Reader's Corner - January 2013 Update

"Wasn't this supposed to be a 3-hour tour?"

I hope 2013 is treating you well so far!

I'm still behind on some book reviews, but I hope to catch up on those later this month.

The most recent book I've added to my to-be-reviewed pile is Altered by Jennifer Rush. Also on the to-be-reviewed pile is Safekeeping by Karen Hesse.

I've barely cracked open the first few chapters of Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, but lots of fun packed into those beginning pages.

Lately, I've had some trouble with audiobooks (the downside to borrowing them from the library is that you can get a couple of discs in and then get a disc that WILL NOT PLAY). *sigh*

But I did get to listen to the complete audiobook of Nation by Terry Pratchett. Librarian confession: I've never actually read a Terry Pratchett novel before. Love Doug Adams and Neil Gaiman, but Terry Pratchett has escaped me.

So happy I finally got a chance to experience Terry Pratchett with Nation. It's a Printz Honor book and I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it. Mau is on his way to become a man when his village is wiped out in a tsunami. Ermintrude (aka Daphne) is a Victorian young lady on her way to meet her governor father when the tsunami strands her on Mau's island.

Nation is filled with big ideas about race and class and religion and nature and gender and science and a few other things, but populated with compelling, real characters that I became fully invested in. The novel ends unconventionally, but honestly, and I may have teared up a little.

Bonus video: Terry Pratchett discusses Nation


Happy Reading!