Readerly state of affairs

Guys Lit Wire will be hosting a fall book fair for Ballou HS starting Monday so please plan your Powells Books shopping accordingly :). This is our second book fair for Ballou this year, and much needed - DC schools had their budgets cut again in 2012 and many schools are completely losing their librarians. If you can't shop then be sure to help spread the word.* The post with link to the wish list and all the details will go up on Monday morning at GLW.

October and November columns are done - scary stories next month and then [very] realistic fiction in November. (I'm calling that one "beyond Judy Blume" in my head.)

So now I'm reading for December which so far means Gwenda Bond's Blackwood, Libba Bray's The Diviners, Ned Vizzini's The Other Normals (had to put that one aside when I realized it wouldn't work for Oct but back into it now) and Tiffany Trent's The Unnaturalists. There will be a couple more, just not sure what now. (I'm kinda heavy on books with female protags so shall look for guys I think.)

Also for the December feature on "coffee table books for kids/teens", I just finished Unusual Creatures by Michael Hearst and it is a very funny/snarky animal book on some quite unique creatures. The book has heart also - Hearst is painfully aware of how many of these animals are endangered and makes sure readers know what we could be losing.

Next up for that piece is paging through Sketchtravel from Chronicle Books. Still waiting on a few other titles for this feature though and hope they show up.

A heads-up: new Darwin graphic novel due from Smithsonian Books in February. The science geek in me is thrilled to see his story coming out in a format that will work for reluctant reading teens.

In my hands right now - the gorgeous, over-the-top wonderfulness that is Oceanomania: Souvenirs of Mysterious Seas by Mark Dion. I'm a huge fan of Dion's work (have several of his books) and just love what MACK Books has done with the design. It's a stunner and while it packs a hefty price, I consider it well worth it. This is what we mean when we refer to a book as an object - it's unthinkable in any other format. (For a look at several of the stunning interior shots, check out this post at Mapping the Marvelous.)

*Send me an email (colleenATchasingrayDOTcom) if you want to help send out the info for the book fair and/or have press contacts to share!