Finished the ARC of Luminarium, by Alex Shakar - a love ballad to the post 9/11 city of Manhattan. Three brothers developed a MMPORG game that has been co-opted by the military for training. Under military financing, the game has become a scrupulously realistic disaster-plagued mirror of Manhattan. Players function as first responders to a terrorist strike at the Empire State building, with plans to eventually expand to a virtual nuclear bombing of Times Square. This has required the re-creation of every building and street, with accurate engineering to allow the most realistic death and destruction. Walking through the game can be more real than the real thing.

When the brother who initially designed the game (as a utopian dream world) lapses into a coma during  cancer treatment, his twin must carry on the fight to divest from military control and return the game to a more idealistic version. But, he's dealing with the stresses of having used up all his finances to keep his twin on life-support, breaking up with his longtime girlfriend, living with his parents again, working with his father as a magician's assistant, and avoiding the suits who are planning to move his company to Florida. He's clearly lost control of his life, and losing touch with the world around him.

On a whim, he volunteers for a neural study that involves having his brain stimulated to create "spritual" experiences - conducted by an attractive 9/11 widow. He also starts receiving text messages from his comatose twin. And seeing him inside the game. And receiving gifts apparently mailed from him. The virtual world, the spiritual world, his memories of growing up with his twin, a romance with his experimenter, and the present-tense "real" world blend and mutate for him, but a love of the city itself is constant throughout this book. Although it's an adult title, mature, thoughtful teens may enjoy the Matrix-like philosophical quest for a meaningful life.

October reading about High School

I just finished three more Advance Reading copies: I loved Crazy Beautiful for teen readers. The Blonde of the Joke and Goth Girl Rising... not so much.

Lucius and Aurora are a different version of the age-old "perfect girl and bad boy who eventually fall in love" story. What's different? Lucius Wolfe has blown off his own hands in a home chemistry event. What he was doing, and why, don't get completely explained until the end. The realities of prosthetic limbs for growing teens does get explained - thus the painfully obvious metal hooks that Lucius wears instead.

He starts over at a new school for 10th grade, the same time as Aurora Belle (and yes, the names are unimaginative). As she becomes part of the usual popular crowd, she escapes by spending time with Lucius. A gentle love story, and Lucius's emotional rehabilitation, result.

How to Say Goodbye in Robot

Finished another advance reader from ALA, by a new author, and loved it.

Beatrice claims to have no sense of peoples' feelings. Yet, her claims are sometimes disingenious, as she proceeds to make very empathetic observations. However, her reactions also seem true to teens' lack of understanding of their parents' feelings (even if it seems obvious to adults, reading her descriptions).  Loved it.

Catching Fire at the Hunger Games

I finished the advance copy of Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, and it is definitely another winner. Students ask me every day "When will it be released, and how soon can I check it out?"

Catching Fire picks up after Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have returned to their village, but not to their homes. They each have a spacious house in the Victor's Village now, near Haymitch. The three of them haven't been seeing much of each other. Gale Hawthorne is working in the Section 12 mines now, so Katniss can only meet him in the woods on Sundays, to hunt more than talk.

It's time for the mid-year Victory Tour, to parade last year's winners through all the Districts, and get everyone anticipating this year's Hunger Games. But, something has changed. Once again, Katniss and Peeta must pretend to be star-crossed lovers, while they notice strange happenings in other Districts, and worry what is happening to their families back home.

Naturally, Collins keeps the action speeding up, the dangers for Katniss and her loved ones increasing, and you won't believe the surprises she saves for the newest Hunger Games. Can Katniss manage competing threats, stay true to her ideals, and still protect her family and Gale?

It's such a teaser to have to wait for the third book now. We'll plan a big party for the eventual movie release.

ALA Chicago today

Lunch with an old friend, connecting with library school classmates, cheering at the AASL L4L mini-session, and touching all those new books - what could be better for a school librarian?

But it did get better: waiting in line for an advance copy of Catching Fire, the sequel to Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, we strangers had a fun book talk about the first one. Our patrons ate it up (sorry, I couldn't resist), so I know I'd never get to read the sequel when it comes in. The chance to read this advance copy before my Book Club meets again in the fall made my day!

One more moment of Nirvana: I watched Neil Gaiman signing hundreds of copies of his new The Graveyard Book, and Laurie Halse Anderson signing Speak and her new Wintergirls, while I chatted with Franny Billingsley and her daughter. Franny's Well Wished and The Folk Keeper were beloved when I worked in a middle school; her newest, Big Bad Bunny, is too young for my high school patrons, but it's adorable, so I've bought it for my favorite very little readers.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings...