Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio

Set in rural Kentucky in the 1950's, this wonderful book is about a young girl who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome. The unnamed disorder causes her to become an outcast when at age 10, she begins to involuntarily pop her eyes out, croak and twitch. An orphan who lives with her grandparents, Icy experiences complete abandonment when her grandparents place her in a mental institution. Rubio's writing tears your heart apart and puts it back together as Icy eventually says, "Without it (Tourette's), life would have been easier, but I would not be me." This book easily goes in my Top 10.

Promise Me by Harlan Coben

Promise Me, Harlan, you'll never write like this again. The story, about a missing teen, is contrived and hard to follow. As a Coben fan, this is a huge disappointment.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

Call me a snob but when I find a book at the bargain table, I assume it must not be that great or else people would have bought it. But because I loved Mystic River, also by Lahane, I thought I should give this a shot and for 6 bucks, why not? This book is set a little-known mental institution on an island. Go figure. The main character, Teddy Daniels, gets stranded there thanks to a hurricane as he investigates a missing patient incident but also trys to track down the man responsible for his wife's death. It's a bit creepy and bogs down in drugged dream scenes but overall is a really well done psychological thriller. This is one I'll pass around to my book buds.

Beach Road by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge

Another great book for walking with the iPod. I definitely logged extra miles because I couldn't put the book down so to speak. Great mystery thriller that totally had me fooled. I love it when that happens.

Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs

Possible Side Effects, the fourth books in a series of Augusten Burroughs's memoirs, can cause anything from outbursts of chuckling to serious pain-in-the-gut laughter. Unlike his previous books, this one is not chronological but rather a collection of random essays about his life. What amazes me most about Burroughs is his ability to take the horror of his childhood and the misery of most of his adult life and share his experiences in good humor without getting mired in pain and self-pity. Surely, there's got to be some award out there for that.