What a month! It's was A LOT of work to bring you all this dystopian fun, but it was well worth it! Thanks for all your comments and support. Here's a recap of what went on.
REVIEWS
I reviewed 24 dystopian or post-apocalyptic novels and rated them between 1-5 on the Zombie Chicken scale. Basically, I went into every book expecting a solid, worthwhile read which is 3 Zombie Chickens. If a book wowed me, it got an extra Zombie Chicken (for 4), and if I fell in love with it, it earned a perfect 5. If I had some reservations about it, I docked it a Zombie Chicken (for 2) and if I really didn't like it, it only got 1 lonely Zombie Chicken. Here's a recap (links lead to my review):
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
Razorland by Ann Aguirre
Black Hole Sun by David Macinnes Gill
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
For the Win by Cory Doctorow
The Unidentified by Rae Mariz
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
Matched by Ally Condie
The Limit by Kristen Landon
The Gardener by SA Bodeen
The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher
The Blending Time by Michael Kinch
Green Angel by Alice Hoffman
Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony
Gone by Michael Grant
Nomansland by Lesley Hauge
The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
First Light by Rebecca Stead
Escape from Furnance: Solitary by Alexander Gordon Smith
Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd
Z for Zachariah by Robert C O'Brien
Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez
This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer
INTERVIEWS
I also had the pleasure of interviewing 5 authors. 3 of the author's books are already out, and 2 are coming up early next year.
Paolo Bacigalupi (Ship Breaker)
Lesley Hague (Nomansland)
Joelle Anthony (Restoring Harmony)
Cameron Stracher (The Water Wars)
Lauren Oliver (Delirium)
FEATURES AND PREVIEWS
District 10 Mockingjay Tour with Hunger Games Playlist
Recap of BEA Dystopian Panel
YA Titles coming up in 2011 and 2012
Upcoming Dystopian Sequels
Upcoming debut dystopias from the League of Extraordinary Writers
DYSTOPIAN READER VIEWS
This was a series of discussion posts about different aspects of the dystopian genre. Many thanks to my excellent volunteer panel for their answers!
Some recommendations of more obscure dystopian novels
What would you miss the most?
Mockingjay Predictions
Which dystopian characters would you want on your team?
Discussion: What about plausibility?
Discussion: What fascinates you about the genre?
OPEN CONTESTS
Win 1 copy of Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill
WINNERS!
I used random.org to pick the following winners. Everyone but the Mockingjay winner needs to e-mail be at lenoreva AT hotmail DOT com to claim your prize.
8GB iPod Touch engraved with the Mockingjay Symbol = Monica Bailey (will ship to address provided)
1 copy of Matched = Kaya (aka k_anon)
2 copies of The Water Wars = The Witty Librarian, Charlotte's Library
1 copy of The Unidentified = Jill of the O.W.L.
1 set of 3 books from the Gone series = kjovus
3 copies of Ship Breaker = Mrs. DeRaps, Hawkeyegirl, Ladytink_534
6 book Macmillin Prize Pack = Jacqueline C. for her review of Inside Out
MORE DYSTOPIAN FUN
Trish is leading a discussion of the dystopian classic The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood over at The Classic Reads Book Club. They are currently in the middle of the book, but you can always catch up!
Darren at Bart's Bookshelf is bringing back the popular YA Dystopian Reading Challenge. Read 1 or more YA dystopian novels between Oct 1 - Dec 19.
Read Diana Peterfreund's essay Team Shay (about the Uglies series) over at Smart Pop for free for a limited time.
Speaking of Diana Peterfreund, she has a story in the upcoming Zombies Vs Unicorns anthology, and in her honor, I got Daniel to draw a unicorn chicken! Check him out in a fight vs the zombie chicken:
PENGUIN PRIZE PACK CONTEST
Penguin has kindly donated a 4 book prize pack for one lucky winner! I will open this one internationally - meaning if someone international wins it, I will receive it myself and send it on. Here are the books you can win:
Matched by Ally Condie (ARC)
Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony (Hardcover)
Grace by Elizabeth Scott (Hardcover)
Sapphique by Catherine Fisher (US ARC edition)
All you have to do to enter is fill out my Dystopian August Reader Survey! And even if you don't want to enter, I'd love it if you'd fill out my survey (just enter n/a in the address field).
Posts
25 comments:
What a great month! Congratulations to all the lucky winners.
Dystopian month was awesome. Thanks for putting it together!
love the zombie unicorn! thanks for the month!
Wait what? no dystopian september??? It hurts my heart to see This World We Live In under one zombie chicken!
Dystopian August was awesome! Thanks for all the hard work.
You did a great job, Lenore!
tou did a fantastic job on the dystopian month. You must be exhausted!
This was a great month! Thank you so much for doing this.
This was so fun Lenore, I am still sifting through your reviews!
This was so fun Lenore, I am still sifting through your reviews!
Sad to hear it's over :( I had a blast Lenore - you added several inches to my pile for sure!! Can't wait for next year!
I think what I love best about this blog is how thorough you are and how much is going on here. This post alone is impressive; the time you took and the planning that went behind everything is awesome. Thanks for that and for offering so much.
Also, thanks for the teen dystopian theme. Pretty cool, and now I have some new ones not only to read but recommend at the bookstore where I work!
Thank you so very much for this month. It was a so fun and exciting and informative. I truly loved reading all of the books and hearing about more. I kinda turned into a dystopian fanatic, but there are worse things! Can't wait for February.
Oh my gosh those chickens! I'm not sure I'd even want one!
Love their expression, though....
Thank you for the win and for having such a wonderful month of reviews! You really added to my TBR pile.
You so made me laugh with "team polygamy!" I almost had coke shoot out my nose. Not that you needed that mental picture. :)
I LOVE THE UNICORN CHICKEN!!!!!!!!!!
Also, tell Daniel that I was babysitting today and that the four year old picked up our copy of Buffalo (he has one at home, too) and says "this is my favorite book."
His. Favorite. Book.
Zombie chickens--love it! I started reading Black Hole Sun yesterday--good book. I've written a spec thriller, and I have wanted to write about Mars since I read Ray Bradbury soo many years ago. BHS is inspiring.
kay, I know I'm being silly but just seeing Monsters of Men with 5 zombie chickens makes me giddy inside, I'll read your review after I get my hands on the book (i'm just mental about even minor spoilers, haha) but you've got my hopes up realll high!
and 24 dystopian books? success! you are pretty darned amazing Lenore :)
This was such an awesome month! Thank you Lenore, you did amazing and gave us the chance to discover great books. And I'm still not tired of hearing of dystopian fiction!
Congratulations to all the winners! :D
Dystopian August was awesome! Such a great time. Wish it was a full time gig :) Oh, love the Zombie Unicorn.
I love Dystopian August! I'm sad to have missed so many of the reviews because of RL stuff, but I'm definitely catching up when I have time. I'm looking forward to reading DELIRIUM. :)
hello
Just saying hello while I look through the posts I'm trying to find out how to make an e-mail list with out having to spend a wad of cash on some training course
hopefully this is just what im looking for, looks like i have a lot to read Im trying to find a way to build an e-mail list.
I found out about books I would have never found. Thank you very much for a really awesome month!
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