Summer Reading

I don't actually make lists for summer reading, though I do tend to notice that my reading gets lighter and more fun. I know, you thought it was already light and fun! Oh, I can do better, believe me.

Right now, I'm having a blast working my way back through my favorite space opera series, set in the Liaden Universe. They have one cliff hanger after another, an imaginative universe, and the series doesn't let you down through the entire storyline.

To give you a brief idea of where these books begin, here's a good summary from an Amazon review by a fan:

Val Con yos'Phelium, Clan Korval, future Delm and Second Speaker, was just doing a routine mission on some backwater planet in the middle of the universe when his life changed. After completing his mission, he encountered a small spitfire of a woman and saved her life, for which she promptly repaid him by bashing his head in. When Val Con woke up, the spitfire dumped him, but Val Con was intrigued, so he followed her and saved her life again. Now Miri Robertson, whose life he had saved twice, was forced to deal with Val Con, honor demanded it. She was intrigued by Val Con, whom she nicknamed "Tough Guy", but definitely didn't want a partner. As a former mercenary and bodyguard, she could handle herself and, as a target for the powerful Juntavas crime ring, she couldn't trust anyone...

However, both Val Con and Miri, both of whom were used to working alone, soon found that they worked well as partners, at least they would if Miri would stop trying to ditch Val Con at every opportunity. Val Con knew that Miri was something special, she made him feel things that he hadn't felt in years, she made him feel alive again. Miri didn't know what was wrong with Val Con, but she knew it had something to do with what he called The Loop, some kind of brain implant that gave him the odds of success on every mission/action he made. As they grew closer together, both Val Con and Miri realized that the Department of the Interior, who had trained Val Con as an agent, must have some ulterior motive in plan. But in order to find out what it was, they had to stay alive...

In order, the books I'm reading are:

• Agent of Change
• Carpe Diem
• Plan B
• I Dare

I'm not a fan of Conflict of Honors which precedes the above books though, of course, some may be. I am a fan of the two prequels to the above series.

• Local Custom (Shan's parents' story)
  
• Scout's Progress (about Val Con's parents) ... you can hear a sample of Scout's Progress when I featured it as an author excerpt at Forgotten Classics.
  

This post was prompted by The Anchoress's summer book reading roundup. She has a ton of good links.

As well, don't miss Tiber River's excellent collection of book lists which are oriented to Catholic reading. In fact, my list of books for Catholics to read is there too. Tiber River is being run by Aquinas and More online Catholic store, which also has a summer reading program to check out.