Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 2001

Here are 18 delicious stories relating the career of Doyle’s least known hero. The unfortunate events at Reichenbach Falls which (temporarily, as it turned out) killed off Sherlock Holmes were intended to permit Doyle more time to write about Brigadier Etienne Gerard, an officer of Napoleon’s Hussars, who sees action from Spain to Russia. Along the way, Gerard meets many of the great soldiers of the era. From the start we find ourselves rooting for this most engaging of Frenchmen.  A bantam rooster of a man, he is brave, reckless, and resourceful to a fault. He lives only to be gallant to the ladies, and to bring glory to his Emperor. And if a little of that glory falls to himself, well, that is just the way it should be. Our soldier thinks a great deal of himself. Quick to take offense, he is endearingly vain and not the sharpest of swords. Our hero is oblivious to the fact that he cuts a bit of a comic figure as he struts across the pages, but Doyle keeps Gerard believable. Napoleon finds that if Gerard has "the thickest head he also has the stoutest heart in my army". So, if you have read the Sherlockian Canon, and maybe even Doyle’s The Lost World and The White Company, it may be time for something completely different. Gerard deserves to be better known. You will not be disappointed!   

Note: Why this title is catalogued as Mystery is a mystery to me!  These are straight forward adventure stories! - Jerry C. Roy

Shape Up With the Slow Fat Triathlete: 50 Ways to Kick Butt on the Field, or at the Gym - No Mater What Your Size Jayne Williams, 2009

Although Williams is primarily a triathlete, her book is really for anyone looking for inspiration on their journey to fitness. According to her this book is for "real people with jobs and kids and love handles". As a plus-sized athlete, she advocates concepts like abandoning self-consciousness, being slow, embracing bodily fluids, and becoming an active wear advocate. She asks her readers to examine their motivations for losing weight and to change their focus to being fit.

In Chapter 44, titled "Be a Pit Bull", Williams says “You’ve got your jaws clamped on to the pants leg of your dreams, but you get shaken around, tossed and buffeted by life. You have setbacks, you have bad weather, you have injuries. You want to quit. You want to lie on the couch. You want to let go. But as a pit bull, you don’t let go. Ever.”

Williams freely admits that she is "a large woman; sometimes very large, sometimes just pretty large", making this book different from many other health and fitness books.  Her parting words implore her readers to "pick one small thing [she] talks about in these pages, and do [her] a favor. Go out and do it tomorrow." Do me a favor too. Read this book, and then pick one thing Williams talks about. And go out and do it tomorrow. – Helen Hokanson

I'm Down Misha Wolff, 2009

Mishna Wolff’s memoir is unlike anything I’ve ever read. She grew up in an all-black neighborhood in Seattle with her younger sister, Anora. Although her parents were white, her former hippie father embraced the lifestyle of his black neighbors and friends. After Mishna’s parents divorced, she was primarily raised by her father who later married a black woman, often leaving Mishna at home to look after her step-mother’s children.

One summer she went to a Government Subsidized Charity Club where she would be "capped" or insulted with one-liners by the other children. Once she was able to master capping, thanks to practicing on her sister, she started gaining respect from her club mates. Her newfound skills, however, didn’t help her when she was accepted into a private school where she was no longer the minority.

There her classmates talked about skiing and horses while she talked about scary movies that she’d only watched 30 minutes of. Once she got to know the girls in her school a little better, she started to see their worlds for what they really were. Her friends’ parents were either too self-involved or self-medicated to see that their kids were at risk both physically and emotionally.

Once, Mishna liked the idea of being left alone with big TVs and unlimited Hot Pockets. But now, after a swim across the lake with her father and sister, she appreciates the unorthodox encouragement given by her family. – Sarah Wilson

Hate List Jennifer Brown (local author), 2009

Valerie Leftman and her boyfriend Nick Levil were angry. They were angry at all the people that made their lives miserable, especially the popular kids who picked on Val and Nick as a hobby. To release some of their anger, Nick and Val started the "Hate List" a notebook filled with the names of the people who hurt them. Val thought it was just a funny list and a way to work through her anger, Nick took it more seriously. One day just before the end of their junior year, Nick showed up to school with a gun and killed six people from the list in the commons before school. Valerie didn't realize what he was doing until it was too late, but when she tried to stop him she was shot. Waking up the hospital, Val finds out what Nick did and his later suicide through the news and is shocked to discover that she has been named as an accomplice.

After taking the summer to recover and being found innocent of the incident, Val is heading back to school to face the people who Nick hurt. Val isn't sure she is ready for school but on top of dealing with the trauma of being back in the building where her life fell apart five months before, Val has to listen to the whispers in the hallway and the victims who survived and cannot accept Val's innocence.

Although this is a book about a very controversial topic but presented in a understanding, sympathetic and almost poetic way. Both Nick and Val are portrayed as typical teens who feel like everything is crumbling around them, and they can't see any hope, except in each other. Nick finds his way out, and Val has to deal with the consequences. Val feels responsible for Nick's actions on that day, and for not knowing his plan sooner. But she can't forget the funny, sweet boy whom she loved. And for all that the school and the police have declared her innocent, everyone, including her parents, still see her just as guilty as Nick.  – Kate Pickett

A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L’Engle, 1962

Meg and her younger brother Charles Wallace are both misfits in the community. Meg has a temper and doesn’t fit in at school, which makes her a poor student and unpopular. Charles Wallace barely speaks to outsiders and is erroneously mis-labeled as slow. They are befriended by Calvin, popular & athletic in school, but lost in a household full of too many other children. The three are whisked away by witches (or are they?) to another planet where they battle to save Meg and Charles Wallace’s father who has long been missing.

A Wrinkle in Time won a Newberry award in 1962 and it still stands the test of time and I enjoyed it as much today as I did when I was young. It’s a wonderful story about good and evil; love and family; friendship and acceptance; and overcoming personal flaws with the twist of science fiction and adventure through space and time. It could be a little scary for the very young. - Nancy Myers

The Long Walk Stephen King, 1979

Would you risk your life for anything that you wanted for the rest of your life?  Sai King again twists something simple into something macabre. One hundred willing boys are drawn from a lottery to participate in a marathon with no end except for the last one standing.  Ray Garrety is our walker, a teen who struggles with the friendships and alliances forged and the 'every man for himself' nature of the Walk.  Rules are simple; bring anything you need, keep a minimum speed, and no breaks.  Failure to comply means you get a 'ticket' and you're out of the race.  It's a story of teens finding themselves, testing themselves, and questioning themselves and the world, but also testing humanity at an early age.  For you Tower Junkies, The Walkin' Dude is suggested to make a brief appearance towards the end of the walk.  – Chris Carleton

The Catcher in the Rye Amy Efaw, 1951

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is my all-time favorite book. I appreciate Holden Caulfield’s wit, sarcasm, charm and ability to exaggerate the facts. To my parent’s dismay, I was once a teenager like Holden and possessed many, if not all, of his aforementioned qualities. But in my defense, I can honestly say that I never attempted to hire a hooker, drink underage nor did I swear incessantly or pick fights with my classmates...except for that one kid, but he really had it coming.
After re-reading this book over the summer, I forgot how much I loved this Holden kid. He didn’t fit in too well at the different boarding schools and he really only connected with a couple teachers and family members. Unfortunately for him, those that were closest to his heart were physically far away.

We meet Holden at the end of the fall semester and about to face expulsion from Pencey School. He recently lost his brother while the other moved to California and adding insult to injury, his hot-shot roommate, Stradlater, goes on a date with a girl he used to like named Jane. Before Stradlater goes out with the girl who always kept her kings in the back row, he’s asked to write an essay with grammatical mistakes so it didn’t look like Holden wrote it. While writing the essay, he’s stuck in the dorms with his neighbor Ackley, who keeps barging in his room for no apparent reason. Shortly after Stradlater returns from his date, they fight over a bit of name-calling. Holden decides he’s had enough of Pencey and packs up and heads for New York to visit his little sister, Pheobe.

Along the way he meets a lot of interesting people including a couple of nuns, a classmate’s mother, a prostitute and her pimp, an old flame, a former teacher and a couple of other folks he naturally considers phonies.

The book contains strong language, which is one of the many reasons it has ended up on the banned books list. But, I appreciate Holden’s honesty throughout the whole story. I think he just needed someone to listen to him without trying to fix him. I hope he finds that person at his next school... - Sarah Wilson