I have no more science fiction stories lined up after finishing Planet of the Apes, so, my next book to start will be Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates.

I learned about the book, interestingly enough, from Nick Hornby. In his novel A Long Way Down, one of the characters, J.J., had planned to jump off a building with a copy of the book:

Earlier that week—Christmas Day, to be precise—I’d finished Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, which is a totally awesome novel. I was actually going to jump with a copy, not only because it would have been cool, and would’ve added a little mystique to my death, but becuase it might have been a good way of getting more people to read it.

Well, that short reference to the book got me interested in reading it myself. I bought it a month ago, but haven’t started it yet. I’ve also learned that the novel has been adapted for film and will be released next year. So, I definitely want to read it sooner than later and have now decided not to let myself put it off any further.

As someone who has spent the past seven years writing and blogg about current events, politics and even writing a non-fiction book, I have recently had a rekindled interest in fiction after a rather long hiatus.

I first got into James Patterson novels when I was in high school. By the time I got to college, I’d read all of his books. Since then my reading of fiction has become a bit spotty, and I’ve become more selective of which books I would read, but without a doubt I’ve kept up on the Alex Cross series. Though I admit the last one of the Cross series was a bit disappointing.

Some years back he decided to reach out to a younger audience with his Maximum Ride series, which was loosely based on two earlier novels he wrote, When The Wind Blows and its sequel The Lake House, about bird-human hybrid children.

I took a chance on the Maximum Ride stories, knowing in advance that they were more geared to an audience that much younger than me, but of course, knowing how many adults are into Harry Potter, I couldn’t really say there is no precedence for such a thing.

Anyway, I like the first two books of the Maximum Ride series. The latest one, Maximum Ride: Saving The World and Other Extreme Sports was rather disappointing. As an older reader, I found the story becoming much less convincing. Perhaps such things are less of an issue for younger readers, I don’t know.

This fall will also bring the first young adult novel from my current favorite author, Nick Hornby, the author of High Fidelity, About A Boy, How To Be Good, and A Long Way Down. Hornby’s forthcoming young adult novel, Slam, is described as follows on Nick Hornby’s website:

Slam, a novel for readers of many ages, revolves around Sam who—after falling hard for a very pretty girl—ultimately finds his way through conversations with a larger-than-life poster of his idol, champion skater Tony Hawk.

I have already pre-ordered the book, and regardless of its target audience, I expect to enjoy it. Nick Hornby is a fantastic author, and while most will know him because of his first novel High Fidelity, which was adapted into an equally great movie, his most recent novel, A Long Way Down is my favorite of his works, and probably ranks as my favorite fiction novel. Let’s put it this way, I first “read” the book in audiobook format shortly after it came out in 2005 and have in the past few months made the effort to purchase a hardcover version so it may hold its rightful spot on my bookshelf.

So, as a fan of Hornby, I anxiously await the release of his next novel, and I am by no means discouraged by the fact this one is written for young adults. In fact, after reading the latest decription from Amazon.com, the book clearly tackles more adult themes than a simple teenage crush and a fixation for Tony Hawk:

Just when everything is coming together for Sam, his girlfriend Alicia drops a bombshell. Make that ex-girlfriend– because by the time she tells him she’s pregnant, they’ve already called it quits. Sam does not want to be a teenage dad. His mom had him at sixteen and has made it very clear how having a baby so young interrupted her life. There’s only one person Sam can turn to–his hero, skating legend Tony Hawk. Sam believes the answers to life’s hurdles can be found in Hawk’s autobiography.

But even Tony Hawk isn’t offering answers this time–or is he? Inexplicably, Sam finds himself whizzed into the future, for a quick glimpse of what will be . . . or what could be. In this wonderfully witty, poignant story about a teenage boy unexpectedly thrust into fatherhood, it’s up to Sam to make the right decisions so the bad things that could happen, well, don’t.

This sounds much more like a novel that longtime Hornby fans will want to read as much as the audience it targets. I’m looking forward to it.

I’ve been listening to audiobooks on my iPod for probably about two years. I listen while I’m at work since listening to music gets old after a while, and listening to audiobooks at work is like killing two birds with one stone: I get my work done, and I get to catch up on my reading.

I’ve been able to read some classics I’d never gotten around to, or had read long ago but wanted to check out again. I’ve also caught up on some new fiction I’ve never felt I had time to read before.

Some of my favorite audiobooks:

• The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
• One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
• A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby
• The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
• Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand

I’ve also taken advantage of the convenience of audiobooks by catching up on James Patterson’s novels, which I used to read a lot in high school, but neglected to keep up during college.

Generally speaking, I still like to have a tangible book, and any book that I really like I’ll end up buying a copy of for my shelf.