Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division

by Deborah Curtis. London: Faber & Faber, c.1995. 212 pages. ISBN978-0-571-23956-6

Deborah Curtis presents a brief biography of the man- or maybe the boy- she married and gives the reader a glimpse at the very human side of her husband Ian Curtis. Deborah presents the good and the bad and some may not want to think of an idol like Ian Curtis behaving the way he did. This is a frustrating and sad story--like many that deal with suicide. There aren’t really any answers to why here and I didn’t expect them. One does get a sense that Ian’s epilepsy and numerous prescriptions may have played a strong hand in much of his turmoil and subsequent decision.

This book feels like a great sigh, like Deborah Curtis felt a weight off of her after she told her story. Though readers not familiar with Joy Division and others in music at that time in Manchester may be a bit lost with all of the names and places mentioned, I think this story can hold up without that knowledge.

Ian’s lyrics and unfinished writings as well as Joy Division gig lists and discography are provided. This book inspired the film Control (2007).

Going Bovine

by Libba Bray. New York: Delacorte Press, c. 2009. 480 pages. ISBN 9780385733977

A disappointment to his parents and an embarrassment to his twin sister, lackadaisical Cameron Smith is simply getting by in high school when he gets the news he has a disease that is going to kill him--Creutzfeldt-Jacob or "mad cow" disease. Clues from a punk angel (or a hallucination?) lead Cameron to break out of the hospital with a video game-obsessed dwarf and take them on a quixotic road trip in search of a Dr. X, the cure and possibly a chance to save the world.

2010 Michael L. Printz Award Winner

tales of the MADMAN underground: an historical romance 1973

by John Barnes. New York: Viking. c. 2009. 532 pages.
ISBN 978-0-670-06081-8

Karl Shoemaker has decided to turn over a new leaf at the start of his senior year, 1973. He is going to be normal. The first step is to avoid therapy. Not so easy when your dad is dead, your mom is a drunk who steals your money (the money you make from working five jobs!), you're in AA and you and all of your friends are self-proclaimed "madmen."

Set in a small, depressed town in Ohio, Barnes' book spans six days in the life of Karl Shoemaker. Told in the first person, this book is so honest, sad and hilarious that teen readers will tear through these 500 plus pages.

2010 Printz Honor Book, 2010 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults

Liked it? Try Benjamin Alire Saenz's Last Night I Sang to the Monster: a novel, Julie Anne Peters' Between Mom and Jo, Jaye Murray's Bottled Up: a novel, Blake Nelson's Paranoid Park.

Unwind

Title: Unwind
Author: Neal Shusterman
Publication date: 2007
Number of pages: 352
Genre: young adult dystopian fiction
Geographical setting: North America
Time period: undated future, post “Heartland War” (the Second Civil War)
Series: N/A

Plot: To make peace and end the Heartland War, the federal government has outlawed abortion-- but with a catch. Parents can choose to have their children “unwound,” a retroactive abortion. The compromise is that every part and organ of the “unwind” must be used so that they are not really dead, but rather live on in a “divided state” in the many bodies of those who need their organs and limbs. Seen as a trouble maker and a hotheaded teen by his fed up parents, Connor is set to be transported to a “harvest camp” to be unwound. When he makes a daring escape, he begins a dangerous journey cross-country with fellow “unwind” Risa, a state ward. The only things that can save them from being unwound are living in hiding and making it to their eighteenth birthdays.

Appeal: Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2008); ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers - Top Ten (2008); ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2008); fast-paced; Shusterman presents a terrifying future that does not seem so impossible.

Tags: survival, dystopia, abortion, civil war, science fiction, organ harvesting, runaways, orphans, troubled teens

If you liked Unwind, you might enjoy: Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Other Stories, Gail Giles’ Right Behind You, Mary E. Pearson’s The Adoration of Jenna Fox