What I'm reading now

It's a lazy Sunday afternoon, and I'm about to watch Big Brother 7: All Stars for work, so I thought I'd take a moment from researching the show to write about what I'm reading now.

I've just finished 3 Extraordinary books. I've already blogged about how much I loved Diana Peterfreund's Secret Society Girl. If you haven't read, run out and buy it now. There is nothing out there on the market like this book. It gives you a glimpse into a world that most of us have never experienced, nor will ever experience: being a member of a secret society at an elite university.

I'm not talking joining a fraternity or sorority. I'm talking something along the lines of Skull & Bones, or the dining clubs at Princeton and Harvard. Clubs that were once only for the privileged few, meaning white, WASP males with old money. People who could trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower.

The heroine of Secret Society Girl, Amy is someone that I wish that I had known at college. She's funny, intelligent, self-depracating, doesn't take shit, and is just as confused by the male/female relationship as we all are. I can't wait to read the sequel in 2007. I have it on good authority, that it will be even better than the first.

My second favorite book of the week is Blue Blood by Melissa de la Cruz. I thought I had read it all in Vampire books, until I picked up this book at the library. Melissa has such a fresh take on Vampire lore, that it's amazing that I haven't read anything like this before. Her Blue Blood's are just that, descendants of the early settlers at Plymouth, who just happened not to be only Puritans but Vampires as well. I won't reveal all the lore, because it's pretty awesome. This book has multiple points of view, but it's so ingeniously crafted that I felt like I knew each and every character personally. This another series that's going on top of my to buy list next year.

And finally, Jane Austen in Scarsdale, Paula Marantz Cohen's reimagining of Jane Austen's Persuasion set in Scarsdale. Anne Elliott in this version is Anne Ehrlich, guidance counselor at a public high school in Westchester. Her family had once had money, but now they've fallen on harder times. Frederick in this version is Rick, who has become a well-known travel writer. Their paths converge, when his nephew attends Anne's school, and Rick ends up buying her famiy home.

This was a really interesting version of one of my favorite Jane Austen novels. My only quibble is that the role of the father is diminished in this version. We don't get to know him as well as we do Sir Walter Elliott. But the way she's reimagined some of the other characters is very clever, and you get a really good sense of what it's like nowadays for teens trying to apply for college. I thought making Anne, a guidance counselor was particularly inspired.

So those are my three recommendations.

Thanks for reading!
EKM