Summer Reading: The TBR of Intrepid Reader Karen

Intrepid Reader Karen has published her summer reading list, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say, "I approve!" 

As we all can agree, TBR List Approval doesn't matter. We The Readers read what we want, and we support reading freedom for others. 

However, we are inordinately pleased when we see books we recognize — either read or to read — on someone else's summer reading list.

So, without further ado, I present Intrepid Reader Karen's 2019 Summer Reading List:

• The Psychology of Time Travel 
• The Girl With a Pearl Earring
• Relative Fortunes
• The Lost City of Z
• Women of the Bible (selected readings)
• Ruby Red
• Sapphire Blue
• Emerald Green
• Dream a Little Dream trilogy
• Finding Fraser
• The Ghost Studies
• Pirate
• The Iliad
• Stealing Time
• Released by the Highlander
• The Holy Bible (selected readings)

You will notice The Ghost Studies is on her reading list. We hope you will join us for this group read!  Click here for more information.

Personally, I am excited about a couple of books on this list,that have been in my sights for a while. Now that Karen is reading them, perhaps I'll pull them down from the shelf and read them, too. I love getting ideas on what to read from my fellow readers. I hope I can do the same for you in return.

Do you have any of Karen's books on your TBR list? Let us know in the comments below, or drop me a line, and maybe we can read them together!

Happy reading!

Ramp Up Your Summer Reading With The Ghost Studies

Do you want to ramp up your summer reading? Join your fellow book-clubbers in reading a fascinating book selected by Intrepid Reader Karen.

Karen has discovered a phantastic book titled The Ghost Studies: New Perspectives on the Origin of Paranormal Experiences by Brandon Massullo.

The Ghost Studies, according to Google, provides scientific explanations for paranormal occurrences, including:

• New and exciting scientific theories that explain apparitions, hauntings, and communications from the dead
• The latest research on the role of energy and electricity in hauntings
• The role that emotions, bioenergetics, and the environment play in supernatural phenomena
• New research into why some individuals are more prone to ghostly encounters

I am as skeptical as the next person, but I have had some inexplicable experiences that make me wonder what else there is in heaven and earth, and I'm willing to find out what Mr. Massullo has to say on the subject.

Readers, let's begin discussing the tome on September 2.

Oh, and start planning for our Autumn Read: The Iliad, a new translation by Caroline Alexander.

What books would you like to read together? Offer some suggestions in the comments below, or email me and I'll share your ideas with the rest of the group!

2019 Summer Reading Begins — Join the Club!

When Memorial Day comes around, my mind goes to two thoughts: gratitude for those who have given their lives to defend my rights and freedom, and summer reading.

The first book of the summer will combine both: Dogs of War, a graphic novel I discovered at my library.

After that is anybody's guess. Oh, I make a list, check it twice, and read some of the titles — but most summers, I stray from the list because the next new book captivates me, and I lose track of all of the books.

The best part? It's the beginning of the 2019 Summer Reading Club.

The Summer Reading Club lasts from the Friday before Memorial Day to the first day of autumn — so, this year, from May 24 through September 23.

To join the club, just send me a message or comment below, then read as much as you wish. Spend long summer days lounging with a book and a cold drink. I want you to be so immersed in your books that you forget about lunch. The club member who reads the most will receive a book from me. You get a book you like, I get to give it to you: that's a win-win!

In return, I ask that you give back. For every book read, I want you to pledge time or money: donate to the public or school library, little free library, or literacy program of your choice. Choose cash (a buck a book, or the cost of all books read, or even a copy of the books themselves) — or find out how your library or literacy program prefers its donations. Remember: volunteer hours are an excellent way to give back, whether it's to the library or another organization of your choice.

So, back to the matter at hand: books. Right now, I foresee a Summer of Sequels, which includes (in no particular order): 

• Of Blood and Bone
• The Map of Days
• Waking Gods
• Wolf Hall
• Lady Cop Makes Trouble
• Time's Convert
• The Bear and the Nightingale
• As Chimney Sweepers Turn to Dust
• The Map of Time (re-read)
• After the End of the World
• The Storm of Locusts
• Mary Poppins Opens the Door
• Peril in Paperback: A Bibliophile Mystery
• Probable Paws: A Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery

Oddly enough, I am not really a fan of book series. Under most circumstances, I rarely continue beyond the third or fourth book, especially if there seems to be no end to the series or there are large gaps between the installments. I will pretend I waited until now to start the Cromwell series because Hilary Mantel has a publication date for the final book of the trilogy; thank you for playing along.

Here are a few other titles on my nightstand I'll add to the mix:

• Severance
• No Visible Bruises
• Children of Blood and Bone
• Where the Crawdads Sing
• Small Great Things
• Empire of the Ants
• Gingerbread
• I was Anastasia
• One Day in December
• The Book of the Unknown
• The Lilac Girls
• We Were Eight Years in Power
• Behind the Scenes at the Museum
• The Keeper of Lost Things
• 4 3 2 1
  
• Anything is Possible
• Norse Mythology
• The Power
• Hamilton: The Revolution
• The Intuitionist
• Ready Player One
• The Book of Harlan
• The Lost City of Z
• The Gun Seller
• The Lowland
• And the Mountains Echoed
• Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter 
• The Sixth Extinction
• Bellman and Black
• Just Mercy
  

Warning: my "finished" list will most likely look very different than the list above. That's fine. Your list probably will, too. If you share your STBR (Summer To Be Read) list with me, I am glad to share it with your fellow clubbers — or you may post it in the comments below.

We are all friends here. We do not judge each other's reading choices or media. Enjoy your E.L. James or your Encyclopedia Brown. Listen, or look at a page or pixel. Your fellow readers may ask questions, maybe offer suggestions for other similar reads or good book resources, and we always appreciate reviews or feedback. Reader to reader, we can have fun. 

Best of all, no pressure! No matter how many books you read (or don't), you are still a reader and we're glad you're in the club.

So, who's in? Let me know!

Summer Reading: Karen Had a Blast!

Intrepid Reader Karen had a great summer reading.

How great? Well, it looks like she consumed the entire Outlander series and immersed herself in cozy mysteries. 

Did you know "cozy mysteries" is a thing? I have been reading them for ages and just thought that was my author's pet name for her series. 

"Cozy mysteries" apparently involve cats saving humans from their own foolishness. (Maybe it's just me....) Well, I know my cats are exhausted each night after they keep me out of danger every day, even when I am at work — thanks to the Cat Networks.

At any rate, here is what Karen read this summer:

1. Troublemaker 
2. Outlander 
3. Dragonfly in Amber 
4. Voyager 
5. Drums of Autumn 
6. The Fiery Cross
7. A Breath of Snow and Ashes 
8. An Echo in the Bone
9. Written in my Own Heart’s Blood 
10. Murder in the Art Gallery 
11. A Sip of Murder:A Japanese Tea Garden Mystery 
12. Cream Puff Murder
13. Gone with the Ghost 
14. You’ve Got Tail
15. The Secret of Seaside 
16. Cruel Candy 
17. Marigolds and Murder
18. Wicked for Hire 
19. Sweets and a Stabbing 
20. Bakeries and Bones
21. Horribly Haunted in Hillbilly Hollow 
22. A Shot in the Bark
    

What an ambitious summer! Intrepid Reader Karen knows how to get some good books under her belt.

As a reward for a summer well-spent, Karen received a copy of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore — which you all might want to put on your holiday gift list. Just saying.

What did you read this summer? Did you discover a new author or genre? Let us know: comment below, or send me an email.

Have you plotted out your Winter Reads, or are you winging it and banking on a book bonanza for the holidays? Discuss!


And a special shout-out to the artist of this year's Summer Reading graphic: Beth Wilson and her DoodleCats!

How Was Your Summer Reading?

Summer is officially over in the Northern Hemisphere, and I have mixed feelings about that. On one hand, it means more time indoors curled up with books.

On the other hand, winter is coming.

But let's not focus on that just yet. Let's talk books.

I did not gobble them up like a glutton, as I have in years past. Instead, I read in fits and starts, trying out (and rejecting) title after title until I found one that fit. More often than not, I found YA novels helped smooth out the snags, and I was able to read steadily for a while before I floundered around for another book.

I am a firm believer in jettisoning books that don't work for the reader. Nothing against the book: my friend Carole has read books I have been unable to get into — but I'll try again. (And thank heavens for that, or I would have missed The Dinner and Less.)

So, without further ado, here is what I read during the 2018 summer reading program from May 25 to September 23:

1. The Public Library📖
2. The Book With No Pictures 📖
3. The Useful Book 📲
4. China Rich Girlfriend 📖
5. Standard Deviation 📲
6. The Plant Paradox 📲
7. How a Mouse Saved the Royal Cat 📲
8. Robert Kennedy Jr.’s American Heroes: Robert Smalls, the Boat Thief 📖
9. Seven Miles to Freedom 📖
10. Thunderstorm 📖
11. An American Marriage 📖
12. A Man Named Ove 📖
13. Dear First Lady 📖
14. What if Everybody Said That? 📲
15. Quilt of States 📖
16. Crazy Rich Asians 📖
17. Frogs Are Funny! 📖
18. Thrall 📖
19. Dear Evan Hansen 🎧 📲
20. The Devil’s Arithmetic  📲
21. The Sun is Also a Star  📲
22. Less  📲
23. The Ideals Guide to Literary Places in the US 📖
24. Cat Haiku 📖
25. Differently Morphus 🎧
26. The Emerald Circus 📖
27. Pen & Ink Tattoos & the stories behind them 📖
28. How to Relax  📲
29. Marcelo in the Real World  📲

Upon reflection, I am surprised by the number of print books on my list. I felt like I spent more time on my Kindle than on the page.

I am pleased that 17 out of 29 listed above were library books. Oh, I didn't slow down on the number of books I purchased, but upped my library game. (Go Library!)

Some books I had in both print and E, but read in E because it was more convenient. Honestly, I liked having the option to highlight on the page and share the highlights in Goodreads — but holding a book in my hands feels great.

I have not finished an entire audiobook in months, but not because of the books I have chosen. Audiobooks are my gym companions, and they compete with podcasts and my need to unwind with Fluff 'n Trash™. (Pop Culture Happy Hour, I'm looking at you.) Plus, despite my treasure trove of audiobooks, most of the ones I listen to are library loans, and the loan expires before I finish the book. I may have to adjust my Audible membership to accommodate my TBR-Audio list, or spend more time at the gym. (Hey, do it for the books!)

Full disclosure: I did not finish one of these books. I found The Plant Paradox unreadable and mostly unintelligible. I feel about this book the same way I felt about The Case Against Sugar: it could have been an essay, or a series of magazine articles, rather than a full-blown book.

How did your summer reading fare? Tell us in the comments below, or email me. Check back next week for Intrepid Reader Karen's summer reading list!

And a special shout-out to the artists of this year's Summer Reading graphic: Beth Wilson and her DoodleCats!

Summer Reading: The TBR Stack Edition, or What Karen is Reading This Summer

I hope your summer reading is coming along swimmingly. 

If you are in the areas on the globe experiencing record rains and/or record heat, hopefully you can spend extra time indoors and get more reading done.

Intrepid Reader Karen has planned her summer reading carefully, and I see at least one or two books from her list that dovetail with titles I find interesting. Who among us has not salivated over adventure tales or time-travel stories? I rest my case.

So, without further ado, here is Karen's reading list (also fondly referred to as TBR, or to be read, stack):

1. Pope Francis’ Little Book of Compassion
2. Troublemaker 
3. Never Broken: Songs are Only Half the Story 
4. Outlander series books 1-8
5. The Case of the Green-Dressed Ghost 
6. Beyond the Fortune Teller’s Tent
7. Legend of the Jade Dragon 
8. The Pocket Watch
9. Holy Bible 
10. Morna’s Legacy 
11. The Ruby Red Trilogy 
12. Dragon Bones
13. Lost City of Z
14. The Source 
15. The Secret Scroll
16. Man & Horse: The Long Ride Across America 
17. Elixir: A Teen-Genius Medical Thriller 

I adored the Ruby Red Trilogy, and I have been meaning to read The Lost City of Z for ages. I read only the first Outlander novel, so maybe it's time to see what's up with Claire and Jaimie. And, frankly, who doesn't love Jewel?

So, what's in your TBR pile? Join the club, and win a chance at a new book! Post your list in the comments below, or send it to me and I'll share with the class!

Summer Reading: Read More — Yes, You Can!

Summer is the perfect time to read. Even though summer days remain 24 hours, they feel longer, which is a delicious situation for readers. 

School is out, work very well could slow down, and summer vacations away from the distractions of life present ample opportunities to bury yourself in a book.

We can create opportunities to increase the amount of time we read with a few tweaks to our habits.

(By the way, feel free to apply these practices appropriately to other activities you'd like to spend more time doing.)

• Put down the social media. Take the summer off of your personal social media use. Trust me, it will still be there when you get back — and chances are, it will be easier to use, less intrusive, and maybe even a little more civil. 

• Can't step away from personal  social media use? First, see a professional about this issue, then set limits for social media use:
• set a timer for only a few minutes, then stop when the timer goes off
• only read social media in certain situations that limit your time
• X number of stops on your train commute
• on the potty (to which you needn't admit)
• on your 15-minute breaks at work
• via certain electronic devices only (when you can access your desktop computer, for example, or at home on your tablet)

• For the record, "setting limits" includes this blog. Check in to see what's up and enjoy my delightful and entertaining posts, then get back to reading.

• Turn off the television — or whatever you use for "screen time," including You Tube, Netflix, and Hulu. 
• Too radical? Then try Appointment Television, watching it "live" on the broadcast channel, or on a schedule (The Crown at 7 p.m. only on Thursdays, for example).

• Read aloud with a buddy, alternating chapters or voicing characters. This increases the time you spend with friends (in person or virtually) and you get your reading in!

• Get your family in on this deal: listen to audiobooks on road trips — or be like my friend Carole who reads aloud as her family motors down the road together. (She is hardcore.)

• Get a single copy of a book you want to read, and set a deadline to share it with a reading buddy.

• Join your library summer reading program, so you double the incentive for reading a lot. And if your library doesn't offer incentives for adults, talk to your librarians to change that.

• Visit your library regularly. Make a weekly date, or spend time there instead of at work when avoiding rush hour. Yes, this way is fraught with peril, snatching books to stack on your TBR pile, but how else can you find your next read if not at the library?

• Talk you your friendly neighborhood librarian and get introduced to books you will willingly put before other forms of entertainment.

These are just a few ideas, and no doubt you know of others that have worked for you. So, tell us: how do you make ample time for reading? Post your suggestions below, or contact me directly and I'll share with the rest of the class!

Summer Reading: What's on my TBR List?

Summer reading is fraught with peril.

Choose the wrong books and you've wasted your summer reading bad books. Choose nothing at all, and you may read nothing.

Choose too many books and you could be paralyzed with fear at the tide of books you face, and the possibility that you may not finish. Choose only a handful of books and so many are left unread.

Choose books, then risk not reading those particular tomes because you stumbled across other books.

Okay, "peril" is a strong word — but you get my drift. With choice comes limitation, or responsibility, or paralysis. Or, in my case, failure.

Last year, I listed 45 books I wanted to read. Of the 26 books I read last summer, eight were on the original list. Some books have been on the list for years. Some books are pies in the sky. Some books will always be on my TBR shelf.

However, this year, I decided to take a different approach. Instead of rustling up gobs of books from my bookshelves, scouring my library and my wish lists, I simply looked at what was on my nightstand.

Well, "nightstand" isn't quite accurate: In March, my husband David installed the floating shelves my stepson Phil gave me for Christmas (left). That has lightened the load on the nightstand itself, but I keep a few there anyway so I can reach them for reading in bed.

More importantly, it gave me the opportunity to prune the books teetering on my nightstand. There are two ways to look at TBR stacks: opportunity or oppression. By thinning the stack awaiting me for nighttime reading, I could see them as the former, and enjoy them more.

So, here are my Upstairs TBR Bedroom books, in no particular order:

• Less
• Small Great Things
• The Divine Comedy
• A Man Called Ove

• Hamilton
• The Book of the Unknown
• The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu
• Being Mortal
• Reading Dante
• Standard Deviation
• The Bear and the Nightingale
• The Lilac Girls
• The Fall of the House of Cabal
• March (books 1, 2, 3)
• Educated
• We Were Eight Years in Power
• The Keeper of Lost Things
• 4 3 2 1
• The Art of War Visualized

I have a few more books in the home library that I will include on this list — but only once I clear these books from my upstairs shelves.

This does not include the multitude of books on my Kindle and in Audible, which often (but not always) duplicate what I have on my shelves. Among those is:

• Norse Mythology
• Lady Cop Makes Trouble
• The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
• Differently Morphous
• The Power
• Welcome to Night Vale

Some of these books intersect with those to be featured this autumn at Fall for the Book, and the serendipity makes me smile. Others that have not yet been read will be, if not this summer, then at least before the October festival.

Those sentiments — home library, multiple books on multiple platforms, attending a major book festival — are steeped in privilege, and trust me, I know full well the privilege of purchasing and reading books. I share my good fortune when I can, and I hope those folks whose share my good fortune also spread the love of books and reading.

So, in a nutshell, that is what I hope to read this summer. I have heard from another reader, Karen,  whose reading list we will see in the coming days  — and yes, for ideas as well as for support.

What's on your nightstand or bookshelves that you plan to read this summer? Share your summer reading list in the comments below, or send it to me and I will share it with our fellow book lovers!

Summer Reading: Get With the Program

Summer reading means hot days and humid nights reading any book you darn well please.

Reading with friends makes it even better — so get with the Program!

That's the whole reason for the Summer Reading Program: to gather friends, make new friends, and READ.

The Summer Reading Program lasts from the Friday before Memorial Day and the first weekend in autumn. In 2018, that is Friday, May 25 through Sunday, September 23. 

If you read the most of anyone in our program, I will give you a book. (I know, right?)

So, to get in on this sweet deal, what do you have to do? Not much. Contact me directly or leave a comment below. 

We programmers can tell each other what we are reading, what we plan to read, what we actually read, and what we would read if we had way more time.

What kind of books count? All kinds! Mix a few graphic novels in with non-graphic novels, catch up on your comics, toss in some audiobooks, and front-load the e-reader of your choice. (We are equal opportunity here at the Summer Reading Program: Nooks, Kindles, tablets, phablets — all are welcome.)

Kickstart your reading with a treat: go to your favorite book source and pick up that book you have been promising yourself you will read. 

Is it trashy? Good. 
Is it short? Excellent. 
Is the cover bright? Perfect! 
Is it the next in your beloved series? Go for it!

Once I figure out how to easily put my photos on my computer (long story), I will share my reading list — which consists of books that are literally hanging around my nightstand.

Even if you don't join the reading program, I still would love to know: what's on your summer reading list? Tell me!chattingwithchris@gmail.com

And a special shout-out to the artists of this year's Summer Reading graphic: Beth Wilson and her DoodleCats!

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.