What I Read this Summer

Ah, summer. The time when I want to do nothing but sit by the pool with a good book and preferably a tropical drink of some kind. The time when my brain gets overheated by any book too intellectual. The time when I take a real page tuner and turn the pages faster than a redhead gets a sunburn.

I love summer reading. So here's what I read this summer.

1. Firestarter

After finishing For Whom the Bell Tolls right after my birthday I was dying for something easy but still dependably decent. So I chose this from our collection of probably 30 Stephen Kings. If you are surprised that I am a Stephen King fan, you probably don't know a lot about Stephen King. I recommend his book On Writing for a little clarity.

Firestarter is about a little girl whose parents participated in an experiment before she was born which then passed down a gene to her that gives her telepathic powers. Specifically she can start fires with her mind. In classic Stephen King fashion, it pushes you right to the edge of what you're willing to believe is possible, while still keeping you engaged. Perfect to start off the summer.

2. World War Z

I wrote a longer article here about the differences between this novel and the 2013 movie. But as far as a summer read goes, this one was pretty good. It is about the part of humanity that has survived the zombie apocalypse, and what they did to get there.

The format is a compilation of short stories, meaning you can read a story, hop in the pool, and come back and read another story. My only complaint would be that the stories are perhaps too short; I like to really get invested in my characters, and that wasn't the point of this novel by a long shot. All in all though it was a great summer read, and a great zombie read if you're in to that kind of thing. Which I am.

3. Where Men Win Glory

This is the true (though undoubtedly embellished) story of Pat Tillman, the famous Arizona Cardinals player who left a multi-million dollar career behind to enlist in the military after 9/11.

Ah, politics. This was perhaps not a great summer read for the sheer amount of frustration and anger that it caused me as I read about the government's reaction to 9/11 and the beginnings of the long war in Afghanistan. And not just in indignant leftist anger; I was also angry that Krakauer takes Tillman's story so far to support his own politics that I had to take the story with a grain of salt. However, there were a lot of good points made, and Tillman is definitely an interesting and admirable character.

4. Red Hook Road

I'm pretty sure Ayelet Waldman just thought of the most tragic situation she could think of and made a book about it. It is about a bride and groom who are killed in a car accident driving from their wedding ceremony and their reception, and how their newly joined families cope with their deaths.

This is the kind of read that I really want to criticize the writing of, but first I have to admit that I couldn't put it down. You know what I mean? I read it in probably two days, but I'm not sure if I would necessarily call it good writing. There were some good moments, but a lot of it seemed contrived to try and pull tears out of you. Several of the characters were one-dimensional and the ending was just too far-fetched. But something about it kept me reading. And I think it did provide some interesting perspectives on grieving that you don't usually see, and over a longer period of time than is usually covered. Good enough for a summer read.

5. A Wolf at the Table

I have always like Augusten Burroughs because I can relate to both his style and his material. He took a less-than-ideal childhood and made a career out of it. He is a memoir writer, and though his novels overlap they always have a very specific focus that makes them unique. This one was about his father.

If you've never read anything by Burroughs you might start with Running with Scissors. A Wolf at the Table is very brief, and told primarily from a child's perspective, and makes many mentions to things more fully described in Running. But if you already enjoy this author, you'll most likely enjoy this book.   

6. The Fault in Our Stars

Was I a glutton for punishment this summer, or is sadness the crutch of the pop-fiction writer? This was another tear-jerker, about a teenage girl with thyroid cancer and her teenage boyfriend with bone cancer. You're sad already, aren't you?

Again, this was no literary masterpiece, and yet my summer-melted brain found it engrossing. Since it is the story of two teenagers (and therefore admittedly geared towards teenagers) I gave it some leeway. But there were definitely cringe-worthy moments. Maybe it was because I was going through some grieving of my own at the time, but I did feel like this book taught me something about what it means to be dying, and for dying to take over your life. "Pain demands to be felt, " for example. That stuck with me.

So I would definitely recommend it, though perhaps for a less discerning (or younger) reader than myself.

7. Open House

This one made it in just under the wire as a book that would be too easy for me to enjoy any time but summer. Basically it is about a woman whose husband leaves her, and her figuring out how to live on her own.

I think it must have bought it at one of our libraries $5/bag book sales because I'm not sure why I owned it. I was happy to read it just to get it off my shelf. So no I wouldn't particularly recommend this one. But it was a nice easy read to finish off the summer.

It was a good summer full of good books, good weather and good times. Now onto the changing leaves, cups of hot cocoa, and some books I can really sink my brain into.