Summer Readings

College has a funny way of making me read a lot without the feeling of actually reading.

With that said, in true summer fashion I buried myself within the pages of various adventures.

Quite easy to do when one does not have a job nor a social life.

 We'll proceed to the reviews:

a. My first book club meeting took me to the book ROOM by Emma Donogue. The 5 year-old narration gave me a headache at first, but came out with a different perspective on not only the story, but what a little one might be thinking on a day-to-day basis. It was capped with suspense and prodded my thoughts. Not your happy-go-lucky book.

4.7 out of 6.8

b. The second book for the book club was the classic Treasure Island by Robert Stevenson. Yes, a classic, but none of the book club members have read it making it a good choice to finish off the summer and lighten up after ROOM. It is a perfect escape for a youngish male looking for adventure he is forced to take through ink. And Long John Silver reminds me of yet another mischevious pirate who carried a compass with him.

2.6 out of 3.3

c. I love Gail Carson Levine's novels (what can I say, I love my fairytales) and notice a new one on the shelf titled A Tale of Two Castles. And a pun on a classic so I couldn't resist. It was charm, mystery, and really no romance. I guess the heroine was only 12. Expanding my knowledge of mystical creatures, which will come in handy some day I'm sure, it was a fun read. The Two Princesses of Bamarre will forever be my favorite of Levine's works.

76.2 out of 91.9

d. I read three from the Once Upon a Time series which are all kind of the same. Read one, you read them all. Yet, I still grab one if I don't recall exploring it before. Another bonus is that they are a pretty short read. If you have a hankering for overcoming evil, discovering your other half, magical happenings, or all of the above, you'll enjoy these books. And I can guarantee a happily ever after.

15.5 out of 17.3

e. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Not my first time reading it (my sister introduced me to them when they recently came out), but my first time listening to it. I was craving me some Peeta Mellark and they only had CDs, but I was able to finish my eternity scarf.

Amazing out of Amazing

f. I traveled across the globe through Three Cups of Tea by Relin and Mortensen. I actually started it during the winter, but put it on hold during Spring semester. A wise choice on my part because I appreciated it a lot more after my Middle East class. One message I really enjoyed in the book was that to change a village, you need to educate a woman. The value of a good, balanced education was deeply promoted in this book. If you're looking for page turner, this isn't it.

10 out of 14

g. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall is simply a book about running with an emphasis on ultrarunning and barefoot running. And while I think 26.2 miles is going to kill me and I don't have to the money to mess with minimalist shoes, this book captivated me with a superhuman running tribe in South America to some of the crazies in North America. A year ago I probably wouldn't have given a book about running a second glance, but I suprisingly enjoyed this read. Warning: the swearing is a bit overboard in my opinion.

267 out of 291

Other than a cheesy LDS romance novel (hey sometimes I just need one), scriptures and Ensign (10 out of 10), and my daily perusing of blogs, that should cover my reading materials from over the past 7 weekish.