Summer Reading

Every year, just before we hit the road for our annual pilgrimage back to the Hoosier state to check in with the family, we hit the bookstore to pick up any of the summer reading books we don't already have around the house, so the kids can use the long car rides for something productive. Last year, we picked up the book on the Actor's 'must read' list, then stood in the store looking over the pretty dismal options for the optional reading... some were known to be deadly dull, and some were on topics that I just didn't think were really good for him (I actually took a sharpie marker to a couple of paragraphs in one of the books he had to read before passing it on to him, and I do not deface literature lightly...the graphic scene detailed there really did nothing to advance the plot of the book and certainly wasn't appropriate for fifteen year old kids, IMHO). It's tough to have high standards... ;)

We finally selected one from the optional list that looked interesting. Neither of us had heard of Ender's Game, a sci-fi novel about exceptionally gifted kids being trained to fight a desperate battle, and I read it first before passing it along (the usual routine when dealing with unknown authors...the book I mentioned in the first paragraph is a good example of why...). It was thought-provoking, highly imaginative and very well written. We both enjoyed it very much.

We haven't tackled this summer's list yet (don't even have the home visit on the calendar yet!), but on a chance trip to the bookstore I wandered through the sci-fi section looking for a different book and found that the author of Ender's Game had written a second book...not exactly a sequel, but a retelling of the same story from the point of view of one of the other characters. Interesting concept...and I brought the book home.

And sat up until 3 am two nights later reading it straight through. Yeah, I really regretted that the next day...

But, that book *did* have a sequel, so when the bookstore sent me a coupon for %15 off of any purchase, I stopped by and picked up the sequel.

Also very good.

And, in the 'Author's Notes' after the story, I found that there are *two more* books in that little series.

So, yeah, I am watching the inbox for another coupon...

And the other book? The one that took me to the bookstore a few weeks ago and led to that first purchase? Stephen Lawheads' Song of Albion trilogy. I got the first book, but the other two were not available at either one of the bookstore's local stores, so they are en route from Amazon.

I haven't done much recreational reading in a long time. Wish I didn't have to give up sleep to do it... ;)