Some fun, frivolous books for summer—July 9, 2010
Last summer I wrote an article comparing my taste in beach books: light, fun and fairly frivolous, to the top 100 beach reads voted upon by listeners to National Public Radio: meaningful, thought-provoking and long. This summer I’m not even going to worry about comparing my choices to anyone, I’m just going to share some of the books I recently enjoyed while on vacation.
With the craze continuing about vampires and werewolves and other creatures that growl in the night, the first books I tried on vacation were from the Harry Dresden series, specifically “Storm Front” and “Fool Moon” by Jim Butcher. Harry is the only practicing mage in the city of Chicago and is called upon to consult on police cases that fall into the realm of special investigations. These first two books introduce current day black wizards, vampires, demons and several varieties of werewolves.
Keeping with the vampire theme, I had never read the P.C.Cast “House of Night” series, so “Marked”, the first installment of that series, also went into my vacation bag. These are novels about high school students who get “marked” to turn into vampires and then must go to a special school to learn the ins and outs of life after the change. They are much shorter than the “Twilight” series and a much better read, in my opinion.
I had also not read any of the Nora Roberts/J.D.Robb “In Death” series until recently, so I took “Immortal in Death” to read on vacation. These murder mysteries featuring police detective Eve Dallas and her ultra-rich honey Roarke are set in New York City 50 years in the future and are full of nifty gadgets I hope we have by the middle of the century, as well as hot steamy romance and plenty of crime-solving action.
No matter what your tastes, rest assured that the staff at the Hastings Public Library can find the perfect read for your summer vacation. And if you still have the books you checked out last summer, remember the library is celebrating “Fine Free Fridays” all summer long.
If you would rather not worry about returning a library book after a trip to the beach, visit the Friends of the Library book sale this weekend and choose from thousands of used books.
