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| Can't go wrong with Hiaasen. Hoot. Flush. Chomp. |
August is almost here, which means summer is almost over. Noooooooooo..... How does it go by so quickly? The real question is, how does it go by so quickly when I'm doing basically nothing? So far, my summer off from teaching has been full of home repairs (minor), day trips with the fam (fun!), and afternoons at the beach (funner!). We didn't plan a major vacation this summer, and that has turned out to be an awesome idea (note to self).
When not patching drywall or hanging at Sea World with the fam, I've been reading and writing. Speaking of reading, two things I've always loved about the online literary community are the quality book recommendations and reviews. Honestly, I find about 75%* of the books I read from book reviews and blogs. Twitter is also a quality book recommendation source (depending on who you follow).
For this mid-summer post, I thought I'd share what I've read this summer, and what I plan to read. Basically, these are the books sitting on my nightstand, or ones that are put away in my backpack ready to glide into my school library's book drop.
Besides Carl Hiaasen's Scat, which I'm almost finished with, I've also read some other quality middle grade books.
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| I must read because Mike Winchell said so. |
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| Great cover, great concept. Loved the voice. |
I have one YA book on my nightstand:
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| Honestly, the cover made me pick this up. And, the blurb is great. |
One of my personal reading goals is to read more "adult" fiction. I put "adult" in quotations because kids can read these books, too. They're not just limited to people over 18 years-old. These "adult" books are also on my nightstand, collecting dust under the middle grade books. Funny how that always happens. But I'll get to them soon (especially the Gaiman book!). Promise.
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| Can't wait for this one! Loved Coraline and The Graveyard Book. |
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| My favorite King book is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (a quiet little book). |
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| I read a stellar interview with Ben Fountain. Therefore, I got the book. |
If you love a book, or you hear great things about a book, the best deed a reader can do for an author is tell someone else about the book.
So... what are you reading this summer?
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*the other 25% I find in my school's library
My agent has this weird kind of love for TERUPT, which I can understand since it's a good read. And the author is a fellow NY teacher like me, so that is a bonus.
ReplyDeleteThat is an ambitious nightstand. I have similar TBR books, but right now books I have committed to review are comng first.
Terupt is a book I'd read anyway. It's right up my alley. I'm excited to read it.
DeleteI read a lot of YA. Currently reading The Drowned Cities, by Paolo Bacigalupi, and recently finished The Raft, by S.A. Bodeen. Both are/were fabulous.
ReplyDeleteTHE RAFT! I knew I was forgetting about that one. I loved COMPOUND. Thanks for the reminder, Matt.
DeleteNo problem! It was super scary, and totally chilling, but also very good.
DeleteThe Raft. I'll check it out.
DeleteI read The Tragedy Paper this summer, too! I'm a sucker for boarding school stories. Have you read Paper Covers Rock? It's a tribute to my favorite boarding school story of all -- A Separate Peace.
ReplyDeleteMr. Terupt is on my nightstand, too! I've just come back from the Norfolk (Nebraska) Literature Festival, and I found out it won last year's YA Golden Sower Award for the state (or maybe it was the year before?).
My big read for the summer was Shogun. I've always meant to read it (I love sprawling epics from the 70s). All I needed to pull it off was a long road trip, which we took earlier in the month. It was incredible.
I am also a sucker for boarding school stories. I don't usually read much YA, but I'm going into this one with an open mind. Shogun, huh. Cool beans.
DeleteShogun my James Clavell? That's a fabulous epic. It's actually very closely based on true Japanese history. Sadly, every other Clavell epic I've read (Gai-Jin, Whirlwind) doesn't even come close.
DeleteYes! It was phenomenal. So glad I finally picked it up. Big 70s epics came up in a dinner conversation recently, and I left our friend's house with his copy of Shogun. Happy I did. What a read!
DeleteI, too, thought I'd use the summer to catch up on a little adult reading. Loved THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE--but then, honestly, I'd follow Gaiman anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI tackled THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI by Helene Wacker--well worth the time it took to read. Beautifully written prose and a profound story.
But then, I thought THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN by Katherine Applegate was profound. I kinda sniffled through that one. Oh! And GLORY BE by Augusta Scattergood (don't you love that name?) was wonderful. And I laughed out loud at TIMMY FAILURE by Stephen Pastis (and wondered if the kids reading it would laugh at the same things???)
And now I'll add a few of your recs to the pile. Thanks!
I, too, would follow Gaiman anywhere. IVAN was remarkably touching.
DeleteI'm currently reading The Selection by Kierra Cass. Yeah I have a lot of books to read over the summer as well.
ReplyDeleteI'll check it out, curious what it's about. Thanks, Sheena-kay!
DeleteI do random library picks every now and then and one of the things I checked out in the adult fiction section was Robert McCammon's Gone South. It's far grittier than what I normally read, but completely engrossing and so well-written, I'm glad I stumbled on it. Next up is our very own Eden Unger Bowditch's MG, The Atomic Weight of Secrets. I've been looking forward to reading it for awhile.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy a good, gritty book. I call them "raw" reads. I'll check out Eden's book. That is one thing I need to do, read the Mayhemers' books!
DeleteCarl Hiaasen books are a lot of fun. If I had the new Neil Gaiman book, I'd be reading that right now!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read Al Capone Does My Homework, which pubs in August. Just read My Side of the Mountain for the first time ever (I'm trying to catch up on Newbery winners). Felt a bit old-fashioned, but kept my interest.
good ole Sam Gribley. I used to teach that book in fourth grade. The kids actually enjoyed it.
ReplyDelete