Trilogy: Raised by Wolves

Trilogy: Raised by Wolves
Order of Books: Raised by Wolves
Trial by Fire
Taken by Storm
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Started: 2010
Category: YA
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Werewolves
Summary of First Book on Goodreads: Adopted by the Alpha of a werewolf pack after a rogue wolf brutally killed her parents right before her eyes, fifteen-year-old Bryn knows only pack life, and the rigid social hierarchy that controls it.  That doesn't mean that she's averse to breaking a rule or two.  

But when her curiosity gets the better of her and she discovers Chase, a new teen locked in a cage in her guardian's basement, and witnesses him turn into a wolf before her eyes, the horrific memories of her parents' murders return. Bryn becomes obsessed with getting her questions answered, and Chase is the only one who can provide the information she needs.

But in her drive to find the truth, will Bryn push too far beyond the constraints of the pack, forcing her to leave behind her friends, her family, and the identity that she's shaped?

Series: The Indian in the Cupboard

Series: Indian in the Cupboard
Author: Lynne Reid Banks
Started: 1980
Category: Childrens/Middle-Grade
Genre: Magical Realism
Order of Books: The Indian in the Cupboard
The Return of the Indian
The Secret of the Indian
The Mystery of the Cubboard
The Key to the Indian
Summary of first book on Goodreads: At first, Omri is unimpressed with the plastic Indian toy he is given for his birthday. But when he puts it in his old cupboard and turns the key, something extraordinary happens that will change Omri's life for ever. 
For Little Bull, the Iroquois Indian brave, comes to life...

Series: Chasing Vermeer

Series: Chasing Vermeer
Author: Blue Balliett
Category: Childrens/Middle-Grade
Started: 2004
Genre: Mystery
Order of Books: Chasing Vermeer
The Wrights
The Calder Game
Pieces and Players
Summary of first book on Goodreads: A puzzling art theft is solved by two sixth-grade sleuths in a first-rate first novel by Blue Balliett, illustrated by Series of Unfortunate Events artist Brett Helquist. Cut from similar cloth to The Da Vinci Code while harkening back to E. L. Konigsburg and Agatha Christie, Balliett's book follows young Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay as they piece together separate, seemingly disconnected events to locate The Lady Writing, a Vermeer painting that gets stolen en route to Chicago's Art Institute. Going on the theory that there are no coincidences, the two wonder about the link between their teacher's statements, Petra's dreams, a book Petra finds in the library, and other clues that set the reader guessing as to their significance as well. But after they learn of the culprit's aim to correct untruths about Vermeer's life and art -- which spurs them into full-throttle detective work -- the pieces all come together in a brilliant ending sure to make readers cheer, "Ah ha!"

Author: James Baldwin

Author: James Baldwin
Category: Modern Classic, Non-Fiction
Mostly wrote: during the 50s and 60s, a few during the 70s
Genre mostly wrote: Realistic Fiction, Essays
Some of His Major Books: Go Tell It on the Mountain
Giovanni's Room
Notes of a Native Son
The Fire Next Time
Another Country
If Beale Street Could Talk
Sonny's Blues
Going to Meet the Man
Tell Me How Long The Train's Been Gone
Nobody Knows My Name

Book: The Wind-Up Girl

Title: The Windup Girl
Author: Paolo Bacigalupi
Published: 2009
Category: Adult
Genre: Dystopian
Pages: 480
Summary on Goodreads: Anderson Lake is AgriGen’s Calorie Man, sent to work undercover as a factory manager in Thailand while combing Bangkok’s street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history’s lost calories.

Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. Emiko is not human; she is an engineered being, grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in this chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.

What happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits and forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? Bacigalupi delivers one of the most highly-acclaimed science fiction novels of the twenty-first century.

Series: Ship Breaker

Series: Ship Breaker
Author: Paolo Bacigalupi
Started: 2010
Category: YA
Genre: Dystopian
Order of Books: Ship Breaker
The Drowned Cities
Summary of First Book: In America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts, Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota--and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it's worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life...

Book: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Title: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Author: Avi
Category: YA
Genre: Historical Fiction
Published: 1990
Pages: 304
Summary on Goodreads: An ocean voyage of unimaginable consequences... Not every thirteen-year-old girl is accused of murder, brought to trial, and found guilty. But I was just such a girl, and my story is worth relating even if it did happen years ago. Be warned, however: If strong ideas and action offend you, read no more. Find another companion to share your idle hours. For my part I intend to tell the truth as I lived it.

Notes: This author has written dozens of other books, including two other award winners. This is my personal favorite.

Trilogy: Darkness Rising

Trilogy: Darkness Rising
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Started: 2011
Category: YA
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Order of Books: The Gathering
The Calling
The Rising
Summary on Goodreads: Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn't know much about her background - the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip - but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.

Until now.

Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town - from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend's hidden talent for "feeling" out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel...different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya's biological parents and it's easy to suspect that this town might have more than its share of skeletons in its closet.

Trilogy: Darkest Powers

Trilogy: Darkest Powers
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Started: 2008
Category: YA
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Order of Books: The Summoning
The Awakening
The Reckoning
Summary of the first book: My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost - and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? It's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House... before its skeletons come back to haunt me.

Series: Animorphs

Series: Animorphs
Author: Katherine Applegate
Started: 1996
Category: Middle-Grade
Genre: Science-Fiction
Number of books: 54 plus 4 companion books
Summary of the first book on Goodreads: Sometimes weird things happen to people. Ask Jake. He may tell you about the night he and his friends saw the strange light in the sky. He may even tell you about what happened when they realized the "light" was only a plan -- from another planet. Here's where Jake's story gets a little weird. It's where they're told that the human race is under attack -- and given the chance to fight back.

Now Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias, and Marco have the power to morph into any animal they choose. And they must use that power to outsmart an evil that is greater than anything the world has ever seen...

Book: The White Tiger

Title: The White Tiger
Author: Aravind Adiga
Published: 2008
Category: Adult Fiction
Genre:Realistic Fiction
Pages: 320
Summary on Goodreads: The white tiger of this novel is Balram Halwai, a poor Indian villager whose great ambition leads him to the zenith of Indian business culture, the world of the Bangalore entrepreneur. On the occasion of the president of China’s impending trip to Bangalore, Balram writes a letter to him describing his transformation and his experience as driver and servant to a wealthy Indian family, which he thinks exemplifies the contradictions and complications of Indian society.

The White Tiger recalls The Death of Vishnu and Bangkok 8 in ambition, scope, and narrative genius, with a mischief and personality all its own. 

Note: Man Booker Prize winner of 2008

Book: Tales From the Thousand and One Nights

Title: Tales from the Thousand and One Nights
Author: Anonymous/Unknown
Published: 900
Category: Classics/Short Stories
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 416 (in this version)
Summary on Goodreads: The tales told by Shahrazad over a thousand and one nights to delay her execution by the vengeful King Shahriyar have become among the most popular in both Eastern and Western literature. From the epic adventures of "Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp" to the farcical "Young Woman and her Five Lovers" and the social criticism of "The Tale of the Hunchback", the stories depict a fabulous world of all-powerful sorcerers, jinns imprisoned in bottles and enchanting princesses. But despite their imaginative extravagance, the Tales are anchored to everyday life by their realism, providing a full and intimate record of medieval Islam.

Note: There are several different versions of these tales bound together in different volumes. I went with the Penguin one because their versions are usually the best to be found and most complete. Plus, they're easy to find.

Author: Maya Angelou

Author: Maya Angelou
Genre most written: Poetry/Biography/Essays
Category: Non-Fiction
List of Major Books: Autobiography series (six books, first is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)
Complete Collected Poems
A Letter to My Daughter
Mom and Me and Mom
Phenomenal Women
There are many more, but these are the major ones you should probably read first.

Her work is good for: poetry fans, non-fiction biography fans,

Trilogy: Starcrossed

Series: Starcrossed
Author: Josephine Angelini
Order of books: Starcrossed
Dreamless
Goddess
Started: 2011
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Mythology referencing
Category: YA
Summary of First book on Goodreads: Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

Trilogy is good for: Paranormal Romance fans, urban fantasy fans, Greek mythology fans, Goddess Test series fans, Percy Jackson fans

Note: Author has started another trilogy: Worldwalker

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
List of Books: Speak (must-read)
Fever 1793
Catalyst
Twisted
Chains/Forged
Wintergirls
Prom
The Impossible Knife of Memory
and more, but these are her major ones

Her work is good for: those who like standalone books, realistic fiction fans, serious fiction fans, books that go into touchy subjects fans,

Book: Tiger Lily

Title: Tiger Lily
Author: Jodi Lynn Anderson
Published: 2012
Category: YA
Genre: Fantasy/Retelling
Pages: 292
Summary on Goodreads: Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

Other books the author has written: Peaches series

May-Bird series

The Vanishing Season

Book: Bless Me, Ultima

Title: Bless Me, Ultima
Author: Rudolfo Anaya
Category: YA/Adult (seems to be a crossover type book)
Published: 1972
Genre: Magical Realism, Historical Fiction
Pages: 290
Summary on Goodreads: Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima enters his life. She is a curandera, one who heals with herbs and magic. 'We cannot let her live her last days in loneliness,' says Antonio's mother. 'It is not the way of our people,' agrees his father. And so Ultima comes to live with Antonio's family in New Mexico. Soon Tony will journey to the threshold of manhood. Always, Ultima watches over him. She graces him with the courage to face childhood bigotry, diabolical possession, the moral collapse of his brother, and too many violent deaths. Under her wise guidance, Tony will probe the family ties that bind him, and he will find in himself the magical secrets of the pagan past—a mythic legacy equally as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America in which he has been schooled. At each turn in his life there is Ultima who will nurture the birth of his soul.

Note: The author has written several other books over the years, but this is his most well known. 

Author: Julia Alvarez

Author: Julia Alvarez
Category: Adult/YA
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Family/Personal Drama, Historical Fiction
List of Major Books: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (and sequels)
In the Time of Butterflies
Before We Were Free (YA/MG)
In the Name of Salome
Return to Sender
Tia Lola series
Once Upon a Quinceanera
Yo!
and many more

Her work is good for: literature readers, Isabel Allende fans, those looking for books with Latino characters, family saga fans

Author: Isabel Allende

Author: Isabel Allende

Category: Adult Fiction

Genres most written: Magical Realism/Historical Fiction/Family-Personal Drama

List of Major Books: The House of the Spirits

Daughter of Fortune

Eva Luna

Paula

Of Love and Shadows

Maya's Notebook

Ines of My Soul

Portrait in Sepia

Island Beneath the Sea

City of Beasts Trilogy

Zorro

Ripper

Her work is good for: literature fans, magical realism fans, those looking for books dealing with Latin America, family saga type books, historical fiction fans

Book: Brick Lane

Title: Brick Lane
Author: Monica Ali
Category: Adult Fiction
Genre: Family/Personal Drama
Published: 2003
Pages: 432
Summary on Goodreads: A captivating read from a debut novelist, Brick Lane brings the immigrant milieu of East London to vibrant life. With great poignancy, Ali illuminates a foreign world; her well-developed characters pull readers along on a deeply psychological, almost spiritual journey. Through the eyes of two Bangladeshi sisters—the plain Nazneen and the prettier Hasina—we see the divergent paths of the contemporary descendants of an ancient culture. Hasina elopes to a "love marriage," and young Nazneen, in an arranged marriage, is pledged to a much older man living in London. 

Ali's skillful narrative focuses on Nazneen's stifling life with her ineffectual husband, who keeps her imprisoned in a city housing project filled with immigrants in varying degrees of assimilation. But Ali reveals a bittersweet tension between the "two kinds of love" Nazneen and her sister experience—that which begins full and overflowing, only to slowly dissipate, and another which emerges like a surprise, growing unexpectedly over years of faithful commitment. Both of these loves have their own pitfalls: Hasina's passionate romance crumbles into domestic violence, and Nazneen's marriage never quite reaches a state of wedded bliss.

Awards: Man Booker Prize Nominee, Guardian First Book Award Nominee, Orwell Prize Nominee

Other books the author has written: Alentejo Blue

In the Kitchen

Untold Story