What I Read This Summer

It's official. Summer is over. I started school Monday. Davis started school last week, and Lawson's first day was Tuesday. But instead of writing a report on what I did over the summer (because those reports have been coming in monthly via Remlerville), I will report on my summer reading.

I think I accomplished a lot. First of all, I must mention that Stephen gave me an iPad for Mother's Day, on which I immediately installed a Kindle ap, so I've been reading traditional paper back books as well as electrically charged ones. The variety enables me to read two books simultaneously: the paper model for the pool and the electronic model for reading in bed while Stephen sleeps. I resisted the Kindle for a long time, hoping that if I refused to give in, I could single-handedly save the publishing industry. But I'm hooked, so Amazon has nothing to fear.

I'm going to begin my summer reading list with the book I finished reading on April 30th. Most people don't think of April as a summer month, but it just so happens that on April 21st, I finished reading that verbose Russian doorstop that most people call Anna Karenina. So on April 22nd, I considered myself paroled. I immediately picked up a much shorter, much lighter (literally and figuratively) book:

Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith is a cute novel about a philologist. I know. I know. How in the world could philology be interesting? Well, it just so happens one can be right funny when he sword fights his colleague and chops off the end of his nose. Just ask Carol Jamison, the philologist next door. I passed the book on to her, and she found it delightful. I like Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books better, but this one was a nice break after Tolstoy.

By the way, Susan Baldwin, did you ever finish Anna Karenina?

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I read the whole trilogy, and I'll spare you the reading time by lumping all three books in this one listing. The first book, The Hunger Games, is a real page turner, though at times inconsistent with details. I was not fully satisfied with the ending, though I knew it was a springboard for Part II. Catching Fire, was a good story for a young adult book, but by the end I was getting a little tired of teenagers saving the world. By the time I got to Mockingjay, the final (whew!) installment, I began to think the story bordered on the ridiculous. The main character all but turned into a superhero, and I lost interest. I hear there's a movie in the works. I think I'll wait to watch it On Demand.

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe. Every summer I have to read a celebrity autobiography, usually by someone too young to write an autobiography. This year's pick was Rob Lowe for two reasons: 1) I read an excerpt of it in Vanity Fair, so I figured I'd been given a head start and 2) Last summer I read Melissa Gilbert's autobiography, and I wanted to read how he treated her in his book. Lowe's book is okay as far as celebrity autobiographies go, but I was impressed that he glossed over his relationship with Gilbert. In fact, he hardly mentioned her at all. Was that for his benefit or hers?

Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson. I adore Joshilyn Jackson. She is a talented writer and a delightful person, as I learned when I lunched with her at a 2007 (or was it '08?) conference of the Georgia Council of Teachers of English. This was Jackson's most recent book at the time, but now she has another one out, so I should download it on my Kindle. Backseat Saints was a good, quick read, but smarter than your usual summer fare. It also tells the story of one of Jackson's minor characters from Gods in Alabama.

Heir to the Everlasting: This year the GCTE journal published an issue of author interviews, and my friend Julie Rucker published an interview with Georgia author Janice Daugharty. Julie's interview was how I learned about Daugharty and her books, so I decided to give this latest one a try. I found it wonderfully descriptive, but in many places excessively so. Still, I enjoyed the time setting: early 20th century. And it's about dang time someone wrote about south Georgia.

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly. Kelley Remler was reading this novel, and when she finished it, she passed it on to me. I was still reading Heir to the Everlasting, so I handed it over to Stephen, who plowed through it. Stephen's not a big reader, so if he rips through a novel, I know I have to give it a shot. I found this one a legal page turner, great for a summer read. Recently, Stephen and I watched the movie. You guessed it. The book is better.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin. I will now read anything Tom Franklin writes. Of all the books I read this summer (that I hadn't read before), this one was my favorite. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is really good, really good. In fact, I liked it so much that I gave it to my friend Shelly Tucker, only to realize that I had borrowed it from my friend Beth, so I had to go to Barnes and Noble to buy another copy, which I then returned to Beth as if it were the same copy she loaned to me. And now if Beth reads this posting, she'll know the truth.

One Summer by David Baldacci. I read a review of this in People magazine. Actually, it wasn't a review. People asked an author (I can't remember who--bad sign) to list some books she recommended. She recommended this one. For the life of me I don't know why. I think this is probably the worst book I have ever read. The only reason I finished it was that I had paid for it and felt obligated. This book didn't even get one star in my book journal.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. I love Ann Patchett's books, and since I spoke to her in the women's room of the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, I feel a special connection to her fiction. So when Beth loaned me this one, I immediately began reading. I found the concept compelling, but I have to say, this book dragged for 250 pages. It has a powerful ending, though, so if you have the patience, you'll enjoy how it closes.

Untold Story by Monica Ali: I was drawn to the high concept of this novel: Princess Diana didn't die. Instead, she faked her death and resumed a regular life in the U. S. It started out pretty interesting, but I wish it had been smarter than it was. I gave it only two stars.

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard. Last December, I read Room by Emma Donoghue, which is a fictional Jaycee Dugard story told from the point of view of the child born in captivity. All through the novel, I kept wondering, What would Jaycee Dugard think of this book? So when she published her story, I had to read it. What's touching is that it reads as if it's written by someone with a fifth grade education. And that's because it is written by someone with a fifth grade education. So not only did the story itself draw me in, but the voice did too. What's more, by buying the book, I made a contribution to her foundation, so I feel like I helped someone too.

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys by Chris Fuhrman. Davis had to read this novel for his summer reading. I'd heard of it, and I knew it was adapted to a film starring Jodie Foster. But what I didn't realize was that it's set in Savannah. Davis told me the characters are students at Blessed Sacrament who conspire to steal a bobcat from Oatland Island. Curiosity got me, so I read it. It was fair. But then when I read the author bio, I learned that the author had been a student at Armstrong! Get out of town!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett: And then the opening of the movie approached, so I decided to reread this fabulous book because I'd forgotten some of the details. And I enjoyed it just as much the second time around. This ranks right up there with To Kill a Mockingbird for me. And as it turns out, the film is very well done.

It Looked Prettier on the Model by Laurie Notaro. Every summer I read a Laurie Notaro book.Thank you, Laurie, for cranking out those books so frequently! She is laugh out loud funny. And she gets an extra star because even her author bio was hilarious. I just finished reading this one about fifteen minutes ago.

So my fall reading begins, and I will start with a book by my friend Beth's friend Amanda Eyre Ward. Close Your Eyes is her fourth novel, and I have enjoyed the other three, so I'm looking forward to this one. Maybe in December I'll post a fall reading list. If I do, I'll include a review of this one.