Sunday, May 29, 2011

Summer, Here I Come!

I read a lot. Over a hundred and fifty books a year, on average.

Still, I never have enough time to read all the books I want to read.

Except during summer. And my summer starts next Friday.

I've already requested books from the three libraries I frequent.
 I've ordered books from my favorite booksellers.
I've got little stashes of books from the library conference
here and there, waiting for summer.

I've also signed up for a Teachers as Writers class
 that meets for a few hours a week.
A Technology for Tots mini-conference in mid-June.
 A Spanish Rosetta Stone license for the summer.
Walking with friends every morning.
A new bicycle to get me around town.
Plans in the works for taking a cooking class and a photography class.

Summer---Here I come!


MINIREVIEWS

I'm playing catch-up here.
Here's a tiny bite of the reviews I posted today
 for the last nine books I just finished.
See what you think.

The Memory Palace: A Memoir by Mira Bartok
...by sifting through items from the storage room, her “memory palace”
Bartok tells the story of her mother’s life and her own life.

Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie by Wendy McClure
Wendy McClure loves Little House on the Prairie. And I mean loves....

Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World by Tina Rosenberg
Wouldn’t it be lovely to discover that something as simple
as peer pressure could actually transform the world...

Joy for Beginners: A Novel by Erica Bauermeister
Joy for Beginners has Summer Read written all over it....

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
I thought this would be an Angst-y Teen book, and it is that, filled with prerequisite (though not, in the book’s defense, of an in-your-face sort) Eating Disorders and Mean Step-Parent Difficulties and Young Troubled Love. But somewhere along the way, Rosoff threw in a Small Nuclear War....

The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted by Bridget Asher
You will be able to anticipate much of this story (not to give too much away, but you know Heidi will be meeting a handsome yet equally troubled Frenchman, right?) but it has a nice freshness combined with
the predictability that we love in our summer reads...

365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life by John Kralik
You have to respect a book that initiates positive changes in the reader....

To a Mountain in Tibet by Colin Thubron
This is my second book by Thubron and, for the second time,
I have to say that I’m not wild about his writing....

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Ay, faith, I ken Scotland be a braw place, no sae bad as ye would think, in this bonny tale of a man and a halfling boy, who werenae feared of being laid by the heels, hoot-toot, hoot-toot....


Enter to Win DIVERGENT!

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I'm giving away Divergent.
Last day to enter the contest is Tuesday, May 31st.

14 comments:

  1. Wow, that sounds like an awesome plan! Summer is definitely the time to catch up on reading for me as teaching (even as a substitute teacher) eats up a lot of time.

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  2. Hello! You have me beat by 2. I read 148 books last year and that does not count magazines or newspapers or books of the Bible.
    I am planning on specific reading challenges for this summer. I've read several books on the Civil War for a challenge, but want to read books on the Old West, including....yes Cowboys and Indians. I'm reading a book on Daniel Boone now.
    Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

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  3. How funny! I just read The Wilder Life, too. And guess where I am sitting right now... on my front porch. Aaaah.

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  4. What a lovely summer it sounds like you are going to have! :)

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  5. Summer reading...wish I wasn't distracted by nice weather and the garden! Have a good time reading!

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  6. I read a lot too and yet my TBR pile never gets any smaller! Lucky you having lots of reading time coming up.

    It's kind of ironic I guess, but I read less when I am on holidays than I do when I am working!

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  7. I have found that summer is my biggest reading time of the year. I suppose it doesn't help that the weather is more conducive to reading and that in general people have more time to read.

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  8. Lots of good books on your list! Thanks for sharing.

    Here's MY SUNDAY SALON POST

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  9. It's so much easier for me to read in the summer too! The school semesters just make it way too hard.
    Looks like you'll be knocking a good bit off of your TBR pile!
    My Sunday Salon post

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  10. It sounds like you have an amazing summer planned! Keep us posted on everything that you do. Happy reading!

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  11. Wow! That's a lot of reading! I don't think I've ever read that much in a year.

    I also like reading as much as possible during the summer months. By the looks of it, you have a pretty ambitious summer of reading planned.

    Thanks for dropping by my blog earlier!

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  12. Sounds like you have a great summer plan! Enjoy!

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  13. Well, I'll be done with school on June 25 and then I can at least read instead of doing homework for a few months. I guess I am blessed for this.

    Your summer sounds lovely.

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  14. I love your new bike- it looks fabulous, and your town looks fabulously flat! I totally love your review of Kidnapped. You sure ken it.

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