Summer Reading: Tried Something New!

As the days get shorter and chillier, I decided to add up my summer reading — and I decided, "Not bad."

Well, not bad for a slacker. I read one less book this year than last year, but I guess we can't all be Karen.

So, without further ado, I bring you...





Chris' 2016 Summer Reading List

1. Fates and Furies
2. Summer House With Swimming Pool
   
3. Between the World and Me
4. Ghostly Echoes
5. Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls 
6. The Underground Railroad
7. The Uninvited 
8. Who Goes There? (The Thing)
9. Big Magic
10. Dorothy Parker Drank Here 
11. A Spirited Tail 
12. The Goodbyes
13. Secondhand Souls
14. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
15. Everything We Keep
    
16. If Books Could Kill
17. The Bookseller 
18. Unlikely Friendships
19. Homicide in Hardcover
20. Ghostly Paws
21. The Sleeper and the Spindle 
22. The Body Reader
23. Blackout
24. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl 
25. Vacations From Hell
26. 168 Hours
27. Farewell, Dorothy Parker
28. When Breath Becomes Air
29. In the Heights
    
30. Crenshaw
31. How Do You Sleep
32. In the Shadow of Blackbirds
33. NOS4A2

I tried something new this year. Some titles listed above were e-books, others were printed books — and, new this year, was the introduction of audiobooks to my reading repertoire. Five of the titles above were audio, a mix of Overdrive library books and Audible purchases.

I can hear a bit of a stir in Reading Land: Why audio? Is audio even reading? What the heck, woman?!?

I was once like you, my cautious fellow readers. However, after going to the Audio Side, I have come to realize: reading is reading. With one book, I was getting lost on the page. With another, my only reading time coincided with my trips to the gym (and I don't read visual/print material on exercise equipment). I challenge you to listen to Fisher Stevens read a novel by Christopher Moore and not find the joy in listening to someone (besides Carole) read to you.

There is a danger to reading at the gym: trying to not cry in public during an intense cardio workout. (I am looking at you, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, with the assistance of Lin-Manuel Miranda!)

The books I enjoyed most were both Cat Winters books, every Dorothy Parker (and related) book, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, The Underground Railroad, and Ghostly Echoes. Each taught me something and took me out of my comfort zone.

My least favorites were The Body Reader (not as taut as expected), Summer House With Swimming Pool (not as good of villains as in the author's first book), and Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls (too long in the wrong places).

As always, my summer reading will benefit my community: I will donate $5 per book 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.

Tell me how you did with your summer reading, and you may win a book!