Now that the bulk of summer is over, I've been working on catching up with my summer reading list, of course.

I was so excited to read Stephanie Perkins long-anticipated new novel, which didn't disappoint me in the least (I do think it'll be a love it or hate it story for folks, though--Keertana wrote a fantastic review that resonated with me in terms of why I'm in the love it camp). I was also lucky enough to read a way early copy of Liza Palmer's 2015 novel, Girl Before a Mirror, which is absolutely stellar. I think it'll be a bit polarizing, but in a good way. There are a lot of layers to dig into and I can't wait for it to be in the world so I can talk to people about it!

I also wrapped up reading The Dust Chronicles series by Maureen McGowan, which I really liked (read that series if you liked Divergent, The Darkest Minds or Legend--it's got all the action-y bits that fans of those books will love, and some good social issues things as well). And on the series front, I read the second book in Chuck Wendig's rad YA series, Blightborn.

Enough chat! On to our recommendations!

Sarah Moon

Links + Things

Just a semi-quick roundup of links this week, since I'm on a semi-vacation at home this week and next. So, just bulleted news, cover art and some good deals on books in this edition. We'll be back to our regular programming shortly.

Recommended Reading

Tiger Eyes is out on on-demand!!! It's taken tremendous self-control to not watch it yet, since I'm meeting up with friends to see it in an actual theater tomorrow. You can get it oniTunes and Amazon Instant Video. (US only so far.)
Our friend Reynje shared this excellent piece about violence against women and gore on our television and movie screens. I honestly thought I was just being overly sensitive, but it turns out that I'm not alone in being disturbed by the seeming increase in violence in popular entertainment.
This is the best analysis I've seen of Book Expo America. I kind of hate conferences (I know, I know--I've just had to do too many for work) and can't afford to travel to them anyway, but it sounds like BEA needs to think about how to make the show work for the broad range of attendees. Be sure to read the comments, which have some very interesting discussion.
I know everyone has already linked to this, but author Ann Aguirre's post about being a female writer of science fiction is a must-read. (via author Alanna Blackett)
In a similar vein, author Jeanine Frost has an insightful discussion of her feelings on the current SFWA mess.
I love Nafiza's honest and thoughtful discussion of the whys behind book blogging. So much of what she said resonated with me--especially the numbers game issue, which has been making me increasingly uncomfortable lately.
The Huffington Post has a list of nine "books" (several are genres/categories) people will judge you for reading. While I appreciate the sentiment behind this post, that it's pretty silly to sit around judging people's reading choices, I really wish folks would stop lumping all romance novels, young adult fiction, etcetera, together, even when they're being positive.
This is a fascinating interview with Sarah Dessen and her editor about their editorial process, and how they work together.
I am devastated about this news, re: the possibility of teleportation.
This lengthy profile of WNBA rookie Brittney Griner is fantastic, even if you don't care one bit about sports.
The Writers Guild of America apparently has a list of the 101 best-written television shows of all time (PDF). Friday Night Lights comes in at 22. For the record, I have some quibbles with that ranking. Texas forever, y'all.