msjamgochian'sinfinitebooklist

18 year-old orphan Wade Watts is my new favorite superhero. He's a geek, and his physical world stinks: he lives in a miserable tiny trailer stacked five high with his unkind Aunt (and her fresh-out-of-prison boyfriend), he isn't particularly good looking, and he spends much of his time in an abandoned van in a junkyard. In his real world, which happens to be online in the OASIS, Wade is a champion: he's smart, he's witty, and he's a kick ass gunter. The OASIS itself was created in 2012 by brilliant programmer James Halliday, who has just died, leaving behind a treasure hunt hidden within his virtual reality universe. The first person to complete the quest inherits Halliday's billions and gets to control the OASIS. Of course, evil corporate goons step in, and the adventure begins. I know I'm in love with a book when I immediately send it to my friend Ami . This one was on its way to her in Seattle within minutes of turning the last page. Click here for a ful

From the Publisher: With this outrageous new novel, China Mieville has written one of the strangest, funniest, and flat-out scariest books you will read this-or any other-year. The London that comes to life in Kraken is a weird metropolis awash in secret currents of myth and magic, where criminals, police, cultists, and wizards are locked in a war to bring about-or prevent-the End of All Things. In the Darwin Centre at London's Natural History Museum, Billy Harrow, a cephalopod specialist, is conducting a tour whose climax is meant to be the Centre's prize specimen of a rare Architeuthis dux -better known as the Giant Squid. But Billy's tour takes an unexpected turn when the squid suddenly and impossibly vanishes into thin air. Grade 10+

Another creepy gothic thriller set in a small German town from the author of The Vanishing of Katherina Linden . Seventeen year-old Lin Fox is uprooted from her comfortable life in the UK when her father, a renown scholar in medieval history, decides to move to a tiny village to study the legend of the Allerheiligen Glass, a series of medieval stained-glass windows that may or may not be inhabited by demons. The problem is, nobody actually knows where the windows are, and the locals aren't exactly helpful. In fact, it quickly becomes clear that Lin's family isn't welcome when bodies start turning up, surrounded by shards of broken glass. Ms. Grant is a master of building suspense; you'll find yourself turning on lights and checking that the doors are locked if you read this late at night. Give this to fans of Agatha Christie or anyone living in a small German village. Grade 8+

From the Publisher: Godspeed was fueled by lies. Now it is ruled by chaos. It's been three months since Amy was unplugged. The life she always knew is over. And everywhere she looks, she sees the walls of the spaceship Godspeed. But there may just be hope: Elder has assumed leadership of the ship. He's finally free to enact his vision - no more Phydus, no more lies. But when Elder discovers shocking news about the ship, he and Amy race to discover the truth behind life on Godspeed. They must work together to unlock a puzzle that was set in motion hundreds of years earlier, unable to fight the romance that's growing between them and the chaos that threatens to tear them apart. I enjoyed AMS just as much as Across the Universe and for all the same reasons. The slow build-up romance between Amy and Elder, the Godspeed , and the fast-paced action. Give this series to fans of Glow . Grade 8+

A classic teen break-up book with a unique format. Arty Min and basketball King Ed meet at a party and fall in love as they play show and tell: Mina introduces Ed to her true love, foreign film, and Ed gives her a remedial course in basketball-captain's-girlfriend pageantry. Needless to say, things don't work out, and Min tells their story via a series of objects collected throughout their courtship that she puts in a box to return to Ed. Although the characters fit a bit too neatly into their stereotypical templates (Min comes complete with a boy who is 'just a friend,' aka Ducky), fans of teen relationship books will enjoy this young adult novel from the author of Lemony Snicket, and Maira Kalman's artwork turns the book into something special. The WWBU project provides readers with a chance to share their own break-up story. Grade 8+

A bitterly sad historical novel about a largely overlooked event : the 1941 deportation and genocide of Lithuanians during Stalin's reign of terror. Fifteen year-old Lina's life path is forever altered when she, her mother, and younger brother Jonas are arrested in their home and sentenced to work to death in a Siberian labor camp. The opening scene is pure cinema as Lina's mother, given twenty minutes to prepare for their brutal journey, destroys the family china, smashing each piece on the floor, while terrified Lina forgets to change out of her nightgown as she scrambles to gather a few art supplies. When they arrive at the train station, their car is marked 'thieves and prostitutes,' and their horrific journey begins. Shelf this alongside The Diary of Anne Frank, and Adam Bagdasarian's Forgotten Fire for a study of genocide in the 20th century. Grade 7+

I hope I haven't already said this in 2012, and if so, forgive me, but if you only read one YA novel this year , TFIOS should be it. Here are three pretty reasons why: "I disagree, but here's the rub: The dead are visible only in the terrible lidless eye of memory." "...and then we talked about Peter Van Houten's amazingly brilliant comment about the sluttiness of time, and even though I was in bed and he was in his basement, it really felt like we were back in that uncreated third space..." "There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. But... I cannot tell you how thankful I am for out little infinity. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful." You will laugh through your tears. Don't miss the opportunity to meet two of the most brilliantly funny terminally ill teens ever to grace the page. Click here for a full review and here for John Green's website . Grade 8+

I read FTW, along with my sci-fi book club, just after listening to Mr. Daisey and The Apple Factory , observing the impact of the floods on factories in my new home base of Thailand, and in general spending a good deal of time thinking about technology and its impact on the universe, so it's no surprise that I found myself cheering for the underdogs in superhero Cory Doctorow's latest YA novel. Mala, a 15 year-old kick-ass gamer in India (aka "General Robotwalla), leads a group of village kids working in an online gaming sweatshop, winning virtual treasure in MMORPGs, which is then sold by a local overlord to wealthy gamers willing to pay real world money for a quick pass to higher level game play. Matthew is in Shenzen, and has started up his own rebel group of gold-farmers, cutting out his evil boss. Leonard (who calls himself Wei-Dong), is light years away in Orange County, but spends his time fighting alongside his brothers and sisters in China. Beautiful brilliant n