Books & Music Summer Reading List

iluvmybags

& My Motos & Shoes!
O.G.
Sep 13, 2006
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I thought it might be fun to list books that you're going to be reading this summer and/or suggestions to others for that perfect "beach read." I'll start....

Just finished reading Debbie Macomber's latest, RETURN TO BLOSSOM STREET (she's one of my favorite authors) and just started FALLING MAN, by Don DeLillo.

I'm looking forward to reading SHOE ADDICTS ANONYMOUS, by Beth Harbison which looks like sooo much fun, A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS, by Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner), and WHAT MATTERS MOST, by Luanne Rice (not scheduled for release until July).

I have other books lined up & ready to read - but these are my most anticipated.

How about you? What are you reading? What will you be reading this summer? What books do you recommend?
 
So far this summer I've read:
Cranberry Queen [Kathleen DeMarco]
The Pilot's Wife [Anita Shreve]

Next up on my list:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn [Betty Smith] -- going to start tomorrow
The Poisonwood Bible [Barbara Kingsolver]
East of Eden [John Steinbeck]
The Pact [Jodi Picoult]
The House on Mango Street [Sandra Cisneros]
 
Im reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.. its sooo good, I am almost done and its my 2nd day.

I cry alot while reading it tho, its so sad.. its about a girl in heaven telling her story about her rape/murder and shes talking about her family and her dad and her killer and its sooo touching, I start crying and feel like such a sap.. lol, read this one for sure!!!

:heart:

Im gonna read Mitch Albom's, The Five People You Meet in Heaven after this one
 
I love classic British mystery novels written by women.

I have recently started to reread all my favorites. The last time I read them was so many years ago I don't remember Who Did It! Fun!

BBC made several fabulous TV movies of these novels. Think Inspector Alleyn, Adam Dalgliesh, Albert Campion, and Peter Wimsey.

My fav Brit mystery authoresses:
Dorothy Sayers
Marjorie Allington
Ngaio Marsh
PD James

If anyone can suggest another woman Brit mystery authoress I would love to hear a recommendation! Please! TIA!
 
Im reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.. its sooo good, I am almost done and its my 2nd day.

I cry alot while reading it tho, its so sad.. its about a girl in heaven telling her story about her rape/murder and shes talking about her family and her dad and her killer and its sooo touching, I start crying and feel like such a sap.. lol, read this one for sure!!!

:heart:

Im gonna read Mitch Albom's, The Five People You Meet in Heaven after this one

That book "five poeple you meet in heaven" is really good!!! I read it on a long flight once and felt sooooo embarressed sitting there crying, lol
 
Im reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.. its sooo good, I am almost done and its my 2nd day.

I read this book when it first came out - it is still one of my favorite books!.

Right before I read BLOSSOM STREET, I had read Jodi Picoult's latest - NINETEEN MINUTES. What a great read. Unfortunately, the timing couldn't have been worse (it is about a school shooting - was on the best seller's list the week of the VA Tech shootings). I don't know how I've missed her books. I've seen them at the book store, but never picke one up to read. I dont know what possessed me to pick up & read NINETEEN MINUTES, but I'm so glad I did. I"m going to go back now and read more of her work!
 
I love classic British mystery novels written by women.

I have recently started to reread all my favorites. The last time I read them was so many years ago I don't remember Who Did It! Fun!

BBC made several fabulous TV movies of these novels. Think Inspector Alleyn, Adam Dalgliesh, Albert Campion, and Peter Wimsey.

My fav Brit mystery authoresses:
Dorothy Sayers
Marjorie Allington
Ngaio Marsh
PD James

If anyone can suggest another woman Brit mystery authoress I would love to hear a recommendation! Please! TIA!

My two favorites are Elizabeth George and Jaccqueline Winspear.

Elizabeth George is not a Brit but her series is "spot on" :P Her main character is Thomas Lynley, an Earl who is a Det. Inspector at Scotland Yard. Her books are fantastic... both as mysteries and as character studies.

Jacqueline Winspear writes the Maisie Dobbs series. These are set in London after WWI. Maisie Dobbs is a private inverstigator who was a nurse during the awr. She is an independent woman at a time when that was just becoming the socital norm because so many men were lost in the war. It, too, is a great series!

Even though I've read all of them, I'll pick up the CDs and listen to them in my car or while i'm working out.

Be sure to read both series in order... events in previous novels are discussed in later ones.

PM me...if you want to know more.
 
One of my favorite all time books is one by Debbie Macomber called BETWEEN FRIENDS. It's all about the life long friendship of two girls, beginning from the time they were born right on up to present day (which was 2002 - the year the book was published). What's unusual about the book is that it's written in the form of letters, diary/journal entries, emails, party invitations, birth announcements, etc. I wasn't sure how I would like it - but it makes for a very fast read, and very interesting.

What I loved about the book is that it takes you through their lives and all the events that happened and how these events affected them and made them into the women they became. Most current events are covered - from JFK's assassination, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, the Vietnam War, Woman's Lib, the Bicentennial Year, all the way up to 9/11 (which is only briefly discussed as one of the characters ends up living in NY).

It's a great book - I recommend it to everyone I know, esp if you have a friend like the ones in the book. I pull it out from time to time just to re-read it (or parts of it).

Another great book that's similar is SUMMER SISTERS by Judy Blume. She was my favorite author as a teenager, and I loved her "grown up" book - I just wish she would write some more!

I don't think you'll find two better "beach reads" than these!!!
 
I've been putting off reading the new Pynchon, but I've got to tackle this thing over the summer. Other than that, I've got The Thin Man by Hammett, Cloud Atlas by what's-his-face, and maybe at some point I'll read The Sound and the Fury. How I've made it this far without reading that, I don't really know.
 
^ You should read My Sister's Keeper. It's very good!

ITA My Sisters Keeper is a great read!

This summer I'm planning on buying Belinda Jones's new book because I buy hers every summer for the holidays.

I also have a book that I got sent by my Auntie to read, it's a Lisa Jewell one called '31 Dream Street'. I've read a couple of hers before and they've been pretty good, so hopefully I'll enjoy that one too.

Also if I find the time I want to try and read 'The Godfather' that my bro lent me because it's been sat on my desk looking at me for months now.