JPod

JPod by Douglas Coupland is the first book I read for the book club I joined this year (the first rule of the book club is don't talk about the book club... don't tell them I told you!). It is also the first Douglas Coupland book I ever read, I borrowed it 6 years ago in high school from my then international business teacher who had brought it in for his classroom bookshelf which provided books for students who forgot one during B.E.A.R. B.E.A.R stands for Bell Excels at Reading, it occurred every Friday for the last 20 minutes of your second period class and was instated shortly after the Grade 10 literacy test was introduced in Ontario to improve success rates (unfortunately my school had a low pass rate in comparison to others in the city). Rereading JPod was just as fun as the first time I read it, especially since it is a peculiar book to read. 

Next Episode

The Canada Reads pick for 2003 was Hubert Aquin's Next Episode. At the time I purchased this book I was not nearly developed enough intellectually to understand most of what was going on and sadly lost interest. Recently, nine years after I bought my copy, I decided to give it another chance. I can better see now why this book was chosen as a Canada Reads pick, it exemplifies the quintessential identity of separatist Quebec.

City of Lost Souls

There isn't really much I can say about Cassandra Clare's latest installment in The Mortal Instrument series, City of Lost Souls, without completely ruining the plot of the previous ones. So I will just say this, it was just as good as the others and you should go read them all! Also check out her prequel series The Infernal Devices, you'll especially enjoy it if you read steampunk novels, personally I like the characters better because I give them all British accents when I'm reading haha.

Plus, like so many teen novels lately, this series is being adapted for the big screen. The first in the series, City of Bones, is slated to be released in summer 2013.

Cassandra Clare

Mortal Engines

When Allison told me that there was a book where cities walk around and eat each other I was sold. After she finished reading Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve I quickly pilfered her copy to read myself. Filled with strong characters and a unique take on a futuristic, post-apocalyptic society Mortal Engines keeps you reading. In it you will find orphans, traction cities, airships, archaeologists, sky cities, pirates, corrupt people in power in government (not that far removed from pirates), and rebel forces. What's not to love?

Insurgent

Another day, another teen fiction sequel to read. Insurgent is the sequel to Veronica Roth's debut novel Divergent. Riding on the wave of teen dystopic fiction, following the success of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games, Roth does a fantastic job filling the void left behind when you finish a series and need something new to read. A read I quickly gobbled down.