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Summer 2020 Challenge
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Sara
(last edited May 23, 2020 09:15AM)
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May 22, 2020 03:12PM
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I also just finished Crazy Rich Asians, and have decided it's time to jump on the trilogy train, so China Rich Girlfriend is next. And a horror novel I've been wanting to read for ages is The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.
Since the pandemic started, I’ve been reading about a book a week, so I think I’d like to keep that going, since that’s WAY more than I usually have time to read. Plus, isn’t that what summer is for?! :)
I'm indulging my taste for pulpy zombie-horror with the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant and listening to a Louise Penney murder mystery. I'm definitely keeping my summer reading suspenseful!
I just finished The Strange Case of the Alchemist Daughter and I loved it! It was very clever -- imagining the daughters of Frankenstein, Jekyll, Van Helsing, Dr. Moreau... Super fun!
I'm reading Women Rowing North: Navigating Life's Currents and Flourishing as we Age by Mary Pipher (author of Reviving Ophelia.) Excellent practical and inspirational words and stories about women figuring out how to thrive. It's geared to older women, but the thoughts would inspire any age. Reading this for my excellent book group at Women & Children First (indie!) Bookstore in Chicago.
I just finished Pachinko-an incredible narrative about Korean identity and immigration in Japan. Looking forward to reading this summer: Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton, dive into a few more Murakami books, and continuing with the AFAR book club books!
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Oh, man, I devoured Pachinko. I had read it on my Kindle in like three days and didn't realize until I finished that it had so many pages!
Adriana wrote: "I just finished Pachinko-an incredible narrative about Korean identity and immigration in Japan. Looking forward to reading this summer: Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton, dive into a ..."Such an excellent book! I read it last year and it really blew me away.
I just finished The Hate U Give last week, a very upsetting & unfortunate coincidence with current events....Reading All The Bright Places this week, I’ll prob pick something light maybe fantasy or thriller after these two books.
Didn’t really have a summer challenge in mind, but I’d like to read at least a book a week this summer!
Sara wrote: "Alrighty, I'll kick things off since now I've set my goal at 8 books for summer. I'm really looking forward to reading The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel, because I absolutely loved Station E..."I loved the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy! I just picked it up again as we were supposed to travel to South East Asian this summer and had to cancel. I figured, if I can't go there in real life, I would go back through books :) Hope you enjoy too!!
Sara wrote: "Adriana wrote: "I just finished Pachinko-an incredible narrative about Korean identity and immigration in Japan. Looking forward to reading this summer: Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilt..."Sara - I did the same thing! I absolutely loved Pachinko and was sad when it didn't just keep going on... but I suppose books do have to end eventually. An absolutely excellent book though!
I am going to try and read one professional book and one leisure read a month. I would love to read more, but I just started studying for my PMP and that will consume most of my free time :(I just finished Something Fresh which was a total Victorian beach read but enjoyable. For my next leisure pick I am starting The Huntress and I have shelved Girl, Stop Apologizing for my "professional" read.
Jana wrote: "Sara wrote: "Adriana wrote: "I just finished Pachinko-an incredible narrative about Korean identity and immigration in Japan. Looking forward to reading this summer: Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gab..."I could not put down "Blood, Bones and Butter"! Gabrielle Hamilton is fascinating; I watched her on "Mind of a Chef" before reading that book and before ever tasting her food at Prune. Now I've been to her restaurant twice, so I read with sadness and awe her beautifully written piece in the NYT about the restaurant industry right now and the large possibility that Prune may not reopen. How lucky we are that she is so honest in her well-chosen words!
It is great to gather ideas for future books, enjoy reading the comments. I just finished The Giver of Stars by Jo Jo Moyes and A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende. I thought both were great reads.
Summer! I am so excited to read for fun! I teach ELA for 10th-12th, so re-read a lot of classics, which I love, but look forward to summer as the time I just do me. I just finished The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman and am reading The Parable of the Sower by Olivia E. Butler. I want to read at least 10 books by Sept. 1.
I love having a summer reading challenge—it reminds me of when I was little and practically lived in my local branch libraries in the South. We were given neon sheets with ten spaces for the titles we would complete—of course I was an overachiever for that, and again in middle school when my school gave us a summer reading list. There were 50 optional books, of which we were supposed to choose two, and two books that we were required to read. Of course I read them all—oh, if only summers were that open-ended now! This summer I want to read 15 books. Four of them will be cookbooks, since I have a resolution this year to read a cookbook a month and make at least one recipe from each one. I think my next cookbook should be about grilling. The one I just finished was called A Literary Tea Party, which was quite fun—lots of canapés and tea bites, all taken from literature, such as Turkish Delight from the Chronicles of Narnia.
The rest will be a mix of light, fun reads, a few memoirs and some serious nonfiction that enlightens me, like The Overground Railroad. Right after we finished that book, I read Brown Girl Dreaming, which is such a beautiful book about growing up black in Ohio, South Carolina and Brooklyn—and every chapter is written as a poem! That book has given me solace over the past very rough week.
Now I have moved on to Hillbilly Elegy, because the movie is hitting streaming sometime this year and I want to be ready. So far I am fascinated. I grew up near the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee, so I've known a few hillbillies, but it's not really my culture.
Right away the author talks about the term "memaw" instead of "grandma" and how no one but hillbillies use this term. My neighbors used it, and it's true, I've never heard anyone else call their grandparents that. I can now see that my neighbors were of the hillbilly culture. We knew they were devastatingly poor and did not treat their numerous animals well and made different choices than we did, but we never gave them that label. The author's honest depiction of this troubled culture—his culture—is close to home, literally in this case.
After that, I am going to need the lightness of Daisy Jones and the Six, which comes so highly recommended and will also soon be on streaming.
So much to look forward to, including our current AFAR book!
I didn't set a number goal, but did join a book bingo with some friends. It's been a good way to plan out some summer reading (and actually delve into my TBR pile versus library digital loans), and try and edge myself into some new genres. I'm worked my AFAR book into it, as well.
I just finished reading Daisy Jones and The Six yesterday. It’s my fav book so far this year! I cannot wait for the TV show to come.Currently reading How To Be An Antiracist for my work book club. I have to admit this is not an easy book for me to read especially right after reading Daisy Jones, but I want to do what I can and educate myself on racial issues.
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Dear Aislyn, Thank you for this pivot and for your excellent list. I just received Becoming and can't wait to read. Also: Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby, a challenging and humorous Black essayist. Ordered from Semi Colon, a Black-owned indie bookstore in Chicago (which had been recommended by "my" feminist indie bookstore Women & Children First.) Both are excellent bookstores and I know both will be excellent books.
Just finished Boy, Snow, Bird (very good) and now plowing through Such a Fun Age, which I am loving. And about to order the next AFAR Reads so I can catch up.
