I just read The Hunger Games, which is a book we got for my 10-year-old son. Yes, it's a kid's book, but the subject matter was sort of grim, so I wanted to read it first. It was actually pretty good, even if the premise isn't particularly novel. It's set in a sort of post-apocalyptic U.S.A. after what's left of the country has been concentrated in a capital city that rules over 12 outlying districts. Each year, as part of the Hunger Games, each district must choose by lottery and send to the games one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18, to compete in the wilderness in a battle to the death. It was a fast and enjoyable read. Probably akin to spun sugar for you literary types, but I enjoyed it well enough.
I talked about that somewhere in this thread -- basically a Running Man for the Young Adult set. Totally enjoyable (and I'm one of those literary types). The sequel isn't as good, but I'm still looking forward to the finale (and the movie).That was the first book my 12-year-old really insisted I read in a while and I liked it. Now, he's got me reading another: "Legacy" by Thomas E. Sniegoski. It's about a dead-end kid finding out his dad is a superhero (like a Dark Knight-style Batman) and getting trained to replace him all the while worrying about the evil-good line that his father straddles. Good stuff.
Also reading "Call of the Wild" with my 7-year-old. Last night, after a sled plunges through the ice, killing all men and animals on board, following a fatal dogfight in the previous chapter, and an injured dog being put down in the previous chapter, and a dog going mad and having to be killed with an axe in the chapter before that, she said: "Dad, this is really getting to be a doggie snuff book."