Summer Reading

Wow! This is so great Ali! I get to read all these posts and get some ideas of books to read over the summer and beyond probably. I recently read Dune Road by Jane Green. One of those just-have-to-get-through-so-I-can-say-I-finished it books - not so great. Yesterday I just finished To My Dearest Friends by Patricia Volk. It was interesting - a short, don't really have to think about it too much book. I'm starting Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt. I have several books in a pile waiting to be read including Pillars of the Earth. Might have to do that one next!

Read Little Bee and found it interesting also. The Reliable Wife was an interesting story. Has anyone read The Passage yet? If so, what did you think? I have it sitting on my nightstand but I keep looking at the size and don't want to lug it around this summer. Lisa Unger has a new book out and hers are good thrillers.

Just finished the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo and am in the middle of The Girl who Played with Fire. Haven't picked up the third in the series but probably will before I head on to another book. It will be great to review this list for recommendations.

I recently decided to start reading some "classics" and books I feel like everyone has read but me. I started with One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest and like it so far. I just finished "BE" and "DO" by A.C. Ping and liked them. They weren't what I was expecting, but made me stop and think. I also just started Living Simply With Children....I usually tend to have a fiction and a non-fiction book going at the same time.

The Help was one of the best books I have read in a LONG time. I couldn't put it down. It actually kept my mind off of flying which is not easy to do! The characters were believable. The issues were real. I love it when it could have really happened that way. (Same with movies-I'm not as interested if it could never really happen.)

I've been doing a lot of reading this summer -- just finished "The Help" (which was really great), and John Adams by David McCullough. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is next on the stack on my bedside table, and I'm in the midst of reading another one called "The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry" about a woman who goes to take cooking classes at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris after she gets downsized in her job. Pretty good so far.

Loved The Birth House too. I borrowed it from a friend but might have to get my own copy!

I've just started reading "In Search of Adam" which was recommended by a friend. I spotted one today in the bookstore by Mitch Albom - http://www.amazon.com/Have-Little-Faith-True-Story/dp/0786868724/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279766855&sr=1-7 which is on my to read list now!

I finished Little Bee very quickly. If you get to page 100, then you will might finish the rest of the book in one sitting... I could not put it down.
This book definitely has changed me and my perspective on life forever.
I have recommended this book, and even given away my copy.

The Help - so good.

I've been devouring everything by Marlina Marchetta: Saving Franchesca, Looking for Alibrandi, Jellicoe Road, and Finnikan of the Rock. They are YA novels, and Finnikan is a Fantasy, but they are all SO worth the read. Can't wait until her latest is released in the US (she's an Aussie). I'm reading The Pillars of the Earth right now in anticipation of the mini-series coming out. And I've got the Girl with A Dragon Tattoo on reserve at the library and I'm 350 in the queue as of last week, so I'm not holding my breath on reading it any time soon.
I'll have to look up the book you read, thanks for this post!!

I'm doing my annual reread of the entire Harry Potter series... something I've done ever summer for the past few years. Other books that I'm reading or have recently read (or reread) are: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross, and all of the books in The Secret History of the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig. I'm going to have to check out some of the books I've read about here!

I'm about to start The girl the kicked the hornet's nest. I love those. Little Bee is good as well, but I was kind of expecting great. I read A City of Thieves a few months ago and loved it. It's a little gory, but very good. Oh and Forgotten Garden... very good.

I LOVED The Art of Racing in the Rain too. I got it for Christmas and finished it in like a month. That is the fastest I've finished a book yet.

Try Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, a fantastic read about a girl's relationship with a wolf who lives in the woods behind her house. Of course, The Hunger Games trilogy (#3) is a fabulous, heart-pounding summer read. I recently read another wonderful YA fantasy called Finnikin's Rock, which is engrossing and terrifying and everything that a book should be between the months of June and August. My review shelf on GoodReads is here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/9686?shelf=read

Last book I finished was The Art of Racing in the Rain...really enjoyed it. I loved the perspective of the dog's voice. So creative. I'd really recommend it, especially if you're a dog person!

I LOVE the Tales of the Otori trilogy - it appeals in so many ways - adventure, feudal Japan, romance. Across the Nightingale Floor is the first one. I can't wait to get my hands on The Passage - it looks wonderful.

Ali, I love that you've gotten this huge discussion of books going! I love when people promote literature and swap suggestions for books (I actually wrote down a couple that people have been suggesting on the comments :D)
I finished Her Fearful Symmetry a little while back and was like you, just flipping through it for the sake of finishing it. It didn't capture me the way Time Traveler's wife did. The book was really creepy...and sad how she sought through any means possible to keep the love of her life, and yet lost it forever because of her actions.
Love hearing about stuff you're reading!

A few of my favorites lately are The Host by Stephenie Meyer,(haven't read her vampire books and won't but this one had a great moral dilema) Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, Look Again by Lisa Scottoline and Burned Alive by Souad (nonfiction). I am reading Josie and Jack by Kelly Braffet a young adult novel and would not recommend it. It is dark and creepy.

Look Again and Barefoot are great vacation choice. Both were hard for me to put down.