Here are some of the most interesting tidbits from this week’s blog reading. 

First, for all you Twilight fans–tune into Jimmy Kimmel of late night TV show on June 23 at 10 p.m. Kimmel will host Twilight Saga: Eclipse stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner in a primetime special called Jimmy Kimmel Live: Twilight Saga: Total Eclipse of the Heart, on ABC. Rumors from the Wrap noted that on the show, “Twihards also will see exclusive Twilight content a week before the film premieres.”  (from Shelf Awareness)

Neal Shusterman reflects on his struggle with writer’s block during the writing of  Everfound, the conclusion to the Skinjacker Trilogy begun with Everlost.  Now if we could just afford to take a cruise on The Queen Mary to cure our cases of writer’s block.  I also discovered a website for the movie version of Unwind.  I’m in the middle of this novel right now, and it’s blowing my socks off.  Imagine a world where parents can have the teenage children unwound–taken apart bit by bit to be used as organ donors.  They don’t die; they just don’t live as one body any more. 

The Goddess of YA Literature shared this video of the best 100 children’s books.  Some of the books are a little young for you, but might bring back good memories.  Others are titles I see some of you reading.  Which books have you read?  Which ones would you like to read?  Which books would make your top 100 or top 10 list? 

The Goddess of  YA Lit also shared this gem:  Once by Morris Gleitzman.  Once is a story set during the Holocaust.  Felix sets out to discover the truth about his parents.  What he learns is shocking and horrifying.  What I find even more horrifying is that the Holocaust happened and stories like Felix’s were all too common.

Which ones of you have followed the television drama Lost?  I loved the first season, but got lost when the second season moved to a later time slot.  My goal this summer is to watch the entire series, including last night’s finale.  What you may not know is that  this show features literary allusions in each and every episode–sometimes more than one.  According to Shelflife, “ABC’s Lost enters its final chapter this week having referenced more than 70 books over six seasons. The Los Angeles Times noted that ‘an abundance of carefully placed works of literature have been featured on the show  (in gym bags, on book shelves, in episode titles), spawning Lost book clubs and blogs filled with eager readers combing for clues to the fate of the stranded Oceanic Flight 815 survivors.’ Executive producers and writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are both readers who acknowledge literature’s influence on their vision for the series.  ‘It’s a nod to that process,’ said Lindelof. ‘We pick the books with a great deal of meticulous thought and specificity and talk about what the thematic implications of picking a certain book are, why we’re using it in the scene and what we want the audience to deduce from that choice.'”  Pay attention to those details!