Summer Reading List

When the temps rise to the 70's I don't just think Buffett and Barcardi...I also think BOOKS!

I love to read, and I especially love summer reading. When I travel for a vaca, I usually take three to four covers with me because between plane and pool, if I am not napping......

I'm reading...

I'm officially counting down the days until Mr. W and I escape to here, and since I'm reluctant to buy lots of new vacation clothes in my current "healthy" size, I am focusing instead on the books I will read when I'm not hula dancing and hiking  through rain forests. Who are we kidding? I'll see the sights by helicopter...


My Summer Reading List (in no particular order):

1.
I admit it - I am 100% preoccupied with when/if/when I want to have a baby. I've turned Emily Griffin's pages before and she's a light, fun read. I think Baby Proof, a story about a couple who had resigned themselves to no kiddies then deals with a change of heart, may be just where I need to lose myself this summer!

2.  One of my all time favorite books ever in life is Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz. I don't know if he'd describe himself this way, but I consider Miller an apologetic Christian, which is to say, he recognizes the good, bad and ugly in organized religion and never lets any of it overshadow the amazing way God changes lives. In A Million Miles in a Thousand Years Miller,  Miller - a very gifted storyteller -  touches on living life as if we were writing our own story, which he was inpsired to do when Hollywood came calling to take Blue Like Jazz to the big screen! 

3. I am fascinated by what motivates people to do the things we do.  How We Decide breaks down the science behind human behavior. I'm not typically into the science of things; I tend to gravitate more towards the emotions that stimulate people. Give me two glasses of wine and a few of my very clever friends, and we can usually figure out what makes people tick.  However, my friend Jocelyn shared this blog that author Johan Lehrer wrote and I'm ready to buy more of what this scientist is selling...


4. Anything by Rachel Cusk.


I read an article about Cusk in this month's Elle magazine. Cusk is a little controversial for a lot of reasons. I think might be the British version of Elizabeth Gilbert. After the artcile, I googled Cusk and read a few pages of some of her books by way of Amazon. She's no doubt a wordsmith. I like wordy writers, especially when like Cusk, they are writing on issuse that interest me: the dynamics of women and friendship, the roles of men and women in marriage, and the realities of becoming a mother.

5. 
I don't even care that One Fifth Avenue is just another story about Manhattan socialites.  When I'm splurging at some swanky resort, I can actually believe that my life parellels that of one the racey, well-kept, sophisticated women Candace Bushnell always creates - at least for a few, fleeting days. I love Bushnell at the beach!  I had this book packed for my honeymoon, but in the comedy of errors that was our travel from Baltimore to Marbella, the book got left behind on a plane (in one of my very favorite bags, with all my brand new married stationery) in France.

6.  I may be the only woman who hasn't yet read The Help, by Kathryn Stockett and before it hits the big screen, I want to have read it for myself. It's based in 1962 Mississippi, and is said to be a wonderful story of the relationship between a white woman and her black maids.

7.  I can't help myself. I love political elections. When I was in high school, I'd tape both party conventions if I wasn't home to watch live. Now I work in Washington, and actually know people who played roles in all the campaigns. I've heard that Game Change reads like a long magazine article - that it's that juicey. I have a rule NOT to read books about DC and politics while on vacation...but that doesn't mean I can't read it later this summer at the pool!

8. All the same reasons as Number 7.




What are you excited to read this summer?