I read a bunch of excellent books this summer!
The Sixteen Pleasures : : Robert Hellenga
I
read this book to get ready for my trip to Italy. It made me excited
to go there, drink wine, see art and old churches, meet an Italian
man.... oh wait, scratch that last one. :)
The House at Riverton : : Kate Morton
This is the third book by Kate Morton I've read...and sadly, she has only published three! I loved all three (the other two are
The Forgotten Garden and
The Distant Hours). They are fantastic stories that span generations and involve unraveling mysteries...loved them!
**Also contributing to my love of this book is the fact that I read most of it on the beach in Italy........ah! memories!
Faithful Place : : Tana French
Another mystery, really well written (well, to my standards: it kept my attention).
Brain Rules: : John Medina
So, in virtually EVERY grad school class I was hearing
someone recommend this book, whether it was the instructor or my fellow students. If you are a nerd like me that is fascinated by how the brain works and why, you should read this book too! Great for everyone, but a must-read for teachers.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks : : Rebecca Skloot
If you haven't heard of this book by now, which country have you been living in?? This was another one I'd heard recommended over and over. For good reason! It's the story of a woman whose cancer cells were taken without her consent...and were subsequently used in
thousands of medical studies. It's not too over-your-head with medical jargon, though. Really interesting to read about her story and how it affected her family.
Italian Shoes : : Henning Mankell
This book was pretty dry, but worth slugging through. It's the story of an old hermit living on a secluded island in Sweden, until several people come along to shake him out of his hermitude. This was an audiobook, which is a good thing because you learn what all those Swedish names and places
are actually supposed so sound like!
Olive Kitteridge : : Elizabeth Strout
I like books where I really care about the main character. Olive Kitteridge is not a character I grew to love dearly, (she's a cranky old hag) but I found a soft spot in my heart for her by the end. Especially because a bit of a crankerton lives inside me. Would you guess? :) Looking back, I should have read it when I had a solid chunk of three days of so to really get through it. As it was, I started it after school began, so forcing me to read it 3-4 pages at a time (which is all I can get through on a school night before nodding off).
Plentiful summer reading! Alas, school really puts the brakes on the reading schedule. But never fear, I'm getting my winter "on my bookshelf" post ready...there are some real gems coming up!
