#5Books: book recommendations 11/10

For this week’s #5Books book recommendations, I found Guillermo del Toro is busy tweeting up a storm of recs for books on his Twitter, and recced an unusual vampire story. There’s a wonderful YA story following a Nigerian American kid who discovers her latent magic powers. There’s another with a unique title and an even more unique blurb which seem entirely at odds with each other. There’s a mystery in the vein of Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects, and last an acclaimed YA series set in WW2 by an Australian author.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor: This was recced over at Wishlist Wednesday at Pen to Paper. Sunny is a 12-year-old American who now lives in Nigeria. She is albino, African and can’t go out into the sun to play soccer. But then she discovers that she has latent magic powers and finds a place to belong. But, then she and her team are asked to catch a career criminal who knows magic just like they do.

Save me Kurt Cobain: Cool title right? This one I found over at Ex Libris, and it’s the most intriguing blurb about a girl, Nico, trapped in a cabin in a storm, and this is what I like: despite the mention of a guy within the blurb, the end makes it clear that Nico will have to save herself. Nods. Worth a look. If just to figure out how the title applies

The Felix and Zelda series: This series by Australian author Maurice Gleitzman follows Felix who is left in a Catholic orphanage, unaware that World War 2 has broken. He thinks his parents left him there to travel and attempt to salvage their bookselling business, so when he believes they’re in danger, he sets out to warn them, and finds himself in the middle of Nazi-occupied Poland. So begins Felix’s journey (on which he meets Zelda) and the book series which goes through to Felix grown up and living in Sydney, and with a granddaughter eventually. Soon is the most recent book in the series to be released.

The Vampire Tapestry: This book by author Suzy McKee Charnas was on a list of books recced by Guillermo del Toro (who is on Twitter reccing a whole lot more books). This one though provides an interesting POV on vampires: Edward is a vampire, a biological one at that. He wasn’t made by anything supernatural, and resorts of hibernation and blood from labs to survive. It’s about him and how he survives. Sounds firmly character based, I think.

The Devil You Know: This is by Elisabeth de Mariaffi, and has been compared to Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects — haven’t read any of her work, so I’d be curious about the comparison by those who have read both. But I digress, this one is about an unsolved murder, and a best friend who is still trying to find her BFF’s killer 20-something years later. And as Evie’s investigation into Lianne’s death continues, she becomes convinced the killer will be back for her.

And one more: No Way Yirrikipayi! was written by four Indigenous Australian students from Milikipati School on Melville Island. The illustrations are by Alison Lester, and is the story of a hungry crocodile who is on the search for food on Melville Island.

These have been on my mind this week! What about you? Which one strikes your fancy?