Summer Reading

It's always nice to be able to read for pleasure every once in awhile.  It's always difficult to find time to do this during the school year, even so I was able to read a few books by Rick Riordan during the school year.  I'm very excited about Riordan's new series Heroes of Olympus and The Kane Chronicles, both have been satisfying thus far.  His books are rich in mythology and have been extremely well researched.

This summer I have read two books thus far and with as much work as lies ahead of me I think that's about as far as I'll most likely get.  I've read The Dark Half by Stephan King and Freeze Tag by Caroline B Cooney.

The Dark Half is extremely gory and ought to come with a parental warning on it.  King does provide a little warning, "Not for those with weak stomachs."  This was the first time that I've read a book from King.  It was suspenseful, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  It was a good story.

I've read several books from Caroline B Cooney, the are, Wanted, The Terrorist, and The Stranger.  Like King her books like Stranger, Freeze Tag and others can go into the Supernatural realm.  To be scared and have suspense though I prefer her writing that stays within the realm of reality.  I wasn't as big of a fan of Freeze Tag as I was of Wanted and The Terrorist, but ultimately the book comes down to a single choice, a moral choice which I found extremely intriguing.  My mind has gone back to that choice time and time again as I've thought about various topics.  The greatest gift literature can give us is when it gives us something thought provoking to play with inside our heads.

One thing that I did not expect is how similar the themes were, since these are two completely different stories and are told in extremely different styles.  Yet the main theme in both is a universal theme that is in many stories, the need to overcome evil, especially the evil within.

I'm hoping to be able to read The Beyonders by Brandon Mull soon before the school year gets too busy.  Mull is a fantasy writer.  I enjoyed his Fablehaven series but have yet to read The Candy Shop Wars, which I've heard nothing but good things about.