Great Reads

I've been reading a lot lately. Loved Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo started out slow, and I was wondering why so many people raved about it, but I pushed myself through the first couple of chapters and ended up being hooked. If you haven't read them, you really should... and I'd suggest you read them before you see the Swedish films because, although they are well made, I feel that they leave out too much of what made the main characters, Lisbeth Salandar and Mikael Blomkvist, so captivating.

I also read some of the books I got when I attended the Library Association Conference, (those wonderful advance copies). I bought Kimberly Pauley's Sucks To Be Me since it was first in the series before Still Sucks To Be Me. They were both fun, quick reads. I would highly recommend them for younger readers who like the whole Vampire genre, but are a little too young to read Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse, Southern Vampire Series. Speaking of Sookie, I held off reading Dead in the Family until it was closer to the release of Dead Reckoning, (which came in the mail yesterday). Dead in the Family didn't disappoint. Charlaine Harris has created such a interesting world and I can honestly say I have enjoyed reading every one of her books. I also am crazy bout the HBO Series "True Blood." Even though they don't stick strictly by the books, they change it just enough to keep me surprised. Sadly, I've heard that the Sookie books will be ending soon... that will be like losing a good friend.

The last book I recently finished was A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. It took me a while to read, but that's because I do most of my reading at night before I fall asleep. I absolutely loved this book and hated to finish reading it. Yes, it's a Novel about witches and vampires, but the main witch, Diana Bishop, is a scholar at Oxford, and she meets her 1,500 year old vampire, Matthew Clairmont, (currently a geneticist), at the Bodleian Library. A Discovery is a suspenseful book that has magic, history, science and romance. Ms. Harkness lets you get to know the characters slowly, and she pulls you into their world as they are pulled into each others. This isn't a book for people who are only looking for light reading (via Twilight), but I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a book that makes you think.

I am now on to reading an advance copy of Original Sin, A Sally Sin Adventure by Beth McMullen. I love the main character, Sally Sin. She's a new mother being pulled back into a world she thought she left behind - that of a Spy. I'll post more about it when I am finished, but I am half way through it now and would definitely recommend it for summer reading - it will be released on July 12, 2011... I'd pre-order it now if I were you. : )