June Books

All of the books I read this month were excellent.  If you're looking for something to read this summer, you can't go wrong with any of them.

June

31. (6/4) Island Beneath the Sea (Isabel Allende) - This is exactly the kind of story I love.  I can’t believe that this book sat on my bedside table, unread, for months!  I’ve read other Allende novels before, and this one is my favorite so far.  I learned a lot about the history of the region, especially Haiti.  I did have a misconception about some of the relationships between the characters from a too-quick scan of the cover synopsis and Prologue - I thought that Tete was brought into the household for a different reason than was really the case, and that she would end up loving her white master.  This made things quite confusing to me until I eventually went back and realized I had made some incorrect assumptions.  I think it would have been a different reading experience for me if I had not read those words before jumping into the story...  All in all, a great read.
32. (6/9) The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss) - Wow.  This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I put it on my hold list at the library without giving it much thought.  A few months later, it was ready and I picked it up in time for a long plane trip.  I could not put this book down.  I stayed up way too late reading it.  It was that good.  This is basically a story of an boy named Kvothe, who is wicked smart, musical, and resourceful, and his life as a child, then orphan, then student at the prestigious University.  This is the first of three books in the series (the third hasn’t been released yet) and therefore covers the first third of Kvothe’s life, approximately.  There are some elements of Harry Potter, but it is written for a more mature audience.  The writing is excellent, the main character compelling, and the story is action packed.  Go get it.
33. (6/12) Matched (Ally Condie) - Another recommendation from Sharon.  This book gave me a lot of food for thought.  It’s about a society in which people are basically told what to do in every aspect of their lives, from what to eat, what career they will pursue, and whom they will marry.  This “Match” is how the book starts, and we follow a teen-aged girl during the weeks and months following her Match.  I thought the author did a good job of creating a world which is so different from ours, and yet it was possible to understand how the people in this world thought they were happy and even fortunate.  I thought some of the characters were a little shallow, but maybe that’s because I had just been reading about Kvothe.  I LOVED the cover art.  Perfect.
34. (6/18) The Wise Man's Fear (Patrick Rothfuss) - Installment Two of Kvothe’s story.  I didn’t think this book could match the first, but it was just as good.  Once again, I read the whole thing in just a few days, staying up until all hours and giving up my precious sleep.  I hope I don’t have to wait four years for the last installment to come out!
35. (6/26) Old Man's War (John Scalzi) - This book was a lot of fun.  An interesting story about aging, war, experience, and humanity.  Along with some great aliens and science fiction technology.  Fast read, highly recommended.