Running with Books!

What are you reading this summer?  There's nothing better in the summer than curling up in a comfy chair with a glass of cold passion tea and a good book!  So, here's some great reads that I've found lately!

I fell in love with the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich a couple of years ago.  We were in Oregon on vacation and I ran into a used book store that had just about every book that she had published.  (Now, here's what I came to notice in Oregon.  You can't travel more than 1/2 a mile without passing 1) a used book store, and 2) a coffee house!  Considering books and coffee are two of my greatest loves, it was hard to not sell the house and move directly to Oregon!)  I spent most of that summer catching up with the first 14 Stephanie Plum bounty hunter books.  Now that I've caught up, I have to wait a whole year for the newest novel to be released.  In June Evanovich published number 16!  Her books are fun, easy reads.  Stephanie Plum is a (not very good) bounty hunter who ends up with the wildest jobs and acquaintances.  She usually gets help and is rescued by a mysterious security man named Ranger.  Stephanie and Ranger lust after each other - and the truth of the matter is that I mostly read the books just waiting for a wild sex scene between Stephanie and Ranger.  It's only happened once - but hey, I'm an optimist!

I've told you about my antagonistic relationship that I have with my Kindle...this is the perfect book to download for me.  I usually finish Evanovich's novels in about 2 days, so reading it on my Kindle for $10 is a good buy!  I've decided that if a book is a quick read, I'll put it on my Kindle - if I want to savor a book, you know the kind of book that you turn back and reread pages and passages, I will buy the book.  There are some books that I tab and highlight - kind of hard to do on a Kindle.

My kids are 9 and 12 and we've been faithfully heading to the library for some good summer reading.  I love perusing the latest books for young readers.  Here are a couple that I found to be great summer reads for kids their age.

 The Year the Swallows Came Early is a book about two friends who have to learn lessons about their parents.  The girl in the story has a father who ends up in jail, and her friend has a mother who left him for a year.  The kids struggle with the love that they have for their parents and having to learn that you have to accept people for who they are.  It's a really good read for kids 10 and over.

 

 

 The Artemis Fowl series has been around for a few years, but this is the first time I've read one of the books.  The main character, Artemis, is a young boy genius who is trying to hang on to the riches that his father lost through thievery and a reluctant relationship with fantastical creatures.  It's an interesting series - kind of "Harry Potter" lite!

 

 This last book is one of my favorite for young kids.  Trixie has her favorite friend - Knuffle Bunny, but one day she loses him at the laundromat.  Her parents can't understand Trixie's dilemma since she hasn't said her first words yet.  But of course, her first words are uttered when she finds her friend - "Knuffle Bunny!"  The illustrations are wonderful in this story.  Mo Willems puts black and white scenes of New York on all the pages and has his "cartoon" drawings walking through the neighborhoods and parks.  One of my all time favorites!

I'd love to hear what you're reading lately!  Thanks for stopping by!