The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

16-year-old Macy witnessed her father's death, but has never figured out how to mourn. Instead, she stays in control–good grades, perfect boyfriend, always neat and tidy–and tries to fake her way to normal. Then she gets a job at Wish Catering. It is run by pregnant, forgetful Delia and staffed by her nephews, Bert and Wes, and her neighbors Kristy and Monica. "Wish" was named for Delia's late sister, the boys' mother. Working and eventually hanging out with her new friends, Macy sees what it's like to live an unplanned lifestyle, from dealing with kitchen fires to sneaking out at night, and slowly realizes it's not so bad to be human. Wes and Macy play an ongoing game of Truth and share everything from gross-outs to what it feels like to watch someone you love die. They fall in love by talking, and the author fully develops their characters that way. All of Dessen's characters, from Macy, who narrates, to Kristy, whose every word has life and attitude, to Monica, who says almost nothing but oozes nuance, are fully and beautifully drawn. Their dialogue is natural and believable, and their care for one another is palpable. The prose is fueled with humor–the descriptions of Macy's dad's home-shopping addiction are priceless, as is the goofy bedlam of catering gigs gone bad–and as many good comedians do, Dessen uses it to throw light onto darker subjects. Grief, fear, and love set the novel's pace, and Macy's crescendo from time-bomb perfection to fallible, emotional humanity is, for the right readers, as gripping as any action adventure.

The Best War Ever by Michael C.C. Adams

Was it really such a "good war"? It was, if popular memory is to be trusted. We knew who the enemy was. We knew what we were fighting for. The war was good for the economy. It was liberating for women. It was a war of tanks and airplanes—a cleaner war than World War I. Americans were united. Soldiers were proud. It was a time of prosperity, sound morality, and power. But according to historian Michael Adams, our memory is distorted, and it has left us with a misleading—even dangerous—legacy. Challenging many of our common assumptions about the period, Adams argues that our experience of World War II was positive but also disturbing, creating problems that continue to plague us today.

When It Happens by Susane Colasanti

In the first chapter, readers find out that Sara is entering her senior year hoping that she'll find true love. She is ecstatic when Dave asks her out. He is part of the in crowd, and she begins to hang out with his friends, at the expense of her relationships with her friends. Next, readers hear from Tobey. He has had short flings with a couple of girls, but is uncomfortable with that kind of relationship. He thinks Sara is his real thing, and he asks her friend Laila to help him win her over. Tobey and Sara become partners in music class and find they have much in common. Dave, on the other hand, is a disappointment to her. When he pressures Sara, she finally realizes that she confused her attraction to his good looks and connections with honest feelings. Through alternating chapters, readers get the perspectives of Tobey and Sara about their developing relationship. Owing a lot to (and even referencing) the 80's movie Say Anything..., this is a good romance with a lot of promise. This is Colasanti's debut novel and, reading her other novels, you can see the improvement.

From Crime Scene to Courtroom by Cyril H. Wecht and Dawna Kaufmann

In this movie-like book, famed forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril H. Wecht and veteran true-crime journalist Dawna Kaufmann offer never-before-published information on the mysterious deaths of Michael Jackson and Caylee Anthony, plus five other ripped-from-the-headlines criminal cases. Based on their long investigative experience, these two insiders offer revealing insights into the following high-profile cases:

Casey Anthony
An assessment of the Trial of this Century, during which a Florida mother stood accused of killing her young daughter, Caylee. At stake were issues that included accuracy of air sampling and cadaver dogs, post-mortem hair banding, chloroform, duct tape identification, computer clues, and deep family secrets.

Michael Jackson
The authors provide never-disclosed data on the autopsies of Jackson's body and a microscopic view of the singer's life and career, plus analysis of the cardiologist charged with his death: Was Dr. Conrad Murphy recklessly negligent or a fall guy for a hopelessly addicted celebrity?

Drew Peterson
Heroic Illinois SWAT team cop or wife killer? Did his third wife slip and fall in the bathtub, or was she beaten and drowned? The controversy over her death led to an exhumation and the filing of homicide charges against him, but can prosecutors prove their case? And what happened to his fourth wife, who remains missing?

Rolling Stone Brian Jones
Was the rock musician's death an accident or something more sinister? And was he impaired by drugs or alcohol when he died? After more than forty years, there is finally an answer.

In addition, Wecht and Kaufmann examine the tragic death of twelve-year-old Gabrielle Bechen, whose rape-murder changed her community; Col. Philip Shue, whose demise was a battle of suicide versus homicide until Dr. Wecht solved the case; and Carol Ann Gotbaum, a respected Manhattan mother who died in police custody in Phoenix.

From crime scene to morgue to courtroom, and finally the court of public opinion, this riveting narrative is essential reading for true-crime enthusiasts.

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

Kim is a story of an orphan in India (the part that is now Pakistan) in the late 1800s. Kim is the son of an Irish soldier raised by locals, familiar with the customs and languages of the Hindus and Muslims of the area who gets recruited by the British to spy for them. Kim acts as a guide for a Tibetan Buddhist priest who is on a quest in India, broadening his knowledge of the cultures of his world and giving him an excuse to travel even further. He comes upon his father's regiment, and the officers of the regiment arrange for Kim to attend a 'proper' British school. Throughout the story, a British spymaster is helping Kim receive an education and arranging for Kim to carry messages and run small but important tasks for him. Kipling's passion for the land he was raised in and his love for the people he was raised with is unmistakable. The language of the book is a little hard to follow, between regional words and the English of the time, but a patient and persistant reader will find the effort rewarded.