Super Special Summer Reading Summary Extravaganza!

Top Six New Books (Because I couldn't choose just five)

Since many of the books I reviewed this summer were ones I read before, I'm not gonna list my top favorite books I read. Instead, I'm gonna talk about my top favorite new books. Here they are, in the order they occurred to me.

- Gilda Joyce: The two Gilda Joyce mysteries contained a well-developed character with a great sense of humor, gripping mysteries, and very atmospheric writing. I only wish I had time to read the third book in the series.
- Eddie Drood: The Man with the Golden Torc and Daemons Are Forever are fun, long action books with a mix of magic and sci-fi, along with plenty of humor to boot. They definitely run on the Rule of Cool and are good relaxation reads.
- Flame of Recca: This manga series has it all. I was blown away by the writing. The characters have realistic senses of humor. The drama never reaches the point where it becomes cheesy. The art is great. There's a good mix of humor, action, drama, and romance. It's a very solid series.
- Unwind: Neal Shusterman was already one of my favorite authors. With Unwind, I loved the mix of science fiction and adventure, not to mention romance and the rather interesting philosophical thinking points. I think this book, out of the three I've read by this author, has the most relevance with the issues it touches, but you never get hit over the head with the morals. Very hard for a fiction novel to do that, in my experience, so Mr. Shusterman gets kudos there.
- Traitor's Gate: Historical fiction and mystery? Yes, please! Two of my favorite genres wrapped into one long, juicy, compelling package. There are plenty of suspects and character growth, some good humor, and nice historical details. I feel like I've overlooked Avi, and if he's written more historical fiction, then I am eager to explore those stories in the future.
- Dairy Queen: An interesting book about the type of character I don't easily identify with. DJ has a sense of humor and the hard knocks she undergoes never seem like the author's just piling on misfortune for the angst factor. The realistic teen fiction genre is one that's rather iffy for me, but I have to say that I really liked this book and its sequel.

So, overall, I think that this reading project was a very successful one. Got a little hectic at times, but I read a lot of old favorites and found some new books to love. I would have probably read at least half the number that I did over the course of a normal summer anyway, so this push to one hundred was simply the extension of my normal behavior, you know? I do seriously love reading.

Well, I've finished Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Airborn, and The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi (yes, again), and I'm working on A Room with a View and The Sighs of Suzumiya Haruhi (yes, again). I'll get reviews up for those ones I've finished fairly soon, now that I have reliable internet access here.