Summer Readin' Had Me A Blast!

Here are my summer reads so far:

My summer reading began with The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Last year, my workplace was undergoing many changes. A colleague of mine mentioned that she felt a character in a Kafka novel with all the craziness on the job. I had never read Kafka, so I didn't know what she meant. After reading The Metamorphosis, I got it! Unfortunately, sometimes our societies bureaucracies alienate individual human beings. Kafka's novel is a great read with some important societal issues. How would you treat someone, especially a member of your family if he or she morphed into a giant bug?

After The Metamorphosis, I wanted a lighter read. So I perused the young adult fiction section of the library. I found a great read titled Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. I would categorize Airborn as a fantasy, historical fiction, pirate-adventure novel. If you want to be swept into the world of passenger airships (like the Hindenburg), and see a young man overcome great obstacles in a world of fantastical flying felines, check this book out.

I guess summer is the time to fly with young adult novels, because my next read was titled Bird by author Rita Murphy. It is quintessential children's literature: a young girl, separated from her parents, in the hands of an emotionally cold and reclusive woman, tries to make friends with a curious and free-spirited boy. She lives in a house with mysteries and dark secrets seeping through the wall cracks. This novel swept me away into a world where young, skinny girls need to wear heavy boots during strong winds.

Currently, the novel The Vanishing of Katharina Linden sits on the table next to my computer. The cover is orange, sweet-potato orange in fact. The title and name of the author are written in capital block letters inside of the outline of a black cat. I've read 1/4 of the way through, and love this debut novel by London-born Helen Grant. It is a mystery/supernatural novel set in a small German town. Per the title, a young girl disappears during a Karneval parade. If you read this novel, pay special attention to the amazing description of the cats creeping from the "darkest corners" into the mill found in chapter 9. I'll add more when I have finished this one...I can't wait to keep reading!

Okay, so I finished The Vanishing of Katharina Linden. It was a great read, and I found myself staying up way past my bedtime in my bed reading way more chapters than I planned to before I fell into bed. The mystery of the disappearing girl kept me intrigued and the creepy supernatural stuff added another dimension to the story.

Now I am reading The Art of Racing in the Rain because I have this weakness for books about dogs. I know that most of those dog books will end with a dead dog, and this one is no exception. In fact, the author makes the inevitable demise of the dog very clear in the first chapter. I started crying--hysterical sobbing--during the first chapter. I'll keep reading and I am sure more tears will fall.