Books for June

Fall and winter are my favorite seasons, it's true. And when we lived in North Carolina, I'll have to admit that summer was down at the very bottom of my "List of Things I Get Excited About."Okay, I'll be honest... summer was nowhere near even getting on that list.But now that we've returned to the north, where winters actually exist and summers stay well below 100 degrees for the majority of the time (and even below 90!), I have to admit that I am remembering all the things there are to love about summer. Flip flops, shorts, flowers, butterflies, long days (and the ability to enjoy all of these things without melting into a puddle), swimming, bike rides, hiking, and, of course, reading. Reading is good year-round, of course, but there's something special about summer reading, isn't there?Which brings us to another round of NIGHTSTAND BOOKS! This is an original meme created by myself and DJ Edwardson, where we post on the first Wednesday of each month a picture of our nightstand and the stack of books thereupon, and then we gush about how excited we are to read those books. Feel free to join in the fun with your own picture/post and/or comment!So, to kick off the summer right, here is my nightstand's current line-up:You will notice that the stack is short and there are a couple of repeats, what with Aeronaut's Windlass and Two Years Before the Mast gracing my nightstand once again. I did not get to either of those books in May. I am now about a quarter of the way through The Aeronaut's Windlass and am thoroughly enjoying it. Jim Butcher's writing style is just brilliant, as always, and I am pleased to be reading a book of his that I feel I can actually recommend! Derek has already finished the audio version of this book and says it remains quite clean all the way through. So that's an added bonus. I love his Dresden Files, but I cannot recommend them.I have read the foreward and first chapter of Two Years Before the Mast so far and have really just fallen in love with it. I have already picked up some lovely terms to add to my ship-lingo-vocabulary, and am thinking that this is going to be 1) a fantastic adventure to read about and 2) extremely helpful for when I dive into editing Minstrel's Call. It will also help me out with some of my airship terminology for Turrim Archive. Win-win!I am also continuing to participate in the Fellowship of Fantasy Indie Book Club, and this month's read is Alora: The Wander Jewel. I got the free ebook, and then couldn't bring myself to read another book on the iPad, so I went ahead and ordered the paperback. (I am writing up a review of my experience reading my first e-book... keep an eye out for that in the near future).And, yes, that is a dragon coloring page. I never have time to color, but I couldn't resist this!As my lovely plaque there says, Adventure is Out There, dear Readers! I hope you find new adventures this summer... both in the real world, and in the realm of fiction.Tell me, what books are currently on your nightstand? Let me know in the comments, or write a blog post of your own and leave a link in the comments, I'd love to hear about what you're reading or plan to read this month!