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Tomorrow is the last day for the Fog Diver giveaway.  Comment here or on the original post and your name goes in the Oracular Yogurt Cup from which a winner will emerge.   It's a fun Sci-Fi novel for middle grades with a steampunk edge.  I will announce the winner here by noon Eastern time tomorrow and it's up to you to email me at [email protected] with your snail mail address.

And what have I been doing this past week?  Visiting with relatives and reading the latest adventures of pre-teen sleuth and chemist, Flavia De Luce.  When last seen, Flavia found out that she was to be sent off to boarding school in Toronto, CA of all places - far, far from the field of the ancestral De Luce home in merry old England.  Since then, she has starred in a short story - The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse - in which Flavia is called to the local boarding school to figure out what happened to the teacher found dead in a dorm bathtub and plated with copper.  

After that, she is banished to Toronto.  The very first night there, she is assaulted by a classmate and a dessicated corpse rolls out of the dorm room chimney. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust is Flavia's most recent foray into detection.  Far from home, dealing with unfamiliar routines and unwritten rules, given contradictory directions at every turn, it is no wonder that Flavia is often close to tears.  WHAT!!!!???  Not redoubtable Flavia De Luce!  Scourge of older sisters!  Dissembler extraordinaire!  Yes, Flavia ends up sobbing in this novel and, personally, I would have been wailing before the 3rd page, if I was she.  (If there are tears can hormones be far behind?  Perish the thought!)


Luckily, for readers everywhere, I am NOT Flavia.  Flavia fans may have trouble following this book because no one is entirely trustworthy at Buncombe Academy - especially the staff.  There is a lot of cloak and dagger-y spyish stuff.  Flavia gets a little bit closer to what her mother might have been involved in before her disappearance and death.  Don't expect anything but hints and rumors though. 

The mystery at Buncombe involves disappearing students, suspicious Board members, a chemistry teacher suspected of murdering her husband - with poison to Flavia's delight.  That Academy is a hot mess, all the way around. 

The ending made me happy and that is all I will say here. 

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I let out a little sigh of relief when I realized that book two of the Flavia de Luce series is just as great as the first one: fears of a sophomore slump were unfounded. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag finds Flavia again stumbling upon an unexpected death, which turns out to be [...]

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Memorial Day weekend is the traditional kick off for the summer season.  For me, it’s also an excuse to eat more ice cream than I should and it marks the start of a new season of reading.  Although I probably read the most in the winter, when it’s cold outside and toasty warm inside, nothing is quite like a good book at the beach or under a shady tree in the park.

This summer my book club is reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, a debut novel by Jamie Ford.  I also hope to read two books I received for my birthday, The Zookeeper’s Wife and The Piano Teacher.   I’d like to finally get to the last two Harry Potter books as well. (I know I’m way behind the times on this one!)

My complete reading list would probably take me at least 5 years to get through, but still I’m always looking for more good reads.  I asked some of my colleagues what they were reading this summer.  A few were too shy to divulge their “fluff” reads.  (I think summer is the perfect time for some fluff!) Anna said that she’s taking the mystery Mudbound by Hillary Jordan to the beach and Rose said she will be reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Return of Sherlock Holmes and Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

Bonnie is taking on the classics starting with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn followed by a long list that ends with A Farewell to Arms.  Now this is something I’ve always wanted to do but have never had the courage.  Like Bonnie, I somehow missed a lot of classic reading as a kid.

In addition to reading Hidden Kitchens by The Kitchen Sisters by Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva and The Black Book of Hollywood Diet Secrets by Kym Douglas and Cindy Pearlman (her fluff read), Caroline had some fun summer reading plans.  “I plan to read the Complete Adventures of Curious George to my two nephews.  Curious George is my favorite childhood reading and I want to share this anthology with the boys.”

So, what’s on your summer reading list?

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