LAUREN PIESTER
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Thursday, May 8, 2008

RECENTLY, I HAVE gone on a total reading spree. Every free moment I've had in the past week (when I wasn't catching up on a little bit of extremely important television) I have spent reading.

With the summer and its ample reading time coming up, I thought I would take a moment to recommend some of my favorite books/series to you.

• You should know this

British, about wizards. Wildly popular. Filled with magic and snakes and unicorns and giant spiders and werewolves and British slang and awesomeness.

And for those of you who think I'm obsessed now, you didn't know me in fifth grade. And you didn't want to.

• “The Giver” by Lois Lowry

About a young boy named Jonas living in a community in which no one makes any decisions for themselves. Everyone's jobs and spouses are carefully chosen for them by a committee. There is no color, no weather. When Jonas gets his job assignment, he begins to learn about how the world used to be, before the committees of scientists took over.

This concept of Jonas' society, one totally controlled by careful scientific observation, is really interesting, and really makes you look at the world in a new way. The book is fairly short, and straightforward. There's even a movie scheduled to be made once David Yates is done with “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

• “An Abundance of Katherines” by John Green

A former math prodigy named Colin has just graduated high school and has been dumped by his girlfriend, Katherine — the 19th girl named Katherine he has dated. He sets off with his friend on a road trip and a quest to figure out why he keeps getting dumped, and why he keeps dating Katherines.

I first was introduced to John Green and his brother, creator of ecogeek.org, by the video “Accio Deathly Hallows.” The Green brothers decided to not communicate by text for an entire year, so they took turns recording a video blog to each other every day to post online. The project, called Brotherhood 2.0, developed a huge fanbase as they talked about their lives, pop culture, politics, the environment, and, most importantly, books. I spent my winter break catching up on their videos, and felt that I had to read one of John's books.

He also wrote “Looking for Alaska,” which I haven't gotten to read yet but plan to. His latest book, “Paper Towns,” is set to be released in October.

• Anything by Scott Westerfeld

The settings of Westerfeld's books are extremely interesting, with an incredible attention to detail. From a future of required extreme plastic surgery (“Uglies”), to a plausible scientific reasoning for vampires (“Peeps”), to an extra secret hour in the day meant for only those who were born at precisely midnight (“Midnighters”), his books are always thought-provoking and thrilling.

If you're really interested in consumerism, he also has another book called “So Yesterday” about a couple of teenagers working for market research for a very popular athletic shoe company.

Westerfeld also happens to be friends with John Green and is featured in some of John's Brotherhood 2.0 videos.

• “Size 12 is Not Fat,” “Size 14 is Not Fat Either,” “Big Boned” by Meg Cabot

OK, you can easily tell from the titles that these are rather girly books, but they aren't nearly as bad as you think.

When Heather Wells was 15, she was whisked out of high school by her mother to perform hit pop songs on mall tours around America. She was extremely famous with tween girls, and was dating the lead singer of an even more widely popular boy band. Now, quite a few pounds heavier, she's in her late 20s and just walked in on the aforementioned boyfriend cheating on her with another pop sensation.

Now, she's moved into the rental apartment owned by his older brother, whom she happens to be in love with, and she's taken a job as an assistant director at a New York college residence hall. But people in her residence hall keep dying, so she tries to figure out why.

Does it sound stupid? Yes. But it's not. Heather is smart and funny, but also incredibly normal and relatable, despite her unorthodox teenage years. The books are clever, the plots interesting, and even sometimes incredibly thrilling.

Meg Cabot's books may not have an incredible amount of intellectual value, but they're entertaining, to say the least. Give them a try before you make fun of me for loving them so much.

• “The Princess Bride” by William Goldman

Most people know this title from the hilarious 1987 movie, but in my opinion, the book is even funnier. Buttercup, the most beautiful girl in the entire world, is madly in love with a farm boy named Westley, but he doesn't think he's good enough for her, so he sets off around the world to fill his mind with knowledge and to become more worthy of her. On the way, he's captured by pirates, and Buttercup is forced to marry the really nasty Prince Humperdink.

As with the Meg Cabot books, don't knock it 'til you've tried it. It sounds like your typical fantasy novel, and it does have giants, pirates, sword-fighting, and other fantasy genre must-haves, but it also has rodents of unusual size, quicksand, a fireswamp, a six-fingered man, torture, rescuing, rhyming, poison, and is just a hilarious, extremely well-written story.

• “The Westing Game” by Ellen Raskin

I first read this in elementary school, and it's really written for kids more of that age, but I still really enjoy reading it.

Sixteen people move into a brand new apartment complex called Sunset Towers. They all just happened to be the heirs of the recently deceased Sam Westing, the rich proprietor of a big paper company, whose mansion can be seen from the apartment building. However, they have to compete in a game of puzzles to get the money. There's murder, explosions, mind games, puzzles, and a lot of mystery.

If you've got any other good book suggestions, leave a comment. I'll need some to keep me occupied over the summer, especially on the off chance that I can't find a job.