Here's my one-word review of Mockingjay:

I'm going to take the suggestion of mj_adams and others and schedule our next book club for FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24.

What are we going to

Sharpen your arrows and polish your anti-authoritarian rhetoric, because Mockingjay, the third installment of Suzanne Collins' series, comes out today!

I have two Mockingjay-related questions:

1. When should we discuss it?

I know some of you pre-ordered the book, others will download it to your Nook or other e-reader, others are on a million-person wait list for it at the library, and still others trampled a B&N security guard to get it this morning and then read the entire thing standing up in the YA section while shaking uncontrollably. When will you be ready to talk about the novel? Let me know in the

I wish I could kick off our discussion with an objective series of questions or comments, but I can't, because this book melts me into an ice cream head with a rainbow for a heart.

So instead, I'll tell you eight reasons I love I Capture the Castle. If you don't want to plow through them, skip to the part marked Questions at the bottom of the post.

1. There are so many moments that make you think, yes, EXACTLY! I've often felt that!
Isn't JK Rowling righter than right? Isn't Cassandra the most charismatic narrator you've ever met? And the easiest to identify with? There's an observation on almost very page that makes me think, I do that too! or I've had the same thought! For example (I'll give my pages numbers in parentheses, in case you have the same

On Friday, I'm going to lovely Canada (or, as I sometimes call it by accident totally on purpose, Canadia). Therefore, if it's okay with you, I'd like to reschedule our book club meeting for this Thursday, July 29.

Thanks so much for all of your amazing book club suggestions. After careful consideration and contemplative Cheez-It consumption, I've decided we should read I Capture the Castle, for five reasons:

1. It's a great book.

2. It's a summery book.

3. It's not a dystopia. I love novels about grim totalitarian futures, but we just read one of those, and we're reading another in August, so I think we should take a little break to frolic around a castle with the girl J.K. Rowling calls "one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever

Thank you for making yesterday's book club such a rousing success! We can keep talking about Catching Fire on that thread for as long as you'd like. And obviously we'll book club the heck out of Mockingjay later this summer. But between now and then, what should we read and discuss?

Before you answer, check out this comment from verbomaniac012:

You know how sometimes you're craving street meat, and finally you find a vendor, and you order a hot dog with ketchup and mustard and relish and gobble down the whole thing and then, because the first one was so satisfying, you order a SECOND hot dog, which is good but not nearly as delicious as the first one?

Catching Fire is the second hot dog.

Are you mad at me yet? Good! Book clubs are the most fun when everyone stops being polite and starts being angry at everyone else's dumb opinions (in typically articulate, respectful Sparkler fashion, of course).

To kick off today's discussion, here are five controversial claims.

Note that there are SPOILERS GALORE in this post! If you haven't read Catching Fire yet, go away and come back when you're

Good morning! How's your Friday going so far?

Quick question: you know how we're having the Catching Fire book club on June 9? Is that too soon? I don't want to rush

First things first: thank you so much for the birthday wishes, e-huggles, and confetti! You're the smartest, funniest, sweetest people on the internyets, and I can't believe it's my job to write to you, talk to you, and read your hilarious comments every day. I'm a lucky, lucky writing nerd.

Second things second: on the topic of the fiction contest, clarissavandell commented, "Hopefully Miss Marm is just having difficulty choosing and isn't slowly evolving into a sadistic person who enjoys watching hundreds of Sparklers agonizing over the possible winners, rubbing her hands while cackling evilly." I do rub my hands while cackling evilly, but only while planning surprise parties involving blow-up jumping castles. I'm having a terrible time choosing, but I promise that next week I will buckle down, collate my list of arguments, counter-arguments, analyses, and marginal notes, and at long last announce the winner of the contest.

And now on to CATNISS KATNISS (thank you for the all-caps