Read Warren: Summer Bliss Books

I love summer for many, many reasons (weather, fresh fruit & veggies, vacations) but what really does it for me is all of the reading time I recover during the summer months. There are so many opportunities to dig into a good book whether you are at the park, beach, or your backyard hammock. Every year, it seems the pace of living slows down and I remember to take the time to just lay about and read. Is it just me?

I am going through a few books a week and have already exhausted that list I kept all year of “Books I Would Like to Read but Can’t in the Five Minutes a Day I Have to Myself.” So I asked people for the recommendations and came up with a new list. Wanna hear? Of course you do! This list is made up of “easy-reads”; books you can come in and out of without losing the plot. You don’t need to interpret much here and most can be read in an afternoon (except Diana Gabaldon’s books). But they are still well-written and completely fascinating.

My recommendations:

1. Bossypants by Tina Fey. I double-dog dare you to read this and not literally laugh out loud (no faux-LOLs here!). I am a huge Tina Fey fan, both her comedy and her take on life. She spits it real about what it was like to grow up as an awkward teenager (I can relate…I had a mullet at one point too!). Her sections on the role of women in comedy and showbusiness were endearing, insightful, and again, hilarious. Take that Christopher Hitchens!

2. The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. This book is also recommended by Kate Dickson, owner of The Wooden Midshipman. These books are long. And there are seven of them! This will take you through the entire summer or if you are like my friend Kary, a week. (She’s kind of a pro at this reading thing, being an amazing English teacher and all.) What are these books about? Well, you name it, it’s in there. From Ms. Gabaldon herself, they include

history, warfare, medicine, sex, violence, spirituality, honor, betrayal, vengeance, hope and despair, relationships,

the building and destruction of families and societies, time travel, moral ambiguity, swords, herbs, horses,

gambling (with cards, dice, and lives), voyages of daring, journeys of both body and soul…

you know, the usual stuff of literature. Hooked yet? Seriously, these books are very very addictive. You’ve been warned.

3. The Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. These books are total fluff and I love them. Perfect after finishing something serious like Proust or Ulysses or some other Very Important Work. Because complicated and full of hidden meaning these are not! And you know, for a lazy beach read, that’s freakin’ awesome. You can fall asleep while reading it and not be totally lost or confused when you try to pick it back up. Plus, they are funny. Another example of books I have embarrassed myself when reading by laughing out loud in public. Seriously, I look like a nut-job. Ah well.

Recommended by Eric (the author of the esteemed column Away Entropy on this blog)

The Odd Sea by Frederick Reiken. This is a quick one at only 170 smaller pages. The plot is deceptively simple; the book focuses more on the emotional trajectory of the characters. Without giving anything away, it is about a boy who goes missing and how that tragic event affects the people left behind.

Recommended by Kate (owner of The Wooden Midshipman, a store that sells books, amongst other equally fantastic things)

1. The Bride Quartet series by Nora Roberts. Four books about women involved with wedding planning and then, of course,  how they got to planning their own weddings. Romance novels? Yeah they are! But they also include stories of friendship and who doesn’t like that?
2. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. And any David Sedaris. Mr. Sedaris is a sarcastic and witty humor-writer. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. This book is a collection of essays pondering various facets of life, such as bad clothing and accessories, a situation where his throat lozenge falls on a stranger, using album covers as scarecrows, and icebreaker conversations. Funny, insightful, and caustic,  David Sedaris helps us see the humanity in the eccentric.
3. The Sally Lockhart Mysteries  by P. Pullman. Techinically in the Young Adult section, but we won’t tell. And come on, you know you’ve read some YA books and loved them. Harry Potter? Hunger Games? Twilight? Don’t lie. These books are crowd-pleasers about a Victorian era teenage girl who was taught to handle finances and shoot firearms by her father. These skills come in handy when she is suddenly orphaned with a mystery to unravel. Name the gender, name the age, and they will like these books.
4. How to do Nothing with Nobody All by Yourself by Robert Paul Smith. According to Ms. Dickson, this book is “for boys who didn’t go to Scouts but always wanted to”. What is it about? Read the title! It contains an assortment of delightful entries on how to spend your spare time, like making toys with buttons and knife tricks. It has an old-fashioned tongue-in-cheek tone that can fascinate your afteroon away.

Recommended by the George Hail Free Library

1. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. Apparently, this book is so good, you will be waking up in the middle of the night to find out what happens next. A perfect fit for insomniacs? The story follows a woman who is trying to figure out a mystery surrounding her past and her origins. According to Lisa Anderson from Library Journal, this book is the “perfect mix of scandal, drama, mystery, and just a hint of fairy-tale wonder”.

Which books would you add to this list? Help a girl out!