First, the new issue of Bookslut is up which includes a column on good summer reading by ME and a review of Guy Gavriel Kay's UNDER HEAVEN where I explain all the reasons why I thought it was awesome.

I also urge you to read Barbara King's feature where she makes some recommendations and discusses the "four pleasures of summer books". (I have not yet read the whole issue and I'm sure there is much fabulousness to be found elsewhere also.)

Secondly, I am going up to AK for a niece's wedding and a family reunion with the in-laws and because I have a need to do some research that can only happen in the UAF library and this means that while there will be much running around of small children (to include my own) and some business meetings (because we do lots of business up there) and a lot of eating and laughing and looking for moose and four-wheeling and other Alaskan loveliness, MOSTLY I plan to do some reading and writing. (I've been very up front about this to everyone - "look for me in a chair under the tree in the backyard. Please do not look for me often.")

There is one short story I plan to finish the first draft on and some book sketching/drafting to do and a boatload of note-taking to immerse myself in (of course) but ALSO I'll be reading. Here's what I'm taking:

Five books for Booklist, all with reviews due by August 3rd. Clearly the fall book season is upon us. None of them are overly long (thank goodness) and the mix is quite good. I have one on global warming, one on pollution, one on a modern ship accident in AK, one on Abu Dhabi ("the world's richest city"!) and a memoir of an American in China. The environmental books will likely suck the life out of me but as I read these books a lot (my editor specializes in them), I'm used to have a mild freakout going on in my head at all times.

Who said reviewing was all glamorous?

For other review reading I've got these books going with me:

DREADNOUGHT by Cherie Priest (more steampunk goodness); THE THIEF OF BROKEN TOYS by Tim Lebbon (from ChiZine - I think I'm in for an emotional and subtly scary ride with this one); THE HAUNTING OF CHARLES DICKENS by Lewis Buzbee (I fell hard for his earlier MG book Steinbeck's Ghost); OVER THE EDGE by Norah McClintock (a YA mystery that had me with its Veronica Mars overtones..plus it's a little book so easy to fit!); JANE by April Lindner (a modern YA retelling of Jane Eyre - can't be resisted); CURSE OF THE WOLF GIRL by Martin Millar, (sequel to Lonely Werewolf Girl which I adore - more of the same can only be good).

And then for personal reading:

FRAGILE EDGE by Maria Coffey about her love affair with mountain climber Joe Tasker and life after his death on Everest. I've been reading a lot about George Mallory for the book I'm working on and this one comes highly recommended all over the place for understanding the men who engage in this sport and the appeal of Everest.

A FIELD GUIDE TO GETTING LOST by Rebecca Solnit - she is a bit of a tonic to me in all sorts of readerly/writerly ways, I'm looking forward to this one grounding me as I write.

And then some magazines - the latest SMITHSONIAN, OXYGEN, VANITY FAIR and the "Best of the South" issue of OXFORD AMERICAN. Whatever shows up in the next couple of days will get added here as well. (This would be car reading.)

So yes, I'm a wee bit crazy but I can not bear the notion that I will be there with time on my hands and nothing to read or be surrounded by books that do not fit my mood. As we are driving I don't have to concern myself with the weight involved so I lost my mind a bit and just got everything I wanted. I'll be sure to report later on just how far I got.