Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

I finished this book with a big sigh of, "What a GOOD BOOK!" John Green is really a genius.

Aza and her friend Daisy get swept into a mystery when a local, dirty businessman disappears - the dad of a kid Aza once knew from camp. They reconnect, and then they start spending time together. But Davis' parent problems aren't the only challenges to this teen relationship.

Green has talked a lot about the depiction of OCD in this book and his own struggles with mental illness. He worked hard to give an honest view of a misunderstood condition.

Which is why, honestly, this book reads a bit like a Matthew Quick book. That's a little weird to say because, "it's like a John Green" book is its own genre, but I mean it as a huge compliment.

As expected from Green, these are realistic teens with flaws and bad choices and internal struggles. But he's gone into new territory (one Quick has made his home) with this frank look at mental illness. You'll grow to love these kids, and also feel for them.

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie

In a heart-wrenching memoir, Sherman Alexie explores his complicated relationship with his mother and his grief after her death. The book's narrative is expressed through a combination of essays, poetry, honor songs, and more.

There's a tradeoff, depending on your reading format: the physical book has pictures, and you get the visual formatting in the poetry. In the audiobook you miss out on those - but you get ALL the emotion as the author reads this work himself.

And I do mean ALL the emotion - there's a river of tears from Alexie in the audiobook, and I can only imagine how many they edited out. It's sometimes overwhelming, in the true, honest way he expresses the story of his life and of his family. It's so, so good, but it took me a while to get through this audiobook - it's not the kind of thing you want to listen to every day.

The Reason You're Alive by Matthew Quick

David Granger wakes up from brain surgery muttering a name - but not Hank (his son), Ella (his beloved granddaughter), or even Laura (his deceased wife). No, it's the name of an arch enemy from his Vietnam War days, and the time has come for him to make things right.

Hank doesn't understand David, but their living together during David's convalescence will be good for them all (if nobody dies). Soon Hank learns you have to go deeper than David's words to find out who he really is.

I adore everything Matthew Quick writes, and this is no exception. It's a tough book sometimes - David is a crabby old bastard - but like Hank we see there's much more going on that first glance suggests.

David's friends are a diverse and interesting bunch, and he loves them as if they were blood. They're a fun bunch to meet, and they keep the story moving as they aid and support David's quest. The book's title is a bit of a surprise: a story from Laura that's not fully explained until the very end.

The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson

Two New York City kids get to know their grandmother (and learn about their whole family, really) when they're sent to spend a summer in Barbados.

Teenager Dionne is sure Bird Hill is hell; her mother's always threatened with "sending her home," and she's not sure what she's done to deserve this punishment. Her younger sister, Phaedra, is more accepting of the trip, making friends and exploring this new terrain.

It's a heartbreaking, heart-warming story of family and disappointment and love and growing up. Again and again, men prove to be a disappointment, but the warmth and strength of the community's women buoy the spirit and the story.

The audiobook, read by Robin Miles, was simply INCREDIBLE and added a rich layer to the story's depth with the various accents and patois. We chose to read this title for the library's book discussion, and I'm glad we found it.

One of Us by Tawni O'Dell

Danny Doyle overcame a tragic, white-trash childhood to become a slick TV-ready criminal psychologist, but when his beloved grandfather becomes ill, Dr. Sheridan Doyle is forced to revisit his past. On a whim, he finds himself helping an old friend with a murder investigation that has stirred up generations of bad blood and ill will in this small Pennsylvania town.

Scarlet Dawes is the mine owner's daughter, rich and spoiled ... and a complete psychopath. Chapters alternate perspective between Danny and Scarlet, so we know right away that she's guilty. But maybe that's not the real mystery.

I love Tawni O'Dell's Appalachian mining town fiction - she's got such a good voice for the small town people in these depressed communities. This one's got intense suspense and a lot of history - but also a lot of fashion: both Danny and Scarlet love proving they're no longer po-dunk, with all their designer labels!

I listened to the audiobook - read by Nick Podehl and Amy McFadden - and the eight hours passed in no time while I was wrapped in the drama.

Gena/Finn by Hannah Moskowitz and Kat Helgeson

Genevieve and Stephanie become friends online through their mutual love for a television show. It's a fast friendship, accelerated by a fan convention trip where they meet in real life and find they really do enjoy one another's company.

They're both young women (18 and 22) with complicated lives - Gena's about to begin college (if she finishes her exams and papers), has absent and disconnected parents, and has a history of mental instability; Finn is looking for her first "real" job, has just moved in with her boyfriend, and is contemplating future options (marriage? kids?).

The book is formatted as blog posts and comment chains, direct messaging, text messages, emails, notes, diary entries, and more.

While there's a lot of back-and-forth chats that are quick to read, I can't say it's easy: the part that you instinctually want to ignore (the header, subject line, date and time) holds information that helps you work through the conversation. I found myself doing a lot of backtracking and rereading those headers - for example, some emails are drafts that were never sent.

I almost gave up on this book about 15 pages in, but decided to give it another go. I'm glad I did, too, because I really enjoyed it once I got to know the characters better. And it wasn't nearly as formulaic as I'd feared a modern-novel-in-messaging might be - the storyline went in a couple directions I hadn't anticipated. Hooray!

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson

Mental illness isn't funny ... unless maybe when it's Jenny Lawson writing about it.

Lawson is the internet-famous The Bloggess - a profane, hilarious, honest bright spot in the world. This is her second book, and I believe it's less autobiographical and more inspirational than her first. In the first book, Lawson told about growing up, about her marriage, and about their struggle to have a family. In this one, she discusses her medical records and what the myriad diagnoses mean to her everyday life. She talks about the dark times where creating physical pain is the only way to tamp down the emotional pain. She talks about the events she cannot attend due to her extreme anxiety.

And while that sounds dark and sad, this is still Lawson's typically laugh-out-loud, snorting kind of funny, too.

She tells about experiencing Australia as an official tourism visitor - and how you can't just go around hugging koala, apparently. And boomerangs don't always come back, so it's not really stealing if you throw one from the gift shop door and it doesn't return - you're just helping to weed out the defective products.

This book is truly a rollercoaster of emotions that gets to the heart of human existence - we're all just trying to get by. But what a wonderful world it is with Jenny Lawson in it.

And here I note that I listened to the audiobook READ BY THE AUTHOR and it does not not not get any better than this. Period.

Know Your Beholder by Adam Rapp

As musician Frances Falbo's life has crumbled around him (band breakup, divorce, agoraphobia), he conveniently has turned his childhood home into a small community of apartments; this means he has income, friends, and people to watch and interact with, all without ever taking off his robe and slippers.

This apartment microcosm community includes Frances' reclusive ex-brother-in-law, a pair of former circus acrobats whose young daughter has just gone missing, an aspiring thespian, a college artist, and a transient former bandmate, and more.

The book is funny, and also a little heartbreaking. The apartment tenants are a motley crew, and observing their comings and goings is full-time entertainment for Francis and for the reader. It's not the kind of book that everything gets tied in a ribbon bow at the end, but things end in a satisfying manner, and it looks like Francis may get out of the house after all.

The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick

Completely narrated in letters to Richard Gere, this story of a man's journey of self-discovery unfurls story by story. Bartholomew is a little slow-minded and he's never had a job besides taking care of his mother, but at 38 years old he's got to stand on his own now that brain cancer has taken her. And in the course of grief counseling - and a major roadtrip adventure - his horizons begin to expand.

The book's very funny, but a little sad, and also philosophical. Bartholomew does lots of research at the library, so even though the angry man in his stomach sometimes calls him retarded, he's also thoughtful about Buddhism and Tibet (Gere's interests) and his own Catholic upbringing.

Author Matthew Quick has become a prominent voice for mental illness awareness and social understanding because he's such a master at putting the reader inside the head of his unusual and broken characters. This is the third book of his that I've read, and each has been wonderful and eye-opening for me in terms of compassion and empathy.

I really enjoyed this book and was engrossed from start to finish. It's a fairly fast read, but the story and characters will stick with you long after the final page.

My Own Miraculous by Joshilyn Jackson

If having a baby doesn't necessarily make you a mother, what does? For Shandi Pierce, it's an unexpected danger to her 3 year old son that flips a switch in her mind and her heart and turns her into a real mother.

This 75-page short story is a preview of sorts to Jackson's new book, Someone Else's Love Story. It stands alone, but also offers a bit of back-story to the longer novel's characters and plot.

Seriously, this teaser just made me want more. Jackson has such a wonderful voice to her characters and story that I just cannot get enough. I've already moved on to Someone Else's Love Story.

Midnight, Jesus & Me: Misfit Memoirs of a Full Gospel, Rock & Roll Late Night Suicide Crisis Psychotherapist by J.M. Blaine

Often it seems like the people who could most use a spiritual leg-up are the people evangelists most want to avoid. But those ne're-do-wells - the homeless, insane, unloved, unwashed, hard-rockin' and hard-livin' - are just J.M. Blaine's kind of people.

This is a phenomenal book about Blaine's personal journey into adulthood (although he'll always be 11 years old inside). He drifted a bit through young adulthood searching for his "place" through music, books, religion, work, and education - and ultimately found they all slot together. Blaine took a job in the psych ward to pay for college and wound up with a PhD, certified as a therapist. But he's not your mama's kind of doctor: he'll play punk rock hymns on rollerskates, takes Jesus with him everywhere (including the strip club), and would never pass up a game of pinball. You can see how he's got a unique talent to connect with people others can't (or won't) reach.

The book's written in short stories: anecdotes and vignettes that when taken as a whole give you a bigger picture. It's inspiring, and made me very glad there are people with skills and talents like Blaine's who do this kind of work.

Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

Since his release from a mental institution, Pat's on the road to recovery: he's focused on bettering himself through exercise, and he's practicing being nice instead of right. He's sure that the happy ending to his life-movie is imminent, and that Apart Time will end and his wife Nikki will return. But life's not a movie, and the ending's not always happy. Is it?

I'd heard this book was good, and the film version was an Oscar-darling this year. Since even a good movie can ruin a book in record time, I wanted to read the novel (quick!) before I saw the movie.

And I enjoyed the book immensely. We get the story through Pat's perspective, so we know how skewed some of his vision can be. He actually is crazy, but in many ways he's more sane than the people around him: Dad's an angry guy who can only communicate through Philadelphia Eagles football; Mom - really, actually everybody - is lying and hiding things from Pat (you know, for his own protection!) and he's kind of happy just to let them do it; and then there's this chick from down the street who keeps following Pat on his runs.

It's a simple story with a pretty straight-forward plot. Except that things keep getting twisted around, and nothing's quite what it seems. And what's Pat's deal with Kenny G, anyway?

The audiobook narrator, Ray Porter, was awesome and did a great job with all the characters.

Although if I never hear another "E-A-G-L-E-S!" chant it'll be OK with me.

Have a Nice Day by Julie Halpern

Fresh out of the hospital (3 weeks forced hospitalization for depression/anxiety), Anna's concerned about her reappearance at school: Will everyone look at her funny? Will they avoid her? How should she approach her absence? What will she wear? And how much homework has she missed? This kind of worry is no help to her irritable bowel syndrome and anxiety!

But Anna quickly finds that attention span in teenagers is short, and she doesn't really have anything to worry about. Plus, her newly-acquired coping skills may mean she's better-equipped to deal with common phenomena like crushes, parents, homework, and class projects.

Apparently, this is the sequel to "Get Well Soon" - that book deals with Anna's hospitalization - but I didn't know that until half-way through "Have a Nice Day." It didn't seem to matter that I hadn't read the first book; this one stood alone well without missing a beat.

Anna's a regular, likeable teen with the kind of concerns to which many will easily relate. Even if you haven't been hospitalized, most of us still worry about fitting in and sharing our personal struggles and triumphs. Anna was never an absolute nutcase - so, neither are we, right?

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

I picked this one up because the movie looks good (Zach Galifianakisi as a mental patient? OK!), but I like to read the book first, if possible, before I see the movie.

Craig's not just a darkly mooded teenager - it's much worse than that inside his head. Taking the one good piece of advice he gets from the worst suicide hotline operator ever, Craig walks down the street to the hospital and checks himself in. The people he meets and the things he learns on the ward will force a true shift in Craig's head and in his life.

It's a good book; funny, and yet heartwarming. While the book's resolution is perhaps a bit too glossy and pat, much of the book rings true and many readers will find bits of themselves inside Craig's head, too.

The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry

When psychotherapist Zee Finch loses a patient, she retreats to her father's home in Salem, Massachusetts for some reflection and recuperation. But once there, Zee finds her father's Parkinson's has progressed farther than she'd known, and her short visit becomes a live-in caregiving situation.

Since I'd loved "The Lace Reader," I was excited to dive into this brand-new novel from the same author. And while they're not the same kind of book - "Map" is not a sequel or even a companion story, either - those who have read Barry's first book will find a few unexpected cameos here ... Salem's not a very big town, you know.

Several times while reading this book, I found myself gasp at some surprising element of the story. Barry's certainly a good one for giving you what you don't expect - a rare prize in a world of "saw-it-coming-a-mile-away" plot devices.

This one doesn't have the big twist at the end - rather, it's got a series of smaller events that gradually build to a new understanding. I really enjoyed it, and I think many readers will too.

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

For those who enjoy a good plot twist - DO NOT HESITATE to find this book! Our library book club enjoyed it, and everyone agreed they were surprised at the turn the action takes - and that's a jaded group of readers who were caught unaware!

After years away, Towner Whitney is drawn back to her hometown of Salem, Massachusetts when her beloved aunt goes missing. There were good reasons Towner left and good reasons she's never returned; gradually, we gain insight to the back story.

The first time I read this book, I went from the last page directly back to the first one. I re-read the entire first chapter immediately.

Its been almost 2 years since I read this book, so I chose to re-read it for book club. This time, I chose audiobook format. Since I was combing the book for clues that I may have missed the first time around, maybe audio wasn't the best choice; I would have like to read some paragraphs twice or linger a bit further on particular passages. But that's not the narrator's failing - just mine.

Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon

There are 3 main storylines in this book, each about a disconnected person rather adrift in their lives. None is sure just what they want to do or who they are: a guy approaching middle age has wasted his own chance at life trying to track down his missing, unstable brother; a small town 18-year old runs away with her history teacher at the promise of adventure; and a college student is sent into a tailspin when he discovers the truth about his parentage.

I picked up this audiobook because I needed to wash away the bad taste from the stupid Kinsella book I gave up on ... and it totally worked.

I really got drawn into this story, waiting and wondering how the different characters might be linked or could possibly meet up. There were several times I actually gasped out loud at some clue to how they may tie together.