I hate the “holiday season”. It could be because I had a bad childhood, or because I now work a retail job, or maybe it’s just seasonal depression. I don’t really know. In any case, I tend to do what I can to distract myself from the madness that surrounds me as much as possible, and just get through it.

This year, I have been escaping by reading books that have nothing at all to do whatsoever with Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwaanza, Winter Solstice, Festivus, or the rest of the buffet of merrymaking.

So, here you go. Those of you feeling as “grinchy” as I am will like these books right now. The rest of you, I am guessing, will just want to read them a month or so from now. Whatever works for you.

Haweswater by Sarah Hall is a work of fiction based loosely on an actual dam that was built in England WW2. The dam exists, the people and the town in the story are fictional. This book is like reading a painting. I got lost somewhere in the descriptions of the fields and the weather and the changing seasons. Hall makes the reader feel like she is standing there, watching everything that happens, getting rained on, and smelling the farmed earth after the rain. Early on in the book is an extremely dramatic and bloody description of a woman giving birth. This birth produces Janet, a woman who grows up in the little town of Marsdale, following her own rules. One day, a man from the government, Jack, comes to Marsdale, to tell them that their town is doomed. The Hawswater dam is going to be built, and their entire town will be flooded, and everyone will eventually have to leave their home. The book is filled with tension, heartbreak, and unpredictability. I was completely drawn into this world.

The Ghost Map is by Steven Johnson. This is a nonfiction book describing how a cholera epidemic in London in the 1850’s decimated the population. There were two basic problems that allowed this to happen. One, the sewer system that is in London today had yet to exist. Two, people, for the most part, believed that people were getting sick from “bad air”, instead of from how cholera is actually contracted. Reading this book was a lot like watching one of those medical shows, where a few smart people piece together the puzzle of how people are getting sick. I found it fascinating. A warning to the squeamish though, I would not advise reading this book while trying to eat. By necessity, this book spends a whole lot of time talking about excrement, where it collected, and how it smelled. If you can deal with that, then its a great read for anyone with an interest in science, disease, or just what is involved in living in a city.

LOST Endangered Species is another one of the series of books based on the television show. This one is written by Cathy Hapka. Once again, this book focuses on a character that is not in the actual show, and has many of the characters who do appear in the show make cameo appearances. If you like the show LOST, you might like these books. This is the second one I have read, and so far, both have been extremely easy reading. It’s mind candy for those of us who aren’t into romance novels.

This story focuses on Faith, a “treehugger” who has a Ph.D. and specializes in snakes. The book starts right after the plane crash, and Faith remembers the events leading up to her getting on Flight 815. Without giving anything away, I can say she was running from something. She also was trying to find herself, and the story puts her in a series of events where she has to decide to either stand up for herself and her principles, or, keep quiet and let others make decisions she doesn’t agree with. In part of it, Faith is searching the jungle they crashed in, trying to find a bird she thought she saw that was supposedly extinct. Hence the title. Its a quick little mind vacation, and I liked it, but, I don’t think readers who aren’t already fans of the tv show LOST will get much out of it.

So, there are the three books I have been letting my mind dive into lately, as I try to avoid hearing yet another Christmas song on the radio. This is what works for me.

Summer is here, and the weather is hot, humid, and sticky! Looking for a book to read when its too darned hot to focus on much of anything? Then you are in luck! Here are a few books that I have been enjoying lately. All of them are quick, easy, and fun.

Diablo Moon Of The Spider is written by Richard A. Knaak. He is the author of the majority of the books in the Diablo series. These are the books loosely based around the Diablo RPG, but, it is not at all necessary to have played that game to simply be able enjoy these books. This is the fourth book in the series. I recommend that you either have read the third book before starting this one, or, not be upset when this fourth book reveals some of the ending to the third book.

Anyhow, the story is a good one. Two characters from book three, Zayl, (a necromancer who is devoted to restoring the balance between good and evil), and his sidekick Humbart,(a mostly intact skull of a long dead man that Zayl animated in the previous book), are main characters in book four. The main story line surrounds an ancient and misunderstood artifact, power hungry nobles, visits from beyond the grave, zombies, (well, ok, unorthodox zombies, but you get the idea), lots and lots of spiders, (none of whom are friendly), and an ubernecromancer who just may have turned to “the dark side”! This book has nonstop action scenes that really move. Almost as exciting as playing the game itself!

Wishing you could just go vacation on an island somewhere? Maybe you just miss watching some of the good tv that ended right as summer began? If so, then you are in luck! There are now books based on my favorite TV show, “LOST”!

I have only read one of these books so far, but believe there might be a total of three. Each book focuses on a minor character who was also on the island when the plane crashed, and throws in a few of the main characters we all love to make it that much more interesting. It is not simply a repeat of an episode of the tv series!

LOST : Signs Of Life is written by Frank Thompson. The focus of the story is on Jeff Hadley, who was an artist from Scotland before he got on Oceanic Flight 815 and stranded on the island with the rest of the survivors of the plane crash.

Jeff is still creating art, but not the same art he used to create. What he makes now are little sculptures and drawings that have these primitive looking symbols in them, and also some monsters. They scare Jeff. He doesn’t have an answer for the other survivors who ask Jeff where he got the ideas for this new creepy art. All he knows is that he has been getting bad dreams.

Jeff has mostly isolated himself from the rest of he survivors, and spent too much time thinking about his past, his art, his lovers, and his choices. A mystery unfolds as you read through this short book that links Jeff’s past and his current life. Stranger things start to happen after Jeff agrees to go on a boar hunt with Locke, Michael, Charlie, and my favorite character from the tv series, Hurley! Hurley is in this book quite a bit. (There are also brief cameos by Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Jin, Sun, and Walt).

The back cover of the book seems to have a typo. It calls the main character, Jeff Hadley, “Nick Hadley”, and I have no idea why. The front cover of the book has Locke on the cover. That should help you find it.

Too humid to focus on much more than pictures? Try a manga! I just finished reading the second book of the Tsubasa series by Clamp. (You can read my review of Tsubasa volume 1 by looking it up in the past reviews I have done for Bookwyrm U.S.).

Tsubasa volume 2 picks up where volume 1 left off. Sakura is still unconscious, and Sayoran (who loves her) is still trying to restore her memories by finding them in different “worlds”. He is still accompanied by Fai, (a happy go lucky sorcerer), Kurogane, (a disgruntled ninja), and Mokona, (a round, white, animal like thing that can somehow sense when one of Sakura’s memories are nearby). They start out in the world they were still in at the end of volume 1, the Hanshin Republic.

Off they go to try and find the piece of memory. In this volume, they learn what a “Kudan” is, and how to get one. There are many battle scenes, all of which have artwork that seems to move very fast around the page. They meet a few people with very powerful Kudans, battle them, and save a new friend along the way. It is a quick read. Most of this book is exciting, and many parts are funny. The ending has something really good and really bad happen, (and its the same event), and also a scene linking to what might happen in Tsubasavolume 3. I can’t wait to read the next volume!