July Book List

When It Happens by Susane Colasanti
This was billed as a sweet but edgy high school love story, and I guess it is. But there was too much sleeping around for me to give it a rave review. I know that's the prevailing attitude among teenagers, especially these days, but I don't feel like reading about it. Also, I was hoping the title came from "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" from The Sound of Music, but the song was never mentioned. :)

Camp Girl-Meets-Boy and Camp Reunion by Caroline B. Cooney*
CGMB is one of my all-time favorite guilty pleasure books. I LOVED it as a teenager and have read it a zillion times. I didn't get a hold of the sequel until a few years ago, and have only read it a few times, which is fine with me. It lacks the magic of the first - the great characters fall a little flat outside of the camp setting. But I can forgive the book because it leaves everyone in a good place.

This Lullaby* by Sarah Dessen
Another re-read. I think this might be my favorite Sarah Dessen because it gets better every time I read it.

Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella
If this is meant to be the last book in the Shopaholic series, it did a great job of wrapping everything up. It encompasses everything that's lovable about Becky Bloomwood. I really enjoyed it. :)

The Giver by Lois Lowry*
It's hard to explain this book, but it's one that everyone should read and re-read. However, I don't recommend doing so right before bed, the way I did this time. Instead of sleeping, you'll just stare up into the darkness feeling freaked out.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
This novel is about an alien "soul," Wanderer, who is implanted in a human body and becomes allied with her host human, Melanie. Melanie convinces her to go into the desert to find her (hopefully) still-human family, and that's when the real story starts. This book has a little of everything. I loved it and can't wait to see what else SM will cook up in the next few years. Or TOMORROW, when I pick up my copy of Breaking Dawn!!!! :D

Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter
Kathy loaned this to me (she either owns or has read every contemporary novel relating to Mr. Darcy). :) It's about a bookstore manager who goes on a Jane Austen tour of England, and starts seeing Mr. Darcy everywhere. In the flesh. Meanwhile, a sullen journalist on the tour shares an awful lot of Mr. Darcy's qualities. A fun read, but just okay.

Light Years by Tammar Stein
A YA novel about an Israeli girl who comes to college in America after her boyfriend is killed in a terrorist bombing. It's a quick, moving read. I enjoy learning about everyday life in countries I don't know much about. Which brings me to...

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner BOOK OF THE MONTH
Actually, this is my book of the YEAR so far. It's part travel guide, part self-help book, part anthropological study, part memoir. Each chapter covers a country that ranks highly on world surveys of happiness (and also the country at the bottom of the list). I was fascinated from beginning to end, and I think I fell in love with Iceland a little bit. Run, don't walk, to the bookstore.

Books for July: 10
2008 year to date: 56

Is anyone of the school that re-reading doesn't "count" on these types of lists? I've never felt that way. I think the best books change with you as you read them at different times of your life. But sometimes I wonder if I should stop counting them.

July Book List

When It Happens by Susane Colasanti
This was billed as a sweet but edgy high school love story, and I guess it is. But there was too much sleeping around for me to give it a rave review. I know that's the prevailing attitude among teenagers, especially these days, but I don't feel like reading about it. Also, I was hoping the title came from "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" from The Sound of Music, but the song was never mentioned. :)

Camp Girl-Meets-Boy and Camp Reunion by Caroline B. Cooney*
CGMB is one of my all-time favorite guilty pleasure books. I LOVED it as a teenager and have read it a zillion times. I didn't get a hold of the sequel until a few years ago, and have only read it a few times, which is fine with me. It lacks the magic of the first - the great characters fall a little flat outside of the camp setting. But I can forgive the book because it leaves everyone in a good place.

This Lullaby* by Sarah Dessen
Another re-read. I think this might be my favorite Sarah Dessen because it gets better every time I read it.

Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella
If this is meant to be the last book in the Shopaholic series, it did a great job of wrapping everything up. It encompasses everything that's lovable about Becky Bloomwood. I really enjoyed it. :)

The Giver by Lois Lowry*
It's hard to explain this book, but it's one that everyone should read and re-read. However, I don't recommend doing so right before bed, the way I did this time. Instead of sleeping, you'll just stare up into the darkness feeling freaked out.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
This novel is about an alien "soul," Wanderer, who is implanted in a human body and becomes allied with her host human, Melanie. Melanie convinces her to go into the desert to find her (hopefully) still-human family, and that's when the real story starts. This book has a little of everything. I loved it and can't wait to see what else SM will cook up in the next few years. Or TOMORROW, when I pick up my copy of Breaking Dawn!!!! :D

Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter
Kathy loaned this to me (she either owns or has read every contemporary novel relating to Mr. Darcy). :) It's about a bookstore manager who goes on a Jane Austen tour of England, and starts seeing Mr. Darcy everywhere. In the flesh. Meanwhile, a sullen journalist on the tour shares an awful lot of Mr. Darcy's qualities. A fun read, but just okay.

Light Years by Tammar Stein
A YA novel about an Israeli girl who comes to college in America after her boyfriend is killed in a terrorist bombing. It's a quick, moving read. I enjoy learning about everyday life in countries I don't know much about. Which brings me to...

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner BOOK OF THE MONTH
Actually, this is my book of the YEAR so far. It's part travel guide, part self-help book, part anthropological study, part memoir. Each chapter covers a country that ranks highly on world surveys of happiness (and also the country at the bottom of the list). I was fascinated from beginning to end, and I think I fell in love with Iceland a little bit. Run, don't walk, to the bookstore.

Books for July: 10
2008 year to date: 56

Is anyone of the school that re-reading doesn't "count" on these types of lists? I've never felt that way. I think the best books change with you as you read them at different times of your life. But sometimes I wonder if I should stop counting them.