I was a blabbering, foam-flecked, crazy-eyed fan of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I literally walked around the bookstore where I work carrying a stack of copies with me, challenging myself to sell every copy in my arms before I had to set them down. I carried them to the registers with me and snuck them on every display I could find (they looked funny in Gardening). I accosted fellow booksellers with it, demanding they read it rightthissecond. I pressed that book to people’s chests and told them, “Trust me. Just. Trust. Me.”

I waited for the sequel. I waited patiently, albeit with a hollowness inside, as if I was quietly starving for more from this series. So, when my advance copy of Catching Fire arrived, you can imagine my histrionics as I opened the envelope.

Oh, Suzanne Collins. Your Highness. May I call you Highness? We’ve never met, but if we ever do, I will fall to my knees and wrap my arms tight around your ankle, never letting you leave the room. At least until you’ve coughed up the third book in the trilogy. As much as I loved The Hunger Games, did I have doubts that Catching Fire could possibly live up to my lofty expectations? Yes, I admit it. I wondered how it was possible to keep up such a frenzied pace—such a delicate dance of character and action, tenderness and terror—all balanced on a needle’s point of pitch-perfect world building. Where could Catching Fire possibly take us?

I never could have imagined. Fears of a sophomore slump need not apply. Where Book One conjured images of The Giver sprinkled liberally with reality TV ala Survivor, Catching Fire hit me a little differently. While those elements are certainly still there, I was reminded more of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game and George Orwell’s 1984. This volume ventures deeper into post-apocalyptic territory and has more emphasis on the Capitol, where its citizens are little more than sheep, pacified by shiny objects and rich foods, while the leaders slam down their fattened fists on the Districts, like a cruel child smashing ants with his thumb. Like Ender’s Game, things are not always as they seem, and the people of Panem need a hero, even a reluctant, confused, damaged one. The embers of unrest are quickly smothered by omnipresent face of the Capitol—like 1984, “Big Brother is watching.” This novel defies its pages—there is way more story than the number of pages would seem to allow. It just keeps getting better, and I can’t imagine what Ms. Collins has in store for us in Book Three. I think I’ll be holding my breath until then.

One of the perks of being a bookseller is that we get free advance copies of books from the publishers to read and review before they ever hit the market.  It sounds like a dream…okay, it is.  It is absolutely as good as it sounds.  I get tons of books this way, and have found some of my very favorites by perusing the shelves in the back room for a freebie.  Since I work on the kids team in the store, the manager of that department (blessed soul she is) often gives me a heads up on books that are making a splash in the industry and often will request specific advances for me.  So, I was mildly curious, but decidedly desensitized when she caught me passing in the hall and said, “Do you want to read The Hunger Games?” (Read on …)

I’ve been listening to the short story “Come Lady Death” by Peter S. Beagle on a fantasy podcast I like called PodCastle.

I am always awed by Peter Beagle’s writing. Every phrase feels as if he has carefully carved it from stone, chiseling each word from the whole into fine and perfect detail. His imagination is boundless, and the hook of his stories always digs deeply into me, pulling me along, helpless to stop. He manages to capture moments when the fantastic shares a gentle kiss with reality, and in that moment they become one. Humor lies with melancholy as if they were created to be intertwined, two sides of the same coin. There is good reason that I get giddy when I manage to come across another of his books since they have unfortunately become so hard to find.

The story itself is “typical” Beagle (which is a very good thing), involving all the “to do” of inviting Death to a party and what happens when she arrives. I’ve listened to the story on the podcast, but I’ve found that it is included in an omnibus of Beagle’s work that I have on the shelf. I plan to read it for myself all over again, so that I can see each word with my own eyes and drink in each phrase. I think the chills that are running down my spine will double to hear his words echoing through my own head in a voice only my imagination could conjure.

Somewhere in classic fantasy between Lewis’s Narnia and Tolkein’s Middle Earth lies Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea. Though it is a short book, it is far from a quick read. Le Guin’s writing is as complex and beautiful as the mountains and sea she describes. She paints boldly, her words made of sparkling colors that mesh into something sublime. There are paragraphs that I had to read again for the sheer poetry of it all. The pace is somewhere between Lewis’s parsimony and Tolkein’s extravagance, which allows for a fully formed universe without pulling the plot to a standstill. Le Guin is a living legend in literature and should be seen for what she is–magic.

Okay, I promised more reviews, and they are coming soon! I thought I’d go ahead and jump in with one for the last book I read.  I promise I don’t JUST read YA, but I do read a lot of it and enjoy it immensely.  However, I assure you more diverse reviews are around the bend as soon as I have time to write them up.  For now, here are my thoughts on this classic teen book.

I picked up I Am the Cheese on a whim, expecting to only read a few pages at the time. I immediately found myself sucked into Cormier’s unique storytelling and was hooked by the mysterious ambiguity of the plot. This is a novel you should not begin unless you plan to finish it.

The story itself is masterfully paced and plotted, with an emotional clarity reminiscent of Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon or the works of S.E. Hinton. It is dark, but there is a sad beauty in its blackness. It is thought provoking as Cormier examines bureaucracy vs. the individual and the futility in trying to escape the inevitable. Adam is a delicate, soulful character and his tragic story will echo through your mind for a long while after the last page.

Though this is YA, adults should not miss this one. I hesitate to go any further into plot because the mystery that holds it together is so delicate that to know what is coming is to destroy its graceful composition. Read it for yourself, preferably in one big gulp. There is good reason why this book has been continuously in print since its initial publication in 1977 and has haunted readers ever since. I’m hoping to check out the 1983 independent film at some point. I’ve heard that it has a very good reputation among followers of the book, though it is sometimes described as disjointed and confusing by people who haven’t read it first. I can see how that the film, being a faithful adaptation of the book’s three POV styles, could feel confusing to a person who didn’t already understand the “roadmap” of the plot. I’m sniffing around for a copy of the DVD so I might post a review of it if I ever get my hands on it. I hear they changed the ending pretty drastically, so we’ll see how that goes.

Okay, off to go read more! I’m working on finishing up A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (I LOVE this book!!!), then it’s on to The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle for book club this month, then rereading Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer in preparation for the Breaking Dawn release in August! I have many pages ahead of me, and hopefully more reviews to follow!

Generally, when I write a book review, I try to be fair. Try. Also, I consider myself to be a very open minded reader, and I am generally able to read through anything once. Sometimes only once.

So, case in point, here we have a novel where I am struggling to find anything really nice to say about it, and I will certainly only be reading this one once!The Gossip Girl series is very popular with teens, but a lot of parents that come into my bookstore have concerns about the content given the information on the back of the book, and the front cover. I decided that it would be wise to read at least the first one and see for myself so I could actually have something useful to say when asked.
(Read on …)

To review is divine.   

Hello world, meet my review space. Soon this page will be chock full of review goodness, supplied by myself as well as some friends and coworkers. These people know their pages, let me say. Stay tuned!