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We've come to the last day of TLA. I'm actually here in the convention center at the Maximum Ride Internet Room. Yep, that's right. Even something like the Texas Library Association manages to find corporate sponsorship for their stuff. No one is immune. I would like some corporate sponsorship for my corporation. It seems unlikely.

I was to tired to list the readers I was excited to get, but I've got a few moments until the exhibit hall opens, so I'll do it now.

• Skulduggery Pleasant 2: Playing with Fire -- I'm not a big fan of sequels. I often love the first in a series only to be vaguely disappointed in the second book. Sometimes the third book redeems the series, sometimes it only makes it worse. However, in the case of Skulduggery 2, I liked it just as much as I liked the first book. The tone and voice are still just as witty and sarcastic. I actually found myself grinning on the train last night as I commuted back last night. I rarely make an expression while reading. And the story itself was still an exciting fun read. So, look for the book when it comes out. Atrocious new jacketing aside, it's going to be a fun book.
• Hunger Games -- Collins Gregor the Underlander series (I forget the actual series title) would be an example of a series that fit the usual excellent first book/downhill from there series. Still, I know she can write a good first book, so I grabbed her new one, Hunger Games. Much to my glee, it's a science fiction real game story - kind of a survivor TV show with more violent outcomes. I read 80 pages on the train this morning, and now I don't want to man my booth but sit in a quiet little corner somewhere and finish the story.
• Madapple -- This reader has been floating around for a while. It's apparently a brilliant but disturbing book that no one knows what to do with. I'm dying to read it.

I can't believe they'd even do this to me. Anyone, EVERYONE, who knows me knows how much trouble I have with sleep. I am a classic insomniac--the sleep doctor said so. Why would anyone do anything to destroy what little sleep I get?

The perpetrators: Fiona Neill and Sara Zarr. Ms. Neill has written an intelligent mommy-lit novel--think Desperate Housewives (without the murders) meets Sex in the City. The writing is quick and witty. Lucy, the main character, doesn't bore me with how cute her kids are or rant about her husband or any of those other things that real people bore me with. I could be friends with Lucy. That's why I can't put Slummy Mummy down. It's smart fun.

Sara Zarr made me stay up past 2 a.m. on a school night with Story of a Girl. Sara, how could you do this to me? It was almost midnight; I was going to read only one chapter, but no, your writing was too real and too tight for me to put down. It wasn't even like I was reading a book; the reading was effortless. I don't remember turning the pages. I just remember looking at the clock after closing the back cover.

Excellent stories. Amazing writers! (Fiona, Sara, you owe me some ZZZs.)