I finished reading Winger by Andrew Smith
Tag: books
Summer of YA: Allen Zadoff, author of Boy Nobody @allenzadoff
I may not post as much about the Summer of YA event that was held today at the Barnes & Noble in beautiful Glendale California. Basically it was a great opportunity to spend some time talking with a bunch of YA authors and I don’t know why you didn’t attend … assuming you didn’t of course. Some of you did attend like me, Alethea and Andrew Smith.
In preparation for today I finished Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff. Our protagonist is a teenage assassin who infiltrates lives and murders parents. I remember hearing about it when it first came out and I was intrigued by the premise, so I downloaded the sample in iBooks and I was pretty hooked.
Continue reading “Summer of YA: Allen Zadoff, author of Boy Nobody @allenzadoff”
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and Winger
I don’t like it when a book gives me a reading assignment. Winger is not a short book and in part two I encountered this footnote:
Okay. If you haven’t read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, you should. Because it is fucking hilarious, and there’s no way you’d understand “Hello, Central” unless you read the book.
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Upcoming Book Recommendation: Codename Zero by Chris Rylander @chris_rylander
I just finished a digital galley of Chris Rylander’s upcoming book, Codename Zero. His previous books, The Fourth Stall (Parts 1, 2, and 3) have enjoyable reads and Codename Zero is as well. It’s a spy action intrigue book set in a quiet North Dakota town. There’s a new milk bar in town … that’s about as exciting as it seems to get. (The town, not the book)
I’m recommending it for middle grade readers. Boys may appreciate it more than girls but maybe use this as a metric: Do you think fainting goats are funny? Well then be prepared for GOATEMONIUM.
Apologies in advance: the book comes out February 4, 2014. So … be patient.
Book Soup with @rainbowrowell (and @corey_whaley)
Yesterday morning as I was going through the twitter feed when I saw a tweet from Rainbow Rowell that she was going to do a reading signing at Book Soup. Rainbow Rowell is the author of the most excellent Eleanor and Park a young adult love story that I generally recommend and enjoyed. She went to BEA but after I had already left town (and hadn’t finished the book yet). And then lucky me, unexpected opportunity to see her out here (and have since finished the book). Continue reading “Book Soup with @rainbowrowell (and @corey_whaley)”
Quarantine Book Two: The Saints (@LexThomasAuthor)
Newest addition to the library is a signed copy of Lex Thomas’s second Quarantine (Quaranteens!) book, The Saints. Saw them at the Barnes & Noble at the Grove.
Lex remembered me from the Ontario Teen Book Fest. I declined to wear my author event jacket because it was just too hot. I should like to think that my author event jacket helps authors remember me but at the same time I never assume that there are reasons for authors to remember me. With a few exceptions of course.
I love to refer to the series as Quaranteens even though it was changed before publication. If you’re unfamiliar basically a high school has been quarantined and all of the students fight amongst themselves for dominance… It’s going to be a trilogy. Book one was The Loners and is already available. Oh…. should have asked that.
I’m not great on coming up on questions for authors so it was great that Lex came prepared for questions.
Ugh. It took me 30 minutes to get over the hill and into Hollywood. Surface street traffic and it didn’t even seem particularly bad.
Book 84 in 2013: Proxy by Alexander London @ca_london
This is the post about Proxy. Proxy is a recent release from Alexander London set in a dystopian cyberpunk future. Great luxe living is available for a price. For those who can’t afford it, there are plans and schemes to work off your debts. The disparity between the bright and shiny people and the poor and downtrodden is striking and frighteningly a possible outcome of our current direction as a society…
Parts of this future world feels familiar. From Feed, (or google) we have targeted advertising where everywhere we go you find ads that are tailored to you and your personal habits. From the Whipping Boy, we get the naive hope that young people can be shamed into behaving by watching other people get punished for their misdeeds. I’m sure numerous other stories have done this, but for some reason I was reminded of Logan’s Run when they *spoiler* flee the city. I also suggested that I was reminded of Virtual Light but that’s mainly because of the glasses which act as a computer interface. And all of the talk of blood sacrifice and forgiveness reminded me of the bible. Continue reading “Book 84 in 2013: Proxy by Alexander London @ca_london”
Mysteries of Pittsburgh (3/5) with spoiler
I just finished another book that I assumed wasn’t a Young Adult book but turned out to be yet another coming of age themed book, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. The only real mystery is why our protagonist is okay leaving some very real issues unresolved and how he will just push people away instead of finding out what happened.
I just watched the trailer for the film and got very upset. One of the major characters has been removed from the plot completely. The dapper homosexual doesn’t exist and instead the attractive protagonist apparently has a dalliance with the scruffy bear biker! What an unlikely pairing.
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MOST ANTICIPATED NEW BOOK OF 2014: Noggin by John Corey Whaley (@corey_whaley)
Guys, I’m excited. I’m sure there are other books that are coming out in 2014. Probably not a new Harry Potter book. Maybe some new entry in a series about paranormal vampires from space. Who cares, right? But let me tell you I’m super excited about a book that was just announced today: Noggin by John Corey Whaley. Continue reading “MOST ANTICIPATED NEW BOOK OF 2014: Noggin by John Corey Whaley (@corey_whaley)”
I WON A PRIZE! Wally Lamb signed copy of She’s Come Undone
The FedEx man just dropped off a small box containing a signed copy of She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb, signed by the author! I don’t really remember entering it but I do recall this is one of those books that’s supposed to be good. Not just because Oprah thought it was worthy of her O, but I remember seeing (at least one) English teacher reading it so many years ago. Anyways, fantastic!