Summer Reading

Summer Reading Time

Happy Summer - the perfect time to relax on the porch or at the pool with a great book.  For years as a Middle School Librarian I encouraged students to read during the summer and to join the local public library summer reading programs.  For several years before I retired students were allowed to check out books from the school library - as many as they wanted - to take home for summer reading.  It was a HUGE success - students came with suitcases, bags and boxes to carry home books they wanted to read over the summer.  

Now retired, I love having the time to read - and as summer arrives I love to read on our screen porch, feet up, cup of coffee or iced tea...and get lost in a good book.  

And, I am thrilled that our local public library has a summer reading program for adults as well as children.  This year the theme is 

Color Our World

I made sure to pick up my reading log to participate - 

So many great ideas to get everyone reading - I've already completed 5 of the bingo squares!  And I have a stack of books 

(print/eBook/audio) ready to enjoy!

If you are getting ready for summer reading, here are some titles that I enjoyed recently - 

Emmeline lives an enchanted childhood on a remote island with her father, who teaches her about the natural world through her senses. What he won’t explain are the mysterious scents stored in the drawers that line the walls of their cabin, or the origin of the machine that creates them. As Emmeline grows, however, so too does her curiosity, until one day the unforeseen happens, and Emmeline is vaulted out into the real world—a place of love, betrayal, ambition, and revenge. To understand her past, Emmeline must unlock the clues to her identity, a quest that challenges the limits of her heart and imagination.

When I read No Two Persons by this author I knew I had to read more of her work.  Her writing is really beautiful - and I gave this book 4 stars.

Growing up in 1960s Brooklyn, Lena wants to be a baker just like her mother was back in Poland prior to World War II. But questions about those days, and about a sister Lena never even knew, are ignored with solemn silence. It’s as if everything her parents left behind was a subject never to be broached.
The one person in whom Lena can confide is her best friend, Pearl. When she suddenly disappears from Lena’s life, Lena forges college, love and marriage with a wonderful man, the dream of owning a bakery becoming a reality, and the hope that someday Pearl will return to share in Lena’s happiness—and to be there for her during the unexpected losses to come.
Only when Lena discovers the depth of her parents’ anguish, and a startling truth about her own past, can they rebuild a family and overcome the heart-wrenching memories that have torn them apart.

I wanted to like this book - and I did - but it was a little strange in the issue of Perl.  I gave it 3 stars.

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.
As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.

As I went to a sleep away camp and spent one summer as a day camp counselor in the 70's I really enjoyed this book.  Great mystery and good descriptions - I gave it 4 stars.

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.
Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.
When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

Just had to read this and loved it - was a big fan of the Hunger Games back when I was working as a librarian.  Even held a food drive for the local food bank working off the Hunger Games theme.

Even dressing up as Effie Trinkett a few times...

Yes, I had fun as a librarian!

Gail Baines is having a bad day. To start, she loses her job—or quits, depending on whom you ask. Tomorrow her daughter, Debbie, is getting married, and she hasn’t even been invited to the spa day organized by the mother of the groom. Then, Gail’s ex-husband, Max, arrives unannounced on her doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay, and without even a suit.
But the true crisis lands when Debbie shares with her parents a secret she has just learned about her husband to be. It will not only throw the wedding into question but also stir up Gail and Max’s past.
Told with deep sensitivity and a tart sense of humor, full of the joys and heartbreaks of love and marriage and family life, Three Days in June is a triumph, and gives us the perennially bestselling, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer at the height of her powers.

I wanted to read this after seeing Anne Tyler interviewed on Sunday Morning CBS...and it was good, but not great. 

I gave it 3 stars.

 

At an intimate, festive dinner party in Seattle, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate's recovery from cancer. Wineglass in hand, Kate strikes a bargain with them. To celebrate her new lease on life, she'll do the one thing that's always terrified her: white-water rafting down the Grand Canyon. But if she goes, each of them must promise to do one thing in the next year that is new, or difficult, or scary—and Kate gets to choose their challenges.
Shimmering with warmth, wit, and insight, Joy for Beginners is a celebration of life: unexpected, lyrical, and deeply satisfying.

Another one by Erica Baurmeister - and again I loved it.

  I gave it 4 stars.

Hana Babic is a quiet, middle-aged librarian in Minnesota who wants nothing more than to be left alone. But when a detective arrives with the news that her best friend has been murdered, Hana knows that something evil has come for her, a dark remnant of the past she and her friend had shared.
Thirty years before, Hana was someone Nura Divjak, a teenager growing up in the mountains of war-torn Bosnia—until Serbian soldiers arrived to slaughter her entire family before her eyes. The events of that day thrust Nura into the war, leading her to join a band of militia fighters, where she became not only a fierce warrior but a legend—the deadly Night Mora. But a shattering final act forced Nura to flee to the United States with a bounty on her head.
Now, someone is hunting Hana, and her friend has paid the price, leaving her eight-year-old grandson in Hana’s care. To protect the child without revealing her secret, Hana must again become the Night Mora—and hope she can find the killer before the past comes for them, too.

This book was not what I thought...talk about not judging a book by it's cover.  But I loved it - learned so much about war-torn Bosnia and Serbia and all the killing and hate.  Yes, we saw it on the news back in the day, but reading it through a young girls lens was so moving.  And reminded me that people were - and still are - capable of so much hate.  This is the only book in the bunch I have given 4 stars!

Hope some of these titles make you want to grab a cold drink, find a comfy spot ( in the shade, it's going to be a hot week and as much as I love reading at the pool I think this week will be TOO HOT) and enjoy a good book.

Are you participating in a summer reading program?  What books are you planning on reading this summer?  I would love to hear your picks!   Please leave a comment below - I really enjoy hearing from you!

Have a great summer and stay cool!

😎