What Comes Around -- Jennie

I lend out a lot of books. It brings me super satisfaction to hook up a reader with the perfect read.

The winning pairs have been an old family friend and The Future Housewives of America, my cousin and The Alchemist, my daughter and Mandy, my aunt and Patty Jane's House of Curl. There was also my son's teacher and Possessing the Secret of Joy. And my college roommate and Like Water for Chocolate.

For some reason, it's easier for me to match literature to females, but successful relationships have been formed between my brother and Godless, an acquaintance and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, and a doctor and Freakonomics.

On rare occasion, someone will give me a book that fits perfectly, like a pair of shoe orthotics that are between being nicely broken in and too worn thin. These have included Pobby and Dingan from my sister, Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You from Christy, and, though I hate admitting it, Four Blondes from my husband. Because I read a lot/teach English/write, I guess, well-meaning people are always loaning me literature they think I'll love.

But as you know by now, I'm a tough critic.

When someone asks to borrow one of my books, I am both eager to lend it and doubtful; I want to be sure it comes back. After writing my name prominently on the front cover, I stress that the book is one of my favorites, to please return it. I know: anal. I always remember who has my book, when I gave it to them, and whether or not it's returned.

You know where this blog is going.

Yep. Someone kept my beloved The Shadow of the Wind.

Here's how it happened: in June 2007, my kids were in swimming lessons at the park. I had just gotten back the Gothic novel from my friend, when a colleague noticed it laying on the lawn, and took interest in it. Said Colleague is a professor of literature, from Europe, with a fetish for all things foreign. I couldn't believe he hadn't heard of the book. It was such a fit! I handed it over with much enthusiasm.

And have waited a year and a half to get it back.

I've missed that $14 book. Since I gave it away, I could've lent it to other readers a hundred times over.

Once my dad told me that he let a co-worker borrow $7 from him, which to this day remains uncollected. So the origin of my memory, okay, resentment, is easy to trace.

I've hinted at needing the book back, even flat-out demanding. No luck. Though I'd like to, I can't imagine forgetting that Said Colleague has my book stashed away on some shelf, buried by dust. Excuse me while I grab a tissue.

Last month, a funny thing happened. I was Christmas shopping at a big gift store, when Said Colleague sauntered over, wearing the store name tag. He explained that he was moonlighting during the holidays, earning extra cash for some hefty wish lists. He'd be happy to give me his employee discount card, he said. I could save 30 %.

Of course I took him up on his offer. He had my cherished book hostage, remember?

With the employee discount, I pocketed a $14 savings.

Guess what I did with it.

Sink Your Teeth Into Pete -- Jennie

There are swarms of vampires in the Young Adult section of Barnes and Noble: good vampires, bad vampires, prophetic vampires, romantic ones.

Who knew that bloodsucking would become so literarily lucrative?

Among the bats are dragons, too, mostly about existing as the last living fire-breathers. The covers are shiny and scaly, with shadows inside the dragon’s eyes or eggs.

And then there is the smut – the best-selling chronicles of cliquey/mean/rich teens who (and I’m sorry to even have to write it here) have sex in airplane restrooms.

These are the options our young readers have when browsing the bookshelves. No wonder they say, “There’s nothing I want to read.”

Frankly, there’s not much I want my kids to read.

But there is Pete Hautman.

Raise the roof, readers and parents! Pete Hautman can write! His novels are diverse and well-crafted, with – get this – no airplane sex. Hautman won the National Book Award for Godless, a thin tome about a middle-American group of teens who create their own religion. It has all the elements of a sophisticated novel: originality, irony, and multi-dimensional characters. Hautman urges his readers to think.

Remember when all books did that?

Another Hautman fave is Rash, a futuristic and extreme look at America’s safety-obsession. The thriller is scary and sad and often hilarious. And again, it is very thought-provoking.

Of course, Hautman did drum up one story about a vampire: Sweet-blood. But it has, of course, a spin. You can see for yourself what it is.

Mr. Hautman has been spitting out a book every year or two for what he calls on his “Ugly-But-Informative” website a “long” time.

Check him out at petehautman.com.

There are even tips for writers. I’m lacing up my running shoes to try the second part of Number Eight right now.