what I read this summer

Here are the books that I read this summer.

• Skid by Rene Gutteridge
• Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner
• Wrapped in Rain by Charles Martin
• Sisterchicks Go Brit! by Robin Jones Gunn
• The Five Love Languages for Singles by Gary Chapman
• Oceans Apart by Karen Kingsbury
• A Mile in My Flip-Flops by Melody Carlson
• Coming Unglued by Rebecca Seitz
• A Minute Before Friday by Jo Kadlecek
• Sweet Caroline by Rachel Hauck
• Revelations of a Single Woman by Connally Gilliam
• The Shack by William P. Young
• Where the River Ends by Charles Martin
• Flabbergasted by Ray Blackston
• A Delirious Summer by Ray Blackston
• Lost in Rooville by Ray Blackston

My overall favorites were A Minute Before Friday, and Revelations of a Single Woman and the Ray Blackston books.

Has anyone read any of these books? What did you read this summer?

The Shack

The Shack by William Young is the book my book club chose to read for our August meeting. The book is worth reading, though it isn't easy to read. I would recommend reading it slowly since there is so much content in it. It sort of felt like reading a sermon, though all Young's ideas about God are probably not accurate. My initial reaction when I finished is that I liked the book, but now I am not sure. Anyone else read it?

Sweet Caroline

Sweet Caroline by Rachel Hauck takes place in Beaufort, South Carolina. Caroline is the main character who has stayed in Beaufort after high school doing various things. Now she has the opportunity to move to Barcelona, Spain. But she inherits the Frogmore Cafe, has the attention of JD Rand, a sheriff deputy, plus her old friend Mitch O'Neal comes back to town. Sometimes decisions aren't easy, and all these things make it hard to figure out what to do.

This book I read in a day (I am on summer vacation) and enjoyed. It wasn't the best book I read, and at the end I wondered if the author would write a sequel because in some ways the story doesn't seem finished.

Oliver Jeffers

It is always fun for me to discover new authors of children's books. I discovered Oliver Jeffers at Cherry Street Books in Alexandria. He wrote a book called The Incredible Book Eating Boy. Of course, any book about books piques my interest, and this one was not a disappointment. The story is about Henry, a boy who loves books. He loves books because he loves to eat them. He eats them voraciously until he gets sick. A fun story that my nephews and I enjoyed, so I looked for the other two books that were mentioned on the book jacket. These two books are both about the same boy (he is never given a name) and the stories are simple, but I believe that they would appeal to both preschoolers and younger elementary students. How to Catch a Star is about a boy who wants a star who wants a friend. He finally gets a star, though not in the way he expected.

Lost and Found is about the boy finding a penguin. When he finds the penguin, the boy decides he needs to help it get where it belongs. As the boy does this, he realizes something unexpected and ends up with a new friend.

Has anyone else seen any of these books?