What's a vacation without books?

No, that's not a riddle. And if you want some books for your vacation, enter my two contests that close today. Winners will be announced tomorrow.

On mine, I managed to buy two books in one of the town's used bookshops. (They had stuff for more than 50% off!)

YVAIN: The Knight of the Lion by Chretein de Troyes, trans. Burton Raffel

I'm excited about this one because I'm a huge de Troyes fan. I've read William Kibler's line-by-line and prose translations of this piece, so I was excited to find another translation.

THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence

I haven't read any Lawrence yet, but my mom likes him and I hadn't seen this one before. It looks pretty cool - I just hope I can get to it with everything else I have to read!

On the trip, I read many of the books I packed:



TALES OF THE MADMAN UNDERGROUND by John Barnes

A full review of this one is coming, but I can pretty much tell you that it was awesome. It looks thick, but it was really fast reading.

CRACKED UP TO BE by Courtney Summers

I won this one from Liv, who is taking a vacation herself. It wasn't quite what I expected from reviews, but I really enjoyed it. I think I actually enjoyed it more now than I would've last year, since I've had some more experience with drunk people. Generally, they're seriously ineffectual.

JOLTED by Arthur Slade

I won this forever ago from the author and thought it looked really cool. I promptly never had time to read it. It was a little young for me, but I enjoyed that Slade played around with format. I do wish we learned why lighting was attracted to the Starkers, but I accept that sometimes these things aren't explained.

SANTA OLIVIA by Jacqueline Carey

A full review of this one is coming, but it lived up to my expectations of Carey. Romance, action, superheroes, minor political intrigue . . . everything I like wrapped up in excellent prose.

BLOODY GOOD by Georgia Evans

A full review of this one is coming, as well as a giveaway and interview. I'll give you a hint: it's gonna be part of my summer theme. I liked that the vampires were bad guys - it's different from most of what's on the paranormal market right now.

EYES LIKE STARS by Lisa Mantchev

A full review of this one is coming, and it luckily falls neatly into my summer theme. The first chapter didn't quite pull me in, but then I fell in love. I can't wait for the other two acts to fill in the plots and questions left dangling. Mantchev gives enough to satisy and still have you come back for more.

SHE'S SO MONEY by Cherry Cheva

I bought this one after meaning to read it for a long time. So, so cute, and Cheva did a great job with the love interest. Really, I think colleges should be impressed by Maya's multi-thousand dollar cheating ring. That shows she has a head for management.

THE LOST HOURS by Karen White

A full review of this one is coming, and my mom read it after I was finished because she thought it looked interesting. It had it's problems, but it did finish strong. Not the best I read on vacation, but still fine for relaxing with.

HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET by Jamie Ford

My full review is already posted. It pretty much says it all.

WILLOW by Julia Hoban

I'm about 100 pages away from finishing this one, so it doesn't really count. But here's how to freak yourself out: read a book about a girl dealing with killing her parents in a car crash on a rainy night. Then drive your mother while it's raining. Although I realize I'm a very experienced 20-year-old rather than a 15-year-old with nothing but a permit. And I'm really glad I'm liking it because I enjoy e-mailing Julia and was afraid to tell her I didn't like the book.

This one managed to sneak out of the photo, but I did read it:



EON by Alison Goodman

This one may or may not have a full review. I must say, I had to put it down at one point. Then I had to remind myself that Eon was sixteen and rarely had to make decisions for himself before the book's beginning, as well as being mostly uneducated. I'm a trained intellectual with a talent for proofs and a feminist side. I cannot expect the character to put the pieces together in the same way I can. It would be stupid.

Of course, I packed several I didn't get to:



HOW TO BUY A LOVE OF READING by Tanya Egan Gibson

MS. TAKEN IDENTITY by Dan Begley

A CERTAIN STRAIN OF PECULIAR by Gigi Amanteau

NOTHING BUT GHOSTS by Beth Kephart

GOING TOO FAR by Jennifer Echols

INDA by Sherwood Smith

Most of these are for review, though INDA is just because I like the author. I also own the rest in the trilogy already, so I need to get cracking.

And I also need to organize. Here's one teeny piece of my room:

That's a box of books and three piles, by my reckoning. Just in case you couldn't tell.