More in the Endless Parade of New Books...

Our last straggler in the list of 2009 National Book Award Nominees (for us young'uns) has arrived! Hooray!

Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor!


Looks to be romance (surprised, right?) with a smattering of paranormal--except these are three separate stories, not one big novel. Plus there's a graphic section. It looks interesting--I'll let you know.

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr,


The chronicles of a second pastor's daughter, this novel counters the chick-lit feel of Donut Days with a more grim picture of life as a PK. It, however, is also startlingly accurate. Trust me.

Beautifully written, your heart will break with Sam as she struggles with her mother's absence, her father's demanding job, the disappearance of a girl from her youth group, and Sam's own growing depression.

This is another excellent novel by Sara Zarr, author of Sweethearts and Story of a Girl.

Hold Still by Nina LaCour, which I just finished.


I loved this book. Loved, loved, loved.

Caitlin's friend Ingrid's sudden suicide leaves her reeling. She can't understand why Ingrid would kill herself. When she finds Ingrid's journal, Caitlin begins to see her friend in a way she'd never been able to before.

LaCour's writing made Caitlin's grief and loss real, heartbreakingly so. I strongly recommend this book!

The novel I'm reading right now:

Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd.

Holly Hogan ditches school, her latest foster home, England, and her name as she sets off on a road trip to find her mother in Ireland. Calling herself Solace and donning a blonde wig, she's off.

This is a fantastic road trip novel, Holly's humor offsets her often-dangerous surroundings, making her a realistic and like able character. Even if I'm reading it at Culver's and forcing myself not to shout at the book, "CALL HOME, HOLLY! DON'T GET ON THE FERRY!"

I know. Try not getting that involved.

The newest from Ellen Hopkins, Tricks...


And I finally broke down and got Identical in hardcover, because I know you were all tired of waiting. So was I. Over a year in hardcover--and counting!


Sorry guys, I'm not a poetry girl. So no reviews on these.

But, if you love them, hate them, or just plain liked them, let me know what you think in the comments!

Oh--and the new novel The Maze Runner by James Dashner.


Fantastic writing--It's next on my reading list. Thomas wakes up in a lift (elevator) with no memory (never a good sign) and is brought into the Glade by other boys his age. They all know the routine: every 30 days a new boy shows up with no memory of why he's been sent there, and nobody wants to get caught hanging around after dark...

But the next day, Thomas and the other Gladers are shocked to see a girl has arrived in the lift--and she has message for them.

The Compound by S.A. Bodeen...


A thriller of the post-apocalyptic variety, Eli and his family live in an underground bomb-shelter-y compound (and have for the last six years). Only their family: Eli, his parents, and his two sisters. Imagine the cabin fever.

Problems start to plague them, not to mention the constant struggle for...sanity?...and Eli begins to wonder if his father maybe isn't so concerned about what might get in. Now all he cares about is keeping the rest of them from getting out.

And our final offering: Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron.

It looks fantastic; I'll give you more when I've read it...

Still More New Books!

Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances, contains three interlinked holiday stories by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle--all fantastic authors. I devoured it yesterday, sitting in a coffee shop and hoping, unfortunately, that it would not snow as I knew I had to drive home from Huntington on the oft-ill-plowed State Road 16.


I loved reading this book! It was light and fun, perfect for holiday vacation reading. Especially if this year involves another freak ice storm like last year, the one that left my family without electricity, heat, or running water for more days than I want to mention. By the way, thanks again to my friend Jen, who let me come over to escape having to use buckets of river water to flush the toilet. Those were sad, sad days, and the use of your running--and hot--water was much appreciated.

Aren't friends great?

I cannot stress enough how much I love both John Green and Maureen Johnson. They are fantastic. Read all their books. Repeatedly. They will make your life happy; your world brighter. They will give you reason to go on.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little--but not by much!

We also have two shiny-new Forensic Mysteries by Alane Ferguson, The Angel of Death and The Circle of Blood, both follow-ups to The Christopher Killer.



Fans of CSI or other procedural crime dramas will love these mysteries, they combine mystery with just the right amount of science.

Another new book is Gone by Michael Grant. Not really gone, though, because it's sitting next to me on the desk (sorry, couldn't help it).


The first in a series, Gone opens with the disappearance of every adult. Only the young remain, but without the use of phones, internet, television, and...well...the police, help is impossible.

Meanwhile, a new social structure dominated by the strongest and cruelest, begins to emerge even as the teens and kids deal with encroaching hunger, a strange creature, mutating animals, and their own growing, unexplained powers.

Very Lord of the Flies. Good, creepy fun. Since, you know, none of us have to live it.

I just finished reading this one: Donut Days by Lara Zielin!


What initially drew me to this novel wasn't the yummy-looking donuts on the cover, or the fact that I hadn't eaten lunch yet when I was picking which new book to read first...It was the subject matter.

Emma is a pastor's daughter, and both her mom and her dad are pastors at the same local church. My mom isn't a pastor, but my dad certainly is, and a lot of the issues Emma goes through in the book seemed pretty familiar.

A lot of Christian fiction for young adults--maybe even for adults, it's been a while since I've read any for that age group--depicts the world as a happy, perfect place. And it isn't, for the most part. This book is a refreshing departure from the norm, with a strong, vibrant narrator facing all the usual teenage dilemmas (boys, friends, family, money for college) and some unusual ones (thinking her own behavior could cost her parents their jobs).

Give this one a go!

Tim Hamilton Just Made My Day

I feel special, all of a sudden. Look at the comments for yesterday to see why...

And don't forget to check out Tim's blog, Tim Hamilton has an Art Blog--and read his new Fahrenheit 451 adaptation (to be found upstairs in our YA section) while you're at it!

A TON of New Books

There are a whole lot of these, more than I think I can handle at any given time, but I'll give it a whirl.

A new graphic novel--newer than yesterday's batch because this one came downstairs this morning--Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation by Tim Hamilton.


I am usually not hugely into graphic novels, because I read too fast to concentrate on all the pictures (it's a hard life). But this one is so cool! Come and look at the art--you'll love it.

The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson is all about boarding school and Nazis, never a good combination.


But there's dancing and standing up to bad things, so that's good.

Also, we have new-new paranormal chick-lit, Bite Me by Melissa Francis


Teenage vampire, ex-boyfriend becomes new step-brother, and a former classmate she may or may not have turned into a vampire. Oops. Here's what the publisher says, "The fate of humankind lies in her little undead hands."

I like.

And Whip It, by Shauna Cross, which is now a movie.


This is what happens when your mother wants you to be in pageants, but you'd rather be elbowing people at high speed--roller derby. I want to see the film when it comes out on DVD, but I'd better read this first. It's a rule, that one should read the book prior to seeing the movie. And if such rules were enforced, some of you would be in trouble...

Everything You Want by Barbara Shoup is one of our Rosie Nominees!


Emma's eighteen and she randomly wins the lottery--50 million dollars, and she's just getting started. Those of us with college loans think this sounds rather nice. But Emma only wants to not be lonely, and that's something money can't help her with.

Ditched and punched in the face by her (ex) best friend and crush-of-a-lifetime...this could be a good one.

If you don't know it already, I am currently enjoying all of Maureen Johnson's books, and I thought you might like to do the same. We just got the two novels of hers we didn't already have--The Bermudez Triangle


In which friends Nina, Avery, and Mel face their first summer apart, right before senior year starts. Not too bad, since they'll be back together soon. Nina comes back from a summer program at Stanford to find that Mel and Avery aren't just friends anymore, and now Nina is the odd one out.

And...


Girl at Sea in which Clio Ford is drug onto a boat in the Mediterranean where she must spend the entire summer...with her father. What she'd much rather be doing is spending time at the art store with her crush. Instead she's coping with her dad's friend Martin, his partner Julia, her daughter Elsa, and Aidan, Julia's assistant.

I hope these will get me through the wait for the sequel to Suite Scarlett!

We also have book one of the Chaos Walking series: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.


The town where Todd lives is a great deal different from most--everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts for one. They call this Noise, and right before his birthday, Todd stumbles across a spot that goes quiet--no more Noise. Just like that.

Too bad that now he knows it's around, everyone's trying to kill him.

On a much lighter note, the third installment in Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer's Edwardian wizardry series, The Mislaid Magician, Or Ten Years After: Being the Private Correspondence Between Two Prominent Families Regarding a Scandal Touching the Highest Levels of Government and Security of the Realm.


LAURA'S WORD TO THE WISE: If you have not read Sorcery and Cecelia or The Grand Tour, check them out first. I have from several trusted sources that this book will be confusing if you don't have a little back story.

However, I refuse to give you back story, because reading it yourself will be more fun. These books will make you laugh, really laugh, and I will not give you a bland description of all that funny.

Of course, we still have more new books, but I'm done fighting this computer for a little while, that vein in my temple is doing the thing where it shoots wave after wave of pain through my cranium, something that might lead to my head popping like an egg in the microwave.

Thought you might like that image.

Some National Book Award Nominees! (And the Winner Is...)

As you can imagine, winning a National Book Award, or even being nominated for one, is a huge deal.

This means that you're guaranteed a good read, just by knowing a book has been nominated. If you live in my world, that's nice to know. I see a lot of books. Every day. Sometimes it's hard to pick one. Awards help.

You know how much I loved The Absolutely True Diary of A Part Time Indian--National Book Award. See? It's true. National Book Award = Good Book.

We know our winner for 2009, Claudette Colvin: Twice for Justice by Phillip Hoose--it's downstairs in the Children's Room if you want to read it.


It tells us all about Colvin, a young African-American woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus and...

Wait. Sound's familiar, huh?

Except Rosa Parks did it nine months later.

Instead of being celebrated like Parks was, Colvin was shunned and dismissed by classmates and community leaders. She later took her case to court, as she continued to stand up against segregation in the south.

Oh, and she was only 15. Did I mention that?

But I'm betting you don't go downstairs much, because I hardly see you. You're like wraiths, you come in the night and check out books that I've picked out, and when I arrive in the morning, the books are gone. And sometimes checkers are on the ground.

So I suggest you take a look at the YA books that were nominated--books I'm betting you'll like.

Read about David Small's eerie childhood in his memoir, Stitches.


Small's family went about their respective lives in almost-complete silence, giving this graphic novel the look and feel of a silent movie. If silent movies had secret cancer. Let me tell you, some things shouldn't be secrets, and cancer is one of them.

Another nominee is Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia.


I've just started this one, but the prose catches you from the first paragraph, so it promises to be an engrossing read. The novel switches between three perspectives, all girls whose lives intertwine even as their stories do the same.

You can also venture into the adult section and pick up Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman.


This book is a kind of dual-biography, describing the conflict between Charles Darwin's love of science and Emma Darwin's faith in God and their shared love for each other. The call number is 576.82 Hei--ask them at the front desk if you want help finding it.

Our last nominee is still on its way...so I'll wait to show it off later. But if you want to take a peek, it's Lips Touch: Three Times by the very pink-haired Laini Taylor.

New Dark Fantasy...

To fill the dark, miserable, sunless evenings we've been enjoying around here. Is it just me, or do 4:30 p.m. sunsets really sap the joy of life right out of a person?

The Otherworldlies by Jennifer Anne Kogler...


Think Vampire-lit.

Also in that genre, we have Night World Volume 3: Huntress, Black Dawn, and Witchlight by L.J. Smith.


Before you tell me these are novels 6-9 in the series, I know. Volumes 1 and 2 are on their way. For some reason volume 3 took way less time getting here.

One of the mysteries of the universe.

Also, we have Demon Princess: Reign or Shine by Michelle Rowan...


This isn't vampires exactly, but it is paranormal fantasy meets chick lit, and it seems like fun.

We have City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments 3)...


Hold list is already a mile long, so get your name down if you're interested!

And last but certainly not least, we have Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, a romance for all of those on Team Jacob...


This novel is a kind of Twilight-y epic romance involving Grace, a human girl, and Sam, a yellow-eyed wolf who spends a fraction of the year as human. Team Jacobs might like this especially.

Hooray for New Graphic Novels and Audio!

I told you I would be more entertaining, and I plan on starting now--with new books!

We have new Naruto (volumes 35 and 36) new Death Note (volume 6--so you know, 5 is on the way) and a new InuYasha (volume 17). I'm not going into a ton of detail here, because I'm betting if you want to read these, you already know more about them than I do.

We also have a Holly Black graphic novel, illustrated by Ted Naifeh, The Good Neighbors: Kin.


This is part of a new series, following in Black's dark fantasy vein. Rue, our protagonist, is reeling after her mother's disappearance and dealing with her father's legal trouble--he's accused of murdering Rue's mom. But Rue's mother isn't an ordinary parent, she's a faerie, and she's gone back to the faerie realm. Now Rue has to bring her back.

One more graphic novel--Black is for Beginnings by Laurie Faria Stolarz!


This series was in prose before it went graphic, so if you're interested in seeing how it all started, check out her other novels.

We also have two brand new audio books, which makes me happy because they're all favorites of mine!

We've got the audio version of Catching Fire to go along with the new hardcover--that I love and everyone should read.

Another recent addition is An Abundance of Katherines by John Green--this was so hysterical that I spent half my time reading it out loud to my family members. I can only hope the narrator does justice to TOC and Colin's big finish. If you've read this novel, you'll get that. If you haven't...you're missing something.

Hooray!

Did you see?

Over there, in the sidebar?

It's my congratulatory NaNoWriMo banner, the one that tells you that I did it--I wrote a 50,000 word novel in 30 days! Except, since I'm posting this today, and I won last night, I really wrote a 50,000 word novel in 29 days.

I thought it might be nice to have one November day not consumed by writing. Also, my brother was telling me he wanted to be able to talk to me sometime soon. I've been ignoring him when he came to speak to me, or just telling him he is "interfering with the process" and to "go kill something" in World of Warcraft.

Apparently, I missed a great deal this month, because he let me know yesterday that he quit WOW weeks ago. Oops.

For all of you still clattering away on your keyboards--you can do it! For all of you who've already finished--Hooray! We did it!

And for those of you who didn't write this year, give it a try next November. There's nothing like the feeling of accomplishment you get when you can call yourself a "Novelist" and have it mean something.

I promise I'll be more entertaining now.

New Books!

I was reading an old mystery novel the other day and I noticed something.

You know how we have "line-ups" here in the states? Say, someone took a sledge to the front of my new-ish car. I would be upset. But I might not know who exactly did it, if the person who attacked my car thought it belonged to someone else. I may have seen that person do it, though. The police would then fill a room with a ton of people and wait for me to tell them who did it. A line-up.

Just like we see on CSI five times a week, or more.

Sigh.

Well, in Britain, I have discovered, they call a line-up an "identity parade"--proving yet again that our names for things are not as entertaining as the names they come up with abroad.

I'm done, now. But first, an identity parade of new books:

Frannie in Pieces by Delia Ephron!


Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale!


Envy--book three in the Luxe series--by Anna Godbersen!


And (drum roll) Fire by Kristin Cashore!


Did I mention how much I loved this book? Did I? Because I do. Very much. Just like I loved the awesome, amazing, fantastic, better-than-any-adjective-I-can-think-of Graceling, also by Kristin Cashore. Read them both, you won't be sorry!

Now I am going to write 5,000 words or more, because I've been sleeping a little, so I am way behind on my NaNoWriMo word count. Not 9,000 words behind, though, so I'm not in as much trouble as John Green.

Don't quit now, John! Week three is about to begin, and week three is when it all turns around, finally becoming both fun and rewarding, instead of miserable and degrading!

New Books and Why I Look Like I Haven't Been Sleeping

New book alert!


We now have The Wild Things by Dave Eggers, the novelization of the new movie. However, in the little introduction he wrote, Eggers says his book is different from the screenplay, which he also wrote.

And although I have read the book (Egger's and the original Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak--I mostly liked the pictures) I can't tell you how different the book and the movie are, since I haven't seen the movie. I also do not plan on seeing the movie.

Why, you ask? Because the whole giant monster thing is really cool in a children's book, but kind of weird in a movie. Also, it's what, two hours long? And in that time the following will happen: Max will get ticked and his mom will punish him for his behavior. Max will be in his room, bored/hungry/ticked, and he will leave for a faraway place [cue sweeping, magestic music, images of the ocean and little sailing boat] where he will meet freaky monsters not unlike the people he knew in the world he left behind. Also, the personality flaws/struggles of the wild things will mirror the problems Max and his family face (sorry, literature major). Then, he will give up and go home, eating food his mother left for him. The end.

What's that, about 20 minutes of story, give or take?

And you can't knit in a dark theater. Well, you can, but people think there's something wrong with you when you do it. Especially when you are knitting a sock.

Also, the movies are expensive. Even without popcorn. And what is life without popcorn?

The book is amazing, not so much due to plot (which we already know from the children's book) but due to Egger's amazing writing. Check it out.

Next we have Steampunk Lit: Scott Westerfeld's new novel Leviathan. I'm reading this--you can have it when I'm done.


But the art on the cover and throughout (all by Keith Thompson) is amazing. The map alone--but you should just go check it all out. Ignore me. I can't properly describe it.

See, Mr. Scott Westerfeld's got some on his blog!

And what else is on Scott Westerfeld's blog? Could it be the same thing that's happening at Maureen Johnson's blog? And is it the same thing that's happening at John (and Hank) Green's YouTube Channel (and maybe eventually his blog)--to a more extreme degree?

See?



It's NaNoWriMo!

As some of you know and others of you are finding out, November is the month where crazy people like me (and, apparently, John Green) take time out of our lives to give ourselves carpal tunnel syndrome and ulcers by forcing ourselves to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days!

In 2007, I did this. In 2008, I said, "No way am I doing that again!" At some point between November 2008 and now, I forgot the stress, impulsive eating, and lost knitting time and signed up to try this thing again.

If you're wondering...No, it is not too late to join us! Yes, you, too, can age prematurely, stop eating balanced meals, and start talking about fictional characters as if they are real people. You might find yourself looking across the dinner table at your family and friends on Thanksgiving, saying to them, "No, I can't have pie. I just killed off the villian and MC needs help getting out of that well she's stuck in. She's had a bad day. I really shouldn't have even eaten dinner. She needs me."

Then you dart back to your computer, notebook, or dark corner to continue writing writing writing until the tips of your fingers fly across the keyboard so fast scientists decide to study you!

Does it sound fun, yet?

Maureen Johnson and Scott Westerfeld are giving special NaNoWriMo writing tips, so is Justine Larbalestier. John Green is telling us that we have license to write horrible, horrible novels, and if you sign up at NaNoWriMo.org, you'll get pep talks from other authors. In 2007, I remember Neil Gaiman wrote us all a long note about how awesome writing is, how rewarding it can be, and how the world wasn't going to end on November 30, even if it felt like that to us right now!

Good times.

Also, the Nerdfighters have a forum going on NaNoWriMo, and John Green is keeping us up to date.

Give it a try, it's a lot of fun (I mean it, we joke, but it's a blast), you meet tons of people who love to write just like you, some of them right at your school, and when you're all done, you have bragging rights. For. Life.

Rosie Reading Update: My Big Fat Manifesto

Today, while downing a beef and cheddar sandwich with a side of potato cakes at Arby's, I finished My Big Fat Manifesto, by Susan Vaught.

The average person might have reconsidered their fast-food choices after reading that particular book, but most people will tell you, I don't really qualify as average. I sing in the grocery store, while I'm walking around all by myself.

Instead I just ended up resolving to not get ice cream on my way home from work as often, because Susan Vaught does a very good job making the world seem like not such a shiny place from Jamie Carcaterra's perspective.

Jamie, the self-described "Fat Girl" is taking her senior year by storm, writing for the paper, starring in the school musical, and enjoying her time with her football-star boyfriend, Burke. As Jamie starts her new column chronicling her experiences in the world, her plans fall apart.

Burke decides to get gastric bypass surgery, and Jamie starts getting negative attention from her community--people who aren't so happy about her Fat and Proud way of life. Burke's changes aren't just physical, and losing him might mean losing her friends Freddie and No-No too. And if the whole situation wasn't bad enough, her friend Heath might not just be a friend after all...

Somehow, Susan Vaught took the same boring plot (girl has boy, boy loves girl, girl loves boy, girl meets other boy, girl leaves one boy for other because all boys will fall in love with girl since she is so great and fabulous) and made it 1. not annoying and 2. fresh.

That being said, there were some problems with the side characters, the supporting cast, the extras.

Let's talk about dimensions.

There are a few.

Here is one: .

Here is another: _____________

Here is one more:


And another:



When we talk about characters, we usually refer to the last two...two dimensional and three dimensional.

If you are an author, you want more than anything to have your readers think you've created three dimensional characters. It means just what you think it does--the same thing it means in the movies. 3D means the image is going to pop out of the screen, just like that building really did just blow up, or like that guy's house really just picked itself up off its foundations and floated away...

You do not want two dimensional characters. Like...if I say the words "dumb blonde" to you...you can picture the girl exactly. And it will be a girl. You won't see who she is, but what she is, and she will never be more to you than that first image.

It's the author's job to make that dumb blonde more than just a "dumb blonde."

Susan Vaught didn't pull it off.

Jamie is a great character! She's fun, interesting, full of depth! But no other character is even a quarter of the person Jaime is. You could take out the names of the other characters and jumble them around, and it would make little to no difference.

That's bad.

But I loved Jamie. I wanted her to be happy. I wanted to see what she'd do next. I wanted those stupid meanie people to leave her alone and just let her be happy.

No matter what, I still read this book like someone was about to rip it out of my hands, hold it above their head, and laugh at me while I jumped up and down trying to get it back.

That's very good.

You guys are going to have to judge for yourself.


The tally stands as follows:

Nominees: 21
Books read: 8
Books remaining: 13
Months left: 6

My Good News!

There is so much good news today, I thought I'd give you a list to peruse.

1. We have candy. On the circulation desks. Need I say more?

2. I'm no longer sick! Wait...maybe this should have been number one...

3. If I hold an apple in my hands today (like the one sitting inches away from me), I look like the cover of Twilight. See, I'm wearing a Halloween costume, without wearing a Halloween costume...get it?

4. Most of you don't have school.

5. I am pages away from finishing not one but two Eliot Rosewater books!

6. The young adult novels nominated for the National Book Award in 2009 are on their way! Click here, here, and here to read more about them.

7. Did I mention the candy?

8. Because there's candy...

9. Right here on the desk!

10. We have a program coming up! November 12 at 6:00 p.m. we will be making paper star lanterns!

I am very excited about the paper star lanterns.

I picked one of these up at a touristy shop in Colorado, hung it up in my room, and there it remained for many years. But, when I started thinking about fun crafts for us all to do, I figured I could probably find a pattern online...

There is no pattern online.

Hey, I bet I could post one!

Because I sat down over a three-day period and created a pattern for these lanterns. Without taking mine apart! That is a big plus.

I'm putting up all kinds of signage all around the library, so make sure to register so I have enough supplies!

Need convincing? Take a look at the pictures I found...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeysplanting/2124813418/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gertrudk/2102271053/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fireant2006_triptych/274433151/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/remedy/339487087/

These stars will liven up your room (or make a great Christmas gift). All you need to make them is my magic template, five pieces of 12"12" scrapbook paper, and a glue stick. If you want, you can embellish, with stamps, paper punches, etc., but you don't need too.
Oh!

And...

11. We just got a new book! Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott.



Our staff already loves it (it's been through two other people before it got to me), and Rachel tells me it's one of her favorite books of the year.

Ellen Hopkins gave a blurb for the cover, "Stark. Gripping. Totally unforgettable."

I'll read it, make sure you tell me what you think.

Read Me!

Hey everybody!

We've had to cancel our Halloween party.

I called everyone who registered. If you didn't and were planning on joining us, all you'll find is me and maybe a piece of candy. If you're nice, I might share...

I'll keep you up to date about all our new plans!

Happy Teen Read Week!

This is a happy week. You see, it is Teen Read Week. This is the week that we all are very happy that you are reading, that we are reading, and that we celebrate how cool reading is, especially when you are reading something by John Green (or someone else, if you want...).

Hooray!

It also gives us the opportunity to make lots of noise about the coolness of reading for teens, and I would make more noise than even this if I didn't make noise every day...which I do.

Looking for a way to celebrate? Here's one!

For those of you that have read Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac--drop by the library tonight at 6:00 p.m. and join in our Young Adult Book Discussion (the way I party, since you can't beat talking books). We will have snacks and craftiness, and we'll talk all about how great it was that Naomi got hit on the head so hard, since she really needed it.

Oh, did she need it.

We will be making fancy CD covers to go with our awesome mixes--which Will taught us to make so well (if you read the book you know what I'm talking about. For the rest of you...read the book!).

In addition to my being so happy that we are all reading like crazy--hopefully not just this week--the Young Adult Library Services Administration has released the Top Ten Books of 2009!

This is another fantastic way to celebrate--read the books that teens like you have rated the best of this year!

Looking for a list? Okay, fine, here it is, with some commentary...

The Top Ten Books of 2009

1. Paper Towns by John Green (Hooray for John Green--Nerdfighters!)

2. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (I love this book!)

4. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

5. Identical by Ellen Hopkins

6. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Great author, love him.)

7. Wake by Lisa McMann

8. Untamed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

9. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart

10. Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Another fantastic book--read this!)

Celebrate Teen Read Week by checking out a few of these. You can also grab a few bookmarks I've put out with all the winners listed (to help with future reading plans). I'm going to be sure to read the few of these I haven't.

Book discussion first, though.

I'll see some of you tonight! The rest of you should plan on being here next week for our Halloween Costume and Pizza Party--October 29 at 6:30 p.m.

Eliot Rosewater Reading Update: A Long Way Gone

I just finished Ishmael Beah's book, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.


Ishmael lost his home and his family during Sierra Leone's civil war. From that point, he and his friends fled from one village to another, struggling against starvation and unable to find safety. Throughout their flight, they searched for their families.

However, instead of sanctuary, Ishmael found the army. He was given weapons and taught to kill. The army urged him to take revenge against those who had stolen his former life. During this time, Ishmael and other boys like him were traumatized beyond belief.

As someone who has grown up with total knowledge and confidence in my own safety, I find it difficult to imagine life without it. One of the few drawbacks of life here in the U.S. is that we can so easily overlook conflicts in other countries. That is why Ishmael Beah's story is so important.

I encourage all of you to read this book.

Now What? In Which Laura Finishes Catching Fire and Promises There Will Be No Spoilers

You all know about my Catching Fire woes. How I just couldn't bring myself to read it, even though I've been looking forward to it for ages. You have also read my list of possible reasons as to why I have not brought myself to read Catching Fire, even though its been a month (well, almost) since its release.

I figured it out, finally. I know why.

Turns out, I hate waiting.

I know what you're thinking. And I agree. Really, how could forcing myself to wait before reading a book make me not have to wait? It doesn't make sense.

Unless you take into consideration the sequel to Catching Fire. Have you figured it out yet?

However, a month of procrastination had brought me no closer to resolving the situation--i.e. I could not use my inability to start the book to force Suzanne Collins to have the third book released the moment I finished the second.

If only the world worked that way. Then I could read all the books in a series back to back. The would should work that way.

But it doesn't.

And Fire by Kristin Cashore (author of Graceling) was released on Monday. It only makes sense that I should have Catching Fire finished before getting Fire in the mail.

That is, after all, why I pre-ordered them both. So I could read them the second they came out, or the second they arrived in the mail.

Monday, I knew that Fire had been shipped. Wednesday I traced the USPS tracking number and discovered my package containing Fire would arrive on Friday (today).

Sigh.

It isn't like I didn't know this was coming. I had to read Catching Fire. I just had to. The Hunger Games was amazing, so good that I was telling all my friends to read it--and all of you! I am so rarely surprised by books. Usually I have this sixth sense that tells me the moment I touch them that I will love them--or not.

But I thought The Hunger Games would be depressing. And it wasn't. I thought I would hate all the characters and wish that their world would just end to save them from their misery. And I didn't! I loved them all! And I wanted them to throw off their evil government and escape, all the while thinking: This could happen! They could win!

Holding Catching Fire in my hands meant the resolution of some conflicts, the creation of more...and the knowledge that I would not have all my questions answered by the end of the novel. I knew that reading it would be the equivalent of reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. At the end the stage would be set, but I would have no idea if Harry--Katniss--came out alive. Or free.

I was walking through Books-A-Million about two weeks ago, and I saw Fire on their bookshelf. This is a super-big no-no.

See, booksellers are shipped boxes from publishing warehouses. Sometimes these boxes are filled with books that have yet to be released. These boxes are clearly marked, and they always have little notes inside them telling whoever opened them that they better seal them back up and wait, because if the date the stock person opened the box isn't the day the publisher told them to...bad things could happen.

So I could have bought Fire then.

But I didn't.

Why?

Catching Fire.

I knew my time was up.

Today, though, I ended my conflict once and for all.

I read Catching Fire today. Cover to cover.



Amazing.

That last chapter...

But I'm not saying anything. Go forth, read The Hunger Games, read Catching Fire, and while you're at it--read Graceling and Fire!

Then come talk to me. Because other than telling you I'm going to start biting my nails to kill the tension caused by not knowing what will happen in Book Three of The Hunger Games...I'm giving you nothing!

New Books, Rainy Day

We have some new books to add a little cheer to our rainy days. I know I need something to brighten my day! Rain brings me down.

Something about what happens to my hair when moisture hits it.

Trust me, it's bad.

For the Rosie Readers among us (myself included) three new titles from the Eliot Rosewater Nominee list have arrived!

If you haven't started reading for the Eliot Rosewater contest we've got going, it's not too late to start. You have until April to read four of the nominated books. Fill out a little entry form for each and shove it in the Legendary Re-purposed Coffee Can on the short hardcover shelf in the YA section, and you are eligible for our drawing!

I'm reading them all, so you guys all reading four books is no big deal, right?

My Big Fat Manifesto by Susan Vaught is a nominee!


Jamie Carcaterra is an overworked, overweight high school senior. And she's perfectly happy that way. This book follows her life, from her group of friends to her boyfriend to the starring role in the school play to the moment when all her plans...don't work out.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman is a nominee!


This book picks up after the Second Civil War, which was fought over reproductive rights. The verdict? Life is protected from the moment of conception to the age of thirteen.

Then guess what?

Parents can choose to have their child "unwound" between the ages of thirteen to eighteen. Meaning, all the kid's organs will be harvested and transferred to people who need them, so their life doesn't technically end...

I know.

Better be nice to your parents! Connor wasn't, now he's scheduled to be unwound, Risa is a ward of the state and not spectacular enough to be kept alive, Lev was born and raised just to be unwound.

Naturally, an escape is necessary. And that's what this book is all about. This is another addition to the plethora of novels all about our future, dystopian society. So those of you who liked Suzanne Collins'The Hunger Games (and Catching Fire!) or Feed by M.T. Anderson might like this.

Hero by Perry Moore is a Rosie nominee!


Thom is a misfit, even as a basketball star. He's got to hide most of his life from his dad, Hal Creed, one of the most respected members of The League (think X-Men)...until the Wilson Towers incident that left him in disgrace.

Thom can't bear to disappoint his father. So he hides his identity, from his sexuality to his power to heal. Thom learns to control his powers, but still attracts The League's attention, eventually joining them. There he meets Scarlett who has the power of fire (from growing up too close to the nuclear power plant) and Typhoid Larry (makes people sick by touching them) who really is just a nice guy and Ruth who can see the future.

Together they figure out someone is plotting to kill them--as well as everybody else with powers like theirs.

This novel promises to be out of the YA ordinary, and I look forward to reading it. Much more than I do the football book. Ouch.

On the Non-Rosie Reading Front we have three more books:

The sequel to Prom Dates From Hell, Hell Week by Rosemary Clement-Moore has arrived. I was waiting for this one! These are part of the Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series. I love these books. Did any of you ever watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer? You probably would have had to see the reruns...I'm older than you, but these books have the same paranormal/humor ratio.


This time, Maggie is fake-rushing a sorority so that she can write an expose for the college newspaper. However, she doesn't pick any ordinary sorority. Certain death may lie around the corner.

Something Wicked by Alan Gratz is the sequel to Something Rotten and the second installment of the Horatio Wilkes mysteries has Horatio taking in a Scottish Highland Fair (*coughs* Macbeth) when he finds Duncan MacRae dead in his tent. Everyone thinks Duncan's son is behind it, but Horatio knows better. After all, his friend Mac and Mac's girlfriend Beth (Mac and Beth...get it?) have started acting pretty strange...


And what's up with the goth-punk bagpipers? Do they make goth-punk bagpipers? Where can I meet some?

You might also take note to the really pretty girl spying on everyone and the three guys hurling giant telephone poles around for fun.

Want to hear something funny? From the back of the book (so the publisher): "Kilts, Celts, and killers--this is one weekend Horatio Wilkes will never forget."

Kilts, Celts, and killers?

Alliteration is funny.

How to Build a House by Dana Reinhardt is not actually a how-to guide. It is the story of Harper, whose father and stepmother have just divorced, dividing her family in half and separating her from her stepsister Tess.


Fleeing the pain, Harper signs up for a volunteer program, moves into a hotel with other teens from around the country, and starts building a house for Teddy and his family. Summer romance ensues. But Harper has to let herself trust before she can love. Oh, and there are power tools.