I feel like I am running behind all of a sudden - no idea why but I can't shake the urge to catch up. So this will be an entry on many things I have read or read about that I thought interesting/cool and then the decks are cleared for me to discuss some literary topics this week that have been bouncing around in my head lately.

I did not request Ellen Emerson White's Long May She Reign because at 720 pages it is so freaking huge I decided just to let it go and her more dedicated fans could let the world know about it. Then Feiwel sent me a copy and while sitting outside today watching my son turn his sandbox into a swimming pool with the hose, I took a look at the first few pages and now I'm hooked. I have no idea if it can keep this compelling narrative going for the duration, but so far, White is impressing me.

Jo Walton's Ha' Penny, as I hinted a couple of days ago, is one fantastic sequel. You really must read Farthing first (and why shouldn't you - it's awesome), but this book is even more of a heartbreaker. And just so good. It also centers around a group of sisters who seem too different to be true unless you have even a passing knowledge of the Mitfords, and then it all makes perfect fictional sense. This is great literature though and I hope that Walton gets the audience she deserves for these books. They are alternate history that smacks so much of life today I am stunned. How does she do this and make it look so easy is what I want to know.

The Christmas gift all of you should be buying is Connie Willis's The Winds of Marble Arch. The more I read it, the more I love it. If you are a fan you won't want to miss this. (The introduction alone is fantastic - she loves Agatha Christie and screwball comedies! I want to go out to lunch with this lady in the worst possibly way.)

Jen pointed outan article at the Times Online the other day about a planned film based on Enid Blyton's Famous Five but with the kids now middle-aged. You can't help but be a little concerned about how this might turn out but I love when authors show their characters aging (hello - Buffy fan!). Jonahtan Lethem wrote a novella last year that stood on its own just fine but was stellar for readers who loved Harriet M. Welch and were delighted to see her spying ways had not left her. I'm really looking forward to the Blyton project - now if someone could tell me whatever happened to the Three Investigators, I'd be thrilled. (Ellen Klages, Kelly Link, Chris Barzak - I know one of you wants to do this!)

Tanith Lee has a new MG novella coming out from Firebird this fall that manages to be set in the future while sending up old Hollywood. It's about obnoxious older sisters, a very cool robot dog and dragons. Yes, I'm reviewing it and I certainly hope all 12 years who hate their teenage sisters get a copy; it's exactly what they need.

In the midst of all her writing and teaching, Jenny D. has been posting long thoughtful essays about books she is reading on swimming. This might not seem interesting if you are not a big swimmer, but what intrigues me about the books and her thoughts on them is how they write about becoming swimmers, making this sport a valuable part of their days and their lives. I'd like to read a book about how someone integrates physical activity into their lives - why they do it, how they do it, what they enjoy, what part competitiveness plays in it, etc. The only women who write about weightlifting are trying to be Ms Olympia and convince us all they aren't on steroids (they are on something, believe me) or it's all about losing weight. Well I'm not working out to win a medal or lose 50 pounds and I'm intrigued how/why others do it. I just want to be strong and feel strong - is that so odd in skinny chick world we live in?

Saskia Noort's The Dinner Club is what Desperate Housewives wishes it could be. I can't remember the last time a mystery had me stumped until the very end but the real kicker is that these people were all friends. Until some of them started dying, that is. Bitter Lemon Press is just a great indy mystery publisher and I am really looking forward both to reviewing this book and passing it along to my mother - she will love it.

I have no idea what the book is Chronicle is hinting at with these pictures but I want it badly. Is it too cool or what? Transparent sea life - just the idea of reading about it makes me happy.

Not sure if all of you are aware of this but the final book in Hilary McKay's Casson family series is due out next April.

And Cory Doctorow's six issue miniseries from IDW debuts in October. Here's an interview with Newsarama all about it the six short stories he adapted to comics form. (And yes, I'll be reading the first issue with much anticipation.) Here's the scoop on the first issue:

Up first is "Anda's Game." For 12-year-old Anda, getting paid real money to kill the characters of players who were cheating in her favorite online computer game was a win-win situation. Until she found out who was paying her, and what those characters meant to the livelihood of children around the world. Award-winning artist Sam Kieth provides the debut issue's cover.