Summer 2009 Reading Spectacular #1

The summer is here and I'm back to reading with some regularity.

I just finished reading The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer and highly recommend it. I'd previously read The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by the author and loved it, so it was only a matter of time before I read more of her stuff. (The Sea of Trolls is on my bookshelf waiting to be read, as well.)

The book chronicles the life of Matteo (Matt) Alacran, the clone of the drug lord known as El Patron who rules the strip of land called Opium, which lies sandwiched between Azatlan (formerly Mexico) and the United States. Treated as livestock by most, but like an heir by El Patron, Matt grows up knowing little of the world outside Opium and little of the true character of El Patron until he realizes the function and purpose of clones -- spare parts.

The book has earned accolades such as the National Book Award, the Newbery Honor, and the Michael Printz Honor, and rightly so, as far as I'm concerned. Set in an unspecified near future, it's science fiction that barely reads as such.