Well, I haven't written much in the past month -- I haven't had a whole lot to say to be honest. Caitie and I went to the Poconos for a weekend and had a great time. We went to Ohio for Labor Day weekend for her brother's wedding. It was a great affair - lots of fun and we're burning with jealousy that he's now in Disney World for the week on his honeymoon.

With school starting again, my reading time is diminishing quite a bit. This is partly due to not having the time, but more so just being too tired to focus on a page for very long. That said I did read quite a few books this summer. Here are some quick reviews of the books I got through. Hope I have more to write about soon!

A Dance With Dragons: Book five of The Song and Ice and Fire was WAY better than book four. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but the ending had me dying for the next one. If you're going to try the series, don't let book four dissuade you - five is a return to greatness.

Me The People: I picked this up thinking it would be a humorous rewriting of the Constitution - turned out to be a fascinating history detailing each amendment. The rewriting part was more of a gimmick, but the writer's dealing with the Constitution, explaining the amendments' meanings and purposes and, more interestingly to me, their origins was riveting. Definitely recommended!

The Passage: First thing I can say - this book was LONG. It was REALLY long. In fact, it was too long. The first two hundred pages or so was a prologue that turned out to be the origins of what happens in the next six hundred pages or so. That said, the book was really exciting and definitely kept me hooked. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

The Wishing Spell: This is Chris Colfer's debut novel. Honestly, he's not that great an author. Some of his writing is just awkward and the language seems almost TOO catered to young readers. That said, the story itself was pretty interesting. It was a quick read, at any rate, so worth the time for the story that entwines a bunch of fairy tale characters into it (I'm a sucker for that).

Redshirts: The first 2/3 of the book was fantastic. It was funny, it was intriguing, it was very smart. And then the last 1/3 happened -- and I have no idea what to make of it. The end of the book was a weird postscript that didn't really work with the rest of it. I would almost say it's worth reading the beginning 2/3 and then stopping when the main story is over (which I know is REALLY weird advice, but there it is).

The Fault in Our Stars: All right, I'll give Caitie credit for this one. She's been begging me to read John Green, and I've finally given in. This book was brilliant. He is a great writer (yes, Caitie, I know) and he certainly kept me enthralled in a story about (honestly) cancer patients. Yeah, the end was kind of predictable, but the style and writing was so strong I hardly cared. Highly recommended!

Doctor Who - Shada: This was Douglas Adam's script for a Tom Baker Doctor Who episode turned into a novel - and honestly, that's EXACTLY what the book read like. If you like Doctor Who and you like Hitchhiker's Guide, well, this is the book for you. It was entertaining, certainly - only thing I can really complain about was it wasn't David Tenant's Doctor, but you know, you get what you get.

The Good Thief: I was kind of disappointed in this one. I expected more of a Dickensian type story than it was. There weren't any big twists, the characters were fairly well drawn but not particularly memorable, and the story dragged in parts. Yeah, I read the whole thing, but more because it was short and I pushed on through more than anything else.

Fairy Godmother (in process of reading): I'm adding this in here because I have just 100 pages to go, but I have to say it's WAY better than I expected. Mercedes Lackey is an EXCELLENT writer - it kind of reminds me of The Magician in that, like Lev Grossman, there's just wonder to be seen on every page. You never quite know what fairy tale is being skewed (or being created) from page to page, and the twist on classic tales really is expertly done. Definitely looking forward to reading more of the 500 Kingdoms!

So, it turns out, I read a LOT during the summer! Hope I can keep up some of it during the school year (not too likely, sadly). Guess I need to go spend some more time in Ohio!