Roadside Crosses, by Jeffery Deaver (2009)

This is a book I am going to bring to class today and recommend to teachers. Deaver is still exploring new literacies, the internet, and digital worlds. Roadside Crosses is a "Katherine Dance" book set in the Bay Area. It explores gaming culture and the dangers of the internet. Although Deaver portrays the dark side of the internet in this book and his most recent Lincoln Rhyme book I can't help but read a positive feeling about this new world we are all exploring as well.

There are some "contrived" plot twists and I considered the ultimate villain as a suspect from the beginning, but still the book was a compelling read. It also gave me some personal comfort in explorations of the difficulties of working within bureaucracies. Both this book and Michael Connely's recent novel The Scarecrow are going to stay in my home as reference sources.

Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson

My first Stephenson book was, what I have come to call, a reading accident. [I have reading accidents in which I pick up a book on a whim and find myself trapped into reading an author's collected works.] I picked up his book Cryptonomicon because I had seen a newer title, Anathem for sale at Costco. For a change I decided to read it order and bought Cryptonomicon in paperback.

So far it seems as if Stephenson is a somewhat challenging author. I would recommend his books to strong readers in high school or to adults. But, I definitely recommend him!

Snow Crash is science fiction including high-tech skateboarders, virtual worlds as a social phenomenon, and ethnic conflicts. As with Cryptonomicon it also makes connections to history and current events. It's a book that I will be happy to recommend to a relatively wide range of readers, including my college-aged son.