Summer Reads

August brings us the last lazy summer days and a reminder that there's still time to spend laying in the sun with an enticing book for company. Consider the following highlights from the Armacost Library collection as you decide on your end-of-the-summer reading material.

Adventure
Kon-tiki: Across the Pacific by raft by Thor Heyerdahl
On April 28, 1947, Thor and five other Norwegians set sail from Peru in a balsa raft to try to reach the Polynesian islands.

Wild: From lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
"Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her." ~From the publisher.

Romance
Blue is the warmest color by Julie Maroh
"...a young woman named Clementine discovers herself and the elusive magic of love when she meets a confident blue-haired girl named Emma." ~From the publisher

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Scottish Highlands, 1945. Claire Randall, a former British combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding clans in the year of Our Lord . . . 1743. ~From the publisher.

The time traveler's wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Love between an artist and time-traveling librarian who has been diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder.

Comedy / Satire
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
Meet Bridget Jones - a 30-something Singleton who is certain she would have all the answers if she could: a. lose 7 pounds. b. stop smoking c. develop Inner Poise. ~Back cover

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
"Vonnegut's satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet's ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist, a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer, and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny." ~From the publisher.

Cat out of hell by Lynne Truss
"...much of what we fear about cats is true. They do think they're smarter than humans, for one thing. And, well, it seems they are! What's more, they do have nine lives. Or at least this one does - Roger's older than Methuselah, and his unblinking stare comes from the fact that he's seen it all." ~From the publisher.

Fantasy / Horror
Alif the unseen by G. Willow Wilson
Winner of the 2013 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.
"In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker shields his clients—dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched groups—from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by Alif—the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle to hide behind. [...] Alif must struggle for life or death, aided by forces seen and unseen." ~From the publisher. 

Fledgling by Octavia Butler
An incredibly unique vampire story. A "novel that tests the limits of "otherness" and questions what it means to be truly human." ~From the publisher.

The hundred thousand kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
"Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had." ~From the publisher

Science Fiction
Wool by Hugh Howey
"In a ruined and toxic future, a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep. There, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. Sheriff Holston, who has unwaveringly upheld the silo's rules for years, unexpectedly breaks the greatest taboo of all: He asks to go outside. His fateful decision unleashes a drastic series of events." ~From the publisher

Lovestar: A novel by Andri Snær Magnason ; translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb.
"LoveStar, the enigmatic and obsessively driven founder of the LoveStar corporation, has unlocked the key to transmitting data via birdwaves, thus freeing mankind from wires and devices. Cordless modern men and women are paid to howl advertisements at unsuspecting passers-by, REGRET machines eliminate doubt over roads not taken and soulmates are identified and brought together. Indridi and Sigrid, two happy young lovers have their perfect worlds threatened when they are 'calculated apart' and are forced to go to extreme lengths to prove their love." ~From the publisher