I'm reviewing right now:

Under My Roof by Nick Mamatas
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

I'm working on the political books feature for August and these two go very much hand-in-hand. Both are set slightly in the future in a US that is security happy (even more so than today). Both feature young male protagonists who grow up a lot as the stories progress. Cory's has way more techno-geek fun and is very detailed but Nick's is - oddly for a book involving a nuclear device in a garden gnome - more realistic. Nick's is also a lot funnier overall (in a very teen friendly snarky way) but both make you think about the direction the country is going in and where we would like it to be.

I'm reading right now:

Wish You Were Here by Barbara Shoup
Come In From the Cold by Marsha Qualey
The Betrayal of Africa by Gerald Caplan
Unnamed book on environment for Booklist (can't name it until my ALA review runs)

I often write about how it is hard to review teen books as an adult - you just don't think like a teenager anymore so sometimes adult reviewers can get frustrated by how teenagers act. Barbara Shoup's Wish You Were Here is so pitch perfect though, that as the child of divorced parents whose mother remarried when I was a teen....well let me just say this woman knows of what she writes. She nails so much of the frustration of that situation; it is eerie. Flux has reissued the book (it came out in May) and I'm so happy with it - expect more in my August column.

The Qualey title is for older teens (it's from the Graphia imprint) and I'd love to know why I haven't heard a thing about this one. It's also a reprint (1994) but as it is historical (set during Vietnam) it still fits fine for modern readers. So far I've read about Maud, whose radical sister is blown up in an anti war protest and Jeff, whose straight arrow brother has died in Vietnam. They have not met yet, but I'm expecting that anytime now. This book actually reads as one of those incredibly rare romance/coming-of-age stories that works equally for male and female readers. More on this also in my August column.

Caplan's book on Africa is part of the Groundwork series and is amazing. It is also sucking the life out of me because I can not - CAN NOT - believe how much the world has screwed up sub Sahara Africa. As a history teacher I was familiar with much of the impact of colonialism but the statistics and the long term effects and the direct involvement from western governments (namely the US, UL and France) in propping up despots is so upsetting. This whole series is phenomenal and works just as well for adults who don't know much on the subject as it does for teens. The Africa book will be in the political column; it is a book I wish I could get everyone to read - it will change the way you view an entire continent.

I will be writing about the Booklist environmental title in September - it's awesome.

What I'm looking forward to:

Into White Silence by Anthony Eaton (RH Australia)
Ichthyo: The Architecture of Fish from Chronicle
Let the Northern Lights Know Your Name by Vendela Vida

Into White Silence was sent my way by RH Australia because - big surprise - someone over there noticed I like the polar titles. Here's the description:

During the winter of 1922, the Exploration Vessel Raven became trapped in the Antarctic icepack, entombing twenty-eight men aboard it through the dark, polar night. Into White Silence tells their story – a story of a lost past, of a tragic future, of ice, ambition and madness. It captures the terrible, fascinating beauty of Antarctica, both as it was then and is today, and is a journey into the mind of every person who has ever set foot upon those ice-bound shores.

Oh yeah - it's my kind of book! (This will be in the December column probably - not sure yet.)

I also have a NF book on Antarctica to review for Booklist (the Booklist titles are coming fast as furious but that's par for the course this time of year). I've peeked at it a little and it reads wonderfully.

Ichthyo is gorgeous. Who knew a book of fish skeletons could be so amazing? This one will be in the September eco column, probably as my Cool Read.

As for Let the Northern Lights Know Your Name, well I've been wanting to read it for ages and then I saw that Jenny D. was checking it out and Powells had it dirt cheap (used) and well, there you go. I'm working on that northern short story; I'm feeling compelled to immerse myself in all things coldish.

Finally, one to think about from Booklist:

Daphne by Justine Picardie. From the BL review:

Three, or maybe more, stories intersect and inform each other. The first is a biography of writer Daphne du Maurier in the 1950s as she struggles with family ghosts and writing a biography of Branwell Brontë, the long-neglected brother of the Bronte sisters. Years later, a nameless, orphaned graduate student, clearly meant to echo the narrator of du Maurier's Rebecca, follows du Maurier's work, to the distaste of the student's older husband and the fascination of his beautiful ex-wife. Also in the middle of this is the du Maurier family's relationship with J. M. Barrie and the Lleweyn Davies family of Peter Pan fame, as well as a possible literary forgery involving the Brontës. Exposition of all the relevant novel plots and literary relations slows down the beginning of the book. However, like a du Maurier novel, mystery and gothic plotting make the remainder of the novel a page-turner.

There's a lot here for lit lovers - du Maurier, Bronte, Barrie - could be quite a fascinating spin through lit and life.

[Post pic from the Smitihsonian.]