As long as I can remember, I have always been a reader; I love books, all kinds of books, and can read anywhere and everywhere. I am also most definitely a collector of books. Between L and I, we have three bookcases full - and overflowing - with more books somehow making their way into our house all the time! This year, I've decided I'm going to make time to read more, and now seems like the perfect time to start, with the weather improving all the time and reading outside is an option again! Here are some of my picks - from my bookcases at home - that I can't wait to dig into this summer.
Leaving Time - Jodi Picoult
"For over a decade, Jenna Metcalf obsesses on her vanished mom Alice. Jenna searches online, rereads journals of the scientist who studied grief among elephants. Two unlikely allies are Serenity Jones, psychic for missing people who doubts her gift, and Virgil Stanhope, jaded PI who originally investigated cases of Alice and her colleague. Hard queestions and answers." (Goodreads.com)
I'm looking forward to this read, if not only because I have seen so many mixed reviews and can't wait to see for myself what all the (mostly negative) hype is all about.
The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion
"A ffirst-date dud, socially awkward and overly fond of quick-dry clothes, genetics professor Don Tillman has given up on love, until a chance encounter gives him an idea. He will design a questionnaire - a sixteen page, scientifically researched questionnaire - to uncover the perfect partner. She will most definitely not be a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker or a late-arriver. Rosie is all these things. She is also fiery and intelligent, strangely beguiling, and looking for her biological father a search that a DNA expert might just be able to help her with." (Amazon.ca)
This has been sitting on my bookshelf since Christmas, and calls to me everytime I go for a new book to read....I just haven't gotten around to pick it up as of yet. But, in my opinion, there is no better time to read a good romance than in the summer time, on the beach in the sun!
Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg
"Thirty years after women became 50 percent of the college graduates in the United States, men still hold the vast majority of leadership positions in government and industry. This means that women's voices are still not heard equally in the decisions that most affect our lives. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg examines why women's progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled, explains the root causes, and offers compelling, commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential." (Amazon.ca)
I started this book last summer, but never ended up finishing it due to it getting lost in the shuffle of one of our many moves. Well, I liked what I read - inspired me a little - and this book resurfaced not too long ago, so I have set my sights on finishing it this summer.
Room - Emma Donoghue
"To five-year-old Jack, Room is the world. It's where he was born, it's where he and Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. Therre are endless wonders that let loose Jack's imagination: the snake under the Bed that he constructs out of eggshells; the imaginary world projected through the TV; the coziness of Wardrobe, where Ma tucks him in safely at night, in case Old Nick comes. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it's the prison where she's bbeen held since she was nineteen - for seven long years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in that eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But Jack's curiosity is building alongside Ma's own desperation, and she knows that Room cannot contain either indefinitely." (Gooddreads.com)
This is one of those books that the book jacket summary pulled me in so much that I almost started reading the book in the store. I can tell this one will be a quick read as soon as I start it!
Web of Angels - Lillian Nattel
"On the surface of things, Sharon Lewis is a lot like any other happily married mother of 3: she is the beating heart of a house full of kids, cooking and chaos, the one who always knows the after-school practice schedule, where her husband put the car keys and who needs a little extra TLC. Her kids and husband think she's a little spooky, actually, the way she can anticipate the tensions of any situation - and maybe they love her all the more for the extra care she gives them. Life is definitely good until the morning Heather Edwards, a pregnant teenaged friend of the family, kills herself. The reverberations of that act, and the ugly secrets that sparked it, prove deeply unsettling to the whole family, and stir up Sharon's own troubling secret: she has DID, or dissociative identity disorder. And the multiples inside the woman the world knows as Sharon seem to know what happened to Heather, and what may be happening to Heather's surviving sister. Will Sharon's need to protect the innocent cause her to finally come clean about her true nature with her family and friends, and not just in the anonymous chat rooms on the web where she's connected to other like herself? Will a woman with DID be able to persuade her quiet and respectale community that evil things can happen even in the nicest homes?" (Goodreads.com)
I love when I find a book that dares explore one of the lesser known and understood mental disorders that people can - and do - actually struggle with "in real life". I have studied psychology for many years, and work in the mental health field, so most people would probably think that I wouldn't want to read books about similar things on my down time. But, I love seeing things from different perspectives, and sometimes works of fiction - while definitely allowing more creative freedoms - are the best at offering these up.
Identical - Scott Turow
"State Senator Paul Giannis is a candidate for Mayor of Kindle County. His identical twin bother Cass is newly released from prison, 25 years after pleading guilty to the murder of his girlfriend, Dita Kronon. When Evon Miller, an ex-FBI agent who is he head of security for the Kronon family business, and private investigator Tim Brodie begin a re-investigation of Dita's death, a complex web of murder, sex, and betrayal - as only Scott Turow can weave - dramatically unfolds." (Amazon.ca)
I love a good murder mystery/thriller. And I love finding new authors in the genre, because I find that reading too much by the same author can get a bit stale. Even just by reading the summary of this book, I can't help but thinking that I have some idea where the story might go, but I've thought that before and been completely wrong - and that's one of the best things about reading!
Then Came You - Jennifer Weiner
"The lives of four very different women intertwine in unexpected ways in this novel by bestselling authors Jennifer Weiner. Each woman has a problem: Princeton senior Jules Wildgren needs money to help her dad cure his addiction; Pennsylvanian housewife Annie Barrow is gasping to stay financially afloat; India Bishop yearns to have a child, an urge that her stepdaughter Bettina can only regard with deep skepticism until she finds herself in a most unexpected situation." (Goodreads.com)
Bound to be another quick summer read! Jennifer Weiner has never disappointed in this arena before (In Her Shoes), so this will definitely be coming with me in my beach bag this summer!
What books are on your list for this summer? Any summertime favorites you'd like to share? I'm always looking for new books to dive into!
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