed to reading them made it more enjoyable. Because they are short stories (though some are fairly long “short” stories), I was able to keep the discs in my car and listen to one over a period of time without having to invest hours and hours on one novel, if that makes sense.

Jennifer Donovan loved her English major days, but she also enjoys just slipping away into a book. She blogs at Snapshot.

I’m not a huge Mac fan. My family loves our ipods, but that’s about it. I don’t really care much about the growth of the computer industry or the particular person of Steve Jobs, but this book was riveting, and if you’re at all interested in the changes in our use of technology that have taken place over the last 20 years or so, there will be facts that inform and interest you in this book. I learned that Steve Jobs had a hand in so many things, including the success of Pixar, ebooks, and much more. Knowing what was coming — each new innovation from the growth of the personal computer, to the ipod to the iphone to the ipad — built a sort of tension throughout. Knowing that Steve Jobs had lost his battle with cancer right before the publication of the book lent it slightly more weight, and did make me consider the weight of the loss of that creative and innovative mind.

There’s been a lot of press about how the book reveals Jobs to be an unsympathetic and callous boss and person in general, and yes, that’s true. Isaacson doesn’t cut Jobs any slack on the issue, though it is usually manifested as a result of his desire for everything to be perfect.

Jobs cooperated with Isaacson on this project — in fact he asked Isaacson to author his biography — but did not have a hand in the finished project at all. He didn’t read the book before publication and didn’t read it before he died. Isaacson talked to personal friends and family, co-workers, those he had spurned and those who admired him.

This is a long book (although the amazon page says “abridged,” the Simon and Schuster audiobook I have is 20 long unabridged CDs), but I honestly was interested in every single chapter. Because it’s nonfiction, it’s easily the kind of book that you could work your way through when you had time. You could listen to the audio in bursts, or read a chapter here and there when you have time.

AUDIOBOOK NOTES: Dylan Baker read this book and he did a great job. Never did I get lost in the details or glaze over while listening to something that wasn’t interesting. Baker made Steve Jobs’ thoughts and words come to life, and allowed Isaacson’s prose to shine. Though the audio was log, I got through it within a month or so, which is probably sooner than I would have read the big chunkster of a book. But it was compelling enough — even though it was non-fiction and not a suspenseful novel — that I found myself finding time to listen.

Jennifer Donovan enjoys fiction best, but interesting, informative and readable nonfiction fuels her love of reading as well. She blogs at Snapshot.

I enjoy fiction that causes me to think in that way, but I really wonder if kids get it. My daughter has enjoyed learning about the Civil Rights movement, and she respects Martin Luther King, but do kids like to read this sort of book? And do they understand?

Dear America: With the Might of Angels by Andrea Davis Pinkney is a perfect example of a great story — a school story — about a very strong twelve-year-old girl who wants to be a doctor. When she earns the chance to leave her run-down, second-rate school on the poor (Black) side of town to go to the richer all-White school, she and her family leap at the chance. But then the anti-segregationists step in and try to force her out. At first, her family is fighting for the rights of all the kids, even though she is the only one willing to make the valiant effort to attend, but when the local dairy provider comes out for segregation in the newspaper and the whole town decides to boycott dairy, it becomes a harder battle, and Dawnie and her family end up being resented by much of the town.

I make it sound like a dramatic heroic story, and it is, but I think that kids (girls, really) will relate to her — looking forward to her birthday, competing for an honor at school, making a new best friend, sticking up for her little brother. That’s what makes this such a nice book. The Dear America books deftly weave history and plot, and this one is no different.

AUDIO NOTES: I also listened to this on audiobook, which the library had available before my review copy came in. It was a great version. It’s hard to voice a child, but Channie Waites conveyed Dawnie’s enthusiasm and her questions perfectly.

Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling takes on school integration as well.

This book is based on the true story of two girls. Sylvia Mendez and her family rent a house that is vacated when Aki Munemitsu and her family are sent to a Japanese internment camp in the World War II-induced paranoia.

When Aki must leave, she can only take a few things. Everything else must be destroyed, lest the officials find something that would mark them as anti-American. She can’t take her doll, but she can’t bear to destroy her either, so she tucks her away high in the closet.

When Sylvia moves in, she finds the beautiful traditional Japanese doll and tucks her on her bed beside her own traditional Mexican doll. The girls end up corresponding and and even becoming friends as Aki survives the uncertainty of the camp (Where is her father? Will they be reunited? When will they be able to leave?) while Sylvia battles segregation.

When her aunt tries to register Sylvia and her brother for the school that her half-white/half-Mexican children attend, she is told that her niece and nephew have to attend the Mexican school that is much further away. Sylvia’s dad fights for her to attend, all the way to court in a much lesser known — but earlier — court battle versus the Orange County school system in California.

This short book looks at two groups that experienced discrimination during this post-war time in the US. It’s a little heavier on history than plot, reading almost like that very engaging type of non-fiction that tells a story using the format of a novel, which might make it a good fit for kids who prefer non-fiction to fiction, and conversely it could introduce pure fiction lovers to the wonders of well-written non-fiction style.

*****

Though the Cybils Middle Grade fiction shortlists have already been posted, I still have some reviews to post that I read as a round I panelist. These two books were both nominated.

Jennifer Donovan enjoys historical fiction if the history and the fiction is right, but middle grade historical fiction is even better. She blogs at Snapshot.

Jake Epping is a high school English teacher – unassuming, a little boring, no family to speak of. He frequents Al’s Diner, a hole-in-the-wall that serves delicious but very inexpensive burgers, causing rumors that Al uses cats for the meat. One day Jake gets a call from Al and discovers his friend, who the day before was healthy and fit, is close to death from lung cancer. Al shows Jake a portal that exists in the diner’s pantry – a portal that takes those who enter to a beautiful September day in 1958, every single time. And each visit is a total reset of the current timeline – anything that is changed during a trip down the “rabbit-hole” is reset during the next trip. Oh and no matter how much time has passed for the person who uses the portal, only 2 minutes has passed in the real world.

When Al calls Jake he’s just returned from one of his trips down the rabbit-hole, where he has been following Lee Harvey Oswald in an attempt to stop him from killing JFK. While there he was diagnosed with cancer and after realizing he wasn’t going to live long enough to stop the assassination, he returned to the present and decided Jake is the perfect person to pick up the task. Jake agrees to go down the rabbit-hole, taking on the persona of George Amberson, and ends up in Jodie, a small Texas town outside of Dallas. He uses Al’s notes to track down Oswald, while also teaching high school English in Jodie, where he becomes involved in the townspeople and a certain librarian.

Time travel has its own inherent issues and these are addressed in the novel. Al insists that each trip is a reset, but Jake wonders if this is really true. Repeated throughout the book is the idea that the past is obdurate – it doesn’t want to be changed, and any attempt Jake makes to do so is not easily done. Jake also experiences small coincidences that he chalks up to the past harmonizing, but may be more than they seem.

While this isn’t a horror book, there are bad people and they do bad things, so 11/22/63 is not for the faint of heart. There’s also an undercurrent of creepiness that accompanies Jake’s foray into the past. If you don’t mind a few bad things and like time travel and what-if stories, then I highly recommend this novel, which I’ve added to our Five Star Reads.

Notes on the audiobook: I received both the hardcover and MP3 versions of 11/22/63, which greatly increased my reading speed. With a running time of 31 hours this is a great audiobook for a long commute or while doing housework – I listened while wrapping Christmas presents. Narrator Craig Wasson did a great job with both Maine and Texas accents and really brought the character of Jake to life.

Nancy enjoys the comforts and technologies we have today, but wonders if life really was simpler in the 50s. She writes about her 2 boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.

The ONLY reason I got this audiobook was because it was by Maureen Johnson, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed her Suite Scarlett books. The blurb of this book said it was funny, so I trusted that somehow Jack the Ripper and foggy ghostly looking covers could be enjoyable in a funny way.

And it was!

Basically it’s a boarding school story. Rory is a New Orleans’ girl whose parents are living in Bath, so she opts to go to boarding school in London. She deals with the culture clash, Alpha girls, and everything you’d expect in the midst of some murders that are committed in the area, emulating Jack the Ripper.

A quick look at the description made me think that part of the story actually took place in 1888, but it doesn’t. It’s a contemporary story with a mostly realistic setting. That is, until the murder is captured on camera — or NOT captured, as the case may be. How can that be? I won’t spoil the plot twist, except to say that some paranormal elements come into play.

There’s a lot of humor, some romance, and some paranormal suspense. A great mix.

This is the start of the “Shades of London” series, but this novel stands fully on its own. I’m not sure where it will go next, but I do hope that some of the characters return.

AUDIO NOTES: This was well-read by Nicola Barber. It was pretty understated, and her British/New Orleans accents weren’t all spot on, but I enjoyed listening to it.

Jennifer Donovan loves listening to stories as much as she likes reading them. Audiobooks make her happy. She blogs at Snapshot.

Based on my sister’s experience, I accepted review copies of her first (I believe) adult novel Triangles, and shortly thereafter, I was offered an audiobook of a new YA book Perfect.

I’m going to put my CONTENT NOTE right up here at the front. These books are both more explicit than what I usually read, much less recommend. So if you are sensitive to language or sexual content, you’ll want to skip these. Additionally, though it’s technically a YA book, the characters in Perfect are mostly high school seniors, and I think it’s more a YA in the sense of 17 – 20 sort of book, even though the publisher’s recommendation says 14 and up, so I’m not even putting my High School YA label on this post.

I started Perfect first (having more room in my audio line-up than review books TBR list). The story and the audio worked seamlessly together for me, each adding to the overall effect. You couldn’t “hear” the poetry, since it’s free verse, except in repetition and the way that one chapter led into the next, even though there’s an abrupt change from chapter to chapter as the narrator changes. We hear from __ narrators, and get to know a lot about a few other characters as well. The theme of the novel is what a strain being “perfect” is on these young adults. They have to live up to their own expectations, not to mention those of their parents and classmates and society in general. For each of them, the strain leads them to act out or rebel against that notion in different ways:

• Cara — the definition of perfect. Beautiful, a good student, a popular cheerleader, not too outspoken. But the recent attempted suicide of her twin brother Conner has caused her to question everything — her family, her relationship with her boyfriend, her friends. Why everyone really likes her is truly tested when she gets a girlfriend.
• Sean — the boyfriend, also a perfect specimen, but it’s a ruse. He is afraid he won’t perform as a baseball slugger without the steroids he’s been using. Cara dumping him, her lifestyle choice, and the chemicals all interact to disastrous results, complete with consequences.
• Kendra — the beauty queen and model. Perfect beauty, at least as far as the camera. But she wonders if she’s always be a pretty face, and is willing to go to extreme lengths to stay hot, including anorexia and plastic surgery.
• Andre — the perfect son. Unfortunately the definition of perfect for his affluent African American parents means achieving success in a worldly way. There’s no room for his interest in art and classical dance. When he falls for Kendra’s younger sister Jenna, he realizes that love does not conquer all.

AUDIO NOTE: Though I missed some of the visual beauty and layering of Hopkins’ free verse by listening to this (look at the search inside feature of either book to see some examples of this), the audio version was fantastic. These characters are raw and honest, and hearing their stories voiced made them even more powerful. Each narrator had a different reader, which I like in books that switch POV. Aya Cash (Cara), Heather Lind (Kendra), Aaron Tveit (Sean) and Tristan Wilds (Andre) each do an impressive job translating this text to audio. Highly recommended.

CONTENT NOTE: Like I said, this book was pretty explicit and hard to read/listen to at times. However, I saw it almost as a case study into this generation. I believe that all of these issues are common to students, and I love when literature offers me a glimpse into the minds of people, whether fictitious or real. My daughter will be entering high school next year, so by default she will be interacting with much older students. It’s scary, but it’s the truth. And I want to be able to relate to the struggles she’s seeing right in front of her, and have compassion on those kids and their bad choices. I think that ultimately, this was easier to read than Triangles, because teenagers are stupid and make stupid choices. Actually, the review of that book below proves that adults make stupid choices too.

I didn’t relate to the characters in this book as much. Or maybe since they were women my age with kids near my own daughter’s age — the issues of marital infidelity, unhappiness, teen pregnancy, loyal and disloyal friends, the hardship of caring for an ill child — maybe they just struck too close to home for me to enjoy it as fiction.

This content is definitely more explicit than I usually read (or would read again), specifically Holly’s marital straying and her attempt to write erotica, which is my biggest reservation. But I do like Ellen Hopkins’ style, and look forward to reading more of her books, if the content appeals to me. She has the ability to express the wants and needs and inmost thoughts of her characters in a way that is impressive.

NOTE: When you look at the page count of her books, you might be overwhelmed, but remember that it’s free verse, unrhymed, so it reads pretty quickly. The verse isn’t difficult to read (and when listened to you don’t even hear the verse), but the poetic form does add a layer to the text.

Jennifer Donovan loves to read. She likes to write about reading too, so she is very thankful for her role here at 5 Minutes for Books and has even started blogging regularly at Snapshot again!!