Books, books

Here in Arizona, we try to escape the heat by visiting Michigan relatives. Just returned from two weeks there of amazingly hot and humid weather. Phoenix is almost more tolerable...

Of course, with a vacation comes summer reading. I struck it rich this year, with the following:

Australian author Markus Zusak's new novel, "The Book Thief," is a fantastic read, and one of the few books I couldn't bear to pass on to my sister-in-law. It's my new favorite book, and I plan to read it again. "Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen was unique and beautiful, about circus performers during prohibition. I'm not much of a fan of detective stories, but I'm halfway through James Lee Burke's "Crusader's Cross." Love his description. I finally pulled "The Flame Tree" by Richard Lewis from my dusty pile of books and loved that as well, and learned a bit about Indonesia in the process. And Ellen Meister's new "Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA" is up next.