1. "Paper Towns," by John Green (2008)

I grant you that this book is essentially a rewrite of Green's first novel, "Looking for Alaska," which won a bunch of awards and turned Green into a YA sensation. Judging from the synopsis of his second novel, "An Abundance of Katherines," it seems that "Paper Towns" is yet another variation on the themes there as well.

I grant you that this story comes perilously close to succumbing to the "Juno" syndrome, where all the teens are too witty by half and seem to possess uncanny amounts of wisdom, which they dispense in well-timed morsels.

I grant you that the target of the protagonist's quixotic journey is a cipher, a girl given far too much credit when what she really is is just immature.

I grant you that the main character unspools a faux-poetic monologue near the end that is both overlong and borderline ludicrous.

I grant all those things and yet I still enjoyed the hell out of this book. Maybe I'm just feeling charitable with the New Year, but I turned my grizzly critic's switch off about halfway through and just went along for the ride. Green absolutely needs to begin branching out in future novels, but for now, he's written at least two really good ones.