What I've been reading

The Titan's Curse" (Percy Jackson & the Olympians series) by Rick Riordan. I felt there was some serious character development and growth in this book, more than I'd seen in the previous two. And, the series is just fun, especially as I'm listening to them via audiobook.

and

"Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World" by Haruki Murakami.  It has two parallel narratives, one set in the "hard-boiled wonderland," which is a near-future Japan where "Calcutecs" and "Semiotics" wage wars over information, and the second set in The End of the World, the main characer's innermost core of though and self. The story didn't go where I thought it was going to, and it's a thoroughly strange book. I don't know if I loved it, but I'm intrigued enough to seek out more by Murakami.

My full comments on both books here.