September 2014 | That's a Wrap!

It's the end of September. Time to wake up Billie Joe! As much as I really hate to see summer go, there are so many awesome things about fall. One of my favorite things about fall is reading! It's the best reading time of the year. I'm looking forward to everything this season is going to bring.

In the mean time, these are the books I managed to read in the month leading up to fall:

Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1) by Hugh Howey
The Deep by Nick Cutter
Welcome to Dead House (Goosebumps, #1) by R.L. Stine
Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple, #1) by Agatha Christie
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (Fairyland, #2) by Catherynne M. Valente
The Neon Rain (Dave Robicheaux, #1) by James Lee Burke

In case you missed it, these are the reviews I posted in September:

Book Review | The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
Book Review | Wool by Hugh Howey
Book Review | Earthly Things by Julian Vaughn
(Banned) Book Review | The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

It was a great month, but I do see some glaring issues (like a distinct lack of non-fiction).

Do you have big plans for October? October is the best month for ALL THE THINGS! I'm looking forward to everyone's October reads. Make them spooky guys! As always, I will be hunting down some anthologies to read through October.

Did you post a wrap up for September? Be sure to leave me a link!

September 29 | Currently Reading

Last week was a really slow reading week. My kids had so much make-up work on top of their regular assignments after they returned to school from being sick. Our entire week was about homework, homework, homework.

If you missed my banned books week review of The Great Gatsby, you can find that here. I also posted the books that made it on to my wishlist.

I'm just about finished up with The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke. It's a really great read, but not one that I felt I needed to rush back to reading each day.

I'm not sure what I'm going to read this week. I'm probably going to read Gone Girl since the movie is going to be released this week, and I've somehow managed to keep from being spoiled so far. I'm afraid that won't last long once the movie is out.

Have you read Gone Girl yet? Do have plans to watch the movie? I have a pretty solid rule that I can't watch an adaptation unless I've read it first. I miss out on a lot of movies.

I'd love to hear what you're reading this week. Be sure to let me know in the comments or leave me a link!

---

This post is being shared as part of Book Journey's It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

On My Wishlist {4}

I must be in an unusual mood this week. The majority of my wishlist additions were historical fiction. That's quite unlike me, but these books sound amazing so there you have it.

White Doves At Morning by James Lee Burke

Prepare yourself for the longest book description EVER.

For years, critics have acclaimed the power of James Lee Burke's writing, the luminosity of his prose, the psychological complexity of his characters, the richness of his landscapes. Over the course of twenty novels and one collection of short stories, he has developed a loyal and dedicated following among both critics and general readers. His thrillers, featuring either Louisiana cop Dave Robicheaux or Billy Bob Holland, a hardened Texas-based lawyer, have consistently appeared on national bestseller lists, making Burke one of America's most celebrated authors of crime fiction.

Now, in a startling and brilliantly successful departure, Burke has written a historical novel -- an epic story of love, hate, and survival set against the tumultuous background of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

At the center of the novel are James Lee Burke's own ancestors, Robert Perry, who comes from a slave-owning family of wealth and privilege, and Willie Burke, born of Irish immigrants, a poor boy who is as irreverent as he is brave and decent. Despite their personal and political conflicts with the issues of the time, both men join the Confederate Army, choosing to face ordeal by fire, yet determined not to back down in their commitment to their moral beliefs, to their friends, and to the abolitionist woman with whom both have become infatuated.

One of the most compelling characters in the story, and the catalyst for much of its drama, is Flower Jamison, a beautiful young black slave befriended, at great risk to himself, by Willie and owned by -- and fathered by, although he will not admit it -- Ira Jamison. Owner of Angola Plantation, Ira Jamison is a true son of the Old South and also a ruthless businessman, who, after the war, returns to the plantation and re-energizes it by transforming it into a penal colony, which houses prisoners he rents out as laborers to replace the slaves who have been emancipated.

Against all local law and customs, Flower learns from Willie to read and write, and receives the help and protection of Abigail Dowling, a Massachusetts abolitionist who had come south several years prior to help fight yellow fever and never left, and who has attracted the eye of both Willie and Robert Perry. These love affairs are not only fraught with danger, but compromised by the great and grim events of the Civil War and its aftermath.

As in all of Burke's writings, White Doves at Morning is full of wonderful, colorful, unforgettable villains. Some, like Clay Hatcher, are pure "white trash" (considered the lowest of the low, they were despised by the white ruling class and feared by former slaves). From their ranks came the most notorious of the vigilante groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the White League and the Knights of the White Camellia. Most villainous of all, though, are the petty and mean-minded Todd McCain, owner of New Iberia's hardware store, and the diabolically evil Rufus Atkins, former overseer of Angola Plantation and the man Jamison has placed in charge of his convict labor crews.

Rounding out this unforgettable cast of characters are Carrie LaRose, madam of New Iberia's house of ill repute, and her ship's-captain brother Jean-Jacques LaRose, Cajuns who assist Flower and Abigail in their struggle to help the blacks of the town.

With battle scenes at Shiloh and in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia that no reader will ever forget, and set in a time of upheaval that affected all men and all women at all levels of society, White Doves at Morning is an epic worthy of America's most tragic conflict, as well as a book of substance, importance, and genuine originality, one that will undoubtedly come to be regarded as a masterpiece of historical fiction.

I was discussing my current James Lee Burke read (The Neon Rain) with Anita on twitter, and she mentioned wanting to read White Doves at Morning. I'm a complete Burke newbie, so I looked it up and it sounds like a really engrossing read.

It reminds me of McCammon's departure into historical fiction when he began the Matthew Corbett series.

---

The Broken Road (Frayed Empire, #1) by Teresa Frohock

The world of Lehbet is under siege. The threads that divide Lehbet from the mirror world of Heled are fraying, opening the way for an invasion by an alien enemy that feeds on human flesh.

Travys, the youngest of the queen’s twin sons, was born mute. He is a prince of the Chanteuse, nobles who channel their magic through their voices. Their purpose is to monitor the threads and close the paths between the worlds, but the Chanteuse have given themselves over to decadence. They disregard their responsibilities to the people they protect—all but Travys, who fears he’ll fail to wake the Chanteuse to Heled’s threat in time to prevent the destruction of Lehbet.

Within the palace, intrigue creates illusions of love where there is none, and when Travys’ own brother turns against him, he is forced to flee all that he has known and enter the mirror world of Heled where the enemy has already won. In Heled, he must find his true voice and close the threads, or lose everyone that he loves.

I have no excuses for not having read Teresa Frohock. I've read enough essays written by her online to know she is right up my alley. The Broken Road is her new novella that blends fantasy and horror, and it's certainly something I should be reading.

---

Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth

Are all historical book descriptions this long?!

An utterly captivating reinvention of the Rapunzel fairytale weaved together with the scandalous life of one of the tale's first tellers, Charlotte-Rose de la Force.

Charlotte-Rose de la Force has been banished from the court of Versailles by the Sun King, Louis XIV, after a series of scandalous love affairs. She is comforted by an old nun, Sœur Seraphina, who tells her the tale of a young girl who, a hundred years earlier, is sold by her parents for a handful of bitter greens...

Selena is the famous red-haired muse of the artist Tiziano, first painted by him in 1512 and still inspiring him at the time of his death, sixty-four years later. Called La Strega Bella, Selena is at the centre of Renaissance life in Venice, a world of beauty and danger, seduction and betrayal, love and superstition, retaining her youth and beauty by the blood of young red-haired girls.

After Margherita's father steals a handful of parsley, wintercress and rapunzel from the walled garden of the courtesan Selena Leonelli, he is threatened with having both hands cut off unless he and his wife give away their little red-haired girl. And so, when she turns seven, Margherita is locked away in a tower, her hair woven together with the locks of all the girls before her, growing to womanhood under the shadow of La Strega Bella, and dreaming of being rescued...

Three women, three lives, three stories, braided together to create a compelling story of desire, obsession, black magic and the redemptive power of love.

More historical fiction! This is not something that would have normally interested me, but my Goodreads friend Jenna had some amazing things to say about it. I couldn't pass it up.

---

Are any of these books on your wishlist? Have you read them? I'd love to hear your thoughts and/or recommendations.

(Banned) Book Review | The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

In honor of Banned Books Week, I'm taking part in Book Journey's Banned Book Week Celebration.

For my Banned Books Week selection I decided to read a classic that has been on my to-read list forever: The Great Gatsby.

Book Description

In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned." That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--" Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.

It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. "Her voice is full of money," Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, The Great Gatsby is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.

Who knew reading about wealthy people having affairs and throwing lavish parties could be so boring?

I feel so guilty that I chose to read The Great Gatsby in honor of Banned Books Week. I want to stand up and shout "How could you want to keep this masterpiece from our youth?" but instead I'm quietly asking "Do we still make our children suffer through this?"

Jay Gatsby - the GREAT GATSBY - has more money than sense I suppose. He lives in a mansion and throws lavish parties, but Gatsby himself doesn't even care about those parties. All Gatsby really cares about is reuniting with his past love. In my opinion, she's not even worth the trouble, but their relationship is symbolic of Gatsby's success so he has to have her back. I do better as a reader when I care about the characters. In this case, I couldn't care less who Daisy chose, I just wanted her to choose somebody already.

I decided to read The Great Gatsby this year because I kind of always assumed I'd love it. It's F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece and a highly acclaimed work of American literature. It's not a horrible book, but it's not exceptional either.

If it's on your list of classics to read one day, go ahead and read it. I don't want to stop you from joining the club. Even though I was kind of bored out of my gourd, I'm happy to have my membership card.

4/10: Not My Thing

Have you read The Great Gatsby? I'm sure my opinion is in the minority! Did you love it? Are you reading anything special for Banned Books Week?

September 22 | Currently Reading

Being the second week in a row with sick kids, I didn't manage to get any reviews posted last week. I did still have a great reading week, though. I finished reading Agatha Christie's Murder at the Vicarage. It was another fun read. I also read F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby which I did not enjoy. I will have a review out for that tomorrow. The last book I read was The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There. I love that series.

Now I'm currently reading The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke.

My exciting news this week is I started a blog to discuss what I'm reading with my kids! This means I will probably not be posting Storybook Sunday posts here on Book Den anymore. You can find all of those posts over at Book Den Kids.

I hope you guys have a great and healthy week!

I'd love to hear what you're reading this week. Be sure to let me know in the comments or leave me a link!

---

This post is being shared as part of Book Journey's It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

On My Wishlist {3}

This week has been relatively light on my wishlist. I did add a ton of classics I haven't read, but I won't bore you with that embarrassingly long list!

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

An audacious, darkly glittering novel about art, fame, and ambition set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, from the author of three highly acclaimed previous novels.

One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time-from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains-this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet. Sometimes terrifying, sometimes tender, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.

I've been hearing wonderful things about Station Eleven. Jenn over at Jenn's Bookshelves gave it really high praise this week.

---

Pines by Blake Crouch

Secret service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a clear mission: locate and recover two federal agents who went missing in the bucolic town one month earlier. But within minutes of his arrival, Ethan is involved in a violent accident. He comes to in a hospital, with no ID, no cell phone, and no briefcase. The medical staff seems friendly enough, but something feels...off. As the days pass, Ethan's investigation into the disappearance of his colleagues turns up more questions than answers. Why can't he get any phone calls through to his wife and son in the outside world? Why doesn't anyone believe he is who he says he is? And what is the purpose of the electrified fences surrounding the town? Are they meant to keep the residents in? Or something else out? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the world he thought he knew, from the man he thought he was, until he must face a horrifying fact he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive. Intense and gripping, Pines is another masterful thriller from the mind of bestselling novelist Blake Crouch.

After reading Run a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd give Crouch's Wayward Pines series a read. According to Becky from No More Grumpy Bookseller, M. Night Shyamalan is taking this series to the small screen! Exciting.

And that's it for this week!

September 15 | Currently Reading

This past week was kind of a blur. I got hit with a vicious cold and my one year old came down with strep throat. (The joys of daycare!) Somehow I managed to publish two reviews. Maybe I need to find myself in a fever state more often!

In case you missed them, I posted my reviews of Wool by Hugh Howey and Earthly Things by Julian Vaughn.

The only book I finished last week was Nick Cutter's The Deep, but it was a good one. If you love horror, this book has some horrible stuff in it. I may actually have to read it again before writing my review.

It took me quite a while of perusing my bookshelves, my kindle, and goodreads before deciding on the perfect change of pace. I'm now reading Agatha Christie's first Miss Marple book Murder at the Vicarage.

I have no idea what I'm planning to read next.

Is it getting cold where you are? We are actually having a little bit of a cool spell here. It's kind of nice! I'm not ready for winter, but I really do love the fall.

What are you reading this week? Be sure to let me know in the comments or leave me a link!

---

This post is being shared as part of Book Journey's It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Storybook Sunday | School Library Selections

This past week my kiddos made their first visit of the school year to the school library. You can probably tell a lot about my children as readers based on their selections.



My Kindergartener loves to read. His selection was Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

We are big fans of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? at our house. We've never read this follow up so it was a perfect choice!

What will you hear when you read this book to a preschool child?

Lots of noise!

Children will chant the rhythmic words. They'll make the sounds the animals make. And they'll pretend to be the zoo animals featured in the book-- look at the last page!

Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle are two of the most respected names in children's education and children's illustrations. This collaboration, their first since the classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (published more than thirty years ago and still a best-seller) shows two masters at their best.

A Redbook Children's Picture Book Award winner

The rollicking companion to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I've got to say - I didn't like Polar Bear, Polar Bear much at all. I loved the excitement and glee my son had as he started reading it to me: "Polar bear, polar bear, what do you hear? I hear a lion roaring in my ear." I think those might be the only pages he could fully read, though. The animals and their sounds were kind of weird. I'm not sure what a fluting flamingo or a yelping peacock really sound like. The hippopotamus was exciting. Both the word and the picture, but since the format of these books require you to read the animal name and the sound it makes before seeing the picture of the animal, there is no visual clue to help early readers.  We weren't near as excited by the end of the book. The illustrations were as wonderful as Brown Bear, but the words - not so much.

My oldest son (7), on the other hand, is not a fan of reading. He loves to be read to, but he doesn't like to read. This week he continued a trend he started at the end of the last school year and brought home a joke book: Laughs for a Living: Jokes about Doctors, Teachers, Firefighters, and Other People Who Work.

He's having a good time reading the riddles and the jokes out loud to us, but honestly, the jokes are way over his head. Adult workplace humor is a terrible idea for a kid's joke book, but it's colorful and illustrated, and at least I make a good audience.



We continued on our Magic Tree House journey this week by reading Vacation Under the Volcano. We are also in the middle of reading Day of the Dragon King. These two MTH books are better than the ones we read last week thank goodness. I was getting worried.

I was hoping I could start reading the Goosebumps books to my kids soon so I read the first one Welcome to Dead House just to see how scary it was.

Amanda and Josh Benson move into a new house in Dark Falls, where the residents are all zombies who have died while living in the same house and are preparing to make the Benson family one of them, as they need blood to survive.

This was a really great book, and I absolutely will not be reading it to my kids anytime soon. They would never sleep in their own beds again. Welcome to the Dead House was seriously a beginning horror book. Great job, R.L. Stine, for sure, but I value our sleep. I hope someday - several years from now - I will be able to read these with them. I was too old for these books when they were released so they will be new to me, as well.

Other children's books we read this past week:

100 Book Club Total: 20/100

Did you read any children's books this week? I'd love to hear what you are reading. Let me know in the comments or leave me a link.

---

This post is being shared as part of Teach Mentor Text's It's Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA.

Book Review | Earthly Things by Julian Vaughn

Earthly Things is a supernatural mystery from Julian Vaughn.

Book Description

Sensitive fourteen-year-old Dexter Bestwick is at the park with his girlfriend Jamie when his father murders him for stealing something from his locked room. Still around after his death to witness the ensuing damages, he aches to protect his first, young love from being a victim. Yet he’s afraid the eternal light will grow brighter and claim him, and that Jamie will soon suffer the same fate...

Earthly Things is a touching and fast-paced supernatural mystery that will appeal to fans of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

Julian Vaughn is a pseudonym of author Lee Thompson. I'm a huge Lee Thompson fan, and although he is becoming a master of many genres, his young adult/coming of age stories are where I find him at his best. Books like Before Leonora Wakes, Within This Garden Weeping, and now Earthly Things are among my favorites.

Earthly Things begins with the (almost) coming of age story of Dexter. We find out early on that Dexter is going to die young. The first half of Earthly Things gives us a glimpse into the often heartbreaking and at times endearing life of Dexter.

Dexter does meet an untimely death (this is not really a spoiler, guys), but the first person narrative continues on in the same vein as The Lovely Bones. I loved this point of view. This is not the first time Thompson has tackled a complicated point of view. It is apparently one of his many talents.

Earthly Things is a brutal book at times. It's heartwrenching, but it's also a great mystery and just a really great read. Even though I couldn't relate to the characters because their reality was so far from my own, I still felt connected to them and emotionally invested in them which I attribute to some really great writing.

9/10: Highly Recommended

On My Wishlist {2}

My wishlist is growing exponentially by the week! I'm not just adding new books; I'm constantly finding older books that somehow escaped my attention. I've decided to start posting the books that make it onto my wishlist each week.

Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy, #1) by Jeff VanderMeer

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.

This is the twelfth expedition.

Their group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them, and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another, that change everything.

When Annihilation was first released, I decided it wasn't for me. I've continued to watch the reviews, however, as each book of the trilogy has been released. Now that all three books are out, I'm reconsidering my first judgement. The Southern Reach Trilogy sounds like something I really need to be reading.

---

Great North Road by Peter F.  Hamilton

In Newcastle-upon-Tyne, AD 2142, Detective Sidney Hurst attends a brutal murder scene. The victim is one of the wealthy North family clones – but none have been reported missing. And the crime's most disturbing aspect is how the victim was killed. Twenty years ago, a North clone billionaire and his household were horrifically murdered in exactly the same manner, on the tropical planet of St Libra. But if the murderer is still at large, was Angela Tramelo wrongly convicted? Tough and confident, she never waivered under interrogation – claiming she alone survived an alien attack. But there is no animal life on St Libra.Investigating this alien threat becomes the Human Defence Agency's top priority. The bio-fuel flowing from St Libra is the lifeblood of Earth's economy and must be secured. So a vast expedition is mounted via the Newcastle gateway, and teams of engineers, support personnel and xenobiologists are dispatched to the planet. Along with their technical advisor, grudgingly released from prison, Angela Tramelo.But the expedition is cut off, deep within St Libra's rainforests. Then the murders begin. Someone or something is picking off the team one by one. Angela insists it's the alien, but her new colleagues aren't so sure. Maybe she did see an alien, or maybe she has other reasons for being on St Libra...

My Goodreads friend Steven Stennett recommended this book to me. This is not something I would normally pick up (mostly due to the cover), but the reviews are pretty outstanding. The cover doesn't scream science fiction to me. It screams military/war fiction, but I suppose the military are taking down the aliens.

---

City of Stairs by Bennett, Robert Jackson

A densely atmospheric and intrigue-filled fantasy novel of living spies, dead gods, buried histories, and a mysterious, ever-changing city-from one of America's most acclaimed young SF writers.

Years ago, the city of Bulikov wielded the powers of the Gods to conquer the world. But after its divine protectors were mysteriously killed, the conqueror has become the conquered; the city's proud history has been erased and censored, progress has left it behind, and it is just another colonial outpost of the world's new geopolitical power. Into this musty, backward city steps Shara Divani. Officially, the quiet mousy woman is just another lowly diplomat sent by Bulikov's oppressors. Unofficially, Shara is one of her country's most accomplished spymasters-dispatched to investigate the brutal murder of a seemingly harmless historian. As Shara pursues the mystery through the ever-shifting physical and political geography of the city, she begins to suspect that the beings who once protected Bulikov may not be as dead as they seem-and that her own abilities might be touched by the divine as well.

I've been kind of glossing over this book for one reason or another, but a couple of reviews this week put City of Stairs smack on my radar.

---

Rebel Nation (Viral Nation, #2) by Shaunta Grimes

Sixteen years ago, a plague wiped out nearly all of humanity. The Company’s vaccine stopped the virus’s spread, but society was irrevocably changed. Those remaining live behind impenetrable city walls, taking daily doses of virus suppressant and relying on The Company for continued protection. They don’t realize that everything they’ve been told is a lie…

Clover Donovan didn’t set out to start a revolution—quiet, autistic, and brilliant, she’s always followed the rules. But that was before they forced her into service for the Time Mariners. Before they condemned her brother to death, compelling him to flee the city to survive. Before she discovered terrifying secrets about The Company.

Clover and the Freaks, her ragtag resistance group, are doing their best to spread the rebellion and stay under The Company’s radar. But when their hideout is discovered, they are forced, once again, to run. Only this time, The Company has special plans for Clover, plans that could risk her life and stop the uprising in its tracks…

How the hell I missed the release of this one is beyond me! If you are a long time follower, you may remember how excited I was about the first one. (My review as well.) This book world can be an odd place sometimes.

---

Wild Things! Acts of Mischief in Children's Literature by Betsy Bird

Secret lives, scandalous turns, and some very funny surprises — these essays by leading kids’ lit bloggers take us behind the scenes of many much-loved children’s books.

Did Laura Ingalls cross paths with a band of mass murderers? Why was a Garth Williams bunny tale dubbed "integrationist propaganda"? For adults who are curious about children’s books and their creators, here are the little-known stories behind the stories. A treasure trove of information for a student, librarian, new parent, or anyone wondering about the post–Harry Potter book biz, Wild Things! draws on the combined knowledge and research of three respected and popular librarian-bloggers. Told in affectionate and lively prose, with numerous never-before-collected anecdotes, this book chronicles some of the feuds and fights, errors and secret messages found in children’s books and brings contemporary illumination to the warm-and-fuzzy bunny world we think we know.

This is a book I would love to read. It was written by three children's book bloggers. I would love to hear their insights on some of our favorite stories.

---

Shift (Silo, #2) by Hugh Howey

This is the sequel to the New York Times bestselling WOOL series. It combines the three Shift books into a single e-book in order to save the reader a few bucks. The saga concludes with DUST, which will be available in late 2013.

In 2007, the Center for Automation in Nanobiotech (CAN) outlined the hardware and software platform that would one day allow robots smaller than human cells to make medical diagnoses, conduct repairs, and even self-propagate.

In the same year, the CBS network re-aired a program about the effects of propranolol on sufferers of extreme trauma. A simple pill, it had been discovered, could wipe out the memory of any traumatic event.

At almost the same moment in humanity’s broad history, mankind had discovered the means for bringing about its utter downfall. And the ability to forget it ever happened.

After reading and loving Wool {review}, it's a no-brainer to put the followup on to my wishlist.

---

Are you pining for any of these books (or have you read them already)? I'd love to hear your thoughts and/or recommendations. Which book would you be most likely to read?