More books online

A fellow bibliophile recommended two websites... I haven't spent much time on them, but they look fun!

• www.whatshouldireadnext.com - enter a title or author to get suggestions of other books



• www.literature-map.com - enter an author and get a display of writers' names with your pick in the center. lots of new ideas - !

John Kennedy Toole shows up closest to Michael Chabon, ok, but Katie Fforde showing up next to Laurie R. King? Not so sure about that! Anyone find any other interesting connections?

Another adaptation

The Sookie Stackhouse vampire mysteries are coming to the screen! The small screen, since they will be a series on Showtime starting in September. This, along with the enormous popularity of Stephenie Meyer's series, and the movie being made of Twilight, makes me wonder if there's something about vampires that captures the mood of the nation?

YA versus A

There was an interesting article by Margo Rabb in the NY Times Book Review (7/20/08) about how some novels get classified as YA.

I was surprised to find out that a number of the authors she mentions didn't originally intend for their books to be YA, but it confirms my suspicion that a young protagonist tends to put the book in YA territory, no matter what the complexity, theme, or tone are.