True Confession: Polar Book Club Failure

I hang my head in shame and announce something that should be obvious by now: I did not read Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, the Polar Book Club book this past winter.

I tried. In fact, I am still trying to read it, a few sideways glances at a time.

It is perhaps the least enjoyable book I have encountered this year.

It was weird, which I normally do not mind (and, truth be told, tend to prefer). 

It was tedious reading, scattered, unfocused storytelling. 

It also put children in adult situations. Okay, let's not be coy: a pre-teen boy was having all the sex he could muster. I cannot tolerate gratuitous sexualization of children in books, and since the story ambled along in a scattershot way, I did not see the value in that portrayal of a child. 

Finally, it was not the story I expected to read. I thought I was getting a love story that stretched across time.  Instead, I managed to get quite a ways into the story without a glimmer of such romance (but plenty of sex).

I read a few pages every once in a while, hoping it gets somewhere good. However, I think I am formally and publicly surrendering. It's not the book I want to read, so I won't.

Have you read it? Have you tried? Let me know!

Summer Reading Club 2015: The Official Ambitious Reading List

It's the summer reading season, which is when I make  unreasonably long lists of books to read. 

It's like the rest of the year, but with a publicly announced ambition. (And warmer. Usually.)

As a child, I loved the summer reading club — and found myself really disappointed to find no adult version. So, I did what most people do: I formed my own club and invited my friends, family and interested future reading buddies. (Let's be honest: if you see someone with a book, especially a book you yourself have read, are they really strangers?)

Now, the summer has unofficially begun with Memorial Day, a solemn occasion to remember why we have the freedom and opportunity to exercise our rights and privileges as Americans. Please, take a moment to remember the true reason for the day.

Review your bookshelves or nightstand to decide what to put on your summer reading list. Here is mind, in no particular order:

1. Good Omens
2. Divergent 
3. Insurgent
4. Allegiant
5. As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride
6. The Light Between Oceans
7. Stepmonster
8. Map of the Sky
9. The Map of Chaos
10. The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books
11. The Descent
12. At the Water's Edge
13. Everything I Never Told You
14. The Glass Sentence
15. Arcadia
16. Second Life
17. Bone Season
18. Bristol House
19. Carsick
20. A God in Ruins 
21. Wolf Hall
22. Arcadia
23. Faefever
24. The Lowland
25. And the Mountains Echoed
26. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter 
27. NOS4A2
28. The Sixth Extinction
29. Revival
30. Bellman and Black
31. Station Eleven

I have no doubt this list will change, probably as soon as I publish it. However, I am going to let it fly.

Join the Summer Reading Club and put yourself in the running for a new book. Read as much as you wish from May 22 through September 27, and if you read the most book, you will win a book of your own. 

To join the club, just send me an e-mail or leave a message below. Then, at the end of the summer reading period, send me a message or include your reading list in a blog message. If you read the most, congratulations! If not, you still are a winner because you spent your summer reading.

I've already had a few e-mails from eager readers, and I can't wait to read your list!

I make sure summer reading is beneficial to my community. As I have done in years past, I will  donate $5 per book I read to Main Street Child Development Center, and I will buy three new books for the Fairfax County Public Library from its Amazon Wish List. 
 

Hopefully, reading club members also will find a way to help their communities through their reading, or to help share the love of reading with their communities. It's not a requirement, of course, but it certainly is a worthy effort. It doesn't have to be financial support, either — think of what the community wants and needs. Every reader can determine what is within her or his power to bestow.

Even if you don't join the reading club, I still would love to know: what's on your summer reading list? Tell me!

Summer Reading Club: Go Wild in 2015!

Are you ready for some reading?

Get your books in a row in time for the Summer Reading Club.

There are lots of reasons to enjoy a summer read. You can use it to catch up on the good stuff you think is too Fluff 'n Trash™ for the rest of the year. Maybe it's time to focus on one genre, the one you never admit to in mixed company. Maybe you just want to walk into the library once a week and pick up the first book that looks good.

For whatever reason, indulge. Read all summer, and enjoy yourself.

And maybe win a book.

That's right: if you are the book club member who reads the most books, you will win a new book.

The reading period is from Memorial Day through the end of summer. This year, let's choose Friday, May 22 through Sunday, September 27.

Send me your list any time you're ready. I'll publish mine by the end of May.

Join the club: read all summer!