My Summer Reading List

As many of you know, I have spent the last 8 years traveling during the summer. Having now gone into "camp retirement" I feel like I am spending this year rediscovering things I enjoy and love about summer. What are some of those things? Naps, Sno cones, watching movies (both at home and in the theatre), going on vacation, and among many other things...reading.

I love to read. I can't remember a time I have not enjoyed reading (outside of some school assignments and the majority of my first time in grad school). I can remember spending hours in the back of my family's mini-van reading on the way to summer vacation. I was also always the kid who wanted to get any required summer reading done as soon as possible, so I could read all the things that I wanted to instead. Don't get me wrong...I also actually enjoyed some of those reads, like Cold Sassy Tree and Their Eyes Were Watching God, but usually I just wanted to dive into my favorites. Back then those faves included classic literature like Sweet Valley High. My taste evolved into even more sophisticated authors like Danielle Steel and Mary Higgins Clark. I hope you are detecting my sarcasm here. I didn't claim to be a literature elitist, but a lover of books. I would say I still enjoy a mix of good literature with a side of guilty pleasure. I just enjoy books that engage my imagination and that make me want to keep turning the pages. So...now that I have all this time on my hands this summer, what books are going to be on my summer reading list? Well....here they are....

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - I actually already read this one and it is fantastic!

Love the One Your With by Emily Giffin (author of Something Borrowed)

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

The Mozart Conspiracy by Scott Mariani

Throne of Fire by Rick Riodan

Spoken from the Heart by Laura Bush

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson

and in keeping with my adolescent interests...

Sweet Valley Confidential: 10 Years Later by Francine Paschal

So, as you can see, I still have somewhat random taste in books, but I have big plans for my summer reading. We'll see what other books make their way on the list before it is all said and done. What are you reading this summer? Is there a book you think I should add to my list?