Summer Reading Program Recap 2010

So, I started reading on June 19th and stopped logging at August 21st.  This is the deadline I set for everyone.  In this time I read 25 books...not bad!  I will say there were a few times when I wasn't reading as heavily as I normally do...and I did do some re-reading during this time!  Anyway, I loved tracking...I am always curious how much I read.  I tried to read a little of everything...and I think I managed to hit most genres and age groups!  Now I can get back to reading for fun...at least until Sept 22..I return to school and will not be able to read anything but audio until I go on break in December.  All of my reading will need to be school related!

Happy Reading!

Pretty Little Liars Book 1

By Sara Shepard...I had heard good things about the new TV series...and then girls starting asking for the books.  I haven't read beyond book one of the A-List...I haven't read any of the Clique...but adore the Gossip Girls series (a guilty pleasure).  So, I was anxious to see how this series would be.  I was amazed at how young the girls start out...and then the story flashes forward to their teenage years...it is all about friends, enemies, popularity, trying to figure out who you are, etc.  I enjoyed the book...and there is a bit of a mystery involved...I do plan to read more of the series but I have to say I loved Gossip Girls more!  Who knows...maybe book 2 will hook me!

A Crooked Kind of Perfect

By Linda Urban...what a fun listen.  Yes, I listened to this one.  Just three CDs long...it didn't take long for me to get swept up in the story of a girl who dreams of playing Carnegie Hall.  Instead her father buys her an organ...and she begins a new dream...her mother works, her father has issues with being in public...so he does things from home.  Then there is Wheeler...and her old friend who has kind of left her behind.  It was a cute and fun story!  I highly recommend!

Someone Like You

By Sarah Dessen...my third book by this author.  So far my favorite is Dreamland...but this one was all about friendship and being there for your friend during a difficult time in her life.  It was good...but not my absolute favorite...it was funny, bittersweet, and in parts really hard to read!  But...if you want to relive the test of friendship and what that means to a teen...this is the book for you!

All the Pretty Dead Girls

By John Manning...creepy.  I went through a phase when I was in my teens reading John Saul, Stephen King, and Dean R Koontz.  I loved being terrorized by the monsters in a very love/hate thing...and while some nights I couldn't sleep...I still opened the book and kept reading.  It has been awhile since I have been creeped out by a book.  I loved Koontz's take on Frankenstein...but forgot about those old horror novels of my youth.  This one brought me back.  If you want to be kept up at night, or sleep with the lights on...if you want to know that evil is in the world.  This book will take you there!

Ramona the Brave

By Beverly Cleary...yet another fond return to books of my childhood!  What a fun story...I will continue to make my way through the Ramona series...it is something light and definitely fun.  I forgot how fun it was!

Neverwhere

By Neil Gaiman...I have read other books by Neil Gaiman...some with great anticipation.  This was not one of them.  Recommended by a teen...and my husband who LOVES this author, I read it to kill time on an airplane until the 10,000 feet mark so I could read by Kindle.  It turns out that while I wasn't totally hooked on the book I could not put it down.  I simply had to know what was happening next.  Richard has recently moved to London.  Richard is a normal guy, recently engaged and lives a very normal life.  One evening he gets into a disagreement with his fiancee and sees a girl who is dressed bizarrely and helps her.  Because of this help he is no longer visible to those who knew him...and he ends up in the world under London.  Much adventure begins.  I liked the book, but admit it isn't for everyone!

Pillars of the Earth

By Ken Follett...it is 12th century England, we meet several characters, Phillip the Prior, Tom Builder, and Elaine of the forest.  Their lives and the lives of those they touch intertwine in this novel about building churches in the middle ages.  I read this book because Starz was coming out with a mini series...and I wanted to watch.  As I told people I was reading this book I found that many people view this as one of their favorites.  This intrigued me.  The story has a lot of history about building gothic cathedrals, fighting in England, family dynamics, evil men, and war.  I was definitely hooked and enjoyed the read!  I look forward to trying some of Ken Follett's other novels.

Dreamland

By Sarah Dessen...this author is recommended more to me by my teens than any other author in our collection.  I have read only one of hers and was told this was the one to read.  I was pleasantly surprised by this book.  I started it as an audio and decided I couldn't wait to see what happened next.  It is Caitlin's birthday and her older sister Cass has disappeared.  Her sister Cass was everything to everyone and Caitlin feels the pressure to be more like her.  She ends up in a relationship with a boy, Rogerson...and things start to go downhill.  Who can she turn to?  What will she do?  This is an emotional ride.  I highly recommend!

The Madonnas of Leningrad

By Debra Dean...came recommended by several library patrons and several local book clubs have taken on this book.  It is a short read full of history, though this book is historical fiction.  You bounce back and forth in time from the present to the world of Russia WW2.  Our main character is dealing with confusion and her family doesn't realize how bad it is getting.  She does remember packing the paintings from the Hermitage and learning what was hanging where so she could give tours through the museum.  It was a good read!

Ramona The Pest

By Beverly Cleary...the second in the Ramona series.  What a walk down memory lane.  I giggled as I remembered Ramona going to kindergarten...meeting the girl with the BOOIINNNGGG curls and being engaged with earthworm to Henry Huggins...it was all so fun to re-read.  Moms, if you are looking for something to read with your new readers...this is it.  Or if you just want to start reading a chapter book at night...this is fun and there is lots to experience.  I highly recommend.