I spent about an hour and a half in AZ on Saturday...and it was stupid hot. I just assumed it was like that all the time.

I read the first hunger games book in about a day...I'm kinda of scared that'll happen again when I get the second book so I'm trying to wait until I have that much time again.

@Allikat

It isn't to hard to get through them because I just love Tolkien's writing style. I guess I'm just one of those weird individuals who find that writing style amazing. The next book I'll read after the Trilogy is the Silmarillion although I probably should have read that first before all that.

Currently reading:

Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Gods of Mars [#2 of 11 in the Barsoom Series ... I have not seen John Carter of Mars]

David Eddings' Pawn of Prophecy [#1 of 5 in The Belgariad]

Anne Rice's The Tale of the Body Thief [#4 of 10 in The Vampire Chronicles]

I haven't read the Barsoom Series before but it is turning out to land somewhere between great and excellent.
I return to both David Eddings and Anne Rice about every other year as I absolutely love these series.

Just finished Glasslands about 3 minutes ago. Nice cliffhanger...

@TacoPizzaHunter

Yes, hopefully I'll get to see the movies soon too! And I STILL have to work thru Fall of Reach! According to my Kindle, I'm 60% thru so better get cracking so I can catch up with everyone.

@Lambchop

I like Tolkein's writing style too, but it can be a bit rough for me to get thru at times. I was actually thinking of making that my "summer reading project" this year. Every year I try to make a big series my summer reading project. Last summer was the Song of Fire and Ice series (aka Game of Thrones) and the summer before that was the Outlander series (LOVE this one and highly recommend! Author is Diana Gabaldon, but there are 8-9 books, they're all big, and she still hasn't finished the series). LOL I trend towards epic fantasy series/novels.

Since people here mentioned reading the Halo novels, I thought I'd share this: Greg Bear gave a talk and did a book-signing at Microsoft Research as part of the Visiting Speakers Series.

Let me say up front: If you're looking for any Halo 4 reveals, forget it.

But if you enjoy listening to an author ramble on about the science fiction genre in general, and some things about how he works, it is interesting.

http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=163760 (49min 8sec)

[Speaker: Greg Bear] Halo: Primordium continues the story of the enigmatic creators and builders of the Halos that began in Halo: Cryptum. In the wake of the apparent self-destruction of the Forerunner empire, two humans—Chakas and Riser—end up on a strange inverted world where horizons rise into the sky. Their epic journey across this damaged Halo takes them into the domain of a powerful and monstrous intelligence who claims to be the Last Precursor. Called the Captive by Forerunners, and the Primordial by ancient humans, this intelligence has taken charge of, and perverted, the Master Builder’s already horrifying research into the Flood. Chakas and Riser unwittingly become trapped in an ancient game of vengeance between the powers who seeded the galaxy with life and the Forerunners, who have taken up the sacred Mantle of duty to protect all living things.

I've been reading the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind and am currently in the middle of the eighth book: Naked Empire. I'm absolutely in love with the series but, if you're going to read the first book be warned: it's beginning isn't very good and the book doesn't pick up until the main characters cross the boundary.