I just finished a great weekend with Natasha @ Maw Books and the fanfare of Bloggiesta and I’m beat! It was great to tinker with my site and change some things. You’ll see I have a new page that I’ll be updating regularly called Gears & Gadgets as well as a new background. The picture is actually one of mine of a local indie bookstore, so I’m pretty excited about that too. I had so much fun hopping around the blogosphere to some of my favorite blogs as well as getting to visit some new ones as well. I was able to get a lot of great ideas, tips, and suggestions from my fellow bloggers through their posts and their tweets. So I’m tired, but happy!

This weekend, aside from being on my computer most of the time, I paid a visit to an indie bookstore called The Bookworm to preorder my friend Alissa’s new novel Popular which comes out in May. Here’s what the cover looks like:

I’m super excited (both about supporting my local bookstore and Alissa’s big debut). Here’s the Goodreads blurb on Popular:

Meet the clique that rules Fidelity High: Olivia, Zelda, Nordica, and Shelly, each one handpicked by über-popular Hamilton Best. You know you’re “in” when you make the guest list for one of Hamilton’s parties. And in the thralls of senior year, everyone wants to get noticed by Hamilton.

But Hamilton’s elite entourage is coming apart at the seams. Olivia fantasizes about finally having a boyfriend, Zelda dreams of ditching high school, Nordica wants to be alone with her photography, and Shelly’s plotting to dethrone Hamilton. Lies and secrets are ripping away the careful ties that have kept them together for years. But Hamilton has the biggest secret of all, one that only her boyfriend Alex knows. If the truth got out, it would shock everyone and destroy Hamilton’s fragile world—and she’ll do anything to protect her secret and keep her clique together.

Aside from that funness (sure, that’s a word), I also joined the Y through a super promotion they were having (more on that in another post) and read some great books.

Here’s what I read this week:

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher – If you’re going to read one novel this year, make it Incarceron. I know, I know, it’s only January and already I’ve read my book of the year? Well, it’s just that great. You may as well jump on the bandwagon now because I predict it’s going to get crowded very fast. Fisher’s novel was released in her England home a few years prior and has already gotten a lot of transatlantic buzz. Her second in the series – Sapphique – was released in December 2010. I loved this book because it was so unique and I tire of wanting to read a fantasy book but being relegated to vampires, werewolves and fairies. Not that I don’t love those books as well, but this was like a breath of fresh air – well, prison air if you’re going to get technical. So pick up a copy and enter the world of Incarceron where nothing is as it seems and everyone wants to find freedom.

Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith – I’m listening to this YA book on CD and so far it is nothing like I expected. When a stranger hands Jack a pair of glasses, Jack enters the mysterious world of Marbury. There he is in charge of two young boys. His best friend Connor is there as well, but he is trying to kill them. While all this sounds very steampunk/scifi so far it is more reminiscent of Going Bovine by Libba Bray in which the protagonist goes on the strangest road trip ever but not everything is as it seems. The first few chapters open with Jack being kidnapped so it is a scary beginning despite the blurb on the box letting me know he does escape. I have a feeling the novel will be a mixture of the psychological as well as the science fictional.

That’s it for me this past week – What have you been reading?