If you’re a bibliophile, you’ll want to know about these great books.

You will not be able to put down The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  Told in three voices (2 black maids and 1 white woman in the South during the 60’s), the story is about emotional emancipation in the midst of real physical enslavement.  I’m making it sound utterly boring, but if you look at how well the book is doing, you’ll know I’m not the only one.  If you read only one book in the next week, read this one.  Enlightening.  Invigorating.  Amazing.  As the pages turn, your heart cheers for these women.

One that lingers around the edges of your day, long after you’ve finished reading, is Still Alice by Lisa Genova.  It’s the story of a distinguished psychology professor at Harvard who is inflicted by Alzheimer’s…told in her voice.  Sad.  Frightening.  Heartbreaking.  Can I just say that early onset Alzheimer’s runs in my family (my father died two years ago of complications), and I could be looking at another 8 to 10 years of being able to function on my own?  That’s scary stuff.  Everyone I know knows someone who has Alzheimer’s.  This one cuts a little close to home for me, but it’s wonderfully written.

Try The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by C. Alan Bradley if you’re in the mood for a quirky, sassy eleven-year-old protagonist (Flavia de Luce…how can you go wrong with a name like that?) who solves a crime before the Inspector and his cohorts do.  Clever and funny.

And drum roll, please.  As you might already know (from last year’s confession), I buy the Newbery and Caldecott winners every year for Liliana’s library.  The winners and runners-up were announced yesterday morning, and guess what?  When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead won the Newbery (you can read my prediction from last summer right here!).  The Newbery list is here, and the Caldecott list is here, if you’re interested.  Perfect books for exposing your kids to good (well-written and creative) literature.  Kudos to all the winners!

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.  ~Author Unknown

[Post image: Partial of Still Alice cover]