More on J.D. Salinger

One of my current favorite authors, David Levithan, has written a great essay on J.D. Salinger's influence on young adult literature in the Wall Street Journal. He said so well, what I and many others think.

The Catcher in the Rye

I was so sad to read in the paper this morning that J.D. Salinger has died. For those of you who are saying, "Who?," he was the author of The Catcher in the Rye; one of my all time favorite books. This is one of those classics about not fitting in that is well worth the read.

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins is one hot tamale!

She had no trouble keeping me turning the pages of The Hunger Games, the first in her dystopian trilogy. It's a frighteningly convincing post-apocalyptic world which televises an annual brutal fight to the death of one randomly selected boy and girls from each of twelve districts ruled over by a ruthless and decadent government called The Capital.

Fatherless si

xteen year old Katniss Everdeen isn't chosen, but her little sister is. That day irrevocably changes her and her family's life.

The pacing and plot of The Hunger Games are brilliant, but so is Ms. Colns ability to create characters that live and breathe. I suspect, that you, like me, won't be a

ble to put The Hunger Games down, and once

you are finished, you won't wait to read the sizzling second

installment, Catching Fire, where the whispers of a rebellion heat things up even more for Katniss, her family, and anyone else not wise enough to distance themselves from her during the lead up and the abrupt conclusion to the 75th anniversary of the Hunger Games.

Sadly, I hear we have to wait until August before the final book hits the shelves. I don't doubt though, that it will be worth the wait.