Books?

As much as I try not to let this become an excuse for a dreary lifestyle, AP classes are taking over my life! So, in order to regain my sanity, I drove to the library.

Before the school year started, as usual, I was completing the Summer Reading program, which requires that I read eight books. I could have just picked up my usual fix of Harry Potter, but then what would I read for the last book requirement? Instead, I attempted to come up with an alternative resource for all eight of the books.

Despite the controversy that now surrounds the Twilight Saga, I have a guilty confession: I was hooked. Maybe not last summer, but definitely two summers ago, when I first read Twilight. So, naturally, I own all for books, so I grabbed one of them and started reading. Maybe the fact that I have seen too many parodies of both the novels and the movies caused what happened next: I did not enjoy the book at all. All of the pull that was there once upon a time was gone, replaced by a new emptiness in each of those eight blanks I still had left to fill.

When in doubt, go to the library. So that's what I did. They rearranged the entire set up of the library, so that now the teen section sits in the far back of the library (despite my original annoyance at this location, I began to appreciate the comfortable chairs the county had thought to provide exclusively to the teen section). As I went through aisle after aisle of books, I realized I had no idea what I was looking for.

You know the saying "Never judge a book by its cover"? I guess I have to apologize to whichever wise man came up with that one, because the only reason I picked out the books I picked were because the spines looked pretty. So I guess I didn't really judge based on the cover... unless the spine counts, in which case, sorry, old wise man!

The books I picked out varied. I surprised myself by just how much I liked the books that were not a part of any series. Lately, I have been hooked to fantasy, where most novels have at least one sequel to them. The fiction books I picked out this time were almost non-fiction -- only there were no boring historical articles that gave me a daily breakdown of an upper class plantation wife of the South.

It was with books like these, books without any sequels, and not-so-famous authors, that I completed the Summer Reading Program of 2010. I enjoyed the change from the constant hunt for sequels and prequels.

Thoughts? Favorite books? Least Favorite books? Leave comments!

Until next time.