Summer Reading

It's officially summer!  That means barbeques, afternoons at the pool, watermelon, sundresses, fruity cocktails, flip flops, and of course... beach books!  In the summer I crave a certain type of book -- a story that will take me on a vacation.  I like to read about summer friendships or family drama, or a character's coming of age during an exciting era, or an intimate memoir.  I have very fond memories of some of the summer books I've read over the years and where I was at the time (such as laying in the sand at Virginia Beach, sitting out on the deck at my parents' house, or lounging on a beach chair in northern Minnesota).  Here are a few of my favorites...

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Rebecca Wells)

The Help (Kathryn Stockett)

The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein)

Dewey (Vicki Myron)

One Thousand White Women (Jim Fergus)

My Sister's Keeper (Jodi Picoult)

Tara Road (Maeve Binchy)

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons (Lorna Landvik)

Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen)

Sarah's Key  (Tatiana de Rosnay)

The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)

The Book Thief (Marcus Zusak)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

Wild (Cheryl Strayed)

Autobiography of Us (Aria Beth Sloss)

Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)

The Island (Elin Hilderbrand)

One Fifth Avenue (Candace Bushnell)

The Four Ms. Bradwells (Meg Waite Clayton)





And a few on my list to read this summer....

Franny and Zooey (JD Salinger)

Spectacle (Susan Steinberg)

The Interestings (Meg Wolitzer)

The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)

The Time Between (Karen White)

Island Girls (Nancy Thayer)

Beach Music (Pat Conroy)

Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

The Pilot's Wife (Anita Shreve)

Table for Seven (Whitney Gaskell)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Pacific Northwest Bachelorette Party

Image
I just returned home from a memorable weekend in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, celebrating my sister, Katie, who is getting married in just a few short weeks.  Four years ago she, as my Maid of Honor, planned the most unforgettable and fun-filled bachelorette weekend for me:  San Francisco and Sonoma Bachelorette , and now it was my turn to do the same for her!  We gathered together a group of twelve women from Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Manchester, Santa Fe, Denver, and Seattle to celebrate the Bride to Be.  I wanted to have some organized, pre-planned group activities, but also plenty of down time for games, lounging, and drinking wine.  While we wanted most of the weekend to be spent at a cozy cabin overlooking the serene water of Puget Sound, we wanted one exciting night out on the town, and I think we achieved that balance.  Here's the breakdown of our weekend events: 1)  Night Out in Capitol Hill We arrived in Seattle on Thursday and checked into the
Read more

High Altitude Baking: Coffee Cake

Image
Happy January!  I have two weeks left of my maternity leave and I'm trying to make the most of it by spending lots of quality time with Baby Ady before she starts daycare.  It's going by so fast!  While I'm home I've been using my crock pot a lot, working on some yarn projects, taking long walks with Ady and Kua, reading, and doing some baking.  I have struggled with high altitude baking since moving to Santa Fe 5 1/2 years ago.  Cookies turn out okay, but I usually have to make some adjustments with cakes, and my breads are often mushy in the middle and crispy on the ends.  I can get by okay with a few of my favorite recipes that I have practiced multiple times, but it's often hit or miss.  For Christmas, my secret santa got me this amazing cook book, Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes, that explains the chemistry behind high altitude baking and gives suggestions for adjustments to make at various altitudes.  Ingenious!  The idea for the book ac
Read more

My Bachelorette Party: San Francisco and Sonoma

Image
I have the best Maid of Honor in the world!   Between grad school, work, and preparing to move into a new apartment, she miraculously found time to plan THE BEST bachelorette party ever (and 3 time zones away, I might add).  I had such a fabulous time being surrounded by (and loved and adored by!) all my best friends for four days. The weekend started at 4:30 a.m. Thursday when my Santa Fe friends and I drove to Albuquerque (a 50 mile trip made possible by Panera breakfast) to catch our early flight to the Bay Area.  After a 2 1/2 trip (complete with Bloody Maries, Tequilla Sunrises, Coffees with Baileys, gossip and a few bridal magazines) we landed in Oakland!  One of my dear bridesmaids from Chicago who had arrived a few days earlier picked us up and we headed into San Francisco.  We met up with the other gals, checked in early to our hotel (Parc 55 Wyndahm in Union Square) and set out to explore the city by foot.  Some locals recommended Mama's in North Beach fo
Read more