Dystopian utopia

From Big A little a I learned about Gemma Malley's top10 dystopian novels for teenagers. Gemma Malley is the author of a forthcoming dystopian novel, The Declaration, which looks like it will be an interesting book. This list has a few new books, but unfortunately it mostly sticks to the expected classics. I was hoping to discover some great new dystopian books, but given the size of my TBR, it's probably better that I didn't.

New reviews by David

David has posted three new reviews in the past week:

Skulduggery Pleasant

Warriors: Firestar's Quest

Mythology

Back, I think

My blog vacation turned out to be longer than my beach vacation! I actually got back from the beach a week ago, but between playing catch-up, and preparing for my son's twelfth birthday party yesterday, I haven't had time to post.

I had a wonderful time at the beach; the weather was perfect and I spent a lot of time just lying on the beach and reading. It was very relaxing. I finished rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and read three out of the four books I took with me to read: First Light by Rebecca Stead, Middleworld (Jaguar Stones Trilogy Book 1) by J&P Voelkel, and The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose. I didn't get a chance to read The Dirt Eaters (The Longlight Legacy book 1) by Dennis Foon because we bought a copy of Skulduggery Pleasant at a bookstore near the boardwalk, and I read that instead. I'm still looking forward to reading The Dirt Eaters as soon as I get a chance.

I hope to post reviews of these books this week, with the exception of The Reincarnationist. Since that's an adult book, I think I won't review it here, but I'm going to try to post a short review to Goodreads.com. I've also finally joined the discussion of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows over at the Scholar's Blog Spoiler Zone. I hope that I'm not too late; if there's anyone left in the world who still feels like talking about Deathly Hallows, won't you please join me in the discussion?

Vacation!

Tomorrow we leave for our annual trip to the beach. Sun, surf, sand, and plenty of time to read. I've got my books for the trip all picked out. Three kidlit books:

• First Light by Rebecca Stead
  
• Middleworld (Jaguar Stones Trilogy Book 1) by J&P Voelkel
  
• The Dirt Eaters (The Longlight Legacy book 1) by Dennis Foon

and one adult book:

• The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose

Poetry Friday & Politics

I don't often post on Poetry Friday, but I couldn't resist linking to an Iraq War parody my husband Nick wrote today, even if it isn't kid lit related:

Georgie at the Bat

Don't miss...

...The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows discussion group over at the Scholar's Blog Spoiler Zone. I'll be over to join in the discussion as soon as I finish rereading the book and taking notes.

...The late summer edition of The Edge of the Forest. Lots of good articles and reviews over there!

The Dark is Rising? E-xcellent - NOT!

In case you haven't heard, Walden changed the title of the forthcoming The Dark is Rising movie to The Seeker: The Dark is Rising. I'm not sure what the reason is for the change is, but I hope that it's not because they want to differentiate it so they can make sequels. I just wish they would remove "The Dark is Rising" from the title all together.

Camille at Book Moot has created a great parody movie poster that captures so well everything about this movie that has fans of the book so upset. It's really funny; you have to check it out here.

The poster makes a lot more sense if you've seen Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. If you haven't seen it, you can get a flavor of it in this trailer on YouTube. It's worth watching just to see a young Keano Reeves. (Yes, I know I'm supposed to embed the video here, but I can't bring myself to do it. You'll just have to click through to see it.

E-xcellent!

If you're just coming in and you don't know about the controversy surrounding the Dark is Rising movie, click on "the dark is rising" label below to see my previous posts on the subject, including links to more information and other posts.

My cats are famous!

Those of you who read GalleyCat may know that they have been running a series on literary pets, and they invited readers to submit pictures of their pets, preferably acting, well, literary. Today, two of our cats, Cutie and Dollie are featured! Our old guy, Spud, (18 years old!) isn't in the picture. Cutie and Dollie seem unaffected by their new status as celebrities; they're too busy with their usual activities of sleeping and eating.

Click here to see Cutie and Dollie