Summer Reading

Although I work all year, my husband does not. And at the beginning of summer, I thought it would be fun to see how much summer reading I could get done. L completed her 20 books through the public library and I didn't do so bad, reading 9 books between Memorial day and Labor day. So here's my list and my thoughts on them.

1. Waiting by Debra Ginsberg. This is a memoir about a woman who was a waitress. Boy does she have a lot of stories!! Although I waited tables in college, I can't imagine doing it forever (but the instant money was really really nice). I thought this book was very good.

2. The 4th Summer of the Sisterhood/ Traveling Pants. Gosh, I love teen girl books. Almost as good as chick lit. Just as good as the other three.

3. Marley and Me by John Grogan. Loved it!!! Really made me appreciate my dogs more, especially when they are being naughty. A must read.

4. The Last Lecture by Randy Pasch. So I read this after Marley and as much as that book helped me appreciate the dogs, Randy really makes me appreciate life and my family. What a courageous man. I'll be reading that book again.

5. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. This is a Columbine like story about a boy who kills several kids in his school. While I was reading the book, I thought it was good and liked the story line between the families of the dead and the family of the killer, but after I read the last few words, I thought there were too many words and pages.

6. The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty. I read this for my book club and it was good. I liked the characters and the fact that it was in a fictional town in Kansas in the 80's. I can't remember the girl's name, but the book takes her through several years and growing pains of growing up. Decent book.

7. Travels by Michael Creighton. I thought this book would be really good and it was for the first 2/3. Michael describes tons of places he's traveled and the stories were all very interesting. But then he launched into his quest for "finding himself" and seeing all sorts of psychics and I was snoozing away. I think I skipped the last 20 pages.

8. The Greatest Man by Christensen. Our most recent book club book about an artist named Oscar who's been dead 5 years and how his sister, his wife and his mistress all come together. Very interesting book.

9. Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. As mentioned in an earlier post, David's new book is a cluster of short stories about himself. It was okay. I like him for about 100 pages and then I get bored with him. He hates doing anything and he's kind of a baby. Oh well...at least I checked it out at the library instead of shelling out $25 for it.

So that's part of what I did this summer. Now I'm moving on to fall (as evident by the 60 degree weather today).