"Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

This is one of the most popular book series for teens right now. I had to give in and read it. It's about a vampire named Edward Cullen and a human girl, Bella Swan. Bella is in high school and has moved to live with her dad in a small town in Oregon. She meets the Cullen family who all eat by themselves at lunch and are kind of standoffish from the rest of the school. Then Bella meets Edward in her biology class and he's very different from all the other boys. Well you can guess she figures out that he's a vampire and so is the rest of his family. She ends up falling for him and well... guess you'll have to read it if you want to know more.

I liked Meyer's style--very conversational and contemporary. I can see why these books are such a hit with teens and adults right now.

The movie comes out in November (it's taking Harry Potter #6's spot since it's release was postponed to next July). I'm looking forward to the second installment called "New Moon". First I'll be reading or rather continuing with "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Piccoult (book club pick for September).

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

I have to say, I wasn't really that impressed with this installment of the Stephanie Plum series. Sure there were some funny parts, but overall the plot was pretty thin and wrapped up quite nicely. Evanovich has had better plot lines in the previous books. It makes me wonder if she's on some pretty strict deadlines with these books afterall I think she cranks out about one every year. It's hard to stay original when you've had 13 previous installments. It was a quick read though.

On to "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Piccoult, our next book club pick.

Summer of Audiobooks

I finished listening to "Peony in Love" which was really good. I enjoyed Snowflower more, but Peony was worth reading or in my case listening to. Women in China had it pretty bad, but they learned to enjoy life through painting, writing, playing musical instruments and embroidery. They found activities to make life fun. They were so suppressed though--that part was sad to me. And what pressure to have sons!

After Peony, I listened to "Beach Road" by James Patterson. It was a short, predictable story. It was a story that takes place in the Hamptons and a young black athelete is accused of murdering his three friends. The lawyer who takes the case teams up with his ex--another attorney. They end up winning the case and the athelete gets off, but of course there's a twist at the end which you can see coming. Towards the end it seemed like Patterson just wanted to hurry up and wrap up the story which was a little dissapointing, but overall it was entertaining.

I'm now listening to Eric Clapton's autobiography, "Clapton". He grew up not knowing that his mother was actually his grandmother and his aunt turned out to be his mother. He talks about the affects this had on his childhood and how he really started to get interested in music in his pre-teenage years. So far it's good.

I finished reading "Echo Park" by Michael Connelly. This is the book club book for August at Jaci's house. This is actually a book in his Harry Bosch series. Harry Bosch is a detective on the LAPD and this book follows him through a case that originated in 1993. There's an inmate on death row who confesses to murdering the victim of the case in 1993 and well it goes on from there. I won't spoil it for anybody from book club, but I couldn't put the book down once I got to the confession part. I liked this mystery and would read more of Connelly's books in the future.

I never usually have more than one book going at a time, but at the moment I have three and I'm listening to one on CD.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson: I've written a little about this book before because I actually started it way back in January. It is interesting, but I've been in the mood for some fiction this summer. I will finish this book--it's fascinating.

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster: I recently watched the Masterpiece Theatre version and wanted to read the book--I know I'm doing it wrong. You're supposed to read the book before the movie comes out. Oh well. It's actually not that hard of a read, but I got sidetracked and started on...

Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (AKA HP#6) by J.K. Rowling: one Saturday I spent watching HP movies and crocheting. I haven't read 6 and 7 but one time and I couldn't remember many of the details. So I am a little over halfway through this one. it's very entertaining and this book has a lot of little side stories about the crushes that Harry, Ron and Hermione have on various people. It's fun, easy and perfect for summertime and the week of your sister's wedding! :)

And finally, I'm listening to Peony in Love by Lisa See. She wrote Snowflower and the Secret Fan (see blog from last October). The story follows a girl who is betrothed to a man. She doesn't find out who he is until it's too late. In the meantime she meets a poet and falls in love with him, she becomes lovesick for him and well I won't spoil anymore of the story. It's well-written just like Snowflower and again I'm learning even more about Chinese culture through this book.

The Last Summer of You and Me by Anne Brashares

Anne Brashares is the author of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I loved this series which is for young adults.

The Last Summer is her first adult fiction book. The book is about two sisters, Alice and Riley, that go to their beach house somewhere on Long Island New York during the summer months. They have known Paul a boy their age ever since they were little. It soon becomes apparent that Alice is in love with Paul and so begins their summer romance. It all but starts to get going and then we find out that Riley is sick. She and Paul are best friends and Alice has a hard time telling her about her relationship with Paul.

This book was a fun summer read and really made me wish I had a beach house to go to during the summer! Too bad there's not an endless supply of money out there for me. This is a great book to take with you on a summer vacation.

"Winter Study" by Nevada Barr

Finally the next installment of the Anna Pigeon series is out! I waited awhile for this book from my library. It was worth the wait. AP is up in Isle Royale which borders the US and Canada and is in the middle of one of the Great Lakes (I'm having a brain fart as to which one it is). She is called up there to help monitor a wolf study that occurs during the winter months when the National Park is closed. Of course, things don't go as planned and she is off on another one of her adventures. A great mystery which is sometimes like an exercise for my brain. I

f you're looking for a good series this is a good one. It starts with "Track of the Cat" which takes place in Mesa Verde, CO. Part of the fun is getting to read about the different national parks in which Barr's books take place. I also recommend listening to them on CD. Get the Recorded Books unabridged ones that are narrorated by Barbara Rosenblat. She's excellent.

On to the book for book club: "The Devil in the Junior League"

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I know I say this sometimes here, but it's really no wonder that this book won the Pulitzer. It has presented a lot of unanswered questions in my mind. This book is thought provoking in so many ways. You want to know what happened to the world, but we never find out. It's left up to the imagination of the reader. I like how McCarthy doesn't spell it all out for the reader--it does make you think.

The relationship between father and son is fascinating and so real. I found myself feeling scared while reading this book because the little boy is scared of what they will encounter as they travel the road to the south for winter. I was scared along with him. The landscape is godforsaken and they never know if they are meeting "good" people or "bad" people.

Thanks for the recommendation Emily!