What's In Your Library Bag Wednesday?...

     It's Wednesday again!! Can you believe it? And it's supposedly Spring tomorrow? Now that one is really hard to believe. Oh well, what would we talk about if we couldn't complain about the weather? :) Books of course!! What's In Your Library Bag this cold Wednesday? I wanted to talk a little bit about a new sub-genre I've become interested in: Steampunk.
      If you follow this blog at all, you know that last summer I reviewed a young adult novel, Airborn by Kenneth Oppel that my family listened to on our vacation. We fell in love with the characters and the story and have since listened to the whole series. We chose to listen because these books are such great audios with a whole cast of readers for each character. At the time, I didn't realize that we were reading anything other than fantasy. It wasn't until this fall when my 10 year old son did a book report on the story and we had to figure out what genre the book was that I realized I liked Steampunk.

Wikipedia defines Steampunk:

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery,^[1] especially in a setting inspired by industrialized Western civilization during the 19th century. Therefore, steampunk works are often set in an alternate history of the 19th century's British Victorian era or American "Wild West", in a post-apocalyptic future during which steam power has regained mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power. Steampunk perhaps most recognizably features anachronistic technologies or retro-futuristic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them, and is likewise rooted in the era's perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. Such technology may include fictional machines like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or the modern authors Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfeld, and China Miéville. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of such technology as lighter-than-air airships, analog computers, or such digital mechanical computers as Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace's Analytical Engine.

Steampunk may also, though not necessarily, incorporate additional elements from the genres of fantasy, horror, historical fiction, alternate history, or other branches of speculative fiction, making it often ahybrid genre. The term steampunk's first known appearance was in 1987, though it now retroactively refers to many works of fiction created even as far back as the 1950s or 1960s.

Steampunk also refers to any of the artistic styles, clothing fashions, or subcultures, that have developed from the aesthetics of steampunk fiction, Victorian-era fiction, and films from the mid-20th century.^[2] Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual artisans into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical "steampunk" style, and a number of visual and musical artists have been described as steampunk.

Here are some titles if you think you might like to try Steampunk out...

Leviathan and Behemoth by Scott Westerfield (On my list of To Read...)

His Dark Materials(The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman

Ashes of Twilight(newer YA, kind of dystopian also)  by Kassy Tayler

Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

The Mortal Instruments Series also by Cassandra Clare (one of my favorite series ever!)

Matt Cruse series by Kenneth Oppel (loved these too!)

Parasol Protectorate Series by Gail Carriger

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Incarceron Series by Catherine Fisher (on my list of To Reads)

Airman by Eoin Colfer

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Fever Crumb Series by Philip Reeve

Steamed by Katie MacAlister

Fullmetal Alchemist (graphic novel)

It's really an intriguing subgenre. Take one home and see what you think.
Happy Reading!