Sunshine, by Robin McKinley.

I really liked this one. It’s about Vampires and other supernatural beings, but it avoids the cliches about them all being gorgeous and sexy. The main character, Sunshine, discovers that she has magical talents because they are forced to the surface after she is captured by vampires. She forms an alliance with the other captive, another vampire, in order to escape. In this time and place, vampires are hated, and Sunshine has to choose between being loyal to the vampire that helped her, or loyal to other humans.

Pyramids, by Terry Pratchett.

Another fun book. Sort of a parody of the Egyptian culture (very loosely). Our character is a boy of royal blood, sent away to learn a trade: assassination. Just after he graduates, his father dies, leaving him King. Teppic wants to modernize the kingdom, but must struggle against the priests. The pyramid built for Teppic’s father produces a magic that unsettles the status quo.

The Tiger, by John Vaillant.

This was supposed to be this incredible, exciting, riveting book. It could have been, but it ended up being more like a documentary about this area in Russia, it’s people, and the mythology of the tiger. Not a bad book, but not quite how the jacket made it sound.

The Getaway Special, by Jerry Oltion.

This was a neat, fun book, that was more like a space romp, in true Heinleinesque fashion.

The main character discovers how to build a hyper drive that can take people to nearly anywhere in space nearly instantaneously, and in any vessel that is sealable, making space travel available to the masses for next to nothing for resources. Of course, the adventure begins as our hero and his beloved start bouncing around space in a modified sewer tank.