By VIKTORIA SUNDQVIST

It was a Christmas present. I looked at it and wondered what the heck it could possibly be. The cover shows an upside-down dog, and all the text is written in lower-case letters.

"What's it about?" I asked my husband, while turning the book over trying to find some clues.
"Just read it," he replied. "You'll like it."

He was wrong, sort of. I didn't like it - I absolutely loved it.

As I keep touting on this book blog, I enjoy easy reads - something that goes by fast, gets you involved but doesn't require too much thinking, and makes me not want to put it down until I get to the last page. This was one of those books.

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon follows a 15-year-old autistic boy named Christopher John Francis Boone and his life in England.

Christopher knows all the countries in the world and their capitals, but he has some trouble with reading people's emotions. He also cannot stand the color yellow.

When a neighborhood dog dies, a dog Christopher wasn't allowed to touch or play with but was still very fond of, the boy decides to investigate the suspicious circumstances.

The book is honest and funny, and it shows you the world from an autistic boy's perspective. Definitely a must-read for the late summer.