books- one not quite so good, one AMAZING

Yes, it is summer time and I SHOULD be reading TONS AND TONS like I have done every single summer of my life, but I haven't read nearly as much as I'd like so far (which is pathetic since June is practically over) but I have been teaching summer school and trying to prep for my adventure to Central America (that's my story), oh, and I splurged and bought a Wii and the Wii Fit, which is pretty distracting... so anyway... I finished this book, Salt by Maurice Gee this weekend. It's different and dark. That said, there's the typical dis-utopian society with a disenfranchised young girl who wants to escape the suffocating wealthy life she's lived and with the help of her "servant" she manages the difficult feat of leaving. Meanwhile, in another area of the country, a young boy just watched his father get shackled and sentenced to live the rest of his life in a place called Deep Salt- a place no one returns from. Said boy decides to save his father. "Shockingly" the boy and girl meet as they try to kill each other in the forest. The servant lady keeps the peace and talks sense into them. They go on a mission to save the dad, save the country, etc. etc. 

What's different is that they have these telepathic abilities and other abilities that strangely resemble gifts found in the Cullen family but these kids aren't vampires and there is a whole village of people with the same gifts. 

If you don't have anything else to read, give this book a shot. It's ok. Apparently it's a trilogy but I'm ok leaving the characters where I left them.

Because of this next book, Whatever You Do, Don't Run, by Peter Allison, I think my next adventure is to Botswana! LOVED IT! Wow! So fun! Peter is a safari guide and the book is a collection of short episodes of being out in the middle of the Dark Continent. Who knew that elephants really are afraid of mice and will practically walk on tippy toes to not touch them? Or that if you pick up a python it will poop on you as a defense mechanism and then try and strangle you? Or how about that if you stare down a lion when he's charging you, they'll back down? Monkeys that used to pound on your tent can be scared off by a stuffed animal of a predator? This book was awesome!! In fact, I'm going to buy it off of Amazon right now :) and I just learned there's a follow-up: Don't Look Behind You. 

This is a MUST READ for any adventurous souls or non-adventurous souls who live vicariously through other people!