So yeah, June was one boring book after another. But July, well, my interlibrary loans came in... Oh yes, of course, Harry Potter was wonderful. But you knew that. Lay in a supply of Kleenex and don't bother with the epilogue - the only ham-handed bit of writing I've seen from Rowling. Now, on to the books you haven't heard of:

Underworld Sites of Concealment - Peter Seidel and Manfred Sack

Seidel's photos are a creepy, otherworldly collection of underground sits in Germany. The most benign include art vaults and wine cellars. More common, however, are shelters, prisons and command centers built to withstand war after war - including Hitler's own bunker. Fantastically beautiful pictures, regardless of the subject.

Ghostly Ruins - America's Forgotten Architecture - Harry Skrdla

Harry Skrdla is a prat. His writing is pompous, overblown and redundant. I can almost guarantee he has a closet full of notebooks where he wrote wretched Goth poetry in while in high school.

The pictures, on the other hand, are beautiful. Encompassing a wide array of ruins - homes, factories, amusement parks - Skrlda shows the beauty and sadness of wonderful unique buildings left to rot. Many of the locations were built during the Victorian era and are massive and solid edifices. These hospitals, jails and mansions are often stone and brick with slate roofs. While their decay may have been going on for a hundred years, the buildings still persevere. Pictures taken of the buildings in their heyday make the crumbling halls and gaping windows all the more poignant and grimly appealing.

Access All Areas - Ninjalicious

Ninjalicious, founder of Infiltration.org and master urban explorer, came out with the wicked useful guide to visiting hidden and off-limit places. Sadly, he died weeks after the book was published. However, his immensely useful collection of tips on getting in and out of spaces is available to one and all. Urban exploration in the hobby/art of visiting ruined buildings, construction sites and off-limit areas of "live" buildings. The purpose of these trips are to visit and appreciate sites often long-forgotten or seen only by handful of select few. Interspersed with stories of his actual trips, Ninjalicious offers sound advice on safety, not damaging sites, surveillance, photography, propping doors, overriding freight elevators, hiding, accessing air-ducts, climbing fences, running and, most importantly, fast talking. Will I ever go down a storm sewer to explore? Not likely. But there is something just so delightfully satisfying knowing I could, should the desire arise.

There's a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell - Laurie Notaro

In her first non-fiction novel, Laurie Notaro writes with her same funny, off-kilter and slightly neurotic voice she has recorded her life with in her fabulous autobiographical short stories. Although a bit slow to get off the ground, once she hits her stride the story takes off on its own strange little path. Notaro's heroine Maye has just moved from Phoenix to a small town in Oregon and is desperate for just one friend like her - desperate to enter the town sewer pipe queen pageant. Notaro gives a very accurate description of a small college town, full of tree-huggers, left-over flower children and academics. For those of you from Madison, the "strange" folks in this books will seem remarkably familiar - like everyone you've ever met the Co-op. A fun, quick and quirky summer read.

Roller Girl - Totally True Tales from the Track - Melissa - "Melicious" Joulwan

Melicious' book is a a must read for any derby fans or aspiring derby girls. Covering the early days of the Texas Roller Girls (the modern mothers of derby) Joulwan talks about her discovery of derby, addiction, the politics of the early team, dissolution of the old group and the formation on the current democratic derby teams and leagues. Interspersed with the usual derby fun, bruises and bashing and back-stabbing politics, are accounts of more memorable bouts. Here and there are mentions of our local league - The Mad Rollin' Dolls. Not a fan of derby? You may want to skip the bout details, but give it a read anyway. A satisfying story of what women can accomplish when they want to hit each other while wearing fishnets.

Who ARE You People? Shari Caudron

If you are a hobby-bobber like me, this book will hit a major nerve with you. Author Caudron tells of her burning desire to have... a burning desire. Bouncing from one interest to another, she never found that one thing that really tripped her trigger - the hobby that would consume her and make her a raving fan. I too often feel jealous when I met someone who has a true passion that they will follow and work on with any spare time or money they have. They always have something to turn to and always have a group to discuss their mania with. Crisscrossing the country, Caudron interviews Barbie collectors, Furries, Mayberry fans, pigeon races and storm-chasers. All are dedicated and addicted to their own personal love and yet surprisingly scornful when told of other groups' passions. A funny, weird and definitely interesting look into other people manias.

One Perfect Day - The Selling of the American Wedding - Rebecca Mead

The short article last fall in Salon on Mead's book was enough to get me interested in this book. Like being unable to stop staring at a car accident, Mead's book is grotesquely fascinating. Laying out the modern mania to have the biggest, most extravagant and wedding possible, Americans are spending billions a year on these bloated bashes. Interviewing numerous wedding industry insiders, Mead lays out the insidious ways the wedding retailers lure in brides and grooms. The simple message- your marriage will fail unless your wedding is picture perfect. And perfection costs and costs and costs. From the wedding gowns stitched at $.40 an hour and sold for thousands, to made-up "traditions" and Disney Fairytale Princess Weddings (gag), Mead covers all the possibilities where a newly engaged couple can hemorrhage money. For anyone planning a wedding soon, read this little number before heading for the Bridal Barn. It will put a bit of iron in your spine for when you are told you HAVE to have a tiara or you fail as a woman. Yeeech.

The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan - Wendy McClure

While helping her folks clean out the basement, McClure found an old box of Weight Watchers recipe cards from the 60s and 70s. From frozen cheese salad, liver pate en masque, and frankfurter spectacular, its all here. Low fat, low cal. and vilely gleaming on mustard yellow platters with macramé backgrounds. Yum it up kiddies, you know you love those broth-based smoothies!

Sunken Cities, Sacred Cenotes and Golden Sharks - Bill Belleville

Travel writer Belleville has visited some of the most remote and inaccessible sites in the world. Drawn to the water, he has explored reefs, tunnels, underwater caves, murky tropical rivers and cenote (sinkholes sacred to the Maya) visited by less people than have visited the moon. Sunken Cities is a collection of articles from various magazines. As such, the stories are tantalizingly brief, giving only a few pages to each wonder he has visited. I totally bet Adventure is his middle name.

Beneath the Metropolis - The Secret Life of Cities - Alex Marshall

Marshall gives a short overview on a number of famous cities and their secret underground. From waterworks, subway tunnels, aqueducts, crypts and even whole secret cities and train systems under Moscow, most major metropolitan areas have thousands of feet of under-structures that very few people are aware of. A good starter book for anyone interested in learning about underground structures.