msjamgochian'sinfinitebooklist

Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith from gerard donaghy on Vimeo . This little book was just the thing after a long day of noise and action. Ms. Smith's writing has the soothing effect of a massage: "The cool fabric settles over her skin, and she thinks how this might be the first time in decades that a warm body has filled this space. She reaches behind her for the zipper and feels the fabric tighten around her as she draws it up to her midback, then stretch perfectly across her shoulders as she tugs it the last few inches up her spine. It's never the wedding dresses, you know... Not the death-do-us-part dresses. It's those first lovely dresses: the slow dance dresses, the good-night-kiss dresses. It's those first pangs that we hold on to." Glaciers is the perfect book for thoughtful, reflective readers. Give it to all the quiet, vintage-loving, introverted, lovelies in your life. Thanks, Alegria! Grade 9+

A hilarious yet sad debut novel set in San Francisco, TDDNI, revolves around a series of murders and the life of recent MFA graduate Korean-American Philip Kim. When his baby boomer neighbor is shot, and turns out to be a semi-famous adult film star named "The Grey Beaver," he unwillingly gets caught up in the ensuing investigation, and becomes the target of a complicated, dangerous scheme. Underneath the light is an incredibly dark look at what it means to be Korean-American, especially in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings. If you live or have ever lived in San Francisco, where much of the early action takes place, you'll enjoy Kim's stinging yet delightfully comical portrayal of the city and all of the local references. Click here for a full review . Grade 12+

17-year-old Jamie is madly in love with gorgeous hunk Josh. Unfortunately, Josh and his family are members of The Right and The Real, a religious cult, and Jamie's Dad has fallen victim to their trap. He ends up marrying another cult member, and at the creepy mass ceremony, Jamie is required to pledge herself as a member of The Right and The Real, and devote herself to their leader, the self-named Teacher, who, according to the cult, is Jesus Christ himself. When Jamie refuses to take the pledge, her brainwashed father uncharacteristically rejects her, and, taking the side of The Right and The Real and his new wife, Mira, kicks her out of the only home she knows, leaving her essentially homeless with the majority of her senior year ahead of her. Jamie is a survivor, and in spite of her grim situation (she ends up living in a cheap motel full of people on the edge), manages to survive, keep her dreams of attending art school in NYU alive, and save her father in the process. Anothe...

Dare Me has been dubbed The Fight Club of cheerleading stories, and for good reason: it is a dark, subversive, unique look at teen girl boredom, power, and misbehavior. Mean girl cheerleaders Addy and Beth are BFF; Beth is squad leader and Addy her bad lieutenant. When new beautiful bad-ass coach Colette French arrives on the scene, the squad willingly answers her jump with a how-high, and Queen Bee Beth is removed from the top of the totem pole with a dismissive shake of Coach French's perfectly-manicured hand. As the squad falls in love with captivating Coach French (Addy is completely twitterpated, "driving by her house like a boy might do"), Beth's resentment and need for revenge rises, culminating in a surprise ending that will leave you gritting your teeth. Teen readers will eat this up. Give it to fans of Chuck Palahniuk and Brett Easton Ellis. Click here for a full review. Grade 10+

A sweeping, gut-wrenching, intergenerational, epic story of love, war, and the Armenian genocide that moves between modern day Bronxville, New York, and Aleppo, Syria, in 1915. After receiving a call from a friend informing her that a photo of her grandmother has appeared in a local newspaper advertising an exhibit about "the Slaughter You Know Next to Nothing About," middle-aged novelist Laura Petrosian begins to explore her Armenian roots, uncovering a history that is unsettling and complex. Flash back to 1915, and we meet Laura's grandparents, fresh out of college Elizabeth Endicott, who has accompanied her father to Aleppo as a volunteer for the Friends of Armenia, and Armen Petrosian, an Armenian engineer who has recently lost his family to the genocide. When the two meet, sparks collide, and a relationship builds against the backdrop of WWI and the decimation of one and a half million Armenians at the hands of the Turks. Stunned by the painful reality of her famil...

When seventeen-year-old Eddie Reeves' once-famous photographer father jumps off of a building and commits suicide, he leaves behind little more than a two-sentence goodbye and a host of unanswered questions that are pushing Eddie towards her own jumping-off point. To make matters worse, her best friend, Milo, has taken back up with his Marilyn Monroe look-alike ex-girlfriend, her comatose Mom, who hasn't stopped wearing Dad's bathrobe, has completely checked out, and Mom's annoying best friend Beth has moved in to help them 'get on with their lives.' When one of her father's photography students, good-looking older guy Culler, shows up on the scene, he and Eddie pair up in an attempt to discover the why of her father's suicide, with surprising results. An honest and raw portrayal of suicide's particular strain of grief. Give it to fans of Nina LaCour's Hold Still . Click here for a full review and here for the book trailer. Grade 8+

A sublime book gleaned from another sublime book, The Tree of Codes is Jonathan Safran Foer's homage to his favorite book, The Street of Crocodiles, written by Bruno Schulz . Read it out loud as your hands turn the thick die-cut pages and you'll be astounded by its beauty. Click here for an interview with the author . Grade 8+