Actually liked three books last night!
I'd read Annette Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss (1990) a while ago and decided not to buy it. Then, I was at the public library, asked for any vampire book (yuck!), and the librarian enthused about this one so much that I read it again. Less gory than R.L. Stine, much less gory than Shan's Lord Loss, and really very well-written. Lyrical, almost. Good moral tale of a vampire who really doesn't want to be one, and whose main purpose is to avenge the death of his mother at the hands of his brother. Nicely played against the main character's mother dying of cancer. Is there a hardcover in print? Of course not. Oh, well. Prebind are cheaper.
Walter Dean Myers' Somewhere in the Darkness (1992) is quite a departure from The Young Landlords. Depressing through and through, but effective. Boy's father is in prison, gets out, comes to take boy ostensibly to Chicago, though instead takes him on a road trip to important places in the father's life-- because the father is dying. Boys don't read problem novels as much as girls, but this one is good. Will recommend.
An easier pick is Walt Morey's Deep Trouble(1971). Nonstop adventure in the ocean off Alaska, an 18 year old main character who is not engaging in scandalous behavior but instead trying to support his family after his father's death in a diving accident-- by diving. This was written in a clear, engaging, straight-forward style. It's a manly book. Been gathering some dust, but my adventure fiction fans will love it. This is why I need to read every book.
Did not care for Steve Alton's The Malifex(2003). Wonderfully evil cover hides a slow story. It would check out, only to come back with complaints. Will pass.
Didn't have to get far into Markus Zusak's Getting the Girl(2001) to realize it wasn't appropriate for middle school students. Wait, yes, the first sentence reads "It was Rube's girl's idea to make the beer ice blocks, not mine." Lovely. And it went downhill from there.
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