Summer Reads

Our last day of school was Friday, which means summer is here whether or not the weather cooperates. I've got a huge list of to-dos, the biggest of which is completing my master's degree - a class that requires writing 13 thesis papers. (Thirteen!!!) So I'll be diving into fiction whenever I can just to distract myself. :) Plus, reading is a summer requirement at my house.


Here are a few recommendations for your summer escapes:

SWIPE

I really enjoyed SWIPE by Evan Angler. As a kid who watched the movie Thief in the Night and had nightmares for years afterward, I'm not a huge fan of contemporary tales of the Biblical tribulation. But Angler does a great job of weaving in technology with end-time predictions in a way that won't turn off people who don't know/believe in those prophecies.
There are plot similarities to other dystopian books on the market right now, the difference being that there's no love triangle and Logan isn't driven by his teenage hormones - he wants to know what happened to his sister and why he's suddenly being targeted by the Markless. I have a feeling I know where this is going in book 2 and hope I'm right. :)

Debuts August 7

THRONE OF GLASS
I was so excited to read this book. The swords/fantasy genre is packed with heroes and it's about time a heroine got to swing a lance and take down a baddie. Maas has built up quite a readership using an online forum and she credits her fans with making sure the multi-year odyssey of writing this story came to fruition.
The action in this book was great - good twists, lots of imagination and world building. It was obvious the author really put some thought into her backstory and legends that make up her universe. People have compared the plot to Hunger Games, in that the MC has to battle it out for the chance to be the king's champion. Celaena has to go on many 'quests' to keep proving her worthiness, which kept me interested.
 My feelings for Celaena blew hot and cold. One minute she's behaving like a besotted girl, the next she's battling demons like a kind of fae Joan of Arc, and then she's a hardened assassin. It was like she was three distinct people instead of one person with different reactions. I liked the assassin best and by the end of the story, she seems to be firming up into a riveting character.

THE LIMPOPO ACADEMY OF PRIVATE DETECTION

I am a HUGE fan of this seris and with Limpopo Academy, McCall Smith draws us back into Precious Ramatswe's world with a tale of a lonely detective, a falsely accused mechanic, a deposed orphanage director and a devious house builder.

McCall Smith has that elusive talent of making the ordinary so special, we hang on his every sentence. Or I do. Precious's life is so ordered and slow paced; there is always time for a cup of bush tea or a discussion with the neighbors. No matter what shenanigans those neighbors get up to, Precious is up to the task of sorting it all out. Smith brings Botswana to life with each book, and his setting serves the dual role of accenting the differences between life in Africa and other nations, and the similarities of daily living we all share.


So what are your recommendations for summer, 2012? I really want to know - share them in the comments!