"The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message." - Acts 15:31

Wow! So I put a counter on the blog, and we're over 200 hits in less than a day. Totally cool. I brought up my blog on a different computer and the header graphic was chopped off completely - on my widescreen monitor it looks fine, but if you have a small monitor, this page might not look as great. I apologize to Linda, Megan, and Bobaloo who get chopped out of the picture.

Okay - I need to stop for one second. As I am blogging, sitting on my couch next to the window, a van outside came to a slow stop. When I looked out, presumably making eye contact with the driver (I can't tell), the van speeds off. The same van just did that twice. Creepy.

Back to it now...okay, I feel a little guilty. I work in a library and I haven't offered a single tip for a good book to read. As it's the summer, I personally go for thrillers. As well written as some books are, the dramatic sad stuff is just something I have a hard time getting into. So if you are a romance, heart-tugging, sapfest type of fan, you may not love the following suggestions. If you want the perfect summer reading list for adventurers though, read on. If you're like Justin from the show "I Survived a Japanese Game Show", you will find this post of no use as the only time he reads it's off a bottle of alcohol so he knows what to pour into the shot glass next. Oh, just kidding - that's just a jab in response to this video Bobaloo took on YouTube. Here we go:

First off on my "must-read" list is Intensity by Dean Koontz. This is truly the only book to ever keep me up at night. Koontz creates the best villain in modern beach reading history, in my humble opinion. The nightmarish yarn is about a young woman out to save the life of her best friend from within the grasps of a killer who has already taken the lives of countless others. It's a race against time, and it kept me turning pages faster than I ever have. If it gives you nightmares, don't say I didn't warn you.

A little less horror based, but still immensely entertaining is White Cargo by Stuart Woods. What if you thought your family was murdered, but a few months after the crime you got a mysterious phone call from one of the people you assumed was killed? That is the basic premise to this thrilling book that shows a father's dedication and bravery all to save a loved one amidst the backdrop of the dangerous Colombian drug culture. They actually have made two quite horrible movies that draw from this book for inspiration, "Dead Calm" with Nicole Kidman and "Collateral Damage" with Ahhhhhhnold, but neither comes close to doing the source material justice.

If you want to try something a little different, Standoff by Sandra Brown may be just the thing. Telling the story of a convenience store hold-up, Brown uses the "real-time" element to tell the story. It's a really fast read that while slightly hokey, still keeps the pages flying until the dramatic conclusion.

More on the literature side, but still incredible, is one of, if not my, favorite novels I have ever read. The Road by Cormac McCarthy is one of those books that takes a little while to "get into", but once you do, you will be sucked in and never want it to end. This is not a geeky sci-fi novel, but it does take place in the near future after nuclear war has left mankind is disarray. Most of the world's population is assumed dead, but two survivors, a father and a son, are embarking on a journey south. The two follow a road in hopes of finding a better life - finding an area where cannibals aren't seeking human flesh to eat due to a food shortage. I feel like my description of this story doesn't begin to do it justice, but trust me, it's great!

Those should get you started. If you have any further suggestions, or have read any of the above books, comment below. Remember, you don't have to be an official Blogger user to comment. Peace!