Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Three: Scythe

Neal Shusterman's Scythe is a book that I've heard a lot about, and yet it took me over a year to actually pick up a copy and read it, but once I started, I could not put it down.  I was worried it would be another Hunger Games derivative, and while there are some obvious and shallow similarities (lots of killing, a proposed battle to the death of two teenagers who have to kill people and may be romantically involved), I think Scythe offers more food for thought than The Hunger Games by offering us a vision of a future in which humans have become immortal and work has essentially been rendered useless (somewhat similarly to The Giver).  Even so, Scythe could have gone a lot farther in envisioning a future human society, but nonetheless, I found it thought-provoking and totally engrossing.  So far there's one sequel published (Thunderhead), and a third (and final?) planned, and I'll definitely be reading both at some point.  If you liked The Hunger Games or are in the mood for a dystopian YA bloodbath with subtle tastes of a political thriller, definitely give Scythe a try. 

Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Two: Way off the Road

I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook of Way off the Road, read by the author, Bill Geist, who is (or was?) apparently a big name at CBS.  Way off the Road offers a collection of vignettes about some of the most unusual places Geist has visited in America, which include a town with only one resident, a town where the parade stands still and the spectators walk around it, and various towns with unusual festivals.  There are also a few little pieces about the joys (travails) of traveling, which are close enough to the mark to be quite funny.  This is just the sort of entertaining and lighthearted nonfiction that I particularly enjoy, and I certainly recommend it as an interesting diversion!