Good day to ya, PopWatchers! Hope you’re enjoying your weekend. Me, I woke up on this lazy Saturday and clicked on the TV to find… a blissfully empty DVR! Ah, summer — how I welcome your warm embrace. The 2008-2009 television season has come to its long-awaited end, and assuming I can avoid becoming attached to any reality programming involving fat people bouncing off things, that means it’s time for my favorite annual activity: the reading of as many books as possible before the TV shows start premiering again in the fall.
I’ve already finished my first novel of the season: Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland, about marital struggles and cricket on the fringes of post-9/11 New York. I loved it, and not just because Obama told me to. Sitting now in front of my bookshelves — organized as they are into "already read," "need to read," and "read but can’t remember what it was about" — I am really getting excited about the months to come. I’m going to start out with More Than It Hurts You by my old friend Darin Strauss, then dive into All the President’s Men. I think I’ve got enough distance from the movie to read Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men at last. I’ve been meaning to tackle Thomas Friedman’s Longitudes and Attitudes for what feels like a decade; elsewhere in non-fiction, there’s Elizabeth Royte’s Garbage Land, and two from Steven Johnson, Everything Bad is Good for You and The Ghost Map. I never got around to Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America or Maureen Dowd’s Are Men Really Necessary? As always, Gravity’s Rainbow is taunting me like an evil brick. And then there are the guilty pleasures: an unauthorized biography of Axl Rose, or Anthony Kiedis’s memoir, Scar Tissue; a stack of old Neil Gaiman graphic novels; John Irving’s Until I Find You, which I’m not sure is supposed to be any good but I’ve read everything else of his so I might as well read that. Also, for some insane reason, I’d like to re-read some Shakespeare this summer. Maybe it’s because I’m re-watching Sports Night on DVD, and Aaron Sorkin shows always make me feel like I don’t have enough Shakespeare memorized to use when proving a point in casual conversation.
What about you, PopWatchers? What books are going on your bedside table, in your beach bag, or on vacation with you this summer? And how many books do you think you can finish by fall? Summer Book Challenge 09 starts now!
More Summer Reading lists from EW:
Stephen King: 7 Great Books for Summer
Nightstand Inspection: What are you reading right now?
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I’m also re-reading the Harry Potter…see if the movie’s any good.
Hoping to finish “Angry Conversations with God” this weekend (written by Susan Isaacs). I have no idea what’s next… maybe the A-Rod book, maybe David Foster’s “Hitman.”
http://caitisully.wordpress.com/summer-book-list/
I’m also re-reading the Harry Potter to see how accurate the movie is.
I am reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. So far so good.
I just finished reading Dave Cullen’s Columbine (a must-read for any journalist!). It was horrifying and painful, but completely compelling, and I couldn’t put it down. It really enlightened me to how much I DIDN’T know about the tragedy and just how complicated the situation is… it’s also an intense psychological analysis of the killers – and of the media and victim’s reactions.
And now – because I like to keep things light and cheery – I’m starting My Sister’s Keeper. Waiting in the wings are Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Didion’s Year of Magical Thinking, How we Decide, and Julie Andrews’ memoir (with Kristen Chenowith’s on hold at the library!) Am also very much looking forward to the release later in June of Sarah Dessen’s Along for the Ride; Dessen is a brilliant young adult author with beautiful prose and vivid characters.
P.S. Love the choice of photo with this post… where’s Paul Rudd’s memoir?
Just finished The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. A wonderful read! Truly magic.
As of right now, the pile is monstrous! But the most pressing things are Villette, Henry Star (or whatever it’s called) by Roddy Doyle, On the Road, The Conspiracy of Paper, Reputation, and the Woman in White. Oh, and of course, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Just finished Pride and Prejudice and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Reading: Jane Eyre. To Read: A couple of Kate Atkinson novels, The Decameron, (reread) To Kill a Mockingbird, Some Jose Saramago novels, Some more Lionel Shriver novels, Superstud (Paul Feig), Selected Stories (Alice Munro), Black Water (Joyce Carol Oates), Lonesome Dove (McMurty), and more. Actually a lot of these books are from the EW end of year best books of 2008 but I haven’t had a chance to read them yet. So thanks for the reading list EW haha.
I’ve got mostly chick lit lined up for the summer. Something about summer and somewhat mindless reading that goes hand-in-hand. John Irving’s “Until I Find You” was good, but definitely no “Prayer for Owen Meaney”. If people haven’t read it yet – “Revolutionary Road” is fantastic.
“Henry Star (or whatever it’s called) by Roddy Doyle”
‘A Star Called Henry.’ — that was a good (if harrowing) read!
I’m currently reading David McCullough’s bio of John Adams (I missed the HBO miniseries, but I hope to catch it on DVD sometime). When I’m done with that, I plan to start on E.M. Forster’s ‘A Passage To India’ (to see if it’s anywhere near as good as ‘A Room With A View’ or ‘Howard’s End’).
I can hardly wait for Conroy’s newest…waiting…waiting…
“Blue Heaven” by CJ Box….great author, guess this just won the Edgar Award.
I’ve got a laundry list for this summer:
The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner
Hood by Stephen Lawhead
The Calamity Jayne Series by Kathleen Bacus
How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater by Marc Acito
Hollywood Girls Club by Maggie Marr
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Just finished the new Sookie Stackhouse book Dead and Gone and absolutely loved it. Can’t wait for the show to come back on. Until then I’m going to read Still Alice
Thinking about reading the Sookie Stackhouse books over the summer as I enjoyed True Blood so much (last year it was the Twilight saga after watching the trailer for the movie)can anyone tell me if they’re worth my valuable time and money?
So far I have
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
Zoro by Isabel Allende
Suite Francais by Irene Nemirovsky
I would also like to read Twilight
I also have a copy of Lonesome Dove to read and I would like to finish The Cold six thousand by James Ellroy
I just finished The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka, and considering I am pregnant, this was not good mom fiction, so I am looking for something lighter. I think I might finally restart Connecticut Yankee to finish it this time because my Twain professor implored me the the ending makes it worth it. I guess I was on an Indian kick because I also recently completed The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, enjoyed it and then stumbled on the film version…love Kal Penn, but movie does the novel no justice.
One book is the book “Push” by Sapphire. Since the movie “Precious” with MoNique and Paula Patton won’t be out until Nov, I want to read the book first.
Stephen King had a recent article that had two books that were interesting; one told from the dog’s POV and a killer who convinces the people to take their lives. I forgot the names but I’m gonna get those this weekend.
Well, I’m currently reading Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold and The Horse Boy by Rupert Isaacson (which has made me tear up more than once, I relate to a lot of what they have been through with beautiful Rowan). I also have The Last Olympian By Rick Riordan, Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson, Paper Towns by John Green, and am on the wait list at the library for Dog On It and Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin. I may have gotten a couple of those ideas from Stephen King.
Angel’s Game, by Carlos Zafon
Lots of fun stuff by Terry Pratchett
maybe pride and prejudice and zombies
good omens by neil gaiman
For the person who asked about the Sookie Stackhouse books — YES, they’re worth it! Just finished the most recent, and I love them all. Now reading Charlaine Harris’s Harper Connelly books. Still to come: Turncoat by Jim Butcher, The 19th Wife, The Hour I First Believed (Wally Lamb), and a whole bunch of YA and sci-fi/fantasy books.
Barbara Walters’ Audition was a fun read. Not always a huge fan of hers but I found it pretty interesting. Recommended!
Just started James Frey’s Bright Shiny Morning. Really enjoying it. Loved the warning on the first page – “Nothing in this book should be considered accurate or reliable” Very clever!
I’m rereading the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare in preparation for the final book. I plan on rereading the Gemma Doyle series by Libba Bray also in preparation for the final book. I just recently got into the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast, so I’ll probably read some more of those this summer. And I’ve been thinking about rereading the Harry Potter series because I haven’t read any of them since 2007.
Crystal- Paper Towns is one of my all-time favorite books! I hope you enjoy it.
I’ve finished two books in as many weeks… I read She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb & Water for Elephants by Saran Gruen, At the moment I’m reading The Liar’s Club, a memoir by Mary Karr. I have Blink by Malcolm Gladwell & Loving Frank by Nancy Horan about Frank Lloyd Wright and his mistress on my list. From there I need suggestions
Just read Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay and City of Thieves by David Benioff. Both were great summer reads. Coming up: The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon, Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese, and The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston.
Some sure randomosity:
Looking for Alaska -John Green
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close -Jonathan Foer
Les Miserables -Victor Hugo (a big one, good luck to me!)
The Glass Castle -Jeannette Walls
The Lovely Bones -Alice Sebold
just to name a few…
Somehow, between a bunch of academic stuff I have to read for a course I’m taking, I’m hoping to squeeze in the following:
Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford
Deeply Rooted by Lisa M. Hamilton
The Means of Reproduction by Michelle Goldberg
Fool’s Gold by Gillian Tett
Untapped by John Ghazvinian
The Foie Gras Wars by Mark Caro
Dogs and Goddesses by Jenny Crusie, et al
Shark’s Fin and Szechuan Pepper by Fuchsia Dunlap
etc.
etc.
My Sister’s Keeper-Jodi Picoult
Nineteen Minutes-Jodi Picoult
Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime-Mark Haddon
Well, I already re-read Harry Potters 6 and 7 (4 hours each) to prepare for this summer’s Potter mania. Others on my list:
The Last Dickens – Matthew Pearl
High School Confidential – Jeremy Iverson
Fallen Skies – Philippa Gregory
Black and White and Dead All Over – John Darnton