alisonism #16: You don't have to take MY word for it...

I love to read!

When I was younger and had "first" things more often (days of school, camp, work; conversations with people at stake dances, etc.), I was always asked what I liked to do.  I was always a little embarrassed to say I liked to read, partly because there are two stereotypes for girls who like to read, and one of those is cool and one is not.  Heaven forbid I be classified by the uncool one!  :)  But I have spent the last two summers remembering just how much I love reading, and that is a lot.   This summer I read 22 books, amounting to 6072 pages, and it was incredible.

I lose track of real life when I read.  Tonight I started reading and didn't realize how long it'd been until I finished my book after midnight.  Last week I was reading at my in-laws' house and had no idea people'd been talking to me for several minutes until they were laughing because I hadn't heard them.

I connect with characters and stories so fully that I have a hard time not finishing a good book in one sitting.  How is everything going to resolve?  Will they be happy?  Will my emotional investment have been worth it?

Then, when I finish a good book, it takes a while for me to get back to real life.  Like, sometimes half an hour to an hour, which seems pretty long to me now that I think about it.  But when you're that invested in something, it's hard to just put it aside for something like eating dinner or going to sleep!

Anyway.  Here's a list of the books I read this summer (between May and August) and which I'd recommend.  Try out a couple!

(sorted by when I read them) (Beware: Several of these are first books of series.  I refer to this summer as The Summer of Sequels because of how many series I unknowingly started.  You might look into whether you have access to the rest of a series before starting the first book of one, just in case your library is also tiny and charges $3 per interlibrary loan.)

The Two Sisters of Bamarre	Gail Carson Lavine	239	yes
Cinder	Marissa Meyer	387	YES
Leverage Point	Gerald N. Lund	288	It's a little tough to stay engaged in, but it was pretty good.
The Body Electric	Allie Duzett	239	YES!
Stork	Wendy Delsol	357	YES! There were a couple parts when I was afraid it would get inappropriate, but it didn't. At the beginning you know something inappropriate happened, but it doesn't say exactly.
The Cupcake Queen	Heather Hepler	242	yes
Tankborn	Karen Sandler	370	yes
The Haunted House Kid	Matthew Gary Milam		NOOOOO! I couldn't even read a full page. Grammar - bad. Layout - bad. Design - bad. Writing - horrible. Doesn't flow at all. Couldn't get past the horrible writing to get to the story. And I have a high tolerance for bad writing.
Prayers for Sale	Sandra Dallas	352	maybe - it depends on who was asking. It's set in Civil War times and has a lot of sadness in it. It also only kind of has a plot. Pretty good, though.
The Goose Girl	Shannon Hale	383	yes. very good.
The Selection	Kiera Cass	327	yes!
Found	Margaret Peterson Haddix	314	yes.
Double Identity	Margaret Peterson Haddix	218	yes. interesting twist!
Sent	Margaret Peterson Haddix	313	yes.
Life As We Knew It	Susan Beth Pfeffer	338	probably. It's sad - the world ends and things never really turn up. decent ending. realistic situations. - good writing.
Glimpse	Stacey Wallace Benefiel	261	no. fascinating premise, but there's too much inappropriate at the beginning.
Every You, Every Me	David Levithan	248	depends on the person. pretty dark - as in, you don't know if he's schizophrenic or something, dark. draws you in, though.
Don't Die, Dragonfly	Linda Joy Singleton	269	yes
The Only Alien on the Planet	Kristen D. Randle	228	Wow. Holy crap. That was a good book.
The Leap	Jonathan Stroud	233	no. boring
First Impressions	Marilyn Sachs	112	how a girl came to appreciate the book Pride & Prejudice - meh. It's fine.
Breaking Beautiful	Jennifer Shaw Wolf	354	yes, to a more mature audience. about the mental after-effects of physical (not sexual) abuse by a boyfriend.

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"If we don't tell strange stories, when something strange happens we won't believe it."  - Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl