Songs of Love and Death edited by Gardner Dozois and George R. R. Martin

This anthology contains a number of stories about love and the supernatural. I liked the Diana Gabaldon story (loosely tied to the Outlander series) and the Jim Butcher story (featuring Harry and Murphy) especially. Most of the stories were easy to get into, but I read this anthology for the Gabaldon and Butcher entries, and the other authors didn't make me feel strongly that I needed to pick up some of their longer work immediately.

The Medusa Plot by Gordon Korman

This book pits Amy and Dan Cahill and their remarkable family against another group, the Vespers, who kidnap a number of Cahills in order to motivate Amy and Dan to steal a painting from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. I appreciated that Dan's friend, Atticus, pointed out the morally questionable nature of the Cahills' actions. I like all the history that's worked into these stories, although they rely a lot on technology to get them out of tight situations.

Alvin Journeyman by Orson Scott Card

In this book Alvin's attempt to build his Crystal City is slowed down by a number of false accusations (and true, but morally unjust accusations). I enjoyed the story (and finding out more about Taleswapper), but at times it felt like it was all tied up and repetitive instead of actually advancing the plot in a particularly meaningful way. Still, I'm excited to follow Alvin's progress on his journey to build the Crystal City.

Flashback by Dan Simmons

For the most part, I enjoyed this book, which is a noir-style detective story set in the dystopic future. The technology is awesome, the drug flashback (that lets you relive your past) intriguing, and even the family drama is handled pretty well. I also found the mystery really compelling. What was less exciting was the book's political stance--not necessarily its side, but its extremism and its desire for screed instead of thoughtful consideration of the topics. I thought the politics took away from the book as a whole.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

This book opens after Lena's escape to the Wilds and return to infiltrate the society she left. I liked the way the totalitarian society came more into focus. At times part of the story seemed a bit simplistic or unrealistic, but I'm intrigued to see how things play out in the third volume.

Letters from the South, Written During an Excursion in the Summer of 1816 by James Kirke Paulding

This book recounts James Kirke Paulding's trip through Virginia in 1816. It has both his observations of the area and its people and his reflections on the origins and practices of the region. There are quite a few tangents. The book is very interested in smoothing over regional differences--not to say that they don't exist, but to contend that they don't matter in comparison to the need of greater national unity: Paulding contends that if Americans only really understood each other, they wouldn't disagree and push for disunion.

The Real South: Southern Narrative in the Age of Cultural Reproduction by Scott Romine

In this book Scott Romine investigates the question of what constitutes the "real" South in the context of so many competing stories and narratives. He concludes that both "real" and "South" are terms that have little meaning without quotation marks--that is, spending a lot of time on figuring out what is "authentic" or "traditional" is less valuable than assessing how these cultural productions function. There are good readings of a variety of texts, ranging from Gone with the Wind to Roots to Daughters of the Dust to Dip's (a restaurant in Chapel Hill) to Confederates in the Attic to A Turn in the South. Finally Romine concludes that "my South" is always tenuous and dependent on who's talking, but that these overlapping Souths are more realistic and accurate than any single solid South could be.