Summer Reading List

Greetings! I'm taking the opportunity of having a public forum of friends & family to brag-share-ask advice on good reads. I made it a New Year's resolution / goal to read an average of one book per month this year, and I've already far exceeded my goal, averaging 1 book per 2 weeks. (This being the end of June, that makes 13 books so far this year.) I even joined the library.

Part of my new-found zeal for reading came from being invited to join a book club at one alcohol-laden Christmas party hosted by one of Jason's co-workers. I admit, I was pleasantly surprised when within the following week, I received an email about the next book club meeting -- someone clearly had a better memory about the conversations from the party than I did!

The book club is a diverse group of 30-ish women (although mainly American, there are a variety of cultural & geographical backgrounds, careers, etc). The ground rules seem to be: come when you can, do your best to read the book, bring wine. As I imagine any good book club to be, our conversations flip-flop between the book, big life events (babies, moving), and random personal or cultural gossip (we spent a good chunk of the first one I attended debating the merits of Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop).

We rotate hosting duties, and today we were lucky enough to take advantage of one of the girl's private neighborhood garden - until we were chased out by thunderstorms. It was nice while it lasted, and we even had the author join us for a portion (hence the guy in the picture above)!

Enough about book club. Here are the books I've read so far this year, along with my own personal rating system. Take it or leave it! I'd love any thoughts on what to put on my 'to read' list (especially from all you educators out there!).

Key:
**** Life altering; Drop everything and read this book now
*** Engaging; Well worth the time spent
** Enjoyable; Consider if you're at a loss for something else
* Avoidable; Read this book only if you've read everything else already
(bc) Book Club book

*** Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - JRR Tolkien I'm not generally one for fantasy, as evidenced by the fact it took me all of 2008 to get through The Hobbit and the first 2 LOTR. In the end, it was worth it!

**(bc) The Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson An intriguing history of the English language & etymology, how the language has evolved and how it is different from others. Good read if you like this type of stuff (I do, but probably not for everyone).

*** Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris A hilarious, fast read - autobiographical short stories that had me shamelessly shaking from laughter in the lobby bar of the Hilton Rotterdam. One of my more gratifying evenings spent traveling for business.

** Watching the English - Kate Fox Written by a cultural anthropologist, this book is a humourous take on why the English do the things they do. It explained so much about the oddities of everyday life here. A must-read if you're an expat in England, probably boring or at best non-appreciate-able by others.

*** (bc) The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff Historical fiction of American Mormonism, focusing on The Firsts, an extremist sect, set between the time of Brigham Young & modern day Utah. Someone chose to read a different (non-fiction) book on Mormonism for book club and was able to confirm that much of the too-weird-to-be-true details are, in fact, true.

** The 10th Circle - Jodi Piccoult I really enjoy Jodi Piccoult's small-town New England family dramas, but perhaps they're beginning to feel predictable because I didn't enjoy this one as much as Mercy or 19 Minutes. Still, a good read.

*** The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards A powerful story about responsibility, conscience, love, loss, and medicine & morals in a different time. All the characters are flawed but sympathetic, and the story believable & heart wrenching. Beautiful book.

* Remember Me - Sophie Kinsella From the famous chick-lit author of the Shopaholic series... this is a mindless beach read, complete brain candy but that makes it fun. However nothing to recommend this over the other millions of its genre.

**** (bc) Beloved - Toni Morrison A classic high school read that was never on any of my syllabi. I read this for book club and ended up not being able to attend, which was very disappointing because it's such a complex book. I think I'll have to read this a few more times to get a handle on all the subtle themes, but for a first read I though the story was fascinating and the writing style captivatingly unique.

** Deep End of the Ocean - Jacquelyn Mitchard As I read this book I realised that 4 of the last 5 books I had read (including this one) were about the loss of a child (literally or metaphorically). Evidently the subject of recovering from such an event makes for good reading, and I enjoyed this story but found it a little clichéd at points, and the resolution left me unsatisfied.

**** Ahab's Wife - Sena Jeter Naslund Read this book immediately. It is a gorgeously written, phenomenal story and I wished it kept going.

* (bc) Vicky Had One Eye Open - Darryl Samaraweera You will probably never come across this book, and that's okay. I feel kinda bad saying so, as Darryl was the visiting author in the book club picture above. My biggest gripe is that as I was reading the book, I found myself wondering why I should care about the story. After talking to the author, I had a better appreciation for it but still couldn't recommend this.

** Between the Tides - Patti Callahan Henry Simple writing but a good, solid story. A fast read, and while fairly predictable, it was an enjoyable book about small-town family drama and yet another lost child (consistent with the theme).

If you've made it this far, thanks for keeping with me! I hope this might help you select your next book, and I really do mean it when I say please send suggestions! I'm thinking of revisiting some high school reading list books, but I appreciate any ideas!