PoP, Edition 8

Music
Let It Snow! EP by Michael Buble
Sexiest. Canadian. EVER. (Don't hear that very often, now do you? Unless, of course, we're talking about Ben.) Purely delightful--this man can even make me like the song "My Grown-Up Christmas List." My only complaint is that it's only five songs long. Michael darling, will you release a full length Christmas cd soon? Pretty, pretty please?

Set Yourself On Fire by Stars
Amazon's MP3 store has recently started a series of Daily Deals in their shop. Full-length albums are knocked down to anywhere from $1 to $4 for a period of 24 hours. Follow them on Twitter or add the twitter address to your feed to get updates. Anyhow, I've picked up some great albums without the guilt of spending loads money on digital music, as I prefer to buy actual cds. Set Yourself On Fire was my most recent purchase and it was well worth the $2 I dropped on it. Heck, I probably would have paid full price for this one. It's accessible without losing any of its indie edge. Stars is a band that doesn't beg to have your full attention, but when you do listen closely, you're rewarded handsomely.

Reckoning by R.E.M.
Most of my R.E.M. exposure comes from their radio play, which really is a shame. One of my very qualified music friends recommended Reckoning to me when I told him what I'd been listening to lately. I wasn't at all surprised to find out that he was right--it's a great album and perfect for me right now. The songs work well individually and as a whole. "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" is the first single and a darn fine rock song.

Books
The Tales of Beedle The Bard by J.K. Rowling
This new addition to the HP canon isn't enough to fill the hole in my heart left by the end of the Harry Potter series, but it somewhat quelled the pain. Four new fairy tales by Beedle the Bard and one already published story ("The Tale of the Three Brothers" was already included The Deathly Hallows) are included in this short tome. The stories (cleverly translated from the original runes by my homegirl Hermione) are along the same vein as muggle tales by The Grimm Brothers--there are morals and good vs. evil and dark humor. The real joy of the book, however, lies in the endnotes written by Albus Dumbledore. They're brimming with all of his timeless wit and wisdom and they made me miss him so much. I know it's weird to say that about a fictional character, but I CAN'T HELP MYSELF, OKAY?
The book is convieniently stocking stuffer-sized and proceeds benefit the Children's High Level Group.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Alison Morris writes a book blog for Publisher's Weekly called ShelfTalker--it's one of my top three book blogs to read. Last week, she discussed the books that no self-respecting bookstore should be without. In her list of YA fiction and non-fiction, she listed this book as an instant classic. It also won the National Book Award and with those two things combined, I resolved to read it ASAP. Basically, this picked-on Indian kid named Junior Spirit decides to go to the white school to escape his hard-knock high school. He's a cartoonist and the book includes cartoons from him (expertly drawn by Ellen Forney). It's very funny and heartbreaking, because life on the Reservation is tough and you need a sense of humor to cope. Maybe it's just because I've read a number of books lately about teen boys who go through an exploration of life lately, as I'm not sure this would make my list of essential YA fiction. But is The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian worth all the accolades it's received? Absolutely it is.

That's it for this week, because I've been deeply engrossed in Battlestar Galactica S1. I'm almost done, but I'll post my review next time when I'm finished with the season.