Best of Summer Reading

Earlier this summer, I listed a few books that I hoped to read. Some were ok, some were quite good, and some were terrific.

Here were two of my favorites.

• Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. This book was the best of the summer. If you enjoy dark mystery/suspense type books (like the Kurt Wallender mysteries) you'll love this. But, you first must read his earlier book the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and seem to have developed a real taste for dark Swedish/Scandinavian thrillers)
  
  
• A Devil to Play by Jasper Rees. This book is a definite must read for anyone who has ever played the French Horn (as I did). It's about the author's year long quest to perform a Mozart Horn Concerto - in public - after a 22-year lapse in ever having touched the instrument. He spent the year getting in shape, taking lessons, and traveling the world to meet famous horn players. As a former horn player, I thoroughly enjoyed the British author's quirky sense of humor and his mix of history, horn trivia, and anecdotes about famous horn players and famous horn music.