Nonfiction: Living the Secular Life, Phil Zuckerman

Living the Secular Life
Phil Zuckerman
ISBN: 9781594205088
Presents studies and historical counterpoints to the pervasive belief that secularism is dooming civilization.

Really appreciated the emphasis on studies and research, and on historical figures.  The "case studies" with interviews from various secular people were also very interesting.  Thought that it was a little bit of a gloss over a complex and interesting societal shift, but in a pop-science book clocking in under 300 pages WITH notes, bibliography, and an index (made my researcher heart so happy to see all of those) I can't really blame the author for a bit of glossing over sticky points.

A good read for anyone interested in the growing percentage of religious "nones" living in America (and to a lesser extent, in other countries, but the supermajority of the focus is American life and mores).

Gated, Amy Christine Parker

Gated, Amy Christine Parker.  9780449815977.

YA dystopia/cult thriller:
Read September 27, 2013

Lyla is the "Little Owl" of the community - always watching and observing, staying a bit apart.  She's a gentle soul, who fights against her lingering qualms about the necessity of the sacrifices that the Chosen have made.  Life in the community is peaceful, but they all know that when the End comes, the Unchosen will attack the compound to steal what they need in a desperate attempt to escape their predestined destruction.

Pioneer is the leader of this community, and he's been watching Lyla carefully.  As the end grows ever closer (3 months and counting) he's begun to realize that this one questioning girl could unravel his entire plan.

Cody is the son of the local town sheriff, and he's determined that Lyla realize that she and the community have all been had by Pioneer's careful indoctrination over the years.

Lyla's mom is the true tragic figure of this story, broken and defeated after the unsolved abduction of Lyla's young sister, just days before the Towers fell.  Even now, years later, she yearns for the destruction of the world, and even the dissolution of her own being, to be with the Brethren and experience eternal life with her missing daughter again.  

Excellent story, well-crafted plot, and believable people.  Overall suitable for younger teens, except for the death and violence at the end.  (very graphic in two instances, and many other deaths alluded to)

The end is left a bit unfinished, not in a "to be continued" sense, but in the real-world sense that life goes on but stays connected to the past, and nothing is ever entirely tied up in a nice pat bow.