The Week In Awesome! Fire and More

Here are five things that I geeked out over this past week.

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1. The Maze Runner - This teen novel by James Dashner (author of The 13th Reality series) came out this week, and the buzz has been building around this title for months. The book follows a group of boys who wake up in a maze with no memory. It's an action-packed survivalist mystery that could be compared to last year's teen sleeper hit The Hunger Games.

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2. Fire - Another teen book! This book by Kristin Cashore is a companion to her previous excellent fantasy novel Graceling, starring a female protagonist. It's called a companion as opposed to a sequel because it takes place prior to the events of Graceling, and while it has a few crossover characters, each book can be read completely independent of the other.

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3. "Give Up the Ghost" by Brandi Carlile - Brandi Carlile's "The Story" from a few years back was one of my favorite albums in awhile, boasting great country-folk songs set to a stunning voice. Her latest CD is sure to offer more of the same. Check out "That Year" on I-Tunes.

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4. Return To the Hundred Acre Wood - This is the official Pooh estate-approved sequel to the original A. A. Milne Winnie-the-Pooh children's stories, written this time by David Benedictus.

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5. "Satellite Heart" by Anya Marina - Sure, Britney Spears' new single "3" may have come out this week, but I'm more excited about this little number by an artist I'm pretty unfamiliar with. This song has a great haunting sound that I've fallen in love with, and is actually the first single released from "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" soundtrack, which has a pretty impressive line-up of talent like Thom Yorke, Grizzly Bear, and Deathcab For Cutie.