Books I've Read & Liked

   I have read many books in my lifetime. Well not hundreds but not seven either. Some I read and picked out on my own and others were for school. You'll most likely recognize them from your English reading list/syllabus. I will give a summary and 1-3 star rating on how much I liked or didn't like. But since I liked them it shouldn't be hard.

1. All-American Girl by. Meg Cabot 

   "Samantha Madison is an average, cool Washington, D.C., teen: She loves Gwen Stefani (who doesn't?), can draw like nobody's business, and enjoys being opposite to her sister's annoying ultra-social personality. But when she ditches art class one day, she doesn't expect to be jumping on the back of a wannabe presidential assassin. Soon the young hero is receiving worldwide acclaim for her bravery, having dinner with her family at the White House, and is even being named teen ambassador to the UN. As if this weren't enough, she and David, the president's son, strike up a friendship that everyone wants the dirt on, which starts to give her romantic "frisson" feelings. Unfortunately, Sam thinks her sister's boyfriend, Jack, is the true love of her life, and she makes a few wrong turns that could screw up what she's developing with David. Will she ever stop following what she knows and start following what she sees?" 

Rating: ★★

2. Choice Summer (Nikki Sheridan Series #1) by. Shirley Brinkerhoff 

   "Oh, those lazy, hazy days of summer . . . not for Nikki Sheridan! En route to her grandparent's house on Lake Michigan, Nikki stops for an appointment in town and realizes that what she hoped would be a "choice summer" has just become the toughest season of her life. It's an intriguing and believable novel that deals sensitively with an issue many of today's teens grapple with--abortion."

Rating: ★★

3. The Count of Monte Cristo (Bantam Classics) by. Alexandre Dumas 

   "Set against the turbulent years of the Napoleonic era, Alexandre Dumas's thrilling adventure story  is one of the most widely read romantic novels of  all time. In it the dashing young hero, Edmond  Dantès, is betrayed by his enemies and thrown  into a secret dungeon in the Chateau d'If -- doomed  to spend his life in a dank prison cell. The story  of his long, intolerable years in captivity, his  miraculous escape, and his carefully wrought  revenge creates a dramatic tale of mystery and intrigue  and paints a vision of France -- a dazzling,  dueling, exuberant France -- that has become immortal."

Rating: ★★

4. Don't Die, My Love by. Lurlene McDaniel

   "Julie Ellis and Luke Muldenhower have always been school sweethearts. Now both are in high school and deeply in love. Luke, a talented football player, is almost certain to receive an athletic scholarship to a top college. And no matter what her parents say, wherever Luke goes, Julie intends to follow. When Luke can't shake what he thinks is a virus, Julie persuades him to see a doctor. Luke's test results are alarming, but Julie believes their love is stronger than anything. Can love survive, now and forever?"

Rating: ★★★

5. Fahrenheit 451 by. Ray Bradbury

   "Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television."

Rating:★★★

6. The Four Dorothys (Drama!) by. Paul Ruditis

   "Every performance needs a little scandal and . . . DRAMA! Spawned from Hollywood's A-list glitterati, nearly every student at the exclusive Orion Academy is a singer, dancer, model, or actor -- with the ego to match. So how do you fit so many budding stars into one school musical? Multi-cast, of course. It's a Wizard of Oz like no other: four Dorothys, two Scarecrows, two Glindas, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Every "star" gets a moment in the spotlight. Meanwhile, Bryan Stark, narrator extraordinaire, needs to shed some light on a more scandalous plot. Dorothys are mysteriously dropping out of the show, one after the other. If Bryan doesn't figure out why, there may be no one left to click her heels by opening night. . . ."

Rating: ★★

7. The Great Gatsby by. F. Scott Fitgerald

   "The mysterious Jay Gatsby embodies the American notion that it is possible to redefine oneself and persuade the world to accept that definition. Gatsby's youthful neighbor, Nick Carraway, fascinated with the display of enormous wealth in which Gatsby revels, finds himself swept up in the lavish lifestyle of Long Island society during the Jazz Age. Considered Fitzgerald's best work, The Great Gatsby is a mystical, timeless story of integrity and cruelty, vision and despair. The timeless story of Jay Gatsby and his love for Daisy Buchanan is widely acknowledged to be the closest thing to the Great American Novel ever written."

Rating: ★★★

8. The Hound Of The Baskervilles by. Arthur Conan Doyle

   "Holmes and Watson are faced with their most terrifying case yet. The legend of the devil-beast that haunts the moors around the Baskerville families home warns the descendants of that ancient clan never to venture out in those dark hours when the power of evil is exalted. Now, the most recent Baskerville, Sir Charles, is dead and the footprints of a giant hound have been found near his body. Will the new heir meet the same fate?"

Rating: ★★

9. The Illustrated Man by. Ray Bradbury

   "The tattooed man moves, and in the arcane designs scrawled upon his skin swirled tales beyond imagining: tales of love and laughter darkness and death, of mankind’s glowing, golden past and its dim, haunted future. Here are eighteen incomparable stories that blend magic and truth in a kaleidoscope tapestry of wonder–woven by the matchless imagination of Ray Bradbury."

Rating: ★★★

10. The Little Prince by. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry/Richard Howard

   "Moral allegory and spiritual autobiography, The Little Prince is the most translated book in the French language. With a timeless charm it tells the story of a little boy who leaves the safety of his own tiny planet to travel the universe, learning the vagaries of adult behavior through a series of extraordinary encounters. His personal odyssey culminates in a voyage to Earth and further adventures."

Rating: ★★

11. The Looking Glass Wars by. Frank Beddor

   "The Myth: Alice was an ordinary girl who stepped through the looking glass and entered a fairy-tale world invented by Lewis Carroll in his famous storybook. The Truth: Wonderland is real. Alyss Heart is the heir to the throne, until her murderous aunt Redd steals the crown and kills Alyss? parents. To escape Redd, Alyss and her bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, must flee to our world through the Pool of Tears. But in the pool Alyss and Hatter are separated. Lost and alone in Victorian London, Alyss is befriended by an aspiring author to whom she tells the violent, heartbreaking story of her young life. Yet he gets the story all wrong. Hatter Madigan knows the truth only too well, and he is searching every corner of our world to find the lost princess and return her to Wonderland so she may battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts."

Rating: ★★★

12. Love, Stargirl by. Jerry Spinelli

   "LOVE, STARGIRL picks up a year after Stargirl ends and reveals the new life of the beloved character who moved away so suddenly at the end ofStargirl. The novel takes the form of "the world's longest letter," in diary form, going from date to date through a little more than a year's time. In her writing, Stargirl mixes memories of her bittersweet time in Mica, Arizona, with involvements with new people in her life. In Love, Stargirl, we hear the voice of Stargirl herself as she reflects on time, life, Leo, and - of course - love."

Rating: ★★★

13. Stargirl by. Jerry Spinelli

   "From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, hallways hum “Stargirl.” She captures Leo Borlock’s heart with one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. Until they are not. Leo urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her - normal."

Rating: ★★★

14. Why I Let My Hair Grow Out by. Maryrose Wood

   "Being sent to your room is one thing. But being sent to another country? Morgan's boyfriend dumped her on the last day of school - it seemed the only thing to do was to hack off her hair and dye the stubble orange. Unfortunately, Morgan's parents freaked and decided a change of scenery would do her good. So they're sending her off on a bike tour of Ireland. But Morgan gets more than she bargained for on the Emerald Isle - including a strange journey into some crazy, once upon a time corner of the past. There, she meets fairies, weefolk, and a hunky warrior-dude named Fergus, and figures that she's got some growing to do-and she doesn't just mean her hair."

Rating: ★★★

15. Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White by. Claudia Mair Burney

   "Two Hearts, One God. Should Anything Else Matter? Zora Nella Hampton Johnson knows exactly where she comes from—and her daddy won't let her forget. Of course for that privilege he keeps her in Prada and Kate Spade, Coach and YSL. He chooses her boyfriend, her car, her address, and ignores her love of painting, art, and the old ways of her grandaddy's soulful AME church—where the hymns pleaded, cajoled, and raised the roof. Her daddy may be a preacher, but some-where among the thousands of church members, the on-site coffee house, and the JumboTron, Zora lost God. And she wants Him back. Nicky Parker, a recent graduate of Berkeley and reformed playboy, also suffers the trials of being a preacher's kid, and he can't remember the last time he saw eye-to-eye with his white, racist, Southern Baptist father. What he does remember—and it will be forever burned in his brain despite myriad prayers to Jesus—is the way Zora looked the first time he saw her. Like Nefertiti. Only better. When they meet at a bible study far from their respective home churches, the first churlish, sarcastic sparks that fly sizzle with defensiveness. But God has a special way of feeding the flames and though of different flocks, these two lost sheep will find Him and much, much more."

Rating: ★★★

   Some I liked more than others but I liked them all to say the least. If you feel strongly compelled to read one of these amazing books, you can click on the title of the book you would like to read and it will take you to a place where you can buy it! I hope you enjoy these books as much as I did. I'm pretty sure I've read them all more than once. ☺

Much Love!