We Should Hang Out Sometime

We Should Hang Out Sometime: Embarrassingly, a True Story
By Josh Sundquist
Little, Brown, and Company, 2014. 326 pgs. Biography

When Josh Sundquist turned 25 and still had never had a girlfriend (not for lack of trying) he sat down to analyze where he had gone wrong. Not only is this a humorous book about dating mishaps, it is a scientific study that Josh conducted with interviews with past crushes, dates, and girls he had thought he was dating. It even has statistics and charts, no joke.

This unique, and funny coming-of-age story about Sundquist's experiences as a cancer survivor, amputee, Paralympic ski racer, and motivational speaker is well worth the read. Many of his anecdotes are the best kind of cringe worthy and coupled with his self-deprecating humor they are laugh out loud funny.

HBC

This Star Won't Go Out

This Star Won't Go Out
By Esther Earl; with Lori and Wayne Earl
Dutton Books. 2014. 431 pgs. Biography

In full color and illustrated with art and photographs, this is a collection of the journals, fiction, letters, and sketches of the late Esther Grace Earl, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 16. Essays by family and friends help to tell Esther’s story along with an introduction by award-winning author John Green who dedicated his #1 bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars to her.

As someone who enjoyed The Fault in Our Stars, I was intrigued when I saw this biography of Esther, whose life was the inspiration behind the novel. I was not disappointed. Esther was smart and insightful and her tidbits of wisdom are scattered throughout her correspondences and journal entries. The length may seem daunting, but the pages are not densely packed and the reading is quick.

HBC

Landline

Landline
By Rainbow Rowell
St. Martin's Press, 2014. 310 pages. Fiction.

Georgie McCool’s marriage has been strained for quite sometime. So when she tells her husband Neal that she can’t fly to Omaha for Christmas with him and the kids because of work, things fall apart. Neal takes the kids to Omaha without Georgie and he won’t return her phone calls. But then Georgie magically stumbles across a phone that can call the past. Specifically Neal's house in the past. Given this second chance, she hopes she can save her marriage … before it even started.

The premise of this book was unique and also I enjoyed reading about the hard work that goes into marriage instead of just focusing on the courtship like so many other stories. But don’t worry there are plenty of flashbacks to their days of dating, which helps frame the story set in the present and adds dimension to the protagonists. Rowell's approaches her writing in a down-to-earth, yet humorous way that keeps you flipping the pages to find out what happens to characters you’ve grown attached to over the course of the book.

HBC

An Invisible Thread

An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny
by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski
Nashville, Tenn. : Howard Books, 2011. 238 p. Nonfiction

When Laura Schroff, a harried sales executive, brushed past a young eleven-year-old panhandler on a New York City corner one rainy afternoon, something made her stop and turn back. She took the boy to lunch at the McDonald’s across the street that day. And she continued to go back, again and again for the next four years until both their lives had changed dramatically. An Invisible Thread is the heartwarming true story of a friendship that has spanned three decades and brought meaning to an over-scheduled professional and hope to a hungry and desperate boy living on the streets.

Nothing dramatic moves this story along, it is filled with the everyday events of two very different people, but the fact that they are friends is all that that this book needs to captivate readers. Schroff’s spur of the moment decision to to turn back changed her life as well as the young boy’s. It is definitely a story that gets you thinking about the small changes we can make in our lives that might end up having a huge impact.

HB

All Our Yesterdays

All Our Yesterdays
Cristin Terrill
New York : Hyperion, 2013. 360 p. Young Adult Fiction

Em must travel back in time to prevent a catastrophic time machine from ever being invented. Only she can do it, the proof is in the list she has never seen before written in her own hand. Each failed attempt of changing the past has lead to the same terrible present - imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man while a war rages outside. In another time, Marina battles to prevent the murder of the boy she loves. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it … at least, not as the girl she once was. Marina and Em are in a race against time that only one of them can win.

Told in a split narration between Em and Marina All Our Yesterdays is a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice. The author manages to explain time travel without confusing the reader. The plot is well-structured and complex with parallel story lines that merge as events progress and the action heats up. The characters are as mesmerizing as they are multi-dimensional and add depth to the story. A must-read in the YA genre.

HB

All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps

All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps
by Isay, David
New York : Penguin Press, 2012. 157 p. Nonfiction

Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 45,000 interviews with nearly 90,000 participants. Each story is archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to their weekly broadcasts on NPR’s Morning Edition and on storycorps.org. All there is, StoryCorps second publication, is a compilation of stories that carry us from the excitement and anticipation of courtship to the deep connection of lifelong commitment, we discover that love is found in the most unexpected of places--a New York tollbooth, a military base in Iraq, an airport lounge--and learn that the course it takes is as unpredictable as life itself.

The book is separated into 3 sections: Found, Lost, and Found At Last. Though varied in circumstances and details, these stories all have something that makes them universal and deeply touching. This powerful collection bares witness to real love, in its many varied forms. If you get a chance to listen to the audio book, I would take it. It is really neat to hear the voice of each original storyteller in turn.

HB