2011 Summer Reading List = Fail.

Hi there, readers (that is, if I still have any readers...)! 

It has definitely been quite a while since I last posted.  I'll blame that on grad school, moving back to MN, wedding planning, and Pinterest.

I feel a little bit bad about leaving the whole "Summer Reading List" series hanging last summer.  Eventually, I did get around to reading six of the nine books.  So, I will finally finish my reviews here.  Though, be warned, it has been a while and I can't promise that I remembered everything all that well.

1. "No Apparent Danger" by Victoria Bruce
 **** (4 Stars) = Very good.  I strongly recommend this book.  See the full review I gave it here.

2. "Side Jobs" by Jim Butcher
*** (3 Stars) = Pretty good, but it's not the best (still worth reading).  Again, see the full review here.

3. "Ghost Story" by Jim Butcher
*** (3 Stars) = Pretty good, but it's not the best (still worth reading).  Like the other Jim Butcher book, I recommend that you read the rest of the series before getting to this one (otherwise, HUGE spoilers!).  And because of those spoilers, there's not a whole lot I can say here other than this book was way different then the other Harry Dresden books.  This made it interesting, but, to me, not as fun.  With that said, I'm always looking forward to next book in the Dresden Files.

4. "Traveling Mercies" by Anne Lamott
Unfortunately, this was one of the books that I have yet to read.  It's still in my (growing) pile of books to read.

5. "The Meaning of Wife" by Anne Kingston
 ** (2 Stars) = Eh... I'm not a fan.  This book took me a while to get through; but, I should say that any book without a plot takes me a long time to read (which is why I mostly stick to fiction!).  Some of the early chapters that recounted "the meaning of wife" through history were interesting.  The later chapters, however, just pissed me off all the time.  Why?  I didn't think that this book fully addressed the modern meanings of wife.  Unless, of course, your only definition of wife is a stay-at-home-mom ready to get a big divorce settlement from her CEO husband...  Again, I'll note it's been a while since I read this, but certain chapters left me fuming.  But maybe that's a good thing?  I like books that make people angry, because they (hopefully!) make people think.

6. "Circus of the Damned" by Laurell K. Hamilton
*** (3 Stars) = Pretty good, but it's not the best (still worth reading).... if you're into vampire/crime/fantasy fiction in the first place.  Like the Jim Butcher books, I'd recommend reading the series from the beginning, but this was still an enjoyable read.  That's about all I can say because I don't remember much of it, which is the case (for me) for the other Laurell K. Hamilton books I've read as well.  I like fantasy/crime books, but I'm just not as sold on this series as I am on the Dresen Files.

7. "Heat Stroke" by Rachel Caine
** (2 Stars) = Eh... I'm not a fan.  This was book #2 of the Weather Warden series (book #1 is "Ill Wind"), and I think it definitely fell short of the first.  I started reading the series because Jim Butcher (author of the Dresden Files) recommended the series according to the book cover.  In this series, wardens are tasked the the responsibility of taming weather/earth/fire in order to keep disasters from destroying humankind on an everyday basis (but they're secret, so we ordinary humans don't notice).  Unfortunately, with how the first book ended, I can't say much about this one without spoiling the first.  As a book, I recommend "Ill Wind," but I just don't think I can recommend the series.  As an FYI, I'm currently reading the third book "Chill Factor," so I'm saying this based on reading three of her books (okay... technically 2 & 5/6 books), not just the two.  What? The world is about to end unless Joanne (the protagonist) saves us all? Eh... sorry, don't really care.  I'm pretty sure I should care, but I just don't think I connect with the main character, and thus, have no vested interest in her successes or failures.

8. "The River of Doubt" by Candice Millard
I didn't get around to this one.  It sadly gets pushed back into my "To Read" pile every summer because I am always craving fiction instead.

9. "The Well of Lost Plots" by Jasper Fforde
Also still in my "To Read" pile.

Summer Reading Series: Side Jobs

“Side Jobs” by Jim Butcher

*** (3 Stars) = Pretty good, but it's not the best (still worth reading).

“Side Jobs” is a compilation of short stories about Harry Dresden, a private investigator in Chicago.  Harry Dresden also happens to be a wizard, so the cases he deals with are usually quite interesting and involve run-ins with vampires, werewolves, faeries, and evil sorcerer types.  This book is made up of short stories that happen in-between the other Dresden Files (12 books in the series, with the 13^th due out on July 26^th!!).

I really enjoyed this book, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’ve read all of the other books in the series first.  You’ll run into spoilers otherwise.  It was really fun to see a lot of the back story that isn’t included in the regular books.  The only downside to it, for me because I’ve read all of the books, is that some of the plots were a bit predictable (e.g. So-and-so can’t die because so-and-so is in xxxxx book later on in the series and such).

One of my favorite parts was the additional character development when two of the short stories were written from other character’s points of view.  It was fun to get to see the inside of someone else’s head.  My other favorite part is that some of the stories were very light-hearted.  They weren’t all about catching the bad guy, and that was a fun change of pace.

So once again, I call this a good book.  If supernatural mystery sounds interesting to you, or if you’re looking for something to fill in the gap after Harry Potter, I recommend the Dresden Files (first book is “Storm Front”).  “Side Jobs” did a great job helping get my Dresden Files fix while waiting for the next book (can’t wait until Tuesday!).

Summer Reading Series: No Apparent Danger

“No Apparent Danger” by Victoria Bruce

**** (4 Stars) = Very good.  I strongly recommend this book.

In the book, Victoria Bruce pieces together eye-witness accounts of two tragic volcano disasters in Colombia.  First are the accounts of the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in 1985 in which mudflows killed over 23,000 people in the surrounding area.  The second part of this book details the 1993 eruption of Volcán Galeras which took the lives of nine people (including six scientists) who were in the crater at the time.

Whether or not you’re a geologist, I think you’ll find this is an interesting and thrilling read.  Even though this is a historic event where you know the end result, Victoria Bruce did a great job of recounting the events and filling the pages with suspense.  Bruce knows enough about geology to accurately describe the science involved (she has an M.S. in Geology), but she also explains the terms for any readers who are not scientists.

I think one of the take-home messages of this book is that science (and funding for research/technology/etc…) is extremely important.  And even when the scientists have the technology, it’s imperative that they know what to do with that knowledge and being able to bridge the gap between pure science and public policy. 

I enjoyed reading this book, and I would definitely recommend it.  It’s probably not one I would read again (I rarely re-read non-fiction books), but it’s worth a read.

(And, Brittany, thanks for suggesting this book and for letting me borrow it for so long!)

Summer Reading List

I still have a take-home final to do, thank-you notes to write (for a conference I was in charge of), and thesis work to do... but it's practically summer vacation.  Sure, I'll be working full-time on my thesis, but I feel much less guilty about reading for pleasure during the summer than I do during the school year.

I'm also going to make it a goal to write a short review of each book on here.  This will be my rating system:

• ***** (5 Stars) = Loved it! A favorite I could read again and again!
• **** (4 Stars) = Very good.  I strongly recommend this book.
• *** (3 Stars) = Pretty good, but it's not the best (still worth reading).
• ** (2 Stars) = Eh... I'm not a fan.
• * (1 Star) = Not worth your time.

And so, without further ado, here is my summer reading list (in no particular order):

• "No Apparent Danger" by Victoria Bruce
• "Side Jobs" by Jim Butcher
• "Ghost Story" by Jim Butcher (comes out July 26!!)
• "Traveling Mercies" by Anne Lamott
• "The Meaning of Wife" by Anne Kingston
• "Circus of the Damned" by Laurell K. Hamilton
• "Heat Stroke" by Rachel Caine
• "The River of Doubt" by Candice Millard
• "The Well of Lost Plots" by Jasper Fforde