The story of a young girl who uses her belief in the power of DNA to make sense of her dysfunctional family. I liked the story and most of the characters, but I thought it gave an unfairly bad impression of the mental health community. For me, the best part was the sympathetic and realistic depiction of what it's like to deal with depression in the family. 4/5

A college girl juggles two guys while trying to make sense of her life with her philosophy studies. I loved this one. It's smart, funny, and well written with a dynamic heroine. The philosophy was easy to understand and perfectly blended into the story. 5/5

A girl growing up during the Japanese occupation of Korea defies tradition and seeks an education. A breathtaking historical novel about the struggle between progress and tradition, individuality and family duty, faith and disbelief. Beautifully written with many realistic and sympathetic characters. 5/5

A fantasy in which a girl has to deal with her own abusive family, and then her crazy mother-in-law. Any good story-telling and characterization is killed by the author's ridiculously pompous writing style and "clever" use of symbolism. 2/5

A graphic novel about Bertrand Russel and his struggle to perfect logic. Russel makes for a great character with his obsessive pursuit to find reality. It gives the book a heavy tone. I also liked the simple artwork. The ideas presented are interesting, but the density of them are what ultimately bring the book down. 3/5

A man who believes himself to be Columbus ends up at a mental institution in Spain. There, he meets Nurse Consuela, who falls in love with him as he tells the story of how he got his ships. What made this intelligent, charming man break from reality? The plot is dull, almost non-existent, and the characters are infuriatingly perfect. Absolutely intolerable, worst novel I've ever read. 1/5

An imaginative retelling of "The Snow Queen". Grace follows her childhood sweetheart, Kai, after he follows the Winter Child, but the Winter Child has a story of her own. Pretty good characters and an interesting story, but what I loved most were the deftly handled themes of sorrow and hope. 5/5

Seventeen year old princess Alera of Hytanica is being pressured by her father to marry a man she can't stand. Then she meets Narian, a boy raised in an enemy land, who understands her. Meanwhile, tensions with that country are brewing. Some of the story is interesting, but mostly, it's slow, derivative, and poorly written. 1/5