2011 Summer Reading List

I know it's only June and school is not yet over, but I want to get my list out there. So every year I plan to read at least ten books during the summer months and I encourage you to do the same. I'm going to try to pick books of different genres and authors- to keep things interesting.However, I'm not the kind of person to finish a book if I don't enjoy it, so feel free to abandon a novel if it just doesn't catch your fancy!

1. Siren - by Tricia Rayburn

So this is a novel that I just plucked off the shelf of my town bookstore, thinking it would make a good read. I already started it, and I'm about a third way in, but it's getting pretty interesting, so I figured it deserved to be on the list. Siren is the first novel in what I assume will be a trilogy, and it's going to be one of my science fiction/fantasy reads for the summer. The novel is about a girl named Vanessa Sands who teams up with her childhood friend Sam to uncover the truth about Winter Harbour, the location of her family's summer home, after her sister is found washed up on the beach, dead.

2. It's Kind of a Funny Story - by Ned Vizzini

It's kind of a funny story...my friend came to school one day and was reading this very book. I had just watched the 2010 film adaption and thought it was kind of a coincidence that she just so happened to be reading it to - okay, so maybe it wasn't at all funny. Anyway, the story is about a depressed, suicidal teenager named Craig who checks himself into a psychiatric hospital. I know it sounds pretty morbid at first, but trust me it gets funnier, well at least the movie does. Craig meets other patients at the hospital, makes friends and even begins to forget his own problems in the wake of those around him. The movie was very sweet, quirky and absolutely hilarious. Cross your fingers the book will measure up, as most books do...

3. Uncommon Criminals - by Ally Carter (to be realised June 21st, 2011)

This is the sequel to the very popular novel, Heist Society, in which the main character, Katarina Bishop and her ragtag team of teenage thieves rob the Henley, the famous french museum. In Uncommon Criminals, Kat is back and basking in the glory of the now legendary Henley heist. Unfortunately, it is that very fame that gets her stuck stealing back the lost Cleopatra Emerald. I'm hoping that this sequel will live up to my expectation and be just as action packed, fast paced and clever as the first book. So strap on your black stiletto boots, pack your grappling hook and rope, grab your microchips and blueprints, and get ready to rob a bank...or maybe a museum...or possibly an ancient temple!

4. Forever - by Maggie Stiefvater (to be realised July 12th, 2011)

I was reading some comments the other day on YouTube and someone posted a comment under the book trailer that Maggie Stiefvater realised for Forever. It went something like this:

Shiver made me shiver with anticipation when I turned each page,
Linger left me lingering on a cliffhanger at the end of the book,
And now...it`s taking forever for Forever to realise

Thank you, CGWolf2013

(If you would like to watch the trailer for Forever, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbcYV19hkLY. From there, I`m sure you can also take a look at the trailers for the last two novels, Shiver and Linger.)  

And hasn`t Forever been taking forever to come! But soon the waiting will be over and finally the The Wolves of Mercy Falls series will come to a close and we`ll finally find out how Grace and Sam`s story will end...
For those of you who have not yet gotten hooked on the trilogy, The Wolves of Mercy Falls is a series of books following the love story between the fearless blond beauty, Grace and the intriguing werewolf Sam. It may sound pretty cheesy, but you`ll get suckered into it! I`m awaiting this book with great anticipation.

5. Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You - by Dorian Cirrone 

  

Okay, Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You is going to be my experiment for the summer. On the plus side, it`s a novel about dance, ballet no less. However, me friend had read this book and she said it was very humorous, but also kind of strange. If the synopsis doesn`t give you a hint, I don`t know what will. This is the story of Kayla Callaway, her study of dance, her involvement in her school`s dance production of Cinderella, and yes...her struggle to make a career out of dance with a D-size bras cup. But wait, having big boobs is not Kayla`s only problem. She is to wear red Pointe shoes in the production of Cinderella, so when red Pointe shoes with threatening messages begin to appear all over school, Kayla`s sure they are directed at her.

I`ll read it for laughs and see how it goes!

6. The Warlock - by Michael Scott

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel is series of books in which mythology of all ages, cultures and forms comes to life. When twins Sophie and Josh Newman are swept away from there home by Nicolas and Pernelle Flamel (For the Harry Potter fans out there, yes we`re talking about the same Nicolas Flamel from the books, the one who created the philosopher's stone), told they`re the twins of some ancient prophecy and are forced to join an age old battle of magic and might, they really can`t believe it. Soon they`re teleporting around the world, having they`re magic awakened, learning the elemental magics and battling all sorts of mythological monsters. 

While these books are very long and detailed, once you do finish one, you really feel like you have just embarked on a real life adventure. I mean, there are main characters presumed dead for novels at a time or locked in prisons for almost two books. By the end of it, everything seems just so life like and possible. The Warlock is the fifth book in the series and I think there will only be six, so things are definitely heating up now! There were about fifty cliffhangers at the end of the last book so I`m just itching to get my hands on this one. And besides, it`s Nicolas Flamel; what`s not to like. Like I said, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel series presumably will include six books:

- The Alchemist 
- The Magician 
- The Sorceress
- The Necromancer
- The Warlock 
- The Enchantress (to be realised the summer of 2012)

7. The Count of Monte Cristo - by Alexandre Dumas

This swashbuckling adventure novel is to be a terrific read. I mean, daring prison breaks, legendary buried treasure, and one of the most elaborate plans for revenge ever; what more could a girl want in a novel? Now, I received The Count of Monte Cristo for Christmas, having placed it at the top of my wish list after seeing the 2002 feature film, and becoming completely obsessed for a brief period of time. (I highly recommend this film. It is definitely one of my all time favourites. To watch part one of The Count of Monte Cristo click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRy5SEXUgtA&feature=related
I assume you can watch the rest of the film once you get there.)
However, I've been pretty darn intimidated by the book itself. It's thicker then my arm, with over 1000 pages, plus another 40 pages of explanatory notes! But it's going to be my summer challenge, and since I really do want to read it, hopefully it will turn into a treat, instead of a chore.

8. The Girl Who Could Fly - by Victoria Forester

Every once in a while, you find a really good heartwarming novel, like Tuck Everlasting or Little Women. I've kind of been on a search for books like these, and just recently I came up with The Girl Who Could Fly. On the cover of my copy it says it is a mixture of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men. While I may not be all for Little House on the Prairie, I am a X-Men fanatic! So naturally I bought the book. On the plus side, it is a novel for younger readers, and sometimes I like to take a load off and read a less...mature novel. So this book is about a young girl named Piper McCloud, who has never been quite like the other kids in the neighbouring farms, you know, if you consider being able to fly abnormal. So Piper is eventually taken away to a special school for gifted youngsters (The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. No, I'm just kidding.) , but not everyone at the school is to be trusted. (Especially the ones with X-ray vision and super human strength...)

9. Practical Magic - by Alice Hoffman

I just have to say it up front; I love Practical Magic, the 1998 feature film of the same name. Everything about it; Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman...it just blows my mind, so I've been dying to read the novel. Not very practical then, I guess. Anyway, Practical Magic is a story about two sisters Sally and Gillian Owens who just so happen to be witches. When both they're parents die in a fire, they're sent to live with they're crazy eccentric aunts, witches as well. As the girls age, they begin to grow apart, but when tragedy strikes (like the love of your life getting hit by a car), the sisters finally come together. And that is kind of where the story begins, cause who knows what will happen when two completely opposite and magical witch sisters are placed under the same roof.

10. Broken - by Kelley Armstrong

I just had to get a Kelley Armstrong novel into the mix. For a full explanation on why I can't possibly go a whole summer with no Kelley Armstrong click on this link: http://ifyouvegoteyesyoucanread.blogspot.com/2011/05/kelley-armstrong-outstanding.html
In Broken, the only known female werewolf Elena is back and...wait for it...pregnant! This time, the pack teams up with Jaime Vegas to eliminate a band of Victorian zombies, the deadly diseases of Victorian London and even the legendary werewolf, Jack the Ripper that have all managed to escape a dimensional portal. Oh, and they're all after Elena, since it was here blood that set off the portal (Don't worry, they're was this incident with Clay and a mosquito. Nothing happened to the pregnant lady). So I have already started reading Broken - I really have no free will when it comes to these books, I can't help myself - and I'm definitely getting to the good parts. However, even thought there are several very serious and tense moments, I can't help but feel silly reading them. I mean, Elena is very pregnant and she's jumping fences, running after vampires, battling zombies and even Changing. Let me tell you, it's the oddest thing to picture.