The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

This is a follow up to Atwood's AMAZING novel Oryx and Crake. I absolutely adore Atwood, all the novels of hers that I have read have made me one happy reader. This one too lived up to what I have come to expect from her.

 This novel is a dystopian story, where scientific and technological advances have created so much "good" that it began to be bad. Animal hybrids, chemically enhanced everything, police state, and just plain societal ruin. The main characters are Ren and Toby, both former members of a religious group called God's Gardner's. Adam One, the leader of God's Gardner's, has been preening and preparing his fellow Gardner's for an apocalyptic plague he refers to as "the waterless flood". It jumps between characters and timelines, from Toby to Ren, pre-flood to post-flood timelines, without any confusion. Ren and Toby both find themselves survivors of the waterless flood. Ren confined to a quarantine room in a high class sex club, and Toby hidden in a ritzy day spa. Neither are aware of each other, or if there are any other survivors besides themselves. Before long they find themselves leaving the safety of their pre-flood confines as a matter of survival and from there the story just gets better!

 If you haven't read Oryx and Crake, although it's unnecessary, it would be better if you did. While this isn't a sequel, it is a parallel story, and there is more enjoyment to be had from reading Oryx and Crake first. At least in my opinion. Both are fantastic books and you definitely won't be sorry for invvesting some time in this.

The Memory of Blood: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery (Peculiar Crimes Unit Mysteries) by Christopher Fowler

This book cover caught my eye at the library a few weeks ago, and I'm glad it did. I'm a big fan of murder mysteries and British literature/humor, and this book has all of that. Fowler is a great writer with witty dialogue, likeable characters, and amazing vocabulary. His sentences were a study in beauty that never failed to make me smile. Not everyone may be a such a "word nerd" like myself, but if you are, Fowler will make you happy.

 This mystery evolves around a fishy murder involving the players of a new London theater troupe. The owner of the theater, Robert Kramer, a middle aged, self-centered rich man with many enemies, finds himself a victim of said murder. Committed during a cast party at his own home, his infant son is tossed out a high level window. The only culprit is none other then the infamous Mr. Punch, whom is a puppet. The Peculiar Crime Unit, headed by the obstinate and grizzled duo of Arthur Bryant and John May, is put on the job because of the odd nature of the crime. The murders continue to hit close to home for Kramer, and each one is accompanied by a clue pointing to the famous Punch and Judy puppet shows and the PCU. With no concrete leads and the British government breathing down their necks for a captured killer or the PCU doors will be closed permanently,  Bryant and May find themselves racing the clock and the killer before the final curtain!

This was a fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed. There are more Bryant and May books that I definitely want to get my hands on. If you like a good mystery, then try this one out!

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

This was the second book club choice, and it wasn't a bad one. I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, as it seems like all YA books have kind of fallen into the same pattern and it's just become... well yawn worthy. But this one was actually pretty good and broke out of the YA supernatural mold a little bit.

This book tells the story of three girls; Grace, Gretchen, and Greer. Triplet separated at birth to keep them safe until the time came for them to fulfill their prophecy. Each girl has her own very different life, but the increase in mythological monsters tromping around San Francisco has brought them together. Together they learn about their legacy as descendants of the Gorgons; Medusa, Sthenno, and Euryale and thus begins a pretty interesting beginning of this new YA series.

 I think the thing that I liked the most about this book, what set it apart, was there was no romance. Now, there were love interests for all of the girls, two had crushes and one had a boyfriend, but that was such a small detail of the story(at least in this first book) that you could say there was no romance at all. It was more believable as far as it being a tale of 16 year old girls. All in all it was a solid start. Interesting, easy to read, and well rounded likable characters. I look forward to more.