Do you live like there's no tomorrow? Are you gone? Real gone? Do you have a large galaxy of friends? Do they wear goatees? Well, then - you might be a beatnik.
If you remain in any doubt, just fill out the handy questionnaire at the link, and the results will be analyzed to determine if in fact you are a beatnik. Most people only come down with a case of beatnikism as young adults - fortunately, once you've had it, there's very little chance of you getting it again. Also please be aware that, should your test results come back positive, your road to recovery can be assisted by many services offered by the community. Such as gainful employment.
Of course, I expected I would think that even before I read the book. Not only am I rabidly anti-authoritarian and passionate about freedom of information and copyright reform, but I also love young adult novels. I'd be sold on this book even if it weren't written as well or didn't have as engaging a story as it does. Since it does, though, that makes this teenage Orwell 2.0 even more fun.
You can get a free electronic copy in various formats at Doctorow's site, and if you feel you'd like to pay forward the favor of a free ebook, you can donate a paper copy to a librarian or teacher who needs one.
Another note on young adult books in general: a few weeks ago, Doctorow said, simply that they were "a parallel universe of little-regarded awesomeness." John Scalzi also pointed this out. I'm glad the two of them, who have extensive audiences listening, are saying this - but to those of us who technically classify as adults and still unabashedly read YA novels, it's no surprise. I long ago realized that there is more creativity and originality in the novels being published for teens than there is in the current mainstream fiction offerings for adults. If Little Brother doesn't do it for you, try some Cecil Castellucci on for size.
Yes, it's a link to an entire blog dedicated to that one topic.
As a side note, from my own personal experience back in my free-wheeling single days, yes, you can pick up girls in bookstores. Even though I was technically picked up in the bookstore cafe, and the man in question turned out to be probably the least literate one I've ever known. Whatever. I'm just trying to toss out there a bit of hope for those angling for bookish girls.
Books are awesome. Getting more books into needy and/or disaster-ravaged areas, and into the hands of kids who otherwise might not get them, is even more awesome. Which is why the Dewey Donation System deserves to be praised and supported and just generally talked about all over the place. Their 2008 book drive is collecting books for both the Children's Institute and the Rockhouse Foundation, and there are Amazon wish list and online donation systems galore, so donating is a pretty quick and painless process. Stop on by and help out.
After the trailer for the upcoming 3-D movie version of Neil Gaiman's Coraline, one of my favorite books, was leaked to the internet, the studio went ahead and released their own, higher-quality one. I have some trepidation about seeing a book I love through another's perspective, which I generally have with all movies adapted from books - but, beyond that, I'm excited to see this.
Donna at Memoirs of a Skepchick hosted a reading last month of Full Frontal Feminism, a guide to feminism for young women by Feministing editor Jessica Valenti - and Jessica kindly answered some of Donna's questions for a post at Skepchick. Worthwhile reading, mostly for Donna's described ambivalence about some elements of the book (I felt the same way), and her definition of what the intersection of skepticism and feminism is all about.
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