I haven't read Hunger Games, but I decided to go through Mark Reads' review of them. Wow, what gets marketed as YA these days is a lot darker than what I read as a kid.

But I'm kind of sad at how shocked Mark is by some of the twists, how honestly surprised he is at how Katniss is treated and how the plot twists. Maybe I've seen too many war tribunals or read too many retrospectives to be surprised by what the Powers that Be do to their tools.

Well, sad isn't the right word, unless it's sad for my own cynicism.

That's why I'm surprised he's thinking of watching Supernatural. Sure, it's one of the funniest shows I watch, but it's also really freaking dark and depressing alongside that.

Does anyone know what B&N means when they're selling enhanced ebooks? I'm looking at the entry for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and I can't work out what they're actually selling for the extra two dollars. I have a B+W e-ink Nook, so I'm assuming it'll be lost on me on my main device anyway, but would the extra features be available in their Nook applications on more video-appropriate hardware?

I'm so confused. That's such a zero-information writeup, unless I'm missing something.

It fascinates me that Hunger Games is such a huge hit, since it's such a blunt denunciation of so much of American culture. How many millions of kids have read this and are now looking thoughtfully at reality TV? Or interview shows? Or politicians?

I just read the "Mark Reads" thing on Hunger Games, and I also finished the first book myself.

I think I may be the exact opposite of Mark in every way. First, I knew the basic plot before reading, and can't imagine it any other way. Second, I am all about the romance-- poor Peeta! I know next to nothing about the next 2 books, however.

Dickens Walk podcast from the Guardian.

Be sure to download the cool map from the illustrator Baudade too.

I am reading The Serpent Sea, the second of Martha Wells' tales of the Raksura (the first is The Cloud Roads). It's set in a fabulously fantastic world, with floating islands and a multiplicity of sapient races, all of which have widely varying biologies and social structures. And it's about identity and family: both the ones you're born with and the ones you make. It has adventures and mysteries, sex and fighting, beauty and horror.

SGA Fans please note: if you have a fondness for the competent loner who doesn't know he needs a family, and isn't quite sure what to do with it when he gets one; or, by contrast, the researcher and theorist who is forced to become a soldier through no choice of his own; or the woman leading her people through strength, force of personality, and a bit of guile--well, I suspect you might like these novels a great deal.

I'm just saying.

You can find links to the books on her site--and as of last week, there was a promo sale ongoing, with Cloud Roads free and Baen's ebook of The Serpent Sea going for $6.

Found on Tumblr, posted by a YA author:

if you use coupon code F3Y9V4J at BN.com, you’ll get 50% off your entire purchase of teen books! and teen books are awesome, no? :D

(p.s. orders of $25 or more qualify for free shipping, and this coupon is valid until 1/12/12.

Kindle deal of the day:

3 books by Dava Sobel @ excellent prices - Longitude for 99 cents, A More Perfect Heaven for $1.99 and Galileo's Daughter for 99 cents.

Link.

So I am 20 pages into To the Lighthouse and, man, I don't know if I can make it through this whole book. I'm so fucking lost. I know this book is in English, but words are going right in my head and out the other without comprehension occurring in the middle. I have read Faulkner! WHY CAN'T I DO THIS.

...or the woman leading her people through strength, force of personality, and a bit of guile

I love Martha Wells. And characters with "a bit of guile" are one of her specialties. Or a lot of guile.