One of the items I put on the list for the 2016 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt List was #4 A book or magazine read during 2016 because I think of summer time as a time to catch up on reading. This photograph doesn't count as my entry because I took it before the official start of the Hunt, but I did want to blog about summertime reading. I do most of my reading on my kindle, but I also listen to audio books, and I even have one physical book (I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh) that is in the mail to me. I'll probably photograph that one for the Scavenger Hunt.
I always start the summer with a reading plan. This summer, I wanted to start by finishing a few books that have been hanging around for a while, almost done. And I did that. I just completed The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian. It is a very fast read by the author of Midwives. It covers a disturbing subject (trafficked sex workers), but does so in a reasonable way. It's not literature, but it is a page turner and definitely provides food for thought.
I am also almost done with Lets Pretend This Never Happened, a memoir by blogger Jenny Lawson. It's funny and quirky, but best done in small segments. I think I will finish it in the next few days, though, to clear the decks for the things I'm really excited about starting. I still have a few others "in process," including Denali's Howl and The Art of Fielding, but I'll move on to new books instead of finishing those.
Of those cued up on my kindle, the two I'm most interested in starting are The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin and Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa.
I was also happy to finally finish off listening to We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Jay Fowler. The book was interesting and unusual, but I'm not sure it was ever clear what it wanted to be (an animal rights book? a family story?). Entertaining, but a bit overlong.
I have two book cued up on my audible account - The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Woods and A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie. The first is a novel, and the second is a Scotland Yard detective mystery that is part of a series. I have also just added Before the Fall by Noah Hawley.
My summer time selections have been highly influenced by the Modern Miss Darcy Summer Reading Guides (find the minimalist version here, which includes a link to a much longer guide).
So, do share. Do you make summer reading plans? What's on your bed stand (real or virtual)? Have you read anything good lately? Any reactions to the things on my list?
I'm not a lover of the kindle, much preferring a proper book. I've read three on your list - And the mountains echoed (loved it), We are completely besides ourselves (um, not sure about it), and When God was a rabbit (like it, a good read).
ReplyDeleteI will get round to sorting out a summer reading list but haven't done it yet. I know my next two reads though - Glow by Jessica Maria Tuccelli, and The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult.
That's an interesting list. I admit that I use my tablet more to listen to downloaded audiobooks than to read e-books.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rinda, for sharing your list! I was particularly interested in your comments about Chris Bohjalin's The Guest Room as I've enjoyed almost all of his books over the years; will definitely pick up that one. I mainly read books that I've checked out from our local library but do have a few queued up on my Kindle reader; The Girl from Kraków by Alex Rosenberg, and Z: A Novel do Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler. I am currently reading Helen Simonson's The Summer Before the War (loved her Major Pettigrew's Last Stand) and have Alice McDermott's Child of my Heart sitting on the bedside table. Will be photographing my library finds for the scavenger hunt over the summer months!
ReplyDeleteI just read a wonderful book about a woman who walked the whole Appalachian Trail on her own. It is called "Grandma Gatewood's Walk". Great read!
ReplyDeleteAll these books are new to me. I've been listening to the What Should I Read Next podcast and have a huge list of books I want to read. I don't make special plans for the summer, but I refocused my reading goals last month (blogged about that here: http://melissagross.blogspot.com/2016/05/book-reviews-reading-challenges-update.html). For our recent trip, I pulled out Gone With The Wind for a re-read! :)
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