Summer Reading

Lately I've fallen in love with an author named Richard Russo. I picked up one of his books a few months ago and realized that his style had similar qualities to the style I'm trying to achieve with the novel I'm currently writing (I'm on the first revision, 2nd draft).
Now I'm on my 4th book of his and really enjoying his great stories. I feel he's not afraid to become vulnerable as an author because he really exposes his characters and makes them so real. That's the most important thing for me when choosing books to read.

I just finished the 3rd book in the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo series! They are excellent and all three were sooooo very hard to put down.

I just reread To Kill a Mockingbird...it's as powerful as ever...and then I read Mockingbird, which is a biography of Harper Lee. Fascinating.
I loved The Help...and now I'll have to read Little Bee, after all these comments!

Karen Maezen Miller's Momma Zen is the best thing I've read recently. A lovely memoir that I'm glad I bought; I'll definitely reread. I think you'd really like Here If You Need Me too.
Fiction-wise, I just picked up Little Bee at a sidewalk Library sale, almost solely because I loved the cover;) I'll be starting it as soon as I finish Of Human Bondage, a favorite of my dad's that I've never read and am really enjoying.
I was also pleasantly surprised by The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, I'd read mixed reviews but really enjoyed the letter format and historical context.
Lastly, ever since you mentioned that Anna loves "Goodnight Gorilla" I wanted to suggest "Ten Minutes to Bedtime" for Simon to read to her. It's about a little boy getting ready for bed, by the same author, with all sorts of inside jokes/tie-ins to Goodnight Gorilla. All my kids love it:)

I love to get new book ideas!!
I totally agree about Her Fearful Symmetry...just not as good as Time Traveler's Wife.
I recently read The Other Boleyn Sister...it was so-so.
The Help was amazing, a definite must read! I also enjoyed Little Bee.
I am going to start reading the Book Thief next and then I hope to pick up the Girl with Dargon Tattoo series. We saw the movie and liked it.

I'm within 100 pages of the end of Pillars of the Earth! I'm loving it and will be so sad when it ends. I happened to see that it is coming out as a miniseries this weekend on Starz...unfortunately I don't get that channel.
I also read Sarah's Key recently and really enjoyed that one as well.

I loved Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card. The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins have been flying around our camp staff this summer. Everyone has been finishing them in a day or two. SO GOOD! Can't wait for #3 next month!

We must be of like minds. Not only do I love Europe (I have not been to Italy-totally jealous), but I have Dragon Tattoo waiting on my nightstand. I just finished Sizzlin Sixteen by Janet Evanovich. LOVE her books. THey are so funny and easy reads.....all of them are worth reading!!

1. The puzzlebark Tree--I liked it even though it was a predictable love story!
2. Love in the Present Tense--LOVED THIS ONE! by Catherine Ryan Hyde....
3. The Stepmother by Carrie Adams--LOVED IT!
4. nearer than the sky--disturbing and sad, but pretty good.
5. have you read, STill Alice yet? about alzheimers, love love loved it!
6. my most favorite books ever read are: Sarah's Key, Whistling in the Dark, The Help, The Poisonwood Bible, The Thirteenth Tale, Those Who Save Us, The Kite Runner. these are all old faves, but if you haven't read them yet, SOOOOOOOO good!!!
7. the Last Summer of you and me by Ann Brashares.
okay, that's it for now!!! have fuN!
tara

I am currently reading the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, also. So far this summer I have read Merlot Murders, Still Life with a Woodpecker, Peter Pan,and The curious incident of the dog in the night-time.

One I recently enjoyed was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. Don't let the funny sounding title put you off. It is a good fictional story about the Guernsey islands after WWII, and it's written in letter form by many inhabitants on the island. I'm not doing it justice, but it's one my husband and I both read and enjoyed.

LOVED Sarah's Key, on my list of top faves!
tara

Recently finished the Help which I enjoyed and am reading (almost done with) Run like a Mother. Great book! :)

I loved Run Like A Mother too - totally inspirational and very real :).

So glad you mentioned "Sarah's Key" - it is heartbreaking but a wonderful story of the strength of the human spirit in the face of insurmountable tragedy. Also love Jodi Picoult, just finished "Change of Heart" - rather strange characters, but fascinating story. And then . . . . someone mentioned "The Pillars of the Earth" which I read a year or so ago and absolutely love it!
Thank you for the other great suggestions - for the first time in my life, I am living in an area (rural Indiana) where we do not have free access to a library. I've saved up my $100 to buy a library card for a year, so I am ready to go load up on some books for the rest of my summer reading!

Read recently and loved:
The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss - a story from several different perspectives that weaves itself all together in a surprising way at the end. My book group unanimously loved this one.
Tallgrass, by Sandra Dallas - about a Japanese internment camp in Colorado, told from the perspective of a young girl living on a sugar beet farm near by. Lovely sense of place and time.
A sweet but possibly hard to find book that had been in my to-read stack forever - A Country Year, by Sue Hubbell. It is a quiet, softly spoken book that carries some weight and which will stay with you a while. A collection of essays that turns through a year of seasons by a bee keeper living in the Ozarks.
Another vote for The Help.
And not great literature, but a fun read - I, Mona Lisa, by Jeanne Kalogridis. I read it while recovering from a bad flu. Great distraction without requiring too much attention.
I love the used book section in my local bookstore!

I just finished The Forgotten Garden and really liked it. Before that I read Lonesome Dove (totally not my genre usually) but it was amazing. When I looked it up on amazon I was surprised by how many people claimed it as one of their favorite books of all time. right now i am reading aimee bender's "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" not done yet but I am really loving the story and specifically her writing. quite different and truly spectacular.

I love when the topic is summer reading -- I get some of the best suggestions! I just finished reading Get Lucky by Katerine Center. It is cute, light, and funny. And I just got caught up with Janet Evanovich's series and finished Plum Spooky and Sizzling Sixteen.

I'm currently reading Stolen Lives: 20 years in a desert prison. It's depressing because of the deplorable prison conditions, but gives great insight into living in Morocco. Also read Outlander which is the 1st book in the series by the same name - really interesting fiction of Scotland in the 1700's. Would recommend The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Settlefield - really wonderful writing.
I could go on and on as I'm a biliophile now that I'm retired.

I stumbled onto Kristin Hannah this summer too....really great NW writer....I loved Firefly Lane, True Colors and reading Winter Garden.........
also a fun quick read was " The Second Time Around" -- you would like it Ali.