New books for New Adults

If you're the sort of person who makes an effort to keep track of the trends and labels popular in publishing (and I am), you may've come across the discussion of New Adult fiction. If this is your first time encountering the phrase New Adult to describe a book, you're probably wondering what on Earth that is meant to convey (or at least that was my reaction). Roughly speaking, these are books about the lives of 20-somethings aimed at 20-something readers.

What's driving this new marketing push is up for debate, but many agree that it has something to do with the recent popularity of Young Adult novels among adult readers. However you want to label it, a book about someone exploring their goals, identity, relationships, and place in the world can make for compelling reading. Or viewing. From HBO's recent series Girls to the cult favorite Veronica Mars.

Because this is a rather new designation, you'll find that the titles championed as New Adult are rather varied in tone, setting, and content. It's the difference between Rowling's Harry Potter series and Grossman's Magicians. So while some of these titles are shelved in the YA section at Carnegie-Stout, others might contain more about the physical side of relationships than some readers will be comfortable with.

That said, if you're a teen who tends to read books from the adult collection, or an adult who's always reading YA, New Adult might be the books for you! We've pulled together some suggestions from our collection, but if you want to read more, check out New Adult Alley, a blog devoted to New Adult fiction.

Adult Fiction
Slammed by Colleen Hoover
Eighteen-year-old Layken struggles with holding her family together after her father dies, until she develops a relationship with her new neighbor, Will, who has a passion for poetry slams and gives her a new sense of hope.

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
Travis Maddox, Eastern University's playboy, makes a bet with good girl Abby that if he loses, he will remain abstinent for a month, but if he wins, Abby must live in his apartment for the same amount of time.

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
Madeleine Hanna breaks out of her straight-and-narrow mold when she enrolls in a semiotics course and falls in love with charismatic loner Leonard Morten, a time which is complicated by the resurfacing of a man who is obsessed with Madeleine.

Romance

Easy by Tammara Webber
When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she's single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, stalked by her ex's frat brother, and failing a class for the first time in her life.

Young Adult Fiction

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Former popular girl, Echo, finds herself mysteriously cast as an outsider at school and has scars on her arms with no memory of how they got there. When she meets bad boy, Noah Hutchinson, she is surprised that he is able to understand. Sparks fly and the two have a hard time fighting their attraction despite secrets they are both keeping.

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller
When Travis returns home from Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother has stolen his girlfriend and car, and he has nightmares of his best friend getting killed, but when he runs into Harper, a girl who has despised him since middle school, life actually starts looking up.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman
This sequel to Forman's If I Stay is set three years after the car accident that almost killed Mia. This reflective story is told from the perspective of Adam, whose band took off after Mia left for Julliard, as they find their paths crossing again in New York.


Please stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

I don’t read a lot of non-fiction and when I do it is usually because I chose the book for the Let’s Talk Books discussion group here at C-SPL.  Unbroken:  A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience,and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand has been on the New York Times bestseller list for over 112 weeks and one of my New Year’s resolutions is to read more non-fiction so I was bound to get to this book sooner or later.  

Unbroken is the story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who became an airman during World War II.  On a May afternoon in 1943, Louis’ bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared.  Louis and two other crew members survive the crash and subsequently drift nearly 2,000 miles over the course of 47 days before being pulled out of the water.  Forty-seven days on a life raft with no food or water is not the worst thing that actually happens to Louis.  The worst thing is the Japanese prisoner-of-war camps he is held in until the end of the war in August 1945. 

Some of the reasons I don’t like to read non-fiction are that I usually find it dry, slow moving and it fails to hold my interest.  Unbroken succeeded in proving me wrong on all accounts.  Hillenbrand’s book had the potential to get mired down in details but she masterfully moves the story forward without compromising the story.  Unbroken begins, well, at the beginning.  The reader meets Louis as a fearless, incorrigible toddler and follows him as he becomes a defiant teenager who fights, steals and is generally not very likeable.  What saves Louis is his older brother’s determination to get Louis into running.   Running leads Louis to the 1936 Olympics in Germany where he reportedly catches the eye of Hitler and gets away with some youthful antics that could have gotten him into a lot of trouble.  Five years later, with future Olympics put on hold due to the war in Europe, Louis has earned a commission as a second lieutenant and enlists in the United States Air Force. 

When I started this book and read about Louis as a teenager I really wondered why Hillenbrand included so much about Louis’ upbringing.  As the story progresses it became abundantly clear that Louis was a survivor.  The fighting, stealing and running he engaged in as a youth probably helped him to survive the absolute hell he had to endure as a POW. 

Unbroken also opened my eyes about an aspect of World War II history that I didn’t know much about.   I think that so much of WWII history is about Germany and the genocide of the Jews, that the horrors going on in Japan are overlooked.  I had no idea just how horrible the Japanese POW camps were and how atrociously the prisoners were treated.  I realize a prisoner camp isn’t a luxury summer camp, but these men were physically, emotionally, and mentally abused while being starved to death.  That any of them survived is a testament the strength of the human spirit.   After finishing Unbroken I started reading up on WWII history, specifically the war fought against the Japanese. 

If you are in a book club and haven’t discussed Unbroken, I highly recommend this book.  At just under 400 pages it really packs a punch.  The Let’s Talk Books group discussion covered many topics that came up, from Louis and his life to the decision to drop the atomic bombs.  With the summary I gave above it is pretty clear what is considered survival and resilience.  To find out what the redemption part is all about you will just have to read the book.  Louis Zamperini will turn 96 on January 26, yes, he is still alive.  After reading about his experiences during World War II the fact that he is still alive makes him even more remarkable.  Keep an eye out for a movie based on Unbroken, it is in development and I truly hope Hollywood can do the story justice. 

~Amy, Adult Services

P.S. The next Let's Talk Books meeting is on March 12 at 7 P.M. in the 3rd floor Aigler Auditorium.  We will be discussing The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2013

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his
"I Have a Dream" speech in Washington D.C.
Via Library of Congress

Today, January 21th, is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a federal holiday in the United States that commemorates the birthday of civil right activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King's actual birthday is January 15th, and the holiday takes place every third Monday in January.

Dr. King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed on January 20, 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. The holiday was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.

To learn more about Dr. King's life and legacy, the library will be hosting a moderated discussion of his book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? with Dr. Henry Grubb of the University of Dubuque. The discussion will be held February 20th at 7:00 p.m.. Copies of the book are available for checkout at the Circulation Desk.

You can also check out this selection of books from the library's collection, or click through to the websites listed below:

• Listen to a recording of King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech here: http://www.archive.org/details/MLKDream
• The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change - Located in Atlanta at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, which includes King's birth home, Freedom Hall and his crypt.
• The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute - Provides a searchable online database of King's correspondence, sermons, speeches, published writings, and unpublished manuscripts.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial  - The official website of the national memorial in Washington D.C.