Summer Reading is so much fun this year!

I feel like such a grown up reader this summer!  I actually have accomplished to (almost) work my way through an entire basket of adult novels that had been recommended to me by my reading friends.  I'm always recommending books to kids...trying to match the "just right" book to the "just right" reader.  It's refreshing to read something someone else thinks I'll like for a change.  And the recommendations are so interesting...they reflect what you've revealed to them.  Interesting and deep...won't go there this time.  But seriously, I've read everything from psychological thrillers and murder mysteries to sweet historical fiction to christian fiction this summer!  Whew!  And I love it!  But what does that say about me?  I think it just shows that I'm a well-rounded reader.  :)  Even though the summer's not over, it's time to blog about a few of these books before I forget what it was that I loved about each and every one!  So here we go...

I finished off The Southern Vampire Mysteries with the final book, Dead Ever After.  Oh me...what can I say other than... "I'm glad it's over."  I LOVED the first five books.  Absorbed them happily!  They are NOTHING like the HBO series and I say that proudly, because True Blood has a rotten reputation at my house.  The show has ruined the book for so many people.  First of all, the book is not filled with vulgarity like the show.  Secondly, the producers have taken the plot in a horrible direction.  Charlaine Harris's original plot is fine.  There's nothing wrong with it at first...it gets a bit watered down in my opinion after book five, but to keep characters alive that were killed in book 1?  C'mon, people!  How about making readers happy every once in a while?  I wasn't happy with how the series ended.  I wished Sookie had ended up with a different love interest, but that's my opinion and my prerogative.  I'm sure there are some readers who are thrilled with her choice.  Oh well, can't love em all!  But I am happy with myself for reading the entire series (13 books in all) and sticking with it.  Abandoning was awful tempting after book 7. 

The Night Circus...now this is the perfect book for me!  Different enough to keep me interested, a

romance I can get into, history I can learn from...and I love books that I can see Tim Burton directing right away.  This debut novel blew my mind!  I cannot imagine how the author wrote this book...did she see the story unwind chronologically and then she decided to take the reader on a series of flashbacks?  Or did the story evolve as she wrote?  Organic?  However the process, I was intrigued.  Two children, chosen to play a "game".  Bound together.  Forced to compete against one another...with magic.  I won't post any spoilers, but there are surprises waiting around every corner in this fantasy.  Brilliantly written.  Bravo! And...I haven't been able to see black and white stripes and not think of this book since reading it...  Amazingly haunted by it!  Would make an excellent film.  

Dark Places took me by surprise.  I had just finished Flynn's two other novels and was expecting

the same style.  I was surprised by the Satanic cult topic woven throughout this story of a  It's not your typical "Who done it?"; none of the Flynn books are typical.  Instead, Flynn writes about "real" people with "real" problems and typically, none of them are attractive.  But there was one character that I absolutely DESPISED and could not find any redeeming qualities for at all!  I'm betting that's Flynn's point...to elicit any emotional response from the reader.  The main character, Libby Day, being the sole survivor of her family as they were massacred by her brother Ben (or so everyone thinks!) is likeable and easy to relate.  However, with Flynn's books, I'm always afraid to trust any of her characters.  It's a short read and worth it!

 Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter   What a sweet, sweet story.  It's one of those "feel good" books.  Took me back to the 70s.  Such an awesome author.  So many accurate details.  Felt immediately connected to the story.  Which was about Larry and Silas, childhood friends.  One

white.  One black.  Connected in a rare way.  Larry is a man who has lived his entire life in a town that despises him.  They literally rejected him based upon the assumption he had committed murder.  Because he couldn't prove that he didn't do it, he lived most of his life as if he did.  Alone.  Humbled.  Shunned.  Although never incarcerated for the crime, he did his "time" in the real world.  Silas is a deputy sheriff who investigates and has answers to many of the townspeople's questions.  I loved the connection between the two men.  And it was very different for me to read a story with so many men as characters.  Racism and prejudice play a huge part of this story, as do the themes of friendship, loyalty and character.  

 The Other Side of the Bridge was a tough book to get into, but once I read about half, I was

convinced that this author truly does have a gift.  As reviewed on the back cover, "Like the great 19th century novelists of provincial life, Lawson is fluent in the desperate intensity of the small, individual dramas of respectable people and she paints an eloquent picture."- Sunday Telegraph  I so totally agree!  It was like reading Madame Bovary all over again, which is one of my personal favorites.  In this book, which bounces between 1920s and 1950s Canada, we watch as two brothers, Arthur and Jake, navigate time and their relationship.  They are as different as light and dark but are held together by one ribbon...Laura.  One of my favorite quotes from the book, "He hadn't exactly cheated on her, unless you counted loving Laura from afar, but he had allowed her to think he loved her when he didn't, which amounted to the same thing."  I actually cried at the end.  This author knows how to tell a story.  It's beautiful and tragic.     

And finally, I read The Almost Moon.  It's a book we keep on our adult shelf in my library office.  One of the teachers donated it, but not before saying that it was an unforgettable story and one

she was soooooo glad to have read.  As soon as I saw the author's name, I knew that I would have to try it.  I had tried to read one of Alice Sebold's other novels, The Lovely Bones, and couldn't make it past the first chapter due to the horrific details of a young girls' abduction and rape.  Since I'm always asking tweens to give author's another chance, I decided to put this one at the bottom of the pile.  I'm kinda glad I did.  It was troubling to read.  The plot revolves around a middle-aged woman who kills her mother.  Mercilessly, however she does kill her.  I'm not spoiling anything for you, it's declared in the first line.  The story spans only 24 hours of this woman's life and the events following the murder.  Mental illness is a huge theme in this book.  The scenes were raw.  The main character acted out of desperation.  You could feel it.  I couldn't put the book down!  I don't know if it was because I think it was good, or the fact that I knew the faster I read, the sooner I could be finished!  LOL  There were times when I gave it the old cliche... "Oh no she did not!"  Oh...yes she most certainly did.  Here's a good quote from the book:  "My brain had divided in half, half focused on the tasks of normalcy--picking up my daughter from the train--and half focused on escape."  Haven't we all felt that divided before?  I know I have. 

Well, I'm all caught up on blogging now!  It's a beautiful day outside...the sun is setting and I'm here at work.  Trying to get another summer day in.  What I'd really rather be doing is sitting on my back patio, drinking a cup of coffee and reading a few chapters in the awesome detective mystery a coworker recommended!  I'll give you a hint--- Rizolli!  :)

Happy Summer Reading!
RC