Summer Reading List
Last night, Duke and I started our summer chapter book. We went to the bookstore together and carefully picked a book with a promising cover. It turned out to be Because of Winn-Dixie, which I've never read, so I'm looking forward to the story unfolding for us together. Last year, we read Charlotte's Web and it was so good to have a little reading project together that I decided we needed to do it again. I'm over romanticizing my own hobby and projecting it onto him, but wouldn't it be fun if he thinks of summers in accordance with what we read? Last year the summer of Charlotte's Web. This one, the Winn-Dixie summer. Maybe next year The Boxcar Children. Etc. At least in my head, it sounds so good.
We're also working our way through Shell Silverstein's Falling Up, one poem at a time. It's slow going, but provide a guaranteed giggle every evening before bed.
It got me thinking about what books I'd like to read this summer. I know summer reading lists usually consist of new books or beach read books, but honestly I've got a stack that I've bought and I just need to read before I buy more, so my plan is to tackle that during afternoons at the beach and long evenings on the back deck.
The Lincoln Highway - Amor Towles
I'll let the back flap do the talking because it sounds soooooo good -
"In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the work farm where he has just served a year for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett’s intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother and head west where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden’s car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett’s future."
Sold!
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World Travel - Anthony Bourdain
No Reservations and Parts Unknown are comfort TV for me. I love hearing Tony Bourdain's (I say Tony like I knew him personally) voice in the background and I never get bored of his travels and spoken essays. I've been saving this snack on my bookshelf for almost a year now because I like to save the best for last. I'm looking forward to reading his final book.
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The Night Watchman - Louise Erdrich
I don't know anything about this book, but I'm always willing to take a gamble on buying an Erdrich book because I know it's a winning bet. She's never failed me once. My hunch, because her settings are so consistent, this book will find us on a reservation learning about a cast of characters that are always more complex than their neighbors give them credit for.
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Another surefire winner, probably. I'm deep into my nonfiction era and I especially love reading about the presidency. Can you imagine what it must be like to be the women who raised little boys that would grow up to be leaders of the free world. What a charge! But also so curious. Are they regimented? Strict? Routine oriented? Rose Kennedy was notoriously cold. What does it take to raise (so far) a man who not only has the confidence to believe he's right for the job, but also the capacity to win the longest standing popularity contest in history? Very very interesting.
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PS
Beautiful coffee table and unique cook books.
A recommended read from Cup of Jo, which I always interpret as the gospel.
If you read and enjoyed Stanley Tucci's Taste - of which I am an informal ambassador, I will recommend this book to everyone - you'll love his instagram just as much.
Completely unrelated to books, but talking about Tucci and cooking reminded me that I have big plans to make and enjoy these popsicles this week.
What are you reading this summer?
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