What I'm Reading - 10/21 Edition

Previously.

Since last week, I finished The Hunger Games, and right now I'm reading Scat. I have also picked up the following books:

• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman
• Memories of the Future, Vol. 1 by Wil Wheaton

And before you ask: yes, it is the same John Hodgman who is the "Resident Expert" on The Daily Show and who also stars as "The PC" in those adorable/annoying commercials for Apple (whether you, personally, find them adorable or annoying depends, I suppose, on how much you like John Hodgman, Justin Long, and Apple products); and yes, it is the same Wil Wheaton who was on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" TWENTY FUCKING YEARS AGO OH MY GOD I AM OLD and who has since made a career out of being geeky and all-around awesomesauce in between acting gigs.

Anyway.

As I mentioned last week, I really dug The Hunger Games, even though it is a bit darker and edgier than what I am used to; asking 12- to 16-year-olds to outlast each other in a gladiatorial arena controlled by mysterious Gamemakers who are puppets of a horrifying government in some dystopian future is some heavy shit. But it was well-written, with excellent characters, and so I have also picked up the second book in the series, Catching Fire. I'm also passing these books along to G to read, because I think he will like them.

The other two additions are "grown-up" books that I added because I wanted something a little different. I read mostly fiction, and I make no excuses or apologies for that, but I do like to try some non-fiction now and then. Usually I read what is probably classified as "chick-lit memoirs" to scratch that itch: Laurie Notaro and Hollis Gillespie, mostly. Before the adoption was final I read Dan Savage's excellent The Kid, which was pretty damned awesome (and also, in its own way, convinced me that what we were doing was the right thing, although I could not then and probably still could not now explain to you why or how it did).

I picked Hodgman's and Wheaton's books primarily because they are funny. Hodgman literally just makes shit up and turns it into a book, which is a very powerful and fascinating form of alchemy that I hope to learn someday. And Wheaton's book is a sort-of-memoir-slash-sort-of-snarkfest about his time on "Star Trek: TNG" all those years ago. He does a podcast that goes along with the book, his Memories of the Futurecast, which is outstanding if you like podcasts (and if you would consider this book, I recommend you check out the podcast to see if you would like it).

When I get home tonight, I'll finish packing my bags for the trip to Chicago this weekend, and at this point, I think that Scat from last week and this week's three new books will make the cut. But this is always subject to change at game time, so we'll see.

OH! And also: November is National Novel Writing Month. Over on the 'riffic blog, I have put up a badge indicating that I am going to be participating again this year. Last year I didn't get very far, but I am hoping to do better this year. I have a better idea to work with this time, I think, so we'll see. As always, my goal (as well as the other participants') is to finish a novel in 30 days -- maybe not a good one, but a completed one. You can follow my progress here. I might even post some excerpts, if any of them are worth posting.