The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer

This story either takes place in an alternate universe or way, way in the future, I never could really be sure.

One thing I really liked is when Matt lives with the Keepers and keeps pointing out that what the Keepers are doing is brainwashing the kids into mindless zombies under the guise of the "we all work together for the good of the community" principle. I love that they continuously get one-upped by a kid, and I really loved that he becomes a hero when before he was considered a farm animal, and basically hated.

The book ends in such a way that Farmer can easily write a sequel if she wants to, but if inspiration never strikes it's still a good ending on its own.

The character I could happily never see in a book again: Maria. She was such an emotional twit!

I'm Pooped

I've been putting this off for a while because I have been too busy, when I wasn't being too lazy. So no long synopsis. Both of these books have left my possession, and so I'm simply going to state that I read them and I liked them.

Blessings, by Anna Quindlen--not what I was expecting. I thought I'd get sickly sweet, and instead I got a bunch of different flavors.

Push, by Sapphire--a very hard read. Precious' story is fucking HARSH. But I'm glad I read it, and I'm totally renting the DVD when it comes out.