Ah, summer time! As a wonderful birthday present, Tim took me on a cruise leaving from Venice Italy and crusing around the Adriatic with stops in Slovenia and Croatia as well as two other ports in Italy. We had a truly amazing time and are fully sold as Cruise Fans!
Of course, I took a bunch of books on my trusty Kindle again. This time, because we had a lot of time on airplanes, I managed to get through six books even though we actually spent less time on the boat and more time on shore excursions than usual.
Anyway, I thought I’d go ahead and run down the titles I read, just to give some insight into some summer reading
- After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn
Many of ya’ll know my predilection for super hero novels. Before we left on the trip I spent some time in the Barnes and Noble, looking for books to buy on my kindle. I found this one and knew it would have to be my first book. The basic story is over a set of Superheroes who have been patrolling the city for close to 30 years. Two of the supers are a couple and have a daughter who hasn’t manifested ANY superhero traits. Through the story we follow the daughter as she comes to terms with her lack of powers, her family’s notoriety and her complex relationship with her father. The interesting twist is, we also follow the family as they come to terms with the fact that their time may be over and the next generation’s time starting.
I really liked this book. It’s the first by Carrie Vaughn that I’d read and I found it to be quite satisfying. I enjoyed the bits of realism it brought to traditional super heroes and also, although I saw it coming a long way off, was pleased with the revelation of the romance story. I recommend this as great airplane fare!
2. The Midnight Hour – by Carrie Vaughn
This is the first book in Vaughn’s well known werewolf series. I have enjoyed a number of my paranormal book series but have been totally horrified by the lack of quality in others. So it was with trepidation that I bought this one. However, buoyed by how much I enjoyed her superhero book, I launched into this series with this opening title
I enjoyed this, albeit not as much as her superhero title. Maybe it’s just that I’m not as much a werewolf fan. I did get a kick out of the reactions of the non-paranormals to the werewolves however and I did enjoy the story. I will even admit that when I got back to US soil, I went ahead and bought the second in the series, tho I haven’t read it yet.
3. Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman
I’m ashamed to admit that I have never read any Neil Gaiman before this book. I don’t really know how he slipped past my notice, likely that I do not normally read comics nor graphic novels so somehow just didn’t manage to pick up his fiction either. Wow.. what a shame that has been! Neverwhere is a dark urban fantasy about a girl named Door from London’s “Below” a fantasy dimension and what happens when a Londoner from “London Above” happens upon her lying injured on the street.
I completely enjoyed this story. It was evocative and interesting. Being a designer I’m always interested in new takes on magic systems. The idea of a family who’s magic consists of “opening doors’ was refreshing and I enjoyed it very much. That said I did find it a bit “fluffy”. Of course I didn’t realize at the time it was the compilation of a television series from the 1990s, which could account for the “light weight” feel of it. However, I found his writing to be delightful and his characters interesting. I will be looking for more of his stuff in the future.
4. Married with Zombie – Jesse Petersen
We all know that zombies are hot right now and this book is a fun trip on the zombie bandwagon. The story begins as our two heroes are going to see their marriage counselor. Imagine their surprise when they find their good doctor chewing on the arm of her previous patient. This begins their wild ride through zombie mayhem as they try to make it to his sister’s house and work through their marriage problems all at the same time.
This was the last book I read on the trip and I admit to being pretty tired on the flight when I read it. I enjoyed it and found myself chuckling out loud at times, but I really think I would have enjoyed it more if I had not been so tired. It was a different twist of the whole “zombie” craze and alot of fun to read.
I think if i had any criticisms of my book selection for this particular trip it would be that ALL the books I took were light and fluffy. They were VERY quick reads and I found myself kinda wishing I had a bit more meat to sink my teeth in to. But, it was a fun summer read and there isn’t one in the group that I regret spending the time on.