Readers

The final Harry Potter movie is coming out this month. If you liked reading the Harry Potter series and the Chronicles of Narnia series, try reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman. This is a book about magic with dark overtones. The main character, Quentin, is a high school senior who has always loved the “Chronicles of Fillory” and feels disconnected with his world. He goes for a college interview only to find the interviewer dead and a strange paramedic there who gives him an envelope that leads him to Brakebills, a college for magicians.

What’s a good book to read reminds me of a person standing in front of an open refrigerator asking what’s good to eat. In both cases the answer depends on the person’s mood and taste. Is the person looking for something sweet or spicy? Substantial or indulgent? Comforting or unusual? Both food and books can have these characteristics. Moods and tastes can also change during the year. The person who wants to read light romances in summer may change to suspense by Halloween, then inspirational stories for Christmas, followed by acclaimed literary novels, and then an intriguing biography.

Every year I say to myself: keep track of everything you read. Write down every title and author. Each year around March I realize I forgot to do it. Last year, I finally started—in June. It has been an exciting and interesting way to track what I’m reading and how much I read. The journal has shown me that I average a book a week.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (SEP to her fans who are known as "Seppies") has a new book out titled Call Me Irresistible. If you enjoyed her previous book, What I Did for Love, you will love this one too. The small Texas town of Wynette wasn't prepared for the whirlwind named Meg Koranda. When Meg arrives to be maid of honor at her best friend's wedding - to the town's golden boy - she creates turmoil everywhere she goes.

This book is a little different from what I usually read, but I like to read books that have a Wisconsin connection. The author Madeleine Roux went to Beloit College and started a fiction blog which is the basis for this book. The main character Allison is a graduate student in Madison and working at a bookstore when the zombie apocalypse breaks out. She is able to connect to the Snet—a secret military emergency Internet—when she can find electricity to recharge her laptop computer and write her blog.

Did you ever dress up in one of your Mom’s old dresses and play “wedding” as a child? I know I did. Our poor family dog had to endure hours of wearing one of Dad’s ties in my pretend weddings. Every once in a while a book series comes along that has all the right ingredients for a romance lover like me. Nora Robert’s takes those childhood dream weddings and brings them to life in the pages of her Bride Quartet series.

I enjoy reading books that have a Wisconsin connection. By that I mean the book has a Wisconsin setting or the author is from Wisconsin. I just finished reading a new book, Wingshooters by Nina Revoyr. The author grew up in Japan, Wisconsin, and California, and the book is set in central Wisconsin. There are autobiographical elements in Wingshooters. Both the author and the main character have a Japanese mother and a white American father and have English Springer Spaniel dogs.