Friday’s Finds: Jane Austen and Zombies?

Pride and Prejudice and…. zombies? Strange combination, yes, but funny nonetheless. Check out the review NPR did on this book last week. I teach Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with my AP seniors and think this might be a fun way to hook some of the more reluctant readers. It keeps much of Austen’s original plot line and characters, but adds the zombie blood and gore element to it as well:

“Come, Darcy,” said Mr. Bingley, “I hate to see you standing by yourself in this stupid manner. You had much better dance.”

“I certainly shall not. You know how I detest it.”

“I would not be as fastidious as you are for a kingdom! I never met with so many pleasant girls in my life as I have this evening; and several of them are uncommonly pretty.”

Before Mr. Darcy could respond, a chorus of screams filled the assembly hall, immediately joined by the shattering of window panes. Unmentionables scrambled in, their movements clumsy yet swift; their burial clothing in a range of untidiness.

Guests who had the misfortune of standing near the windows were seized and feasted on at once. Elizabeth watched Mrs. Long struggle to free herself as two female dreadfuls bit into her head, cracking her skull like a walnut, and sending a shower of dark blood spouting as high as the chandeliers.

Look for my review soon.

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Friday Finds: A Day Late

I know this is a little late, but here it is.

After a lengthy facebook chat with Kris, I have ordered both Tweak and A Beautiful Boy by Nic and David Sheff. These two books recount the true story of a young man who is addicted to methanphetamines. One is told from the young man’s point of view and the other is told from his father’s point of view.

Keeping with the same event told from differing points of view theme, I am also going to read Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We knew It and the dead & the gone. From the inside jacket cover of the dead & the gone:

Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It enthralled and devastated readers with its brutal but hopeful look at an apocalyptic event from a small-town perspective. Now this harrowing companion novel examines the same events as they unfold in New York City…. With haunting themes of family, faith, personal change, and courage, this powerful novel explores how a young man takes on unimaginable responsibilities.

And last but not least, I am finally going to read Madeline George’s Looks. Talk about an opening paragraph, check this out:

Start in the sky. Look down in the valley. Green, plush, peaceful landscape. Drop down a little, toward the town, then skim over it, past the low beige buildings of the university, the clean white spires of the Congregational churches, the flat green welcome mat of the town common, out toward the edge of town, toward Valley Regional High School, a rambling, one-story brick building surrounded by soccer fields, field hockey fields, football fields, parking lots. Hover above Valley Regional High. Watch the crowd of kids as it streams into the school like water sucked down a storm drain. And listen: even from this high up you can hear the hum of a school on the first day back in September.

Can’t wait to read this one!!