Pogue's Basics: Life, Essential Tips and Shortcuts (That No One Bothers to Tell You) For Simplifying Your Day by David Pogue

This book is a compendium of those so-called "hacks" they're always click-baiting you with on Facebook. Read the book! Don't click the ambiguous links!

Actually, I learned a lot reading this book. Yes, I knew to use a piece of uncooked spaghetti as a long matchstick. But I didn't know how to make shortcut keystrokes in my iPhone for my email address or my phone number - very helpful when you fill in a lot of online forms.

This is a pick-up-and-put-down kind of book; best to dip in and read a bit, rather than try to read all the way through. But I guarantee there's something here you didn't know - and you'll be simply STUNNED when you discover it.

Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small-Town Obituary Writer by Heather Lende

After interviewing innumerable families in their times of great grief and discovering wonderful and unexpected things about the people in her town, author Heather Lende offers a hopeful, encouraging text about living the rest of our lives looking forward and looking up.

This book is a quick read - either consumed in one sitting or in morsels an essay at a time - full of sparkling stories of remarkable people. The author lives in a harsh Alaskan town full of fisherman, and she's found that you don't have to look too far to find a notable story about everyone you meet. From the fisherman whose tragic death inspired safety measures that may save others to the "homeless" lady who left to serve Christ in England and the daughter transporting her mother one final time across the ferry - these are the kind of people you see and meet in your town, too. It's just that Lende's made a habit to look for the connections and the stories in us all.

It's a habit of positivity, and she believes you can do it too.

Noggin by John Corey Whaley

When an aggressive cancer stole Travis' life before he even got his driver's license, it should have been a shame and a tragedy. Instead, it became one of medical science's biggest breakthroughs when they reattached Travis' head to another teen's healthy body (after that guy lost his battle to brain cancer). But who would have thought that reattaching and reanimating a severed head would turn out to be the easy part of Travis' reincarnation?

For Travis, it seems like he took an afternoon nap; no time passed while he was inanimate. But while he was gone the world kept turning: the reality is, everybody else moved on. And the five years from age 16 to 21 meant lots of life-altering changes for his friends (and girlfriend) - they're not in the same place anymore.

I loved this book, and it's not as far removed from reality as you might expect for a sci-fi story. Because every teen is going through changes (and at their own pace), most of us have experiences where you get left behind despite the best intentions.

There's a great cast of characters here - old friends, new friends, parents, and the one other guy who was reanimated. They've each got their own struggles that help or hinder Travis' tale. In all, a great book about an unusually common experience.