Local Branches

Local library branches are a challenge for me. I have two books on my "Check This Out Soon" list, and the only place to get both of them is at the main branch of the BPL. Before Baby, that would have made them easy to get, but getting downtown is a bigger deal now than it used to be, so I'm trying to decide whether I should order them for delivery to my local branch.

These are the things that prey on me.

I just finished Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, which was not quite as good as Graceling, but another big YA winner. In the distant future, people in the Capitol live lives of wealth, supported by the labor of the poor, hungry folk in the outlying Districts. And once a year, two young people are selected randomly from each district to participate in the Hunger Games, a fight to the death with only one winner. Overall, the book was quite compelling--even the premise seems less of an obvious setup the way it's explained--and my only complaint is that it ends with the words "End of Book I." The story is well wrapped up, but the personal relationships are not, and there's plenty of political turmoil to make another book, but I'm undecided as to whether or not I want to commit to this.

Now I'm reading an older post-apocalyptic distant future story, called The Chrysalids. I'm enjoying it so far, but I don't know what the driving force of the story will be yet, so I don't have a firm opinion.

I'm excited about this spring, though--Dooce's Heather Armstrong is coming out with It Sucked and I Cried, the story of her troubles with postpartum depression, which I'm very excited to read. She's an hilarious and sensitive writer, and I'm really interested in the topic. And Megan McCafferty is coming out with Perfect Fifths, the topper for her Sloppy Firsts series. I'm full of anticipation--I might even have to buy some of these!