Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

The March list of LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program went live yesterday, and there’s several interesting books on there. For those who don’t know, the ER program is a great way to get ARCs and copies of books that’re being published soon. If you’re interested, there’s some more info here.

There’s so many good books for this month’s batch. I wanna read quite a few of them; whatever I don’t get is going on my wishlist for sure! Here’s what I’m interested in for this month:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Description: In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death – televised for all of Panem to see.

Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

I’ve seen this being talked about on many blogs and on Twitter, and I’m horribly curious!

BREATHERS: A Zombie’s Lament by S.G. Browne
Description: Darkly funny and surprisingly touching, this is a romantic zombie comedy (or a “rom-zom-com”) that will leave you laughing, squirming, and clamoring for more! And, you’ll find just that at www.undeadanonymous.com , where you can read the newly minted zombie’s blog, watch a short infomercial for a new “Zombie anti-depressant drug” called NecroBufrin, and much more.

This has the potential to be SO AWESOME. Yes/no?

Punkzilla by Adam Rapp
Description: For a runaway boy who goes by the name “Punkzilla,” kicking a meth habit and a life of petty crime in Portland, Oregon, is a prelude to a mission: reconnecting with his older brother, a gay man dying of cancer in Memphis. Against a backdrop of seedy motels, dicey bus stations, and hitched rides, the desperate fourteen-year-old meets a colorful, sometimes dangerous cast of characters. And in letters to his sibling, he catalogs them all — from an abusive stranger and a ghostly girl to a kind transsexual and an old woman with an oozing eye. The language is raw and revealing, crackling with visceral details and dark humor, yet with each interstate exit Punkzilla’s journey grows more urgent: will he make it to Tennessee in time? This daring novel offers a narrative worthy of Kerouac and a keen insight into the power of chance encounters.

Okay, so, yes, it could possibly end up being depressing, but it sounds quirky enough that I might really enjoy it.

The Manual of Detection [Unabridged Audio Ediiton] by Jedediah Berry
Description: In an unnamed city always slick with rain, Charles Unwin toils as a clerk at a huge, imperious detective agency. But when an illustrious detective, Travis Sivart, goes missing, Unwin is reluctantly thrust into the role of investigator. His only guidance comes from a sleepy secretary and the pithy yet profound Manual of Detection. Soon he finds himself framed for murder, pursued by gunmen, and confounded by a femme fatale. Meanwhile, strange and troubling questions proliferate: Why does the mummy at the Municipal Museum have modern-day dental work? Where have all the city’s alarm clocks gone? Why is Unwin’s copy of the Manual missing Chapter 18?

When he discovers that Sivart’s greatest cases were solved incorrectly, Unwin must enter the dreams of a murdered man and face a criminal mastermind bent on total control of a slumbering city.

I’ve been burned by ER detective novels before, but this one might actually be as good as it sounds!

Triskellion II: The Burning by Will Peterson
Description: After the shocking revelations in Triskellion, being guests of the “Hope Project” might seem like a relief. But Rachel and Adam soon figure out that they’re being held prisoner, and that the program has more sinister goals than archaeological research in mind. A hideous discovery at the funeral of their grandmother makes it clear that the teenagers must flee from England to Paris, Seville, and fi nally Morocco, evading not only their former benefactors but also the followers of “The Englishman,” a zombie-like fi gure with a frightening agenda of his own. It will take all of their special abilities and courage to stay alive until their journey reaches an explosive climax — and they unearth, on the North African coast, an ancient secret even more startling than the first.

I’ve read the first one and can’t WAIT to read this one. It’s gonna be hard to wait for #3, though!

What books are you hoping for?