Speed Reader

I have a little notebook that I carry in my purse, specifically for making a list of the books I want to check out from the library.  We like to hang out at the big bookstores, a cup of a flavored coffee concoction in one hand an a stack of books and magazines on a table to browse through.  I try not to buy a lot of books anymore - for one, they're expensive, and for another we don't have a lot of space left on the bookshelf (and they're also a pain in the ass to move with).  So I've been giving the Lucas County Library system a lot of love this year.   They usually get the new releases within a couple of weeks, although there have been a couple that I just can't find (Boneshaker for one, which I've heard so many good things about I may just buy it anyway).

Yesterday I finished the first book in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series, The Lightning Thief.  I remember eyeballing it when I worked in the kid's department at B&N (I know, the kid's department!  I was bribed.) and when I saw the trailer for the movie I decided to give it a try.  There are a lot of great young adult series out there - the obvious being Harry Potter, but I also really like Artemis Fowl and Eragon (don't even bring up Twilight or I'll blow my lid!  Ugh.), and there are classics from when I was young that I still love like The Dark is Rising Sequence, The Chronicles of Narnia, and the Time Quintet.  Like those, this book didn't disappoint.  Yeah, the main character is twelve, but the story is fun and well-written, and made me interested in Greek mythology again.  I can see how it would really pique the interest of a teen and maybe push them to do a little more research into the subject - hell, I had to get on Wikipedia a couple of times myself.  Anyway it was an awesome book, and I have #2 on reserve at the library.

My "to check out" list also includes books that you might say "I can't believe you haven't read that!" about.  For example the Dune Series, Terry Pratchett, and Terry Goodkind - I like good fantasy fiction but I'm not really into sci-fi, so I know I'm probably missing out by not having read any of these.  I've read some Gaiman but not all, so I want to read the rest of his books too.  But when I'm browsing at the bookstore, I write down anything and everything that catches my eye - The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, the In His Majesty's Service series by Naomi Novik, Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris... it all goes on the list and gets requested from the library at some point.  Right now the Garth Stein is on reserve along with the second Percy Jackson.

What's on your 'to-read' list?

(And for the sake of transparency, yes, most of the links above are to the B&N website - I like their search function and their synopsis the best, but I'm not saying you have to buy from them!)