Hoping our school library gets this one in soon. Like Westerfeld's YA stuff, and i dig steampunk:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PYiw5vkQFPw&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PYiw5vkQFPw&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

NewPhin how is your hernia doing and did you go see a doctor?

Getting around to the latest issues of Fourth Genre and Ninth Letter.

Im reading "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle.

I didn't got to the doctor. Everything seems to be fine, as I've worked out twice this week without feeling any weakness there. Very strange.

Finished the latest Wheel of Time book a couple weeks ago, and it was very good imo.

Yes, Robert Jodan passed away, and the series will be finished by auther Brandon Sanderson, who was chosen by Jordan's widow who was also he editor.

Jordan left tons of notes, and also wrote many of the important scenes out himself, such as the ending, and some of the framework.

I could hardly tell it was written by someone else if I didn't know already. There were some differneces, but if anything they were for the better. Ther ewas a little less of the granular level of description, and oddly to say, there is a little more of people actually talking to each other, and yes, some of the women weren't such feral bitches that were a second from castrating any man that looked wrong at them.

The book is actually the first installelment of the last book, which was broken into three parts because it was so huge that if wouldn't have fit as one alone. The Gathering Storm is the title of this one, and it is just as long as any of the previous books. The next one is already 80% done, and should be out before too long..as in within the next year.

Sanderson's books include a trilogy called Mistborn, which I thing are pretty damn good so far too. They have a really cool magic system call allomancy, that he makes really interesting.


edit:
Oops, repost, but I'm glad I didn't see it before I posted it...Keg had some different takes on it than I did.

The Machine -- A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds by Joe Posnanski

I saw some of the differences too, for Mat moreso than the women, but Nyneave was too I guess...but I think that was partly by design from Jordan. Mat felt a lot different to me, he seemed goofy, if that makes sense, but he is still one of my favorites and as long as he kicks some ass over the next couple books I'll be ok with him acting a little differnetly.

Really those two characters were the only ones that felt different, and the rest seems to be the same, without some of the super in depth descriptions.

Yeah, mat's section in the book was a bit odd. A lot of people aren't happy about it.

I can't find Reaper's post on the best YA books, but I remember Book Thief being on there at number 3, IIRC. Perks of Being a Wallflower ranked #1.

Well, I've read both and can say without a doubt, that The Book Thief is the best YA book I've ever read (which isn't many :p). It also happens to be the best book I've read. Powerful stuff.

I'd recommend it to anyone and everyone.

That's me, not Reaper. Reaper is way too high brow and snooty for that sort of stuff. ;) But yes, the Book Thief is amazing. Just a really great book that transcends the whole YA label.

Did you like Charlie from Perks? It's a great book to pair up with Catcher in the Rye. Charlie is like a modern day Holden.

I get the comparison but I don't necessarily agree with it. I can't put my finger on why. Perhaps because the stories are pretty different.

Oh, and I loved Charlie. That said, and I may sound stupid in this, but I didn't really see the whole abuse/molesting thing at all. I identified with him in many ways until that part. Caught me off guard.

What thread did you put your top 5 in?

I recently read Gang Leader for a day, about the sociologist living with a gang in the Chicago projects. Good book that depicts an existence that most of us can't even fathom.

Also started, but didn't finish, a collection of short stories by China Mieville. I'll probably pick it up again. I just ran out of steam, plus I picked up:

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. Almost finished it. Good stuff.

Also reading Macbeth for the 10,000th time with my students. Read two other books with some book clubs with the kids in the meantime. 145th Street by Walter Dean Myers and a really bad Orca selection (high interest, low difficulty reads) called Zee's Way. Bad book, but the book club reading it probalby haven't actually read and finished a book in their lives, so I was pretty happy that they engaged with it.

I think it was in the Twilight thread in the media center.... maybe. If you're into YA, I can PM you my goodreads account name. I've got a whole YA bookshelf rated and reviewed of stuff. I haven't kept up with it very well in recent years, but there's a lot of stuff on there.

I know we've covered the whole YA label deal.

That said, I am saddened that books like these are often ignored in favor of the "classics" in literature classes in both high school and college. For me, and I bet many students, the classics bored while the more contemporary, shall we say, stimulated. I would have read a lot more had books like these been assigned. Rather than, say, Grapes of Wrath.