Tag: summer reading

Booklist

Lauren3 Comments

Aka “Books I’m Dying to Read.”  Or “What I Should Be Doing Instead of Watching TV.”

Seven months ago, I lost my Kindle.  Well not “lost,” but severely misplaced.  Tip: Don’t pack and move in a hurry.  And since then I’ve been slacking on reading.  Not that the first three Harry Potter books, Rick Steves and a re-read of my favorite detective novel don’t count as reading (they do!), but I’m ready to get back into the habit of reading new (to me at least), mature (sorry, Harry Potter) and enticing (non-fiction isn’t my cup of tea) things.  Oh, and I found my Kindle, so that helps!

Here’s what’s on my current “booklist.”

Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan

This book caught my attention for two reasons.  One, it’s by the same author as Loving Frank, which I absolutely loved and two, Paula McLain had good things to say about it and if there’s one book I loved more than Loving Frank it was McLain’s The Paris Wife.  I take her opinion seriously.

Under the Wide

The Sun Also Rises by Earnest Hemingway

Methinks reading about Spain when I’m headed there in September will make me extra excited.  More excited than Rick Steves’ writing makes me (sorry, Steve!).  Plus, see above about my love for The Paris Wife and my subsequent interest in Hemingway.

The Sun

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Okay, totally meant to read this during the winter, but: lost Kindle, lost reading motivation, lost extra time.  Maybe reading a book with “snow” in the title in the dead of summer will help me cool down on those 100+ degree days?

Snow Child

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I’ll be honest, I don’t really know anything about this book except that I’ve heard a million people sing its praises, so it must be good!  I’ve also heard that the ending is a real tearjerker so maybe I shouldn’t save this one to read on a public plane flight…

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The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Because everyone and their mom is reading it!

The Goldfinch

What’s on your booklist?

 

 

 

A Book Review: The Night Circus

Lauren2 Comments

Confession: I’m a huge fan of Lauren Conrad.  I know, I know, Laguna Beach and the Hills were kind of horrible, but I loved those shows and despite all the unnecessary drama of her life, I always thought Lauren was such a classy gal.  Nowadays, I settle for following her via her website, which is how I came across the idea to read The Night Circus.  Plus it was described as “enchanting,” so I just couldn’t say no.

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Books about the circus are best read while eating popcorn.

And enchanting it is.  My gosh, the imagery is incredible.  I can’t remember the last time I read a book with as much visual description (um Harry Potter maybe?), but it was truly magical.  The story revolves around, well, a night circus, but even more than that, it revolves around two magicians that are pitted against each other in a fight to the death.  The two end up falling in love, making the whole competition a bit more interesting.  I’m generally annoyed by any kind of love story (they all seem so phony!) but I really loved the relationship Erin Morgenstern created between the two characters.  It was romantic without being too overdone.

My one criticism was that the book never seemed to go into any specifics, which created this sort of mysterious feel, but also made me wonder what the heck was going on a majority of the time.  Some books make you feel so close to the characters but with this one I felt like I was just hovering over everything, kind of on the outside.  Okay, this is getting weird.  I guess I just didn’t feel immersed in the lives of the characters or the world they existed in.  Does that make more sense?  And although I felt the vagueness of the book was sort of a cop-out, I can’t deny that the feeling it created was completely unique and different from anything I’ve ever read.

Now I need to get together a fall reading list.  Any suggestions?