Summer Reading

The Passage by Justin Cronin. This book is a bit long, but once you start it, you are so hooked into the plot that you can't let go. An ambitious epic about a virus that nearly destroys the world, and a six-year-old girl who holds the key to bringing it back. A reviewer said reading this book is like: --the feeling you get when you can’t wait to find out what happens next, you can’t turn the pages fast enough, and yet at the same time you are so engaged in the world of the story and the characters, you don’t want it to end. It has been likened to Stephen King's The Stand, and although I am not usually a fan of horror fiction, his characters are wonderfully developed and the plot slowly unfolds so you can't wait to read the next chapter.

I also loved the Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein & Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger. I am just starting the Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest....

I also loved the Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein & Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger. I am just starting the Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest....

I normally don't read Sci-Fi - but lately I have been totally hooked. I am an English teacher and I have gotten on this scifi kick. Loved the Hunger Game books and Life as We Knew It series. I just finished The Host and LOVED it too. I also really liked The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society- not scifi- but definately a good story. I am currently reading the 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. Interesting fiction, not sure if I really like it yet. Will definately have to go get the Tatoo book. Everyone has raved about it...guess I need to get on the bandwagon!

Hi Ali! I really enjoyed looking over your Project Life entries again. I was wondering if you have tried taking one of your 4 x 6 photos with "space" in it and journaling on it with your typewriter? I know you can do that digitally with a typewriter font, but then, we could do it all digitally, couldn't we?
This summer I have read ALL 424 PAGES of Library Collection Development and Management by Peggy Johnson, and written up "reflective responses" on every. single. chapter. UGH. And! ooo ooo another skintillating read -- I am almost done with Information Literacy Instruction, all 412 pages! Wherein I learn about use of technology in instruction, including WHAT A BLACKBOARD IS (and I don't mean the online Blackboard eitgher). Soooooo funnnnn.
Anyway for fun I have been rereading all of Thomas Harris' books abotu Hannibal Lecter. I reread Silence of the Lambs, then Hannibal, now I am reading Red Dragon again and then I'll read Hannibal Rising.
In Hannibal, Dr. Lecter is living and working in Florence, so if you went there, you might enjoy those parts. Personally I like the parts where he kills people and eats their brains.
For some reason I like reading about serial killers at this point in time. Could it be grad school? Huh.

I haven't read much in years and had really forgotten how enjoyable it could be. I recently needed a book to pass some time while recuperating from a minor surgery. I just went to the New York Times best seller list and chose The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo since i had no idea what to pick. I loved it. I finished it in a few days and my husband went out and bought the next two in the series for me. I finished The Girl Who Played With Fire in one day! I was totally engrossed in it all day on Sunday (and my hubby spoiled me and played with the kids all day!). I didn't think it could top the first one, but in my estimation : ) it has. Now I am about half way through the last one, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest and I am feeling pretty sad that after this, there is no more, lol. Makes me want to read slowly spread it out. But how can I? Once I pick it up, I can't stop! I can't wait to read the responses and see what i should get next.

I work at the library, and you would not believe the number of people on hold for "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo"--good thing you bought a copy or you wouldn't be reading it until 2011!

P.S. I am reading "The Book of Awesome," which just came out. If you haven't visited the Awesome Blog or read the book, you might want to consider it. Fun and definitely a spirit lifter!

So glad to know I am not the only one having a hard time getting into The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo! I actually picked up my copy at the Sydney airport before it came to the US. Just cannot get into it. With all the rave reviews from everyone, guess it is time to try again. Will see!

I love this post and all the replies as I will have a whole new list of books to get from the library for a long time to come. Thanks everyone!
Summertime is 'easy' reading for me so I've rereading the Janet Evanovich series about STephanie Plum. Very funny, no brainer stuff. Love them! Also have read James Patterson's 'You've Been Warned' and working on 'Swimsuit' right now. Both are scary.

I am reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and just bought Her Fearful Symmetry! :) I also have Let the Great World Spin...now I just need to find the time to read!!

I read Fearful Symmetry before reading Time Traveler's Wife. I really like Fearful Symmetry, though it seemed almost like the two were written by different people at times I thought. I like dark gothic type tales so Fearful was right up my alley. Time Travelers I was afraid would be too science fictiony (not a word really I know), but it wasn't. I enjoyed it. I liked the movie as much as the book. Read the book first. Always read the book first is my motto. Are you going to watch the Swedish subtitle movie Girl with the Dragon Tattoo they have out? There is one on Netflix.
This summer I have read "Percy Jackson the lightening Thief" trying to get my son to read it with me. No go, but a very good book. Now I have to see the movie. I've read The Boundless Deep by Kate Brailler, The Happiness Project (awesome), Time Travelers wife, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, and now am reading Eat,Pray,Love by Elizabeth Gilbert getting ready for the movie!
After that will be the book, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender.

I read that too this past month. I liked it pretty well. I like anything set in that time era. But I did have a feeling I knew the outcome before she gave it away. I started The House at Riverton but it got put on the back burner for The Girl Who Played with Fire.

I read the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the next two in a couple of weeks. They were great and hard to put down.
I'm currently reading Olive Kitteridge for book club.

I also read, actually listened to, all of The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo trilogy, great series. I love to get my books from Audible. I just don't have time to sit and read. Plus I love the extra depth a great reader adds to a story.
Grass For His Pillow and the rest of the series fantastic. They take place in Fuedal Japan and are blended with fantasy. The reader has the most amazing voice and each character really comes to life.
Loved Henrietta Lacks. My kids enjoyed it also and two wrote papers on the subject this year. If you like Henrietta try Last Train from Hiroshima. These people actually survived both bombings. Utterly fascinating!! And horriffying!! And so human. You will never think of atomic power the same.
The Help was wonderful and will definitely make you cry and laugh.
Three Cups Of Tea and Stones Into School are eye opening. Hotel On The Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a beautiful story of love and the Chinese/American-Japanese/American struggle during WWII in Seattle. A bit of history that I knew nothing about.
Just finished The Passage. A vampire/doomsday book unlike anything you could imagine. It was 39 hours long and I didn't realise that it was the first installment of a trilogy. I was completely engrossed and then the thing just abruptly ended on the most suspenseful moment of the entire book. I was mad for several days. I don't think that I will listen to the other two until they are both released. I just can't handle that again.
Lastly, I just started the Shantaram. The story is so colorful and interesting taking you through an India we would never experience. The characters make me laugh constantly. The main character becomes best friends with an Indian guide who is absolutely hysterical!

Gina - I was thinking about if I ever wanted to see the movie and part of me doesn't want to because I don't want the characters I have imagined in my mind to become someone else! You know what I mean? I imagine Mikael Blomkvist to look like Michael Caine. I just can't let that image be damaged, lol!!

I am reading the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as well! You must be an NPR listener as well. I heard the interview in past few weeks on Fresh Air with Terry Gross and said I had to read the book. I am almost finished.

i recently read carry me home which was lol funny :) just started the sweet by and by because my sister said that it reminded her of the help which is one of my favorites. i agree with many of the posters that you should read little bee. the history of love was also wonderful :) happy reading!

I just finished "Stones into Schools" by Greg Mortenson who also wrote "Three Cups of Tea" and has built over 130 schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. What an amazing story! I love the series by Laurie R. King about Sherlock Holmes and his young protege...starts with "The Beekeeper's Apprentice". They totally sucked me in.

I second that for Loving Frank. I read it two summers ago. A nice personal look at the love life of an architectural phenom. I've studied his work, been to his studio... the book was fantastic!