Ann Rinaldi, Or Give Me Death

My amazing friend Laura reminded me of Ann Rinaldi's books. I didn't remember which ones we read back in middle school and I couldn't remember if I liked her stories or not, so I decided to do a search online. Turns out, I LOVED reading her novels. So while I was at the library early last week, I picked up Or Give Me Death and I read it in one night. It's amazing how much I loved this little story about Patrick Henry's family. It was an easy read and perfect for a hot summer night just trying to get some rest.

Also, I appear to be on a young adult and vampire kick. I find it quite amusing.

One more to GOAL

I am currently one book away from reaching my goal of 40 books for 2009. It looks like I'm on track to read between 60 and 70 books this year. I'm exceptionally impressed with myself, because I thought this was an insane number of books to read in one year and still manage to have a social life. Well, I have been proven wrong yet again. But I'm rather happy with it. I have a huge to be read list (about 800 books on my library list, plus three bookcases), and I'm excited to be making my way through it all.

Audio books have been so fun this year. I had planned to listen to 6 books this year. But I'm pretty sure I'm in the double digits now. I'm learning which types of books I like to listen to versus which ones I prefer to read on paper.

Countries Visited

I was reading on a blog about visiting different countries in books. I really haven't gone anywhere in my books this year, and it makes me want to fix that. So far this year, my reading has taken me to:

Other universes:
Middle Earth
The Inkheart Universe
Inheritance Series Universe

US:
Chicago
Oklahoma
Southern California
Deep South
NYC

Outside the US:
Prince Edward Island, Canada
London

I've also read a little bit of nonfiction relating to concepts so they haven't exactly counted toward anything. But I suppose I can work on it. Right now, I'm flipping between a few books. And I should probably update the books I've read so far in July. There are a bunch.

Lack of posting

I have been so bad about trying to post reviews and stuff. I have been trying to at least keep the list of books I've read up to date. So I'll try to write a couple now.

Bill Myers, Forbidden Doors books 1-3
I read these after a friend recommended them. They're super quick, about 110 pages a piece. The series follows a brother and sister who recently moved to California. They have both made friends in their new school, but there's a group of people who don't like them. This group is into the occult, and Scott and Becka are thrown into all kinds of different situations regarding spiritual and physical battle. Myers really works to show the power and love of Christ and how Scott and Becka learn more about Him. I have only found one problem with the books so far and that is in the first book, The Society. Myers writes that the Bible states that human spirits cannot be contacted and cannot be spoken with. 1 Samuel 28 says this is possible (please note: it does not say that it is right or good). Other than that, I've found it an interesting series to read so far. I'll probably keep reading it as I find time.

P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast, The House of Night series
So I like my teen vampire books. This was also recommended by a friend. I enjoyed the first five books (book 6 is due out late October), although the last couple have a number of typos. It's something I can ignore, but there are days I wish that I had had a chance to go through it all and fix the errors. Each book is a quick read, which is nice for having a quiet evening at home or a flight for a business trip. I wouldn't necessarily call it an awesome series, but it is fun for taking a break from real life. And that is what I've been needing for a bit.

Christopher Paolini, Eldest (audio) & reading/writing

Definitely better than Eragon. I seriously enjoyed this one. Although at this point, I'm fantasied out and I cannot bring myself to begin Brisingr. I can't even really write about it because I have a serious need for other topics and genres.

I'm even writing no fantasy now. I need something else. So I'm in the works of creating a more romantic sweet story. I finally got the basic plot line together and now I need to really get the idea of how I want it to work and how I want to write it.

I'm also planning my first RP that I will be running. Josh and I are doing a Hero-based WWII RP. He's running the European Campaign and I'm doing the Pacific Campaign. I finally have all of the base material for probably a year's worth of the campaign. I do not know anything about WWII, so I'm using it as an excuse to do some fairly intensive research. This will certainly be interesting.

John Eldredge, Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secrets of a Man's Soul

The male counterpart to Captivating. I enjoyed this one, but not as much as Captivating. Probably because I am female and relate better to something that discusses a woman's soul more than a man's soul. I used this as a jumping board for trying to understand a male character I'm writing for. I recommended it to my father, who absolutely loved it. And hopefully Josh will get to read it before too long.

Christopher Moore, You Suck

A week before Turn Coat came out, I was perusing the library looking for audio books to keep me entertained. I knew I'd be driving a few hours during a business trip and that I'd need something to keep me from exploding while waiting for the Turn Coat release. I hadn't really read any other Christopher Moore (I own Lamb but haven't read more than a few pages) and came across You Suck. I knew that it would be humorous, so I picked it up in hopes that this would help the waiting process go by.

Well, it was definitely the right pick. While it took me a few CDs to decide that I actually liked it, I found it light-hearted and entertaining. And Abby Normal is hysterical (speaking of, I saw a t-shirt last night paying homage to Abby Normal). She was definitely my favorite part of the story. I'm definitely interested in reading/listening to some of Moore's other work.