I subscribe to this YouTube channel where this guy does vlogs and book reviews. One of the things he is doing, he calls The Summer 15, where he reads fifteen books throughout the summer. I think this is an amazing idea! My reading lately has been very subpar. Every book I seem to pick up I never finish (evidenced by the fact I haven't written a review since the end of January. Every book I pickup I can't seem to finish. But summer is prime time for reading. I'm not sure what it is about warm weather that makes me want to turn the pages of a good book (and even a bad one sometimes). Between vacations, road trips, and beach visits I'm always reading. So, I've decided I'm going to do this, but a little more realistically. You see, fifteen books seems like a lot. I read slow, and it took the guy on YouTube all year to read his fifteen books. So I'm cutting it in half. I'm reading 7.5 books from today (May 1st) till Labor Day (September 5th).
I've learned that the best way to hold yourself accountable is to make it public. So, I'm making it known. These are my intentions, and my books.
0.5.) The Lacuna by Barbara Kingslover: the half book. I've been reading this book periodically since February but really started attacking it last weekend on the train coming back from visiting my parents. It's the story of a boy who is half-American and half-Mexican. He finds himself torn between the two countries and their modern history.
1.) So Long and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams: I have been working my way through the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Series. This is Book 4
2.) Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams: Book 5 in the Hitchhiker's Guide series. I plan to finish the series. It is exactly my sense of humor, satirical and self-deprecating.
3.)The Swan Thieves by Elisabeth Kostova: I love this author. She wrote The Historian which is one of my favorite books of all time. She is so imaginative and dark. This one is about Robert Oliver, an artist who attacks a painting and ends up i a psychiatrist's office, refusing to talk. The psychiatrist, an artist himself, begins investigating into the man's past including the his life, love, madness, and why this particular painting. Can't wait!
4.) Brida by Paulo Coelho: I also LOVE this author. He wrote The Alchemist which inspired me to do this whole blog thing in the first place. This is a story about a young girl who is interested in magic but wants to learn more. So she goes in search of great wisdom and her destiny.
5.) Dead Souls by Nicolai Gogol: First the embarassing details as to why. I'm a huge Gilmore Girls fan. This is the book Rory was reading in the episode that she got her Harvard application. Ever since then I've always wanted to read it. It's the story of a Russian man who develops this plan to get rich by buying the names of dead serfs and using that clout to purchase an estate. Gogol is a great satarist. I've read some of this short stories and liked them but he does have a tendency to get a little long, weird, and wordy. I hope I can get through the novel and it's not to dense and uninteresting. If Rory Gilmore can do it, so can I!
6.) My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares: The author of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series (which I love). I've never read any of her more adult fiction. I mean it is pure chicklit but still. It's the story of a couple who not only falls in love once but many times throughout history, the guy Daniel remembering it all as soon as it happens again.
7.) Finally... Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Two summers ago I read the other Bronte sister's work and loved it. I got this book as a Christmas gift, literally forever ago and it's been haunting me ever since (Gothic pun intended). So I'm taking the plunge and finally reading it. Let's hope it's as good and easy a read as Wuthering Heights. I do love Gothic love stories.
There you have it. The seven and a half books I am reading this summer. Stay tuned for reviews of them. In order to accomplish my goal, I need to read one book every two weeks! Better get reading! And if anyone reads this and wants to participate with me, just write a comment with your 7.5 books or do 15 if you want to show me up!
