The Sunday Salon... What's Your Style for Summer Vacation Reading?

Good Morning! It's Sunday! And it's time for The Sunday Salon! It's been a few weeks of resolving all the "hacking" problems, which lead me to concentrate on administrative problems rather than having fun reading and reviewing, but finally I put the final touches on all that. And thanks to the readers who joined my Google Friends Connect, so I didn't have to look at 666 followers anymore!

I'm on vacation starting tomorrow and I look forward to some great summer vacation reading! And that's today's post... Summer reading. Do you pick up something different to read during your vacation or during the summer? I like wandering the bookstore for fun reads I normally wouldn't pick up. Of course that's harder these days, with my local bookstore having been Borders and now it is closed. But that's another trip during vacation- a favorite Indie bookstore that's just a little too far for a regular weekly visit. But back to summer reading... How about a classic?Or something just for fun?

Classics aren't what you normally think of as summer reading, but what better time really to relax with some wonderful writing that you can simply immerse yourself in... My thoughts turn to Faulkner today just for that... One of the great Southern writers of our time, you can expect wonderful complex characters that lend themselves to interesting settings....

Light in August by William Faulkner... Quick blurb about this book: "In a small town everyone knows everyone's business, but who really knows the heart of a man? Lena Grove and Joe Christmas are both searching—Lena, for the father of her unborn child, and Joe, for his place in this world. Their parallel journeys will lead to horrific tragedy—and a small ray of hope." This is the first book where William Faulkner confronts racism head-on. It's also said to be his most accessible read, with a plot not as complex as say, The Sound and the Fury, but still a fulfilling read.

OK, so classics may not be part of your summer reading, how about imaginative and fantastical? For a very long time I've been meaning to read German writer Walter Moers. He has a cult like following with readers worldwide, and his books are like zany fairytales for adults. Fantastic settings and wild characters.

The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers... From Overlook Press: "A bluebear has twenty-seven lives. I shall recount thirteen and a half of them in this book but keep quiet about the rest, says the narrator of Walter Moers s epic adventure. What about the

Minipirates What about the Hobgoblins, the Spiderwitch, the Babbling Billows, the Troglotroll, the Mountain Maggot . . . Mine is a tale of mortal danger and eternal love, of hair s breadth, last-minute escapes. Welcome to the fantastic world of Zamonia, populated by all manner of extraordinary characters. It s a land of imaginative lunacy and supreme adventure, wicked satire and epic fantasy, all mixed together, turned on its head, and lavishly illustrated by the author."

And the world of Zamonia doesn't end with Captain Bluebear either. There are 3 more books in the series with equally great characters and fun!

Still in fantasy, but a YA choice that adults can certainly enjoy is a surprise from author China Meiville. You may know Meiville from his recent hit Kraken, and Perdido Street Station, both Sci-fi award winners for adults. But inbetween those books was a little known book called Un Lun Dun, written for Young Adults, but filled with "magic, monsters, quests, and heroes" fit for any Harry Potter loving adult...

Un Lun Dun by China Meiville... From School Library Journal: In present-day London, strange things start happening around Zanna: dogs stop to stare at her, birds circle her head. Then, she and her friend Deeba find themselves in an alternate reality where obsolete objects such as old typewriters eventually "seep" and strange people and creatures dwell, including sentient "unbrellas." The girls learn that Zanna is the chosen one, the "shwazzy," of UnLondon. However, her first fight with the nefarious Smog isn't what was predicted in the book of prophecies.

Un Lun Dun has been on my shelves for a very long time, but I think I'm dusting it off during my two weeks of undivided reading attention!

What are you reading this summer?! Are your vacation reads different than your regular reading? I would love to hear what you're reading these days! And I'm happy to be back reading myself instead of playing with code and passwords!

Happy reading... Suzanne

Banned Books Week... A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

It was a dark and stormy night... in the world of banned books!

How can you not just love a story that starts out with, " It was a dark and stormy night."! As part of Banned Books Week I decided I would open the beloved children's classic (and challenged book), A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle and hop on board for an amazing time traveling adventure with Meg, Calvin and Charles Wallace. And what an adventure it was! I met three unearthly strangers (Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which), traveled to Uriel where I took a ride on a beautiful centaur with wings up to the tallest mountains that disappeared into the clouds, I took a terrifying trip to Camazotz, a dark planet, where the dark force there wanted to take away my individuality, but who was finally defeated by love, and I met other strange creatures that were as curious about me as I was about them (tentacles and all) Oh, and I almost forgot... I learned about a tesseract, which of course is a wrinkle in time.

The story centers around the Murry family, whose parents are scientists. Mr. Murry has disappeared after a government experiment, which we later find out has to do with time travel. Mrs. Murry and her 4 children, Meg, Charles Wallace, Denny and Sandy, and faithful dog Fortinbras continue with their lives while waiting to hear from Mr. Murry. It's been a year with no word, rumors abound, and Meg is getting ever so impatient. When one dark and stormy night a stranger enters their lives, Meg learns that there is a way to find her father and hopefully bring him home. With the help of her younger brother Charles Wallace and soon to be best friend Calvin, they are whisked off through time and space to places unknown...

A classic story of the battle between good and evil, Madeline L'Engle has created a wonderful fantasy world, with a perfect protagonist in Meg that any young girl of a certain age can relate to, who struggles with being "different" from the other kids she goes to school with (awkward AND with glasses), but who eventually comes to appreciate her own uniqueness. The writing is wonderful, with passages that seem to be a feast for the eyes...

"They left the great granite plain and flew over a garden even more beautiful than anything in a dream. In it were gathered many of the creatures like the one Mrs. Whatsit had become, some lying among the flowers some swimming in a broad, crystal river that flowed through the garden, some flying in what Meg was sure must be a kind of dance, moving in and out abover the trees. They were making music, music that came not only from their throats but from the movement of their great wings as well."

Why has A Wrinkle in Time been repeatedly challenged? It was first challenged, but retained, in 1985 by a parent of a Polk City, Fl. Elementary School student contending that the story promoted witchcraft, crystal balls and demons. Then it was challenged in 1990 in the Anniston, Alabama schools because someone felt that the book sends a mixed signal to children about good and evil. The complaint also objected to listing the name of Jesus Christ together with the names of great artists, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders when referring to defenders of Earth against evil. In 1996 it was also challenged, but retained, by the Catawba County School Board in Newton, N.C. A parent requested the book be pulled from the school libraries because it allegedly undermines religious beliefs.

"What a child doesn’t realize until he is grown is that in responding to fantasy, fairly tale, and myth he is responding to what Erich Fromm calls the one universal language, the one and only language in the world that cuts across all barriers of time, place, race, and culture. Many Newbery books are from this realm, beginning with Dr. Dolittle; books on Hindu myth, Chinese folklore, the life of Buddha, tales of American Indians, books that lead our children beyond all boundaries and into the one language of all mankind." ...From Madeline L'Engle Newbery Award acceptance speech

If you haven't read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle, I highly recommend it! It was 190 pages of pure pleasure. And the adventures don't stop there either- Madeline L'Engle wrote a series of books about the Murry family called The Time Quartet, which includes A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. Did you read this challenged book as a child?! I wish I had! *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!