Elin Hilderbrand
A perfect summery read, set in Nantucket (which is both slightly foreign to this Southern reader, but also familiar in that beachy haunt sort of way), and focused on a single weekend. A wedding weekend. With lots of family drama - but the good kind, that shows how much everybody does love each other - and carefully woven backstory, centered around The Notebook, which Beth Carmichael wrote her youngest daughter Jenna (the bride) before she died, detailing the perfect Future Wedding. Told from multiple perspectives, Beautiful Day is like an insider's peek into another family (or few), and discovering that families everywhere are not so different after all.
Homer Hickam, Jr
Have you seen October Sky? Well, this memoir is the true story of Homer Hickam and his rocket-building buddies, as they grew up in the changing coal town of Coalwood in the days of Sputnik. It's an enjoyable read, knowledgeable without being too technical, familiar without becoming exhausting or rambling. If you've seen the movie, it's fun learning "the rest of the story" -- and if you haven't seen the movie, it's a great experience to bring the story to life.
Kate DiCamillo
Another book-turned-movie, this is the engaging and delightful tale of a mouse who loves a (human) princess and longs to be a knight. A hero. He also reads books, which is frowned upon by the mouse community, and earns wee Despereaux a trip to the dungeon. With the rats. Rats who are plotting evil schemes. Like kidnapping the Princess. Fear not, Readers, this is not a sad story. But it is an adventure, and as the characters develop - and begin to weave in and out of each other's lives - it becomes a wonderful adventure. (The movie is pretty cute too).
John Green
I actually listened to this as my first ever audiobook (stayed tuned for thoughts on audiobooks, once I've completed a few more experiments). It was also my first ever John Green novel, which is perhaps hard to believe if you're aware of his huge online presence. It's an amusing book, taking place the summer of Colin's high school graduation -- and an epic breakup with Katherine XIX. Yes, he's had nineteen different girlfriends named Katherine. After his best friend decides a roadtrip is in order, the boys find themselves in Gut Shot, Tennessee -- which ends up being a surprisingly beneficial place to spend your summer. Colin creates an extremely complex theorem to explain/predict "Dumping", but more than that, he learns what it is to live. Sometimes I found myself laughing out loud. Sometimes I wondered just what on earth was going on. It's a summer read, literally, and not a bad introduction to John Green.
Here's the remaining days of Summer, and to making Summer Reading last as long as possible! And then, shifting gears and finding cozy, cold-weather reads ...
Reading: The Year-Round Sport
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