But then there’s the rare book that simply sweeps me away. One such book was Life as We Knew It. It was like The Road, minus the baby-eating.
So guess what
artistq sent me? 
An ARC of “the dead and the gone.”
My kid saw it and immediately said, “When can I read it?” I imagined us tussling over the book.
But then I had a better idea. My birthday is April 14. And this is going to be my present to myself. I'm going to read it cover to cover.
I am so happy! It is a doubly-good present because
artistq has had a lot on her plate , yet she found the time to send it to me. Now Susan Beth Pfeffer [whom I have never met, although she has a wonderful blog over at blogspot] if you are reading this, I would love to pitch this to my Oregonian editor for a review. But my YA column is supposed to only be about books with a Northwest tie. So I'll have to persuade him it merits an exception. Maybe you could send me a list of reviews or awards the first one won, or how it crosses over to adults well, or something, anything I could use to justify this idea?
