2017 Summer Reading: An Interesting Mix in the Summer Sun

Happy autumn! 

It's been a busy reading summer. I tried to keep the pages turning relatively consistently as the summer progressed, but at times battled reading ennui. 

However, I refused to be thwarted, and managed to get a couple dozen books under my belt under the summer sun — or in the summer air conditioning. Either way, I read.

I didn't beat my personal best — that would be summer 2015 — but I read widely and bravely. Plus, I read multiple books at a time, so my TBR shelf continues to groan from books begun in the heat of summer.

I re-read The Magicians, because the author will be at this year's Fall for the Book Festival.  When I originally read it a few years ago, I really wanted to like it. This summer, I can honestly say I liked it, and have just begun reading the second novel in the series. 

I discovered some great graphic novels, including one about a young girl with cystic fibrosis and her older sister's understanding of loss. In contrast, I did not like a new-to-me graphic novel by Neil Gaiman — which may sound heretical, but is completely true. Graphic novels also taught me a little more about love, patience, and dementia.

As always, many — okay, most — of the books were not on my original summer reading list. I don't mind so much this year, in part because it was more important to me that I read, rather than read specific tomes. I wandered the library as an antidote to my self-diagnosed reading ennui, and I reminded myself the books I didn't read yet will be there when I'm ready.

Here is the list of the books I read for the 2017 Summer Reading Program between Friday, May 26 and Sunday, September 24:

1. The Magicians 📲
2. Ghosts 📲
3. Gwendy’s Button Box 📲
4. Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? 📲
5. Yesternight 📖
6. Paws and Effect 📲
7. My Cousin Rachel 📖
8. Murder Under Cover 📖
9. The Graveyard Book Graphic Novel, Vol. 2 📖
10. Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire 📖
11. Other Wordly 📖
    
12. Wrinkles 📖
13. The Clockwork Scarab 📲
14. Star Wars: Jedi Academy 1 📲
15. The Case Against Sugar 📲
16. Pride and Prejudice 🎧
17. The Handmaid’s Tale 📲 🎧
18. Forgotten Bones 📖
19. My Best Everything 📖
20. The Lies That Bind 📖
21. Anna Karenina 📖📲 🎧
    
22. Big Little Lies 📖
23. The Inexplicable Logic of My Life 🎧
24. Speaking From Among the Bones 📖
25. The Burning Page 📲
26. Ruined 📖

I mixed up my media, spending time on the page via print (📖), e-book (📲), and audio (🎧) — and, in one instance, I used all three for a single book.

Only two books were read totally audio. I will always love the lyricism of Benjamin Ailres Sáenz's prose, and I suspect Jane Austen was written to be read aloud.

The books I enjoyed least were, surprisingly enough, written by my favorite authors. I think Cat Winters really misstepped in her "adult" novel, and Forbidden Brides was, in my opinion, not one of Gaiman's finest stories.

I adored spending time with teenagers in the company of novelist Sáenz, whose characters showed great maturity and restraint. Alas, Sarah Tomp's teens didn't show the same maturity, which may serve as a lesson as to what moonshine is capable of doing to reasonable people.

I got a few more classics under my belt, including a story that remains creepily prescient three decades after its original publication — and others that remind us that, in the words of a modern poet, love is love is love is love is love.

I tried steampunk and found it little gritty and weird. I didn't realize how important the "steam" was to steampunk, so I learned something new.

As always, my reading will help others: Main Street Child Development Center will receive $5 per book, and my public library will receive three new books.

How was your summer reading? Did you read more than you expected? Were you surprised by the novels you liked the most or least?  Do tell! Feel free to comment below, or send me your thoughts.

August Reading, Had Me a Blast!

August was my month away from most social media (and a few other distractions), so I finished quite a few books.

I got into a groove with a few graphic novels. I laughed, I cried, I coveted the skill of illustration. (My stick figures frighten children, so I don't doodle. I take copious notes. Seriously, people, even my less than stellar handwriting is better than my doodles.)

I met a few characters I never knew, including relatives of daring adventurers pressed into service in a steampunk world and an impetuous man-child who really needed the very role model he lost.

I indulged my new interest in mystery novels with a couple of ridiculously fun novels that featured smart women and their cats. (I could have done without the romance, but at least one of the series isn't too sappy about it.)

I read a new novel by an old favorite author — and hated it.

I read a book I read once before, a few years ago, and all the while kept wondering why it was so familiar.


And, just hours before August began, I finished listening to what I think may have become one of my favorite books. A second Desert Island Book. What a treat!

Of course, many of the books on my TBR pile remain there, but I am okay with that. I enjoyed what I have read, and I can't wait to tell you more about my summer reading.

What have you been reading? Where did you get your books? Would you recommend any of them to others? Do tell!