It's Monday 6/21! What Are You Reading?

Happy Official First Day of Summer and Longest Day of the Year!  Though it seems odd that today is the first day of summer, since it's been 100 degrees every day here in Oklahoma all week.  We've been on vacation, so I've been completely disconnected  from the blogging world.  My father-in-law's next-door neighbors are graciously letting us use their wireless internet while we're here, so I thought I'd pop in for my Monday update.

What an update!  Summer vacation is great reading time, especially for my 15-year old son, Jamie, and me.  Here's what we've been reading lately:

• I just finished Pendragon, Book Nine: Raven Rise by DJ MacHale, and I just have to say...WOW!  I have mentioned many times before  that this is one of our favorite middle-grade/teen series of all time, and it just gets better and better.  I read for hours yesterday as I neared the end of this latest installment.  We usually wait until the books come out in paperback, but I wanted to jump in the car and rush right out to the bookstore last night to buy the final book, Book Ten: The Soldiers of Halla.  It's just so good!!  Jamie was thrilled I finally read book 9 so we could talk aboutit.
• I just started Lisa Scottoline's Everywhere That Mary Went, a book that's been sitting on my shelf for over a year!  I've heard lots of great things about Scottoline's books, and it seemed like a good summer vacation choice.
• Jamie recently finished The Bourne Supremacy (book 2) by Robert Ludlum and LOVED it!  He only recently began reading some adult novels, and he loves the intricate plots.  My father-in-law has the DVD of The Bourne Ultimatum (based on book 3), so we watched that after Jamie finished his book.  Great movies, too.
• Jamie is now reading a brand-new middle-grade/teen fantasy novel (start of a new series, I think) called Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede.  He says it's great so far, with a unique plot that combines historical fiction with fantasy, set in the early American frontier.
• Craig, 12, has been coasting along since school ended and he no longer HAS to read.  He's been occasionally dipping into Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney, though he's never really loved these books - he thinks the main character is kind of mean and doesn't treat his friend well (that's my boy!).  He just got a copy of Sounder by William H. Armstrong, which he has to read during the summer for school, but he hasn't started it yet.
• At bed time, we've been reading aloud from an advance copy of a new book, Hide & Seek by Katy Grant.  The cool thing about this book is that it's a mystery about geocaching, something that we enjoy doing ourselves (it's kind of like a treasure-hunting hike with a GPS).  It's good so far.
• My husband, Ken, has been reading Here There Be Dragons, the first book in the series, The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen.  This is a really cool fantasy series that's especially fun to read because it is chock-full of references to all kinds of kids' literature and has lots of action as well.  The Imaginarium Geographica is an atlas of of all the fictional places from myths, legends, books, and fables that a group of writers has been chosen to protect.  I read and enjoyed the first book, but Jamie's been telling me I need to read the rest of the series (4 so far, I think) - he says it just gets better and better!
• And, in the car, we've been listening to The Oracles of Delphi Keep by Victoria Laurie, a middle-grade fantasy novel that is excellent so far.  Can't wait to get back on the road tomorrow to hear more!

I guess that's it for now.  What are you and your family reading?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey)