It's Tuesday again, which means it's time for another round of my favorite weekly meme on the Internet.  If you haven't participated in this bookish fun before, what are you waiting for?  Click on over to The Broke and the Bookish to see what all the buzz is about, make your own list, and hop all over the book blogosphere to find new blogs and get lots of great reading recommendations.  It's a good time, I promise!

This week's prompt is: Top Ten Most Anticipated Reads for the Rest of 2017.  It feels like I just did this topic since I used the "Cover Freebie" topic from a few weeks ago to talk about Top Ten Books I'm Excited to Read When They Come Out in Fall/Winter 2017.  Good thing there are so many awesome books still coming in 2017!  Here are ten that I'm looking forward to that I haven't highlighted yet this year:

Top Ten (oops—make that Eleven) Most Anticipated Reads for the Rest of 2017: 


 1. York by Laura Ruby—I'm in the middle of this MG steampunk adventure by the author of Bone Gap (one of my favorite books of 2014) and it's tons of fun.  It's about three kids who are trying to solve a 150+-year-old, world-famous cipher in order to save the home they love in an alternative NYC.  Available now.

 
 2.  Wishtree by Katherine Applegate—I adored both The One & Only Ivan and Crenshaw, so I can't wait to see what Applegate will do with her newest.  Told from the perspective of a tree that functions as the wishing well for a small town, the story should be interesting!  Coming September 26, 2017.

2.  The Agony of Bun O'Keefe by Heather T. Smith—Bun is the daughter of a hoarder.  When her mother tells her to leave, she does.  On the streets of Newfoundland, she meets a quirky cast of characters who become her makeshift family.  Sounds intriguing to me.  Coming September 5, 2017.


3.  Forest Dark by Nicole Krauss—This adult novel about a young novelist and an older lawyer, both searching for themselves, who end up in the same Israeli desert sounds engrossing.  The title makes the book sound like a horror novel, or at least a thriller, so I'll be interested to see how it comes into play in the story.  Coming September 12, 2017.


4.  My Brigadista Year by Katherine Paterson—This historical novel features a young Cuban teen who volunteers with Castro's national literary campaign.  As she travels the countryside teaching people to read, she learns important lessons about her country and herself.  Coming October 10, 2017.


 5.  Landscape With Invisible Hand by M.T. Anderson—I enjoyed Feed, Anderson's YA novel about the dangers of technology addiction.  His newest sounds similarly exciting and thought-provoking.  Coming September 12, 2017.


 6.  Slider by Pete Hautman—I don't think I've ever read a novel about competitive eating, so this MG sounds especially tantalizing.  Coming September 12, 2017.


 7.  The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott—This historical novel about an Irish immigrant's dramatic suicide and the way that it impacts his widow and unborn child sounds depressing but compelling.  Coming September 19, 2017.


 8.  Invictus by Ryan Graudin—I loved Graudin's The Walled City, although I haven't been as impressed with her subsequent books.  Still, I'm excited to check out the author's newest.  It's a time-traveling adventure that sounds fun.  The reviews seem a bit so-so, but I still want to see what Invictus is all about.  Coming September 26, 2017.


 9.  Red Dirt by Anna Jarzab—This gritty mystery set in small-town Oklahoma looks intriguing.  Coming August 29, 2017.


 10.  Auma's Long Run by Eucabeth Odhiambo—In this MG novel, a 13-year-old Kenyan girl in the 1980s must decide whether to keep pursuing her dream of becoming a track star as her village is invaded by AIDS.  Sounds sad, but inspiring.  Coming September 1, 2017.

So, what's on your list today?  What are your most anticipated reads for the rest of the year?  Do we have any in common?  Leave me a comment and I'll happily return the favor.

Happy Top Ten Tuesday!

I'm not sure why I thought Feed, a 2002 National Book Award finalist by M.T. Anderson, had to do with zombies. Maybe because of the title? Or maybe because the closer we creep to 2012, the more nervous I get about an undead apocalypse? Anyway, whatever the reason, I was totally wrong. No zombies shuffle their way through this book. Except, sort of, in a way, they do. Only they're not the slobbering, walking dead variety. Not exactly.

In this futuristic YA novel, almost anything has become possible. Spring Breakers can party on the moon. Jet-setting off to Mars is completely doable. And no one has to go offline. Ever. Feeds are transplanted straight into people's brains, allowing them to not just stand, but live their entire lives, at the very center of the information superhighway. A constant stream of content pours into their heads, meaning they never have to sound ignorant, never have to wonder about anything, never need to bother with learning or thinking at all. Ads flash through their minds continually, keeping them up-to-date on the latest fashion trends, celebrity breakups and cool, new gadgets. With a functioning feed, they can fit in anywhere, with anyone.

But what happens when a feed malfunctions? Titus is about to find out.

When the teenager and his friends go looking for a little lunar fun, they discover something: the Moon kinda sucks. In no time, their little excursion has gotten totally null. They're bored out of their feed-blasted minds. Then, Titus meets Violet Durn. Not only is Violet stunningly beautiful, but she's different. Like, somehow she seems more real than anyone else Titus has ever known. She's a little out of the loop, sure, but she's unique, something exciting to brighten his dull vacation. Titus convinces a reluctant Violet to come party with him and his friends at a night club his feed assures him is hot. He's having a good time (even if she's not) when the unthinkable happens - a raging doomsayer hacks into both their feeds, spamming them with angry extremist mumbo jumbo. In order to get their systems back online, both their feeds will have to be shut down. Immediately.

Without the noise in his head, Titus experiences an unsettling quiet, a kind of clarity he's never known before. Between the weird emptiness in his brain and Violet's odd observations about life (""Everything we've grown up with - the stories on the feed, the games, all of that - it's streaming our personalities so we're easier to sell to ...'" [97]), Titus literally does not know what to think. Even when the feed doctors reboot him and everything's back to normal, he's out of sorts, a feeling which only increases when Violet gives him some very disturbing news. Suddenly, Titus is asking questions he's never even considered before: What, in his life, is real? Who is he - his own person or some kind of product manufactured by the wily feed gods? If he didn't have his feed to stuff him full of info, would he be worth anything at all?

The allegorical Feed offers a chilling commentary on our Internet/Facebook/Twitter-obsessed times. In alternately frenetic (when he is on feed) and calmer (when he's off) chapters, Titus explores concerns that plague all of us with our increasingly virtual lives - realitiy vs. the online world; genuine human conversation vs. instant messaging, Facebook status updating, and Tweeting; true scholarship vs. copycat research; and developing authentic personality vs. allowing marketers to tell us who to be. The book's lesson isn't very subtle, but the plot's entertaining and Anderson's point comes across in a way that's both vivid and affecting. I can't say I loved Feed; I can say I appreciated it. And I haven't stopped thinking about it. Must be the zombie thing ...

(Readalikes: Reminded me a little of Girl Parts by John M. Cusick and, oddly, of the movie Wall-E)

Grade: B

If this were a movie, it would be rated: R for strong language

To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of Feed from the generous folks at Candlewick Press. Thank you!