Even though I wanted nothing so much as to crawl into bed and fall asleep (dry schoolwork + sweltering heat at work (I really ought to see how much hotter it is in the warehouse than outside) + a glass of wine) I stayed up to finish A Northern Light.  Kitri read it ages ago and couldn’t stop singing its praises, and finally I got around to it.  It was one of those books that I knew would be good, but just didn’t sound exciting.  But once you crack it open, you’re flying through it like nobodies business.  Scrumptious narrator – told in first person, so you’d think you could only see what she sees, but she lets you see so much more.  I felt like I was there, living in not-even-a-town in 1906.  Slightly claustrophobic.  The flaws were minor – the schoolteacher subplot felt a bit too pat – and not to spoil the ending, but what kind of college keeps a scholarship for you after you turn it down?  But on the whole – I say go read it.  So do the Young Readers’ Choice Awards.