Attention, Young Adults!

To all readers between the ages of 6 and 94:

Sometimes, about three months before a new book comes out, we receive an unedited version called a "galley" or an "advance reading copy." These are almost identical to the finished copy, with a few typos--and, of course, they're free. This is how I can review a book before it comes out.

Right now, we have about 3 million more Young Adult galleys than we can fit on our office shelves. I need them to go away as quickly as possible. If you would like to come in and take one (or five), all you have to do is promise to write me a review when you finish reading it. If you like it, you can buy the real book when it finally comes out--but you don't have to.

Seriously, though, someone please take these books away.


In other news, I just read a book that I LOVED:

The Night Villa
by Carol Goodman

The Night Villa's protagonist is Sophie, a Classics professor at the University of Texas. When she witnesses a shooting on her campus, she decides to go to Italy for the summer to work on the excavation of an ancient villa in Herculaneum. There she learns more about Petronia Iusta, the slave girl who features in the book she's writing, as well as uncovering more and more information about the Pythagorean cult that her boyfriend left her for. Finally, all of these strands--the shooting, Iusta, and the cult--come together with a crash. I couldn't put this book down until I'd finished it.