Wolverton Station by Joe Hill

You know those unlikeable businessmen whose job it is to destroy small business? The despicable ones we love to hate in pop culture films? In this brief story about a man on a train, Joe Hill gives that bastard his right proper due.

This short story was published as a stand-alone ebook, and since I'm a total sucker for anything Joe Hill writes, I downloaded it for my Nook. This is the kind of twist-on-the-expected, clench-your-stomach, waiting-for-something-really-bad-to-happen short fiction I used to love from Stephen King. It's not outright gory because it doesn't have to be - your imagination does all the heavy lifting!

Yikes, and yay!

An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor

In this installment of the lives of our favorite 1960s small-town Ireland physicians, the curmudgeonly Dr. Riley is counting down the days until his 30-years-later wedding to his college sweetheart Kitty. Also, the young Dr. Laverty woos the feisty local schoolteacher.

This is the seventh book in the series (I've been a bit out-of-order with the series lately, but I'm straightening that out now I think).

Along with the usual (and always delightful) workaday village problems the doctors help to sort out, their receptionist and housekeeper, Kinky Kincaide, suffers her own a health scare.

I probably mention this every time, but I cannot give too many props to John Keating's audiobook narration on this series. I have come to love every one of these characters like they're my own friends and neighbors!

A + E 4ever by Ilike Merey

A feminine-looking boy and a masculine-looking girl become friends in this graphic novel about love and identity.

Ash is a beautiful boy with a bad life, looking for a cute guy to love him. Eu is a big tough girl assumed to be a dyke - but with a big crush on the small androgynous boy. They become friends over art, but can they be more?

I loved the story here about kids who don't fit in and how they find ways to be comfortable in their own skin. The rough, simple drawing style is perfect for the subject and helps convey the emotion the text may be lacking. My only complaint is that one of the typefonts used liberally (mostly as headers) is super hard to read and I thought it was a distracting nuisance.

The Wily O'Reilly: Irish Country Stories by Patrick Taylor

Different from the rest of the Irish Country Doctor novels, this book is the genesis of the series - the medical journal humor columns Taylor wrote in the 1990s that eventually spun into the fiction series.

In the columns we see many of the familiar Ballybucklebo residents, but in a slightly different light. Most notably, Dr. O'Reilly is depicted here less favorably than in the novels - here he's rough, gruff, enigmatic and incredibly quick to anger; while the O'Reilly of the series is all of those things too, in the novels he's depicted in friendship and with affection, which effectively paints his negative attributes with a broader brush. Also, Doctor Barry Laverty is missing from these stories - instead, Taylor himself fills the role of the young protege and foil to O'Reilly's antics.

Reading these columns is an interesting exercise in perspective - the myriad ways an author colors our perception of a character by the nuanced words used to describe their actions.

That said, I'm happy now to go back to a friendlier, gentler Ballybucklebo with the next novel.

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce

Have you already read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry? This new novel is a companion - not really a sequel or a prequel, more like a parallel story - to that excellent book.

In that previous story, Harold is walking to see a terminally ill former coworker; this book is her side of the story. Since there were several big surprises toward the end of the first book, you'll think you know the story ... but Queenie's got an ace or two up her sleeve, too.

The news of Harold's walk affected Queenie greatly. She's spent years feeling guilty about what happened all those years ago, and she feels this may be her time to get it all off her chest. As she begins to write, we're introduced to some lively new characters (many are other hospice residents) and we see a different perspective on some people we met in Harold's story.

As with the first, this book is WONDERFULLY written and you'll be absolutely transported to her beach garden and the Well-Being Garden as Queenie observes the passage of time and the healing balm of nature.

I don't know if this book would be quite so enchanting if you haven't read the other one - I had a hard time "unringing the bell" of having heard Harold's story to imagine this as a stand-alone novel, but it might work that way, too.

Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge

At just the perfect moment, 12-year-old orphan Mosca finds her chance to escape when a traveling con artist needs a hand getting out of town posthaste. But she may have just walked into a whole new brand of trouble by hooking up with a spy.

This kids novel is set in a time and place much like 19th century England, but with a fictional political upheaval that has resulted in the banning and elimination of almost all written word. Mosca's father was a revolutionary who taught her to read - a skill that almost no one has.

There's lots of political espionage here, and a fair amount of behind-the-scenes machinations that add drama to the tale. Mosca's goose Saracen adds a bit of comedy relief, and Mosca's a plucky heroine who tries always to do the right thing.

I'd recommend it for the 9-12-year-old crowd looking for adventure and a bit of fantasy.

Smek for President by Adam Rex

Timed along with the release of Home (the animated movie made from The True Meaning of Smekday) this sequel continues the friendship of human 12-year-old Tip Tucci and Boov alien J.Lo (whose name was changed to Oh for the film) about a year-and-a-half after they saved the world.

Socially, J.Lo is in bad shape: He's viewed as a villain by his people, who consider him The Squealer because his message allowed their enemy the Gorg to find Earth. On the other hand, the humans view him angrily as one of the recently defeated earth invaders and all-around as a general nuisance.

So when J.Lo and Tip strike on the idea of a trip to see New Boovworld (formerly Saturn's moon Titan) and try to clear his name, what could possibly go wrong? Well, for starters, Mom says NO. And there's that bit about J.Lo being Public Enemy Number One.

It's not necessary to have read the first book to understand this one, but by all means READ THEM BOTH!! This has become one of my ultimate favorite series in the history of ever.

I cannot say enough about the AMAZING Bahni Turpin, who narrates these audiobooks. The noises, inflections, and personality she injects into the characters and story are fantastic - she has brought it all to life in such a wonderful way, that I'm actually afraid to see the movie with someone else's version of these characters.