Nana and Kaoru Volume 3

Written by: Ryuta Amazume

First line: It's coming!

Why you should read this book: Nana finally recovers from her illness thanks to a well-placed suppository, after which the real world intrudes for a while, with Nana and Kaoru having a surprising encounter involving theatrical makeup, and another one where a bunch of people burst through Kaoru's door looking for Nana while she's restrained in his bed, and a very long sequence involving Nana and Tachi's year-long track and field rivalry. This results in another threeway breather where Nana and Kaoru both admit to themselves, but not each other, that they really, really, really want to cuddle. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: At this point in the story, it's hard not to get frustrated with how much effort the characters who have been engaging in hot BDSM scenes for thousands of pages are putting into pretending not to love each other. 

Our House Is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis

Written by: Greta Thunberg, Svante Thunberg, Malena Ernman, and Beata Ernman

First line: This could have been my story.

Why you should read this book: Svante and Malena, loving and successful Swedish musicians, understood what it was like to be a little different, but when their two daughters, Greta and Beata, both began exhibiting difficulty moving through the world, they had to stretch their understanding to find ways to accommodate neurodiverse kids in an unaccommodating world. While Beata suffered debilitating intolerance to noise, Greta became increasingly despondent over climate change and the fact that the people who should be doing something about it were not. Of course, at the age of fifteen, Greta's "student strike" outside Parliament turns her into one of the most well-known climate activists and inspires countless young people to join her cause. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's very difficult, emotionally speaking: a lot of the book is about how much Greta and Beata suffer before their parents are able to figure out how to keep their sensitive children healthy, and the rest of it is basically about the very dire situation threatening all life on planet Earth right now. 

Telling Tales: A History of Literary Hoaxes

Written by: Melissa Katsoulis

First line: From disgruntled Mormons and fake Native Americans to bored students and lustful aristocrats, the bizarre history of literary hoaxers is every bit as revealing as the orthodox rollcall of Western writers, as is their acute appreciation of what inspires, frightens and resonates with their generation.

Why you should read this book: This is not an exhaustive catalog, but rather a touristy journey highlighting some of the most remarkable and entertaining cases of literary hoaxes, perpetrated for various reasons. Some hoaxers are out for money, others for fame; some are trying to impress their parents, and other are attempting to discredit entire organization. It's interesting to learn their methods and their motivations, and of course, their inevitable unmasking. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're considering perpetrating your own literary hoax and looking for advice on how to get away with it. 

Nana and Kaoru Volume 2

Written by: Ryuta Amazume

First line: The name's Sugimora Kaoru.

Why you should read this book: This sweet, exploratory, completely nonsexual BDSM fantasy story about two Japanese high school students fumbling their way through desire continues with Nana and Kaoru's secret relationship impacting their interactions in their school life, which then flows back into their "breathers." Several chapters comprise Nana's first spanking, and then there's a weird interlude with Tachi strongarming Kaoru into a scene after he and Nana miss their connection on New Year's Eve, and finally there's an absolutely massive storyline about Nana getting sick and needing a lot of help to insert a suppository. Meanwhile, Nana's friends are starting to question her relationship with Kaoru, Tachi is getting really jealous, and Kaoru struggles with his feelings of love, tenderness, and devotion to his sub, none of which seem dominant to him, all of which he's sure Nana would reject. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's a funny softcore BDSM fantasy manga about teenagers, so probably a lot of people just aren't going to vibe positively with this content, and they should just step away and go cry about obscenity somewhere else, because this page doesn't believe in literary censorship.

The Last Cuentista

Written by: Donna Barba Higuera

First line: Lita tosses another pinon log on the fire. 

Why you should read this book: Petra and her family are among the lucky few granted a place on the great starships leaving Earth just before Haley's comet smashes into it and destroys everyone and everything, including her beloved storyteller grandmother, and now she will spend hundreds of years in cryo-sleep, having important computer files uploaded to her brain so she can be a scientist when humanity finds its new home. But even as the ship launches and Petra falls into an uneasy stasis, dissidents have taken over the ship, and when Petra finally awakes, it is into a strange, nightmare reality controlled by "The Collective," a group that has evolved into a species she can barely recognize as human and eliminated hunger and war by eliminating art, culture, love, feelings, family, and the stories that Petra loves. Alone among the others on the ship, Petra retains her memories of Earth, and armed with her grandmother's stories, she must find a way to save what remains of humanity from The Collective's single-minded focus to destroy it. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It took me way longer than usual to read because this book is frankly terrifying for a children's story; I don't scare easy in print (I think the last time was Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box) but something about this girl forced to pretend to be brainwashed while mourning the loss of her family and the rest of humanity and made to live among the fascist Collective just hit way too close to home. 

I'm Glad My Mom Is Dead

Written by: Jennette McCurdy

First line: It's strange how we always give big news to loved ones in a coma, as if a coma is just a thing that happens from a lack of something to be excited about in your life. 

Why you should read this book: Her entire life, Jennette McCurdy has known that the only important thing in the world is appeasing her mother and doing whatever it takes to keep her happy. When this means becoming an actress and doing everything possible to make it in Hollywood, she becomes an actress and does everything possible to make it in Hollywood; when this means developing an eating disorder, she develops an eating disorder. Although she becomes rich and famous, not until her mother's death does McCurdy start to understand how incredibly mentally ill and abusive her mother was and how much work she has to do to reclaim her life from her tortured upbringing. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: If your mom is a controlling hoarder but she's still alive and you haven't gotten rich or famous and you can't figure out how to escape her abuse, or even if you have, this book might be kind of triggering.

Frizzy

Written by: Claribel A Ortega and Rose Bousamra

First line: 

Why you should read this book: Ever since she was little, Marlene has been subject to the painful and weekly humiliation of having her textured hair straightened at the salon, but no matter what she does, she can't seem to keep her hair "presentable" according to her family's expectations. It doesn't help that some of her Latino family are white and she is constantly being compared to those with naturally straight hair, or that nobody even talks about how racism is impacting her self-image. Can Marlene find the secret to keeping her curly hair curly without being attacked for how she looks?

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're the perfect cousin everyone else in your family is being told to be more like. 

Speak Up!

Written by: Rebecca Burgess

First line: A new day, a new planet to explore.

Why you should read this book: Mia has autism, and she's struggling with bullies and sensory issues at school, and only her best friend, Charlie (who goes to a different school) knows her secret: that she is the singer and songwriter for the internet sensation, Elle-Q. Mia's mom is desperate for her to learn how to "fit in" by making prolonged eye contact, while Charlie is pushing Mia to take Elle-Q to the next level (a live performance for all their virtual fans), both of which feel impossible to Mia. Hardly anyone seems to realize all the thoughts Mia has inside her; saying them out loud is hard, but if she can't figure out how to express herself, nobody will ever know.

Why you shouldn't read this book: I personally found it very difficult to read the mom's recommendations, which sound exactly like something you'd read in a pop psychology book for parents of autistic children, written by neurotypical people who torture autistic children for a living. 

The War I Finally Won

Written by: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

First line: You can know things all you like, but that doesn't mean you believe them. 

Why you should read this book: Beginning very shortly after the end of The War That Saved My Life, this book begins with Ada about to have her clubfoot surgically corrected, after which she must heal, not just physically from the surgery, but emotionally, from a lifetime of abuse at her mother's hands. She, her brother, and their guardian Susan are offered a "little" house on the Thornton estate, which is soon filled when Lady Thornton decides to move in with them (there's a war on, after all) and Lord Thornton brings Ruth, a German-Jewish refugee to stay as well. Despite being very different people from very different circumstances and being suspicious of each other, this strange blended family come to share each other's pain and joy and to learn what it means to love.

Why you shouldn't read this book: It made me cry even more than the first one. 

Right Back at You

Written by: Carolyn Mackler

First line: Dear Albert Einstein, I am only writing this letter because Barb told me I had to. 

Why you should read this book: An epistolary novel about a friendship between two twelve-year-olds who discover they have a great deal in common, despite being separated by three hundred miles and thirty-six years. Mason doesn't want to talk about his feelings at all, and is surprised to find the letter he hid in his closet answered by a girl in the past who demands to know why she found his letter in her closet. Once they decide the unlikely situation must be caused by a wormhole, they can start to share their secret thoughts with each other, discovering surprising connections and ways they can help each other across a seemingly insurmountable distance. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You think Lord of the Flies in an inevitability.