Summer Reading

The girls both had summer reading to finish before school started. Cara read The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy and How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas Foster. Emily got to choose her books and read Lily B. on the Brink of Cool by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel and something else that I can't remember.

Although I didn't have any assigned reading, I thought I would take a minute to compile my summer reading list as well:

A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell

I meant to read this on the cruise but made the mistake of picking it up and reading it before the cruise even started. Highly recommended.

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

Cruise reading material - great book (I could especially relate to the very descriptive passages about the smell of the oranges - since that smell makes me nauseas.)

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

Bought in Amsterdam (english version) - interesting book set in the Sabarthes Moutains in SW France. Moves back and forth from the present to 13th centuryLanguedoc. Another look at the idea of the Holy Grail.

At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks

Borrowed from Alicia. Quick read - good. Don't read if you are pregnant...

Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult

Borrowed from Elaine. Quick read - quite disturbing, on a number of fronts. A nightmare (a man is falsely accused of commiting a crime. Based on Arthur Miller's, The Crucible.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Yes, that is a lot of Harry Potter - We read books 1-4 out loud as a family, as soon as they came out. However, I couldn't get into #5 and didn't even try #6 - but when the final one came out I read 5, 6, and 7 back-to-back-to-back. I was sad to see the series end :(

The Tainted Relic by The Medieval Murderers

Borrowed from Craig -- I had run out of reading material (see above). Interesting book written/edited by 6 different authors who books are set during medieval times. The book centers around a cursed relic believed to be a piece of the True Cross.

Since coming home I have read What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (mystery, quick read, r-rated language) and am now reading the memoir Family Romance: A Love Story by John Lanchester, for my book group.

I'm happy that none of my reading required annotating, journaling, or the writing of any essays!