I gave her a funny look and she informed me that the publisher and booksellers are going crazy for it and that she had an advance of it for me if I wanted it. I told her sure, eventually collected my book, and threw it on the stack, expecting to get to it whenever I finished my bottomless stack of in progress books. Well, the unthinkable happened, and the bottomless stack had a bottom after all, so I picked it up and skimmed the first chapter. Then I had to read the next. I don’t even think I noticed when the second bled into the third, and after that I stopped counting. I walked around with this book all over my apartment, even balancing it carefully while I tried to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while reading (very difficult–not recommended). It’s THAT good.

This book is one to watch. It doesn’t come out until September or October (the press info on the galley states October, the web press from Scholastic is now saying September), but when it hits, it will have a following. It is a sort of marriage between the dystopian aura of The Giver and the suspense and flippancy of reality TV shows like Survivor. Collins’s writing is fast-paced and sure, treading over uneven terrain with grace and agility.

The plot centers around a futuristic society called Panem built on the remains of North America. There is a shining capitol and twelve outlying districts. The capitol is all flash and fashion while the citizens in the districts lay starving, some surviving only by poaching the occasional squirrel which may either be eaten or traded for necessities. As a punishment for some long ago uprising, the capitol requires that each district have a drawing each year to select two teenage tributes–one boy, one girl–to compete in the Hunger Games. The games consist of dropping all twenty-four children, some as young as twelve, into a large environment arena where they will fight to the death. On TV.

I cannot begin to tell you the implications of this novel, or the depth it achieves with its post apocalyptic setting being such a mirror to modern times. It is a white-knuckled adventure novel yes, but there is something more–a point, a moral. Something that entertainment these days is sorely missing–which is precisely what Collins is driving at.

If you’re a fan of Lois Lowry’s work, especially The Giver or Gathering Blue you will not want to miss this one. Suzanne Collins also wrote the Underland Chronicles for intermediate readers, which began with Gregor the Overlander. I’ve heard those are really great, but I haven’t ventured into them yet. As for this one, my mouth is watering for the next in the series (rumored to be a trilogy) and I think I’m going to personally explode if SOMEONE else doesn’t read it so I can discuss with them. That’s one downside of advance copies–it’s VERY difficult to find someone else who has read the same ones!

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.

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!

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.

Wow. Where to begin. The writing is pretty bad. That alone made me look at the back of the book at the $10.99 price tag (at least $2 more expensive than it was two years ago) and think, “Really?” But, I carried on. Right from page 1, you’ve got teens who have an endless supply of money, booze, and drugs living on the posh upper east side in NYC. All completely condoned and indeed supported by the parents of the “protagonists”. Not to mention that right off the bat there is more product placement than in an entire season of Top Chef (for those in the know, that’s a LOT of product placement!). There is just NOTHING moral at all about the actions or situations these kids are in.

The plot centers around Serena, who was away at boarding school until she was “asked” to leave, and she shows back up at a party thrown by the mother of Blair, her supposed best friend. Blair, who’s been queen of all she surveys since Serena’s departure, is not happy to have her back to cramp her style. So, they start rumors about her and so on. Despite the fact that the first bit of the book centered around materialism, inebriation, and various forms of sexual conquest, all expressed in colorful sailor words, I had hoped that there would be some kind of redemption. Maybe Serena had grown up, seen the real world, etc. and would help the others to see the error of their ways.

Nope. She’s just as bad as the others, and what’s worse the author goes on to introduce other “underlings” that worship these kids, Serena in particular, and instead of opening their eyes to accepting differences in people, etc. they just get sucked into the drama!

I saw no redeeming characteristics in this novel whatsoever. A lot of school librarians argue that at least it gets girls reading, and that’s a good thing. Yes, it is. But what are they reading? After this, they go on to The It Girl, a spinoff. Then maybe The Clique. I haven’t read them, but I have suspicions that they’re not a whole lot better. Still, where are the values? Throughout my psychology training, it has been bashed into me that the age that these kids are when they’re reading these books is when they’re most struggling for identity development. They’re looking toward role models and peers, trying to figure out where they fit in and how they measure up. Is this sort of “literature” helpful for a balanced, well-rounded, and productive mindset? NO! I don’t think it would bother me so much, but in many cases these are the only books they read.

So, I say there are lots of books that can get girls reading that still have the “aura” that they’re looking for–issues with parents, school, boys, and growing up in general. In the future, if at all possible, I will try to steer girls away from these books and perhaps into The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares (four girls who are life-long friends beginning to see cracks in their friendship caused by growing up and growing apart. They handle different family issues, sex, death, etc., they more accurately explore the adolescent experience, and are dripping with insight and empathy), or Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Calletti (the “moral” is that a girl doesn’t have to be anyone’s “honey, baby, sweetheart” if she will learn how to be herself). These reads are entertaining, well-written, and have something to offer besides empty mental calories.

Okay, I need to go read something to replace the IQ points I lost while reading Gossip Girl. Seriously, it’s THAT bad.

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!