4 Great Summer Reads for the Whole Family

4 Great Summer Reads for the Whole Family

It's the  middle of summer and it is time to talk about some of the great books out there to enjoy during summer.  To me, a summer read is a book you read during the summer, not something necessarily light and fluffy. I like to read a variety of books and none of the books featured here are of the light and fluffy variety.

So here are 4 books I've read recently to spice up your summer days.  Each book will appeal to a different age group in your family.

Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
BookADay:  Day 17, Book #14

Await Your Reply was chosen as a book for my book club.  I have never read anything by Dan Chaon and was not sure what to expect but this book blew me away.  Await Your Reply is a page turner and opens with a young man getting his hand cut off.  There are three different story lines that interconnect.  Each story line is compelling with interesting characters and it is fun to try and figure out how they are all related.  So good.


A Wreath for Emmitt Till by Marilyn Nelson
BookADay:  Day 14, Book #13

This little book packs a powerful punch of poetry on the death and legacy of Emmett Till. It is a told in a series of fifteen interlocking sonnets. The artwork combined with the beautiful poems about the painful subject of lynching is something to behold. This is a Printz honor book and a Coretta Scott King honor book.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd
BookADay:  Day 19, Book #15

I love Patrick Ness.  All of his books are so creative.  A Monster Calls is a story Ness adapted from a story idea that author, Siobhan Dowd had before she died.  It won so many awards, I can't even count how many.  It is beautiful story about a boy and his nightmare that has come to life in the form of a Yew tree outside his window. The illustrations are stunning.  A Monster Calls made me cry and touched my heart. So poignant.  I loved it.

Diego Rivera: An Artist for the People by Susan Goldman Rubin
BookADay:  Day 20, Book #16

Diego Rivera is an artist for the people. He created art on murals for the working class and for people who were illiterate. He wanted to teach the world the history of Mexico. This is a short but detailed biography of Diego Rivera and how he became a admired artist. This is a good introductory book for kids and adults who want a quick history of who Diego Rivera is and why his artwork is important.  Some of his artwork is included in the book.

How do you define summer reading?

Two Book Club Book Reviews

Two Book Club Book Reviews

My book club, the Itty Bitty Reading Committee, has read a book a month so far this year and I haven't reviewed any of the books yet and basically we have read some pretty awesome books in the first half of the year.  So here are two short reviews of the first and second book club reads of 2014.

Our first book of 2014 (January) was The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.  It was pretty cute.  It is a awkward love story that is laugh out loud funny.  It is a feel good kinda book.  Don Tillman is the main character and he is systematically trying to find a wife and starts, the wife project where he interviews and dates women who fit the "wife" criteria.  Of course nothing ever goes as planned and Don ends up meeting Rosie and they begin a tentative friendship.  Rosie does not meet the "wife" criteria that Don has established so Rosie can never be more than a friend.  This novel is quirky and enjoyable and Don is a unique character, with Asperger- like characteristics.

Our second book of 2014 (February) was Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler.  This is the third book I have read by Anne Tyler.  I read and enjoyed both Ladder of Years and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.  Back When We Were Grownups is a character driven book about Rebecca Davis, a 53 yr old grandma and her family.  Rebecca is looking at her life through a new lens and wondering if she made the right choices.  Rebecca is a professional party planner and her life is giving one endless party after another.  In some ways, I feel the book is reminiscent of Mrs. Dalloway.  Yet, I feel there wasn't much happening in the book, very little action and I've decided I prefer plot driven novels over character driven novels.  Back When We Were Grownups was a little slow moving and my least favorite of the three Anne Tyler books I have read.

What about you?  Do you prefer Plot Driven books or Character Driven books?
What has your book club been reading?

The Gathering by Anne Enright

The Gathering by Anne Enright
A short review

There has been a death in the family.  Veronica's brother, Liam drowned himself in the sea and now Veronica must collect the body from England and simultaneously hold herself together.  As the family of nine siblings comes together to say goodbye to their brother in the family home in Ireland, Veronica must guard her deepest secret while she is coming apart at the seams.  She fears her memories have warped and corrupted her and possibly Liam.

Enright has created an unreliable and creative narrator in Veronica.  While reading it, several times I found myself confused and thought this book is crazy and it doesn't make sense, until I figured out that Veronica was verging on major mental illness and trying to make sense out of a past that didn't make sense at all.  By golly, I got it.  The lightbulb in my brain went off.  Enright is pure genius.
My book club did not agree and many just skimmed while I perused the book.  Maybe it's because I related to the main character, Veronica and saw myself in her crisis that the book held meaning for me.  I'm frankly not sure.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"History is only biological - that's what I think.  We pick and choose the facts about ourselves - where we came from and what it means." pg 162

"I am all for sadness, I say, don't get me wrong.  I am all for the ordinary life of the brain.  But we fill up sometimes, like those little wooden birds that sit on a pole - we fill up with it, until donk, we tilt into the drink." pg 175

I liked (not loved, but truly liked) the book and thats all I can say.  You must read it and decide for yourself.  Go on now.  Give it a go.

The Gathering won the Man Booker Prize in 2007.

Shelter by Sarah Stonich

Shelter by Sarah Stonich
A short review.

Sarah's family once owned a nice piece of property in northern Minnesota.  Her father wanted her to have the cabin experience but leased the land.  After her father died, Sarah wanted to give her son a legacy, a piece of land on a lake to call their own and to continue to the family tradition of the cabin experience.  So she head up north to Ely, Minnesota, where her ancestors are from, to look for land.  She settled on a piece of land on a small lake with tall pines and rocky cliffs.

For almost every Minnesotan, it is a wish to have a cabin on a lake.  Sarah is able to make her dream come true with a lot of muscle and hard work.  Unfortunately the state has other plans and decides to build a public road right through the middle of it.

This is the first book I have read by Sarah Stonich and I wish I would have read her fiction first.  Sarah's fiction garners exceptional acclaim and I hear nothing but great things about her as a writer.  Shelter is interesting but probably not her best book.  Stonich's writing is picturesque as she evokes the beauty of the northern Minnesotan landscape perfectly.  The storyline is like a lazy day at the lake waiting for the fish to bite.

If you have a cabin, Shelter would be a good addition for your bookshelf.