"Picture Perfect" - By Catherine Clark

     Super cute book! (Yelk, that sentence sounds a little too girly for my tastes. But still.) Cute book. Some of the reviews on it say stuff like, "great summer read" and whatnot. Generally, I don't believe them, but after reading it, I have to agree. It is a great summer read; pleasant, cute, not too serious, but fun.

     The story is about Emily, who every few years goes with her family to her dad's college reunion vacation. While "the guys" (dads) reminisce about the good ol' college days, Emily usually hangs with the sons and daughters of the college crew. It had been a long time since she'd seen any of them. And at the look at the good-looking guy that used to be wimpy little Adam, she wonders how everyone else has changed. And if Spencer still remembers the embarrassing declaration of her love from two years back -- ugh, she hopes not. He turned into an arrogant smart-alack anyway, so who cares what he thinks.
     When Heather suggests that she and Emily have a "summer fling", Emily is a little hesitant at first, but agrees, having already set her sights for Blake, the guy next store. But how is she ever going to have a summer fling with Adam and Spencer following them around everywhere? And why does Spencer always come at the most inopportune times and ruin her moments with Blake? It's like he's set on making her vacation miserable. But Emily has already decided: her last summer before going to college is going to be great. Or, should I say, picture perfect.

"The Bermudez Triangle" - By Maureen Johnson

     I didn't finish this book, either. But for a better reason than before. It went against my morals. Note to self: just because you liked a couple of an author's books, doesn't make all of them wonderful. This was fifty cents of hard earned cash down the drain. For a stupid reason too. If I had only read the back cover, I would've seen it coming. But I bought it in a cloud of bargain-happy blindness and didn't stop to even examine it a little. Bad idea.

     Here's how the last paragraph on the back cover reads: "At least she'll soon be reunited with Mel and Avery. But Nina isn't the only one whose life was turned upside down in ten weeks. While Nina was gone, Mel had her first real kiss. With Avery."

     Whoa, whoa, whoa. Say what? Why the heck would I want to read a story about this? I don't. No, thank you. Maureen Johnson, you're starting to lose me.

"The Man Who Loved Books Too Much" - By Allison Hoover Bartlett

   The true story of a thief, a detective, and a world of literary obsession. When I saw the cover of this book, I knew I had to read it. It's about the thief, Gilkey, who steals books to gain a reputation through them. (Confusing?) His perspective is that if he has great, rare, expensive books, he becomes someone great, rare, and expensive. Kind of like a guy who thinks he's physically fit just because he bought the Bum Buster 2000.
    The story is also about Ken Sanders, who's hot on Gilkey's trail, setting up an e-mail system to spot thieves and warn others.

    My favorite part of this book was seeing how far someone would truly go for a book. I mean, I love books, don't get me wrong. But I love the content, not the shelf life. I've bought many a book that looks like it's been thrown up on, had ABC gum smeared on the cover, torn, water damaged, and one that didn't even have a cover because it was ripped out somehow. (Yes, all these were also second hand.) But hey, if it's a good read, it's a good read. At ten cents or ten bucks. So I was introduced to this insane world of three digit and up prices for a book, and whoo. That's a lot.

     Another thing that this book makes you think of is, "is that old classic grandma passed down to me really worth something?" You start wondering.

     Anyway, back to the book. I actually didn't finish this one. (This wouldn't be an honest critique if I didn't tell you this.) It wasn't because it wasn't a good book. It was really interesting. I just felt like things were repeating themselves and becoming monotonous, like they do in real life. Gilkey would steal, yet another, book and feel like it was a piece of cake. And Sanders would get another complaint about a stolen book. My main question was: will Gilkey ever learn? Will he be set straight and understand how it's wrong? What will become of him?

     So, I cheated. Yes, yes. Punish me if you must, but I flipped to the end to see what happened. I don't suggest this -- because it's cheating. But in my defence, it was due at the library, and I didn't want all that reading to be for nothing. I wanted to know how it ended. Even though I was a little taken back by the ending, I would still suggest this to those who are curious to how insane your love for a book can be.