Where gaming meets the real world.

I just finished Steve Brezenoff's Guy in Real Life this weekend. I picked it up because I purchased it for the library, it got good reviews, and I love the cover. I can say I really liked the book. Not the best, but an enjoyable read.
Lesh Tungsten is trying to figure out where he fits in. After an evening of drinking and a concert, he collides with Svetlana Allegheny as she rides by on her bike. Lesh is grounded for his antics (he's a sophomore in high school) and his best friend, Greg, convinces him to try the MMORPG while he's incarcerated in his bedroom.
In the game, Lesh can be whoever he wants. He chooses an orc character to start, but then creates another, a beautiful elf priestess named Svvetlana. As he gets closer with the real Svetlana, lines blur between fantasy and reality. Svetlana, for her part, is creative and quirky, and also a Dungeon Master, responsible for planning elaborate campaigns for the high school's gaming club. Lesh and Svetlana are both separated from reality, but come together in real life. But what happens if Svetlana finds out about Lesh's alter ego online?
The book is told in alternating chapters so the reader can see both sides of the story. It's not clear if Lesh is confused about his gender or sexuality-- as I read it, he's not, he just wants to have a different persona online. I love Svetlana's character. She is always embroidering or drawing, avoiding awkward family outings and spending time with her friends in the gaming club. It is an engaging, realistic YA story.

Ex libris,

Marissa

New year!

Happy 2014! Once again, I disappeared for awhile. Nothing bad happening, just very busy at work. I'm running programs, reading for book groups, and rearranging collections. I am a busy bee.
I try not to make resolutions because I usually don't fulfill them and then feel bad. That being said, I would like to read more books and watch less TV this year. There are so many good reads and I feel like I could do better with reader's advisory if I read more (obviously).
Every year I write down in a notebook the books I read. I don't count books I leaf through when they arrive in shipments, and I don't count books I read at story time. If I did, my total would be more robust, but there you are. In 2013, I read fifty books. That is thirty-three fewer than 2012. My commute is much shorter now, so I don't get through as many audiobooks as I did before. I was briefly on a Nutmeg Award Committee, so I plowed through the first selection of books, but I had to resign when I moved to Massachusetts. Not making excuses, just reflecting on my year of reading.
So what were my favorite books I read in 2013? Here is a list to add to your personal reading list:

1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
2. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
3. Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety by Daniel Smith
4. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
5. Homeland by Cory Doctorow
6. If I Stay by Gayle Foreman
7. The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro
8. That's Not A Feeling by Dan Josefson
9. The Great Influenza by John M. Barry
10. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
11. The Fire Witness by Lars Kepler
12. Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl (in progress)

Have a fabulous new year! Happy reading!

Ex libris,

Marissa