Summer Reading

          I have been busy since my last post. In life news: The movers came out yesterday and my house is now in disaster mode. My floor is littered with packing tape, boxes, and random crap that has been hidden under beds for god knows how long. We have five more days until we hit the road and head down south. I can’t wait to start this new chapter in my life.

I picked classes this week and I’m stoked. No longer is law school going to mean studying for torts, property, and administrative law. Nope! I’m moving into a world where I can study the things that interest me: counterterrorism, intelligence law, and military law. Bloody awesome!
And onto my summer reading list . . . I have been plowing through books this summer and I love it. What I don’t love is being so behind on my blog posts. So look at this as a sort of Mid-Summer Reading List, what you should read and what you should skip.
Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip-Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by Steve Dublanica
I picked this book up because the concept sounded interesting: a waiter turned blogger giving an inside look at what it’s truly like to be server under all of that fake “How are you doing tonight?” crap. Unfortunately, the author didn’t stick to that perspective. Instead, the book was saturated with the author’s sense superiority over the people he served. Seriously?! Look, I get the reasons why most people wait tables. What I don’t understand is a grown man trying to convince me (throughout an entire book!) that he’s “better than” because he’s a waiter, a job that was once prestigious somewhere in Europe. If the author would have just stuck to the quirky stories of restaurant fodder he would have had a better book.
Bottom Line: Skip. I give it 2 out of 5.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Ahhh . . . my classic for the month of June, a story of revenge and heart ache! When I first decided that I wanted to read a classic each month everyone recommended that I should read The Count of Monte Cristo. After listening to everyone rave about it, I spent my dollar and downloaded the book to my Kindle. Now, I’m not going to go against the grain here and say I didn’t love it, because I did. Instead I’m going to give a bit of advice: Read this when you have the time to really read it. I read this in bits and pieces, while I was commuting, a little before bed, ect . . . and the result was that I ended up so confused and had to work at keeping all of the storylines straight.
Bottom Line: Read it. I give 4 out 5.
The Touch Series: Deadly Little Games (Book 3) and Deadly Little Voices (Book 4) by Laurie Faria Stolarz

 
                                                                                        I’m still loving this series, obviously. Bottom Line: Read it. I give them both 4 out of 5.
The Walking Dead, Compendium 1 (The Walking Dead #1-48) by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn
This was one was a bit out of my comfort zone. Not because of the zombies, which I both love and fear, but because the book was a graphic novel, or comic book for those of you not down with the lingo. Prior to The Walking Dead, I had never read a graphic novel and I was worried that it wouldn’t read like a book. After all, I’m a reader of books here, not a gazer of comic books. Luckily, it read like a novel and I was hooked! The story was so interesting and I liked that it rounded out the television show which focuses less on the characters and more on scaring shit out of you with the zombies. The only thing that sucked was that I had to lug around this ginormous book day after day on the train.
Bottom Line: Read it. I give it 5 out of 5.
The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady by Elizabeth Stuckey-French
            I have peculiar interest in our country’s history with radiation. So when I came across this book where a woman was unknowingly injected with a radioactive cocktail in the 1950’s, I was stoked. However, the book focused more on our radioactive lady’s revenge(should have known that from the title) and her present day adventures instead of the radioactive catalyst. It was still fun to read but I just expected a little bit more of the Golden Age to be included in the book.
            Bottom Line: If you want a light and humorous summer read about the growth of a group of people read it. I give it 3 out of 5.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Well, Let me just tell you how much I loved this novel. It was short, sweet, and desperately sad in a way that leaves you thinking about it long after you finish it. Our narrator is Charlie and there is something off about him, how else do you explain writing anonymous letters about your life to a complete stranger? No matter though, because his oddities make him endearing and vulnerable. Qualities that help you care for a character.
I wish I could give you more because there's so much more to this book but I always have trouble describing the these thought provoking books that touch my heart and this is one of those books. I fell for this book and it’s now one of my favorite books.
Another reason to start reading this book right now, as if you need one, the movie is coming out soon and Emma Watson will be starring in it! Love her!
Bottom Line: Read it or weep. I give this book 5 out 5.