Mort by Terry Pratchett

Death takes an assistant: a bumbling kid from nowheresville with no real talent. When he's given a to-do list and a bit of responsibility, things don't go quite right because Mort falls for the supposed-to-die princess and alters the plan. But destiny isn't joking around.

It's a Shakespearean-style story with lots of twists, and fate, and love (or not). Pratchett is always very funny, but giving Death his own story - and mid-life crisis - allows a special kind of dark comedy.

Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar

A girl is entrusted with a very special box yet given little information on its use or implications.

When almost-middleschooler Gwendy meets the suited man, she is strangely drawn to the box he offers. She needs to have that box! But then he's gone, and she's left with a million questions and one strange, small box with a series of colored push buttons on top.

This is my favorite kind of Stephen King story: it's creepy and sinister, yet really left up to your imagination to fill in the blanks. Because what's scariest is very personal, and you create your own nightmare with his subtle framework and direction.

Also, this audiobook recording includes a bonus short story, "The Music Room," based on an Edward Hopper painting. Also fantastic, and very, very minimal.

Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Addressed as a letter to a friend seeking advice, Adichie gives a brief, powerful primer on feminism in a changing world.

While it's addressed to a new mother on raising her daughter, the lessons are equally important for anyone. We all impact the next generation, and the first steps to change must be our own.

It's an amazing, succinct piece with a lot to ponder. It's probably worth repeated reading and is truly the kind of book you should buy to revisit annually.

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

Something happened in the backyard, with six adults and three children in attendance, and everybody has the feels about it.

But you'll have to wait more than 200 pages to find out what happened, because the author keeps you in suspense through half the book as chapters flip back and forth between "we still haven't recovered from the barbecue" and "the day of the barbecue."

If I hadn't been reading this for book discussion, I probably would have quit at about page 25: too glossy and suburban for my taste. But I can't actually say I disliked the book overall - I'm gonna give it more of a meh, with bonus points for the quality of discussion that can (and did) spin out of it. Friendship, marriage, responsibility, guilt, sex, mental health - it's all in there.

Kinda Like Brothers

by Coe Booth

Many kids in small towns likely know very little about life in an inner city.  Hopefully, they know just as little about the foster care system.  This novel gives a peek into both those worlds.

Jarrett's mom is a foster parent.  He's used to babies coming and going in his life.  What he's not used to is a baby that comes with a brother who is actually older than he.  Late one night, he finds himself suddenly sharing a room with a boy filled with secrets. 

Thinking of himself as a super spy, Jarrett finds far more information than he should about his new roommate.  The real challenge is determining the best path he can take with this knowledge.  He walks a fine line between trying to help reunite a family and just wanting to have his own room again.  Jarrett and Kevon both learn hard lessons about getting along, acting like a responsible person and family dynamics.

This is, at times, a heart-wrenching view into an all too common part of our world.  It is also a story with a realistic ending.  There's no tidy bow showcasing happily-ever-after: a welcome feature for the genre.

Inexcusable by Chris Lynch

High school senior Keir is a football player, a decent athlete, and an all-around good guy, he says. But the more he talks to us (the reader) and to Gigi Boudakian, the more we start to see there's a darker side to these stories that he's apparently overlooking. And the scary part is that he really, truly believes his own bright-side stories.

It's a quick read, only 165 pages. This would be an awesome book for a teen discussion - I can see a great conversation about the lies we tell ourselves, about social responsibility, about bullying, and about how often athletes are held as above reproach.