Sometimes I review a book the moment I finish it. Fresh details, sharp recollections. Other times I like to wait, let a book seep into me and become something—part me, part what was on the page. I chose to do the latter with The Smell of Other People’s Houses.

In Ready to Fall by Marcella Pixley the premise alone stops me with its awesomeness: his mom dies of a brain tumor that then, he believes, moves into his own head. Raw, a little crazy, huge potential for story. And the book did not disappoint. 

The book that started it all, the one I finished around midnight as Emeric nursed and my husband snored so loudly I ended up smacking him with a pillow, was this: Still Life with Tornado by AS King.

Caroline B. Cooney’s A Friend at Midnight is one I picked up on a whim Friday afternoon. Obviously, since it’s only Monday now, this book was a quick and engrossing read. It’s the charming (ahem) story of a little boy abandoned at the airport by his father and rescued by his older sister. It’s about the elder sister’s struggle with keeping her brother’s secret. Overall, I’d say the book was annoying and refreshing and gripping and disappointing and meaningful.