YWP! If you have books to recommend, share them in the Book Club! Add short reviews (2 sentences is all you need!), and we'll add them to this series through the school year. Also, see Iris's Bookshelf for more book reviews!  [Illustration: "A Place to Escape" by catgato, YWP]

RECOMMENDED by Writer1326, YWP

RECOMMENDED by Isidora June, YWP

I just read a beautiful piece of literature. It was entitled "Circe" and was written by Madeline Miller. It followed a goddess from Greek mythology, who was exiled to an island for an act of crime. The stories told in that book changed my life in a way, and I plan on reading it more than once. Five stars. 

AND IN RESPONSE:

RECOMMENDED by Geri, YWP

I read "The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller and it's also really good! She's a great storyteller. 

RECOMMENDED and REVIEWED by charvermont, YWP

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez

A death, an unexpected appearance, and a just-as-much unexpected disappearance are what confronts our protagonist, Antonia Vega, in Alvarez’s novel about finding oneself and one’s community. Antonia finds herself aiding many different people in her own moment of need, but finds her way in the helping of (and being helped by) others. 

Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson

A mystery set in the art dealing world of Los Angeles that unfolds itself in the setting of an airport lounge, over the course of just a few hours. Our protagonist bumps into long-ago college acquaintance, Jeff Cook, at LAX, and as they find out their flight is delayed, Jeff takes it upon himself to share the dark life story he has never revealed to anyone except for just now, in this moment. A must-read. 

Foster by Claire Keegan

We are in rural Ireland, and a young girl is sent to spend the summer away from her own family, and with a different, unknown, and unfamiliar family. Over the course of her few months with the couple that takes her in, a deep love blossoms that is the truest of its kind. A heartwarming yet simultaneously heartbreaking story. 

Weather by Jenny Offill

One of the only current realistic fiction novels that actually sees and reveals our world as what it is: already past the point of no return. In Weather, Offill’s main character exemplifies climate anxiety (with a dabble of political anxiety) in a way that is too often hard to find in today’s novels. Weather offers a stark and honest point of view on the changes that are happening to our world. 

Euphoria by Lily King

Three anthropologists, two who are married, are struggling through a twisting love triangle that follows them all over the world. Finding that they can’t escape each other, the only option is to find their way through and out of their circling orbits. 

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Beloved classic and Pulitzer Prize winner, To Kill a Mockingbird, revolves around the prejudice, hate, and heartlessness that surrounds young Scout’s entire world in the 1930s. All through the eyes of a young kid, To Kill a Mockingbird has the perspective that many don’t.