Smart squee.

Put away your books and break out the No. 2 pencil. Here's a math equation for you:

A man is walking across a railroad bridge that goes from point A to point B. He starts at point A, and when he is 1/4th of the way across the bridge, he hears a train approaching. If the train's speed is 60MPH, how many passengers onboard are reading a James Patterson book?

Answer: 1/3.

That's right. Take a look around you on any plane, train, or automobile and you are guaranteed to spot someone reading a James Patterson book. Deemed "The man who can't miss" by Time Magazine, Patterson may be better known to your parents as the author of the Alex Cross series, or the Women's Murder Club. To your friends, he's the guy that created the butt-kicking kids with wings.

Maximum Ride, a best-selling novel on the New York Times Best Sellers List, is not your ordinary book. It comes complete with an uber-cool website (MaximumRide.com), a message board popularized by almost 10,000 fans, a MySpace, and its own soundtrack! That's right. A book with a soundtrack.


I first discovered this series after learning about The Summer Obsession's involvement on the CD. Featuring more cool music by Holly Brook (The girl from the hook on Fort Minor's hit "Where'd You Go") and other up and coming artists, the characters "hand-picked" the bands and songs that represented them and their story the best.

Never one to turn down a great blog, the characters post updates on Fang's blog, letting "Flock" fans know what they're up to between books. With all the secret files and cool pictures, no wonder readers are addicted to this!

Their story is intense, fun, and funny. If you're a fan of sarcasm, take some notes from Max. If you like the tall, dark, and quiet type, you're bound to squee over Fang. (According to their MySpace, Iggy, the blind pyrotechnic genius of the group may be giving him a run for his money, though!)

The third installment in the series, Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, hits stores May 2007. Rumor has it there may be a movie in the works. With the cool wing special effects in the latest X-Men movie (Remember Angel?), this should be something no one wants to miss!


Squeeworthy site extras:

• Listen to the Holly Brook/Max Ride podcast
• Watch exclusive Max Ride videos from The Summer Obsession

Smart squee.

People often find this very surprising about me, but I hate to read books. That's right. The writer hates to read.

Blame it on the never-ending required summer reading that was shoved down my throat for years, or the attention-span-of-a-gnat mentality that has saturated the very core of society, but I literally have little to no patience for books.

Magazines, newspapers, blogs, crawls on the bottom of E! about Tara Reid, and websites are the only things digestible enough for me to handle anymore. Library's scare me. Now you know why.

Books that do get my attention are generally filled with lots of useless information that I can impress people with at social gatherings. i.e. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (the Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction (Albert Gallatin was Secretary of the Treasury from 1801-1814) and MTV Uncensored (Kurt Loder is old).

Another such book, which I have admittedly yet to read but sounds promising, is From Altoids to Zima : The Surprising Stories Behind 125 Famous Brand Names.

Let's discover this book together, shall we? We'll exchange notes in the hallway between classes on Monday.

On a side note, I do use my empty Altoids tin cases to hold paperclips on my desk. It kinda freaks co-workers out if they're expecting something "curiously strong" to chomp on instead. Although, I guess a paperclip would qualify.