The ever-wonderful Jenny D reviews M.T. Anderson’s truly amazing Octavian Nothing in the NYT:

In recent years young adult fiction has proved a haven for novelists of ideas who also love storytelling. M. T. Anderson is one of the most interesting. His first novel was the unsettling suburban teenage vampire fantasy “Thirsty” (1997), but he didn’t capture a wide audience until 2002, when his cult hit “Feed” appeared. A surprisingly affecting commodity-culture satire — partly set on the moon, where rich teenagers go for spring break — it earned Anderson a slew of fans and his first National Book Award nomination. His second nomination came last month for his new novel, “The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing.”

What a wise pairing on the NYT’s part!

I suspect anyone who’s going to read this book has already seen a couple of the big spoilers of major parts of the narrative, so it’s okay, if you’re on the fence or are already spoiled: Go read Jenny’s review. But if you’re going to read it and just haven’t and haven’t heard that much about the book, wait and read the review after.

I was very glad when I read it that I didn’t know that much about it going in. Due to the sins of flap copy & etc., it’s so rare to be truly surprised by a narrative (my favorite surprise of the last several years is in Kelley Eskridge’s Solitaire — you should read that one too, but do NOT look at the flap copy first!).

In recognition of some small measure of sanity on the part of some people, I’m gonna give away some books over the next week. Today, I’ve got two copies of the new paperback edition of Kelly Link’s second short story collection Magic for Beginners.

The first will go to the first person who responds with some creditable hint of a possible defense to zombie (or undead) attack. The other will go to the first person who accurately guesses the solution to the first arc (the campus rapes) on Veronica Mars this season* either in this thread or one of the VMT threads.**

*Somebody will. But if nobody does, I’ll choose the most entertaining objection to the culprit reveal.
**Yeah, this one will take a little while (but not sooo long!); and there’s a pretty good chance any of the regular commenters on VM already have the book, so they can also have it sent to another person-a of their choice.

If you’re looking for some appropriate reading material for Election Day, I suggest David Levithan‘s Wide Awake. It’s an excellent, zippy, funny, insightful and above all else political YA novel set in the a (sort of distant but) not so distant future Here’s a snippet from the opening (longer excerpt here):

"I can’t believe there’s going to be a gay Jewish president."

As my mother said this, she looked at my father, who was still staring at the screen.  They were shocked, barely comprehending.

Me?

I sat there and beamed.

p.s. Hunter S. Thompson fans may want to check this out (note: not pretty), but a rousing post. Sentiment heartily agreed with. Although, I think you’re allowed to complain no matter what. It’s in the Bill of Rights.

p.p.s. Local report junkies may want to keep one eye here.