Emma by Kaoru Mori

If you enjoyed The Luxe at the beginning of the month, you might want to check out Emma by Kaoru Mori. Emma was saved from a life on the streets and brought up to be a proper ladies maid. When Emma meets William Jones, the handsome youngest son of a very wealthy merchant, she realizes that the London of 1895 has very definite ideas about place and class distinction.

Check Emma out at Y MOR GN

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale is the journal of Dashti, the maid to the Lady Saren. Saren has been sentenced to be shut in a tower for seven years because of her refusal to marry the man her father has chosen for her, and Dashti is to take care of her during her imprisonment.

Dashti is helpful, strong, and fearless. Lady Saren has seen too much and is timid, quiet, and demanding. Shannon Hale took the oft forgotten folk tale "Maid Maleen" and made it something new, exciting, and hard to put down. Check it out at Y HAL

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

Those readers of this blog who are wondering what to read next now that Gossip Girl has run it's course might want to check out The Luxe by Anna Godbersten. On October 8, 1899, Elizabeth Holland's funeral was held on the day she was to have married well known playboy Henry Schoolmaker. Why does her best friend Penelope Hayes, who was with Elizabeth when she fell into the Hudson river, not look nearly upset enough to appease the town gossips? And why did her sister Diana run into the funeral late - SMILING? As the story jumps back to show us the last two weeks of Elizabeth's life, we find that New York's upper crust was just as full of scandal and intrigue in 1899 as Gossip Girl tells us it is today.

Find this book at Y GOD

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie with art by Ellen Forney

Junior is a Spokane Indian living on the rezervation who seemingly has everything working against him. He was born with water on the brain, suffered from debilitating seizures until he was 6, and even now at 14 has a stutter and a lisp. All of those are good reasons for everyone but his best friend (the toughest guy on the rez, Rowdy) to beat him up on a regular basis. Add to that the fact that he is dirt poor, and Junior seemingly has no hope. When he decides to give himself some hope and a future and go to school 22 miles away in the farmtown of Reardan (where the only other non-caucasian at the school is their Indian mascot), everything changes.

An aspiring cartoonist, Junior's voice is fresh, real, funny, and poignant. He peppers his story with cartoons and drawings. His accounts of the basketball games were pulse-poundingly exciting. Add in a hint of romance, and you've got something for everyone in this book.

The audio version of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is narrated by Sherman Alexie himself. While his narration is fantastic to listen to, you might want to pick up a copy of the book to flip through so you can read Junior's cartoons.

Find this book at Y ALE. Find the Audio version at CD Y ALE.