Summer Reading List: 2013 Edition

One thing I look forward to the most every summer is reading.  Don't get me wrong.  During the school year, I read plenty: student papers, re-read texts for class, professional literature.  I miss the choice reading I so often encourage in my students and rarely find - or make - time for.  During the week of Spring Break, I flew through three great books as we relaxed in South Carolina.  It was heaven.  Somehow, between selling and buying a new house, moving (hopefully), getting married, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and taking a class, I will find time to enjoy some thought-provoking words and some mindless fluff.  That's what the honeymoon is for.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I started this book probably back in January.  I have about a hundred pages left and am more or less refusing to finish it.  It's that good.  I want to hold on to the experience for as long as I can.  I know the ending is going to make me bawl.  The delay also comes with a personal connection.  The plot involves a terminally ill teenager suffering with cancer, too similar to the situation with my future father-in-law who I adore so much.  It helps me to understand what he is going through but also scares me.  I will find as much courage as the main character in the book and my future father-in-law have, and I will finish it.  Plus, John Green is one of my favorite young adult authors.

Divergent by Veronica Roth 

My students are FLYING through this book.  They tell me it's the new Hunger Games series:  Hunger Games meets The Giver.  Whenever they are excited about a book, I get excited and desperate to experience it with them.    I love to see a book slowly catch fire with a group of kids.  This is the first in the series and, from discussion and synopsis, holds true to the dystopia world.  Of course, the copyrights have already been sold, and the movie is in production.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Anyone who knows my reading taste will be surprised by this choice.  Let's blame this one on the fiance.  He made me watch the movie.  While I don't agree with Peter Jackson's ability to take a three hundred page book and turn it into a movie franchise making billions, I started to appreciate the storyline.  In addition, I teach a Myths and Legends course, which has widened my reading interests in general and taught me to value literature I would normally have ignored.  I'm excited to see how I can bring this into the classroom.  I'm thinking literature circles with The Iliad and Hunger Games.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Another hot book in 2012 that appear on critics best of lists.  Looks like a good mystery from a fairly new author.  I received this from my sister at Christmas and it's waiting on a shelf - well, now in a box - calling my name.  The summary says it's about a wife who goes missing after their fifth wedding anniversary.  Could give me some interesting views on marriage.

Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie

Alexie is by far in my top five favorite authors.  I have a sacred signed copy of this book sitting in a box begging to be displayed.  That moment I met him in November of last year was better than meeting any movie star or singer you could come up with.  (Yes, I'm a geek.)  I can't wait to delve into it.    His sarcastic tone, his unabashed ability to take on any topic, his blatant commentary on society are some of the reason I have hungered for his books, short stories, poems, and even tweets for more than a decade.  This collection of stories allows me to revisit old ones and explore new ones.  



This is just a starting point.  My favorite English teacher and great friend is hosting a bridal shower for me at the beginning of June.   (We actually toyed with the idea of having a wine and book bridal shower, to which my fiance asked "What's in it for me?")  She asked if she could get me books for the shower.  Was that a real question?  I only required each book be reviewed her first.  She is, after all, the one who turned me on to Sherman Alexie.