july: 18, 19, 20 & 21

july's pleasure reading was a bit disrupted by a 224 page course reader of supreme court cases and analysis for the seminar i went to at stanford at the end of july.  it was slow going, and my fun reading suffered a smidge for it.  but i still read four books!  none of which i'm head over heels for, though.  june's excellent luck with books couldn't last.  this month i read:

we were liars, by e. lockhart (do you have a stomach bug?  are you vomiting profusely?  well, as someone who experienced this over 4th of july weekend, i can tell you from experience that the next day you should read this book, when you don't have the energy to do anything else.  it is so cliche at points and the characters are so annoying most of the time and i am not telling you to read this book.  unless, as i said, you are confined to a couch.  i have heard great things about OTHER e. lockhart books, though, so perhaps you should check them out and leave this one alone.)

at the water's edge, by sara gruen (everything that you predict will happen in this book…happens in this book.  i was a little disappointed that it didn't live up to my huge expectations from the author's previous novel water for elephants, which is one of my favorite books of all time.  sigh.  this is a fine little summer read, and i didn't dislike it, but i will just take this opportunity to tell you to read water for elephants instead.)

a land more kind than home, by wiley cash (this is a debut novel that takes place in the north carolina mountains [and we've already established that i love books set there], about a church that deals in snake handling and laying on of hands and the consequences of that for one family.  if this sounds interesting to you, this is a great addition to add to your list!  but again [theme for the month!] i won't necessarily be proselytizing about this one the next time i see you, like i still am for deep down dark.)

i am the messenger, by markus zusak (ugh, month of loving authors' other books more!  this was no book thief.  it was an a-okay young adult read with an interesting plot structure [the main character receives playing cards with names on them and he has to figure out what those people need in their lives], but it was no book thief.  read the book thief.)