Subway Reads

In the excitement of a week(end) that was summer, I've been a little lax about posting. However, as Adam reminded me yesterday, there are people out there who actually read this thing, and yes, The Kite Runner is an excellent novel. I finished Paul Malmont's The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril last week. If pirates were not considered necessary to the definition of swashbuckling, well, then it'd be a swift, swashbuckling, white-knuckled yarn. If you like your men square-jawed, your women passionate, and your adventures impossibly resolvable, then you'll need to make room in your beach bag.

In other subway news, Voodoo Lounge is staking a claim for itself with multiple sightings in the past two weeks. According to a Booklist review,

"The term voodoo lounge refers to the machine-gun nest on the port bow of a ship. Reading this startling novel is the literary equivalent of standing watch on that perch."

Author Christian Bauman is a contributor to All Things Considered and former soldier, whose first book The Ice Beneath You received some nice praise as well. Something to check out in the weeks to come.

After the jump, the top five for the week and a brief plea for your summer favorites.