Do Try to Speak As We Do: The Diary of an American Au Pair, Marjorie Leet Ford

Light and sweet like cotton candy, this book is part coming-of-age story, part cultural commentary. Narrator Melissa leaves behind a called-off wedding and unemployment to care for a Parliament member's three children and suffer the biting tongue of their mother while she does it. Melissa clings to sanity my writing letters and keeping a journal describing life in England. "Do Try to Speak As We Do" is quite funny; Ford has skirted the edge of saccharine successfully. A book for the beach, not meant for those seeking something to sink their teeth into.

Blackwood Farm, Anne Rice

I don't know why I read this. I didn't want to. I needed a book to read on the plane and this one wasn't even a handy paperback, since I got it in the library. It's a terrible book. Anne Rice's original books about vampires at least had the advantage of being something new in the world of vampire fiction; the glow is definitely off. Unless you are a die-hard fan of Rice or have some kind of serious vampire fixation, do something fun like clean your bathroom with the time you would have wasted reading this.

Oh, the plot? Well, a fabulously weathly and beautiful young man is made unwillingly into a vampire. The real problems start when the spirit that has been attached to him since a boy (well, of course there was a spirit attached to him!) gets a taste for blood. Enter the vampire Lestat (you remember Lestat, don't you?) and about 500 pages of excrutiatingly boring and decidedly distasteful family history before they solve his little problem and go off to have their little vampire sex party.

The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown

The Da Vinci Code is quick read and an ideal book for people looking for a smart, engaging book to read on a plane. It's a step above your standard airplane book, and certainly the subject material is well beyond the usual book of that kind. This is the story of a Harvard symbologist and a French cryptologist who are thrown into an unlikely Grail quest during a murder investigation. The fast-paced book contains secret societies, conspiracy theories, hidden treasures, and religious revelations. The author was clearly a fan of plot twists, as the ending of the book involves several. Wisely, Brown also resists a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" scene in which God makes an appearance.

In the Forests of Serre, Patricia A. McKillip

I have several friends who like to read but really don't have time for fantasy. This is not the book for them. In the Forests of Serre is entirely a work of fantasy, including princesses, magic and witches. Princess Sidonie of Dacia is sent to Serre to marry its recently widowed prince, who isn't all that interested in cooperating with his father's plans for his future. Sidonie travels with a sorcerer sent along to protect her but things go awry when the untamed magic of Serre corrupts him and he begins to steal the prince's identity. Add an irresistible firebird/woman, a witch fixated on chickens and a terrible monster to the mix and you've got a good read with a reasonably happy ending.

The Dormant Beast, Enki Bilal

Ugh. I'm a big fan of graphic novels, and this one was pretty awful -- melodramatic, and predictable. Women, apparently, also only have one face. They can have different hair, but they all have the same face.

The Last Man (Book 1), Brian Vaughn

This is a graphic novel premised on an interesting idea -- what happens if every man and every male animal on earth dies simultaneously. Who runs the government? What kind of social structures come into play? And then it falls apart when it becomes apparent that really what the book is about is the sole remaining man on earth. Oh, and his pet monkey. Do I really need to say more about this?

Enchantment, Daphne Merkin

This book reminded me of how I felt after reading Angela's Ashes, which is to say, damn depressed. The main character, Hannah, is the ultimate in unsympathetic heroines. She's whiny, self-centered and fixated on an abusive relationship with her mother. I'll admit that her mother does pretty much seem like a bitch, and was certainly cold, but I also spent the entire book (during which no real action happens) mentally screaming at Hannah to grow up and get a life. I suspect that the book is highly autobiographical, and if I don't ever get to meet Merkin I think I'll be fine with that.