For me, with the warm weather of summer comes the desire to READ READ READ! I think it is a holdover from my youth--from middle school onward through college, summer meant the end of school and long-awaited freedom to finally read whatever I wanted, instead of books assigned by teachers and professors. I'm a long way out of college now, but my desire to devour books in the summertime hasn't disappeared. Here's what has been keeping me busy the past few weeks:
Bringing Home the Birkin, by Michael Tonello. This one caught my eye at the library--I'm not ashamed to admit that I totally judge books by their covers! The clever cover and intriguing title piqued my interest, and by the first chapter in I was sold by the chatty and entertaining prose. It's pretty fluffy--the topic is *the* status symbol bag for the glitterati, after all--but not every book needs to make you contemplate the cosmos, KWIM? A good beach or poolside read for sure.
I'm seriously late to the party for this one (it's been an Oprah book for eight years) but I finally got around to reading The Poisonwood Bible because a friend lent me her copy. It's long and involved but amazingly well-written and the story is very moving. This was one I had a hard time putting down, and I'd like to explore some of Barbara Kingsolver's other works, now that I've gotten a taste of her talent.
Somehow I managed to get through school without ever being assigned to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I have always known about it, but never read it for some reason--I think I always associated it with The Yearling, and didn't want to read a book about a deer. I finally checked it out, so now I can cross that one off the list of Classics everyone should read. I thought it was only okay; I didn't love it. I know that I was very bothered by the fact that people just seemed to be so mean to each other. I read that the story is rather autobiographical, so I wonder if that was an accurate representation of people, or simply how the author remembered it as a child? Anyone want to weigh in?
Tuesday night my book club met to discuss Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes. If you're on a diet, this is not the book for you! The author's descriptions of the glorious, fresh, earthy food she found and prepared in Tuscany never failed to leave me ravenous. The book was slow, but its pace seemed to mirror the slower pace of the author's time spent in her Italian home. The book also includes recipes, and for book club we each chose one to make at home and then bring to share. And I've never seen the movie, but from what I understand it's completely different from the book.
I checked out Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression after seeing it mentioned on this blog. There's no particular plot, rather it is a collection of the author's memories about her childhood. It was very interesting to read about life on the farm--how and what they cooked, what they did to have fun, etc. I find it interesting that although this covers the same time period as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the whole feeling was much different--there was none of the meanness that I mentioned being bothered by before.Along the way I also started Lonesome Dove (which has 800 pages so I'm in no hurry) and Pawley's Island, which I've designated my official pool book. Next up for book club is These is My Words, a book I think I'm really going to like even though I haven't opened it yet. I've also checked out Water for Elephants, a book I've seen recommended practically everywhere (what is my obsession with the Depression this summer?).
What are you reading this summer?
