Angieville

For the past few months, I've been a member of an international book group called the YAckers. The YAckers is an invitation only YA book club that utilizes Facebook as its base of operation. Our motto? Saving the world (and defenseless tortured bunnies) from shitty books.  Obviously this book group and I were Meant To Be. Each month, the Keeper of the Book *moment of silence for the dread Keeper* is drawn by random number generator (because we're fancy), and that person is responsible for choosing a book and leading the discussion in our Super Secret Hideout. The discussion is then compiled and posted on our of our blogs. These are very . . . frank . . . discussions of the books. They are not reviews, but rather our gut responses. As my pal Sya says, if you are easily offended, have a heart condition, or are heavily pregnant, you might want to move along. As luck would have it, February was my month to be Keeper, and the book we read was The Fault in Our Stars . Cause the...

And here we have the cover for John Green 's upcoming book The Fault in Our Stars , due out January 10th. I like how simple it is (yay for simple these days). I like that there are no people on it. And I like the chalk writing. It's a little hard to fall utterly in love with, however, because of the countless unbelievably awesome  fan-made covers sent in. Happily, they impressed his publisher so much they're holding a contest for fan-made covers for the next edition of An Abundance of Katherines . I cannot wait to see the results! For now, I'm off to go pre-order my signed copy of tFiOS. 

Three (actually, four) authors I absolutely love. Three red and black covers to drool over. They all write and work in different ways and I am very much looking forward to their latest offerings. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan Brought to you by the author of Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines and the author of Love is the Higher Law and co-author of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist , Will Grayson, Will Grayson tells the story of two boys with that same name who are about to meet one night in Chicago. Told in alternating point of view chapters, this collaborative novel has been in the works for awhile. And with these two authors at the helm there are two things guaranteed: I'm going to laugh and I'm going to care about these characters. Absolutely cannot wait to read it. Due out April 6th. White Cat by Holly Black Ever since I closed Ironside , I have been impatiently waiting for Holly Black 's next Big Thing and Whi...

Molly over at Ten Block Walk has started a great discussion about the books we'd go back in time to give our younger selves if we could. If it were me, I think I'd stealth stalk my teenage self, leaving single books in unmarked, brown paper wrapped parcels. One on the back step, one on my pillow, one in my locker on that first day of high school...And the deliveries would have to start with Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti . I read that book a couple of years ago and just could not get over how I wish every teenage girl could read it. Like if they did it would help them know who they are and avoid a fair chunk of unnecessary pain. It's a beautiful book and one I highly recommend. Follow-up dropoffs would include The Road Home by Ellen Emerson White (because EEW books rock), Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher (because it would have made me think about things I wasn't thinking about then but should have been), An Abundance of Katherines by John G...

John Green  knows how to end a book. You always hear about killer first lines and great beginnings, but it has  got  to be harder to end a story well. To know what to do with and to the characters and story you've crafted. I thought  Looking for Alaska   had the most beautiful closing lines. The wrap up in  An Abundance of Katherines   was just right. And my favorite thing about  Paper Towns is undoubtedly the ending. Kind of nice to hear going in, isn't it? So the story follows Q (short for Quentin) in his life-long quest to love girl-next-door Margo Roth Spiegelman. The thing is, she's sort of too cool for school, let alone Q. But one night she climbs through his bedroom window and absconds with him on a night full of adventure, breaking, entering, and general tomfoolery. Next morning she's gone. Q, with the occasional help of his two band geek friends, Ben and Radar, embarks on a journey to find Margo. Little does he comprehend just what "finding" her will ...

Such a fun idea. John Green 's upcoming October release, Paper Towns , will be coming out with two, count them, two different cover options. So which one's calling your name? Yellow....Blue....Yellow....Blue. Who can decide? I think I'm leaning yellow right now. If just because it will look awesome next to my copy of An Abundance of Katherines . For a bit of fun, check out Green's conversation with his 11th grade self regarding the two covers, Walt Whitman, and expanding waistlines.

The best reads of the past month: Ninth Key , Reunion , Darkest Hour , Haunted , and Twilight by Meg Cabot I blew through this series and it was sort of a blast. The not-so-faint hint of menace in these books shows that Cabot can turn her hand to any genre she wants and still tickle her audience. The Suze/Jesse/Paul triangle worked for me and I liked how Paul inhabited the gray area between irredeemably vicious and uncertainly vulnerable. Happily, Cabot worked out the perfect ending. I've been on a real paranormal/urban fantasy jag lately and this series was just the thing for a lighter dark mood. The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares I haven't read any of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books and I haven't seen the movie. But when I read about Brashares' first adult foray, it sounded like the right time to give her a shot. The Last Summer is just lovely. The writing tripped along as pleasantly as waves washing up on Fire Island. Main trio Alice, Pau...

Best reads of the past month: Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess I finished The Book Thief and looked around morosely for what I could possibly follow it up with. In my search, I ran across a review of Such a Pretty Girl and thought, hey, Slim Incest/Abuse Novel=perfect chaser for Mammoth Holocaust Novel! How unexpected that I was right. I thought Wiess struck the perfect balance between moments when Meredith is supported by a desperately needed group of truly good people (a cop, a cripple, a zealot), and moments when she is left utterly alone to stand up to her demons. This one is also tied for the Best Last Line Award of the month. Debut novel for Ms. Wiess: A+. Can't wait for Leftovers. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan I had heard a lot about this book before I picked it up. The Cybils picked it as their favorite YA novel of the year. I just loved the title. And the concept. Cohn and Levithan took Norah and Nick (respectively) and wro...