Summer 2007 Reading List

I'm rereading the first 6 Harry Potter Books. I had forgotten just how good the first three were...starting 4 tomorrow.
I've got a stack of Sweet Potato Queen books, never been opened I gotta get to. And Chuck Palanuik (sp?) has a new one coming out. Loved Fight Club, Invisible Monsters(favorite) and Choke.

i've read a couple of the sweet potato queen books, have their new one in my "to read" stack.

right now i am reading x-rated blood suckers, weird hauntings, and a harlequin blaze book - how's that for diverse....

Coming to the beach tomorrow! Eat, Pray, Love sounds wonderful. Think I'll go buy it today. Thanks Allifunn!

I'm rereading the first 6 Harry Potter Books. I had forgotten just how good the first three were...starting 4 tomorrow.
I've got a stack of Sweet Potato Queen books, never been opened I gotta get to. And Chuck Palanuik (sp?) has a new one coming out. Loved Fight Club, Invisible Monsters(favorite) and Choke.

I love the Sweet Potato Queen books. Added bonus, they have some good recipes in them. ;-)

I'm rereading the first 6 Harry Potter Books. I had forgotten just how good the first three were...starting 4 tomorrow.
I've got a stack of Sweet Potato Queen books, never been opened I gotta get to. And Chuck Palanuik (sp?) has a new one coming out. Loved Fight Club, Invisible Monsters(favorite) and Choke.

Thanks Kenny for the reminder- I always re-read them before the new one comes out.

right now i am reading x-rated blood suckers, weird hauntings, and a harlequin blaze book - how's that for diverse....

audie, do you read Laurell Hamilton?

audie, do you read Laurell Hamilton?

i used to until she went on this crazy sex tangent. do you read her stuff ?

My favorite paperback/romance/fiction write is Jennifer Crusie (just her books, her collaborations w/ Bob Meyer suck). Her books are hilarious - I actually laugh out loud reading them because the female characters are so believeable - they'd fit right in on sowal!

My favorite paperback/romance/fiction write is Jennifer Crusie (just her books, her collaborations w/ Bob Meyer suck). Her books are hilarious - I actually laugh out loud reading them because the female characters are so believeable - they'd fit right in on sowal!

me too ! i'll never forget the first time i read her - i almost cried when i finished the book !

i used to until she went on this crazy sex tangent. do you read her stuff ?

No, she's a friend of a good friend of mine. Could never bring myself to read her, not my thang.

No, she's a friend of a good friend of mine. Could never bring myself to read her, not my thang.

i really enjoyed her books in the beginning, but for some reason she has gone off on this wild kinky sex tangent. now sex in a book certainly doesn't offend me, but good god, one sex scene took up 1/2 a book for cryin' out loud !

i met laurell at a book signing, talked to her husband for a bit they seemed really nice.

I'm rereading the first 6 Harry Potter Books. I had forgotten just how good the first three were...starting 4 tomorrow.
I've got a stack of Sweet Potato Queen books, never been opened I gotta get to. And Chuck Palanuik (sp?) has a new one coming out. Loved Fight Club, Invisible Monsters(favorite) and Choke.

i've read a couple of the sweet potato queen books, have their new one in my "to read" stack.

right now i am reading x-rated blood suckers, weird hauntings, and a harlequin blaze book - how's that for diverse....

I love the Sweet Potato Queen books. Added bonus, they have some good recipes in them. ;-)

Love SPQ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another good one is Lucky You by Carl Hiassen. (Or any of his other books, for that matter.) His characters are always so absurd, and they always find themselves in the most ridiculous situations.

Loved the Rivenbark - "Stop Dressing Your 6 Yr. Old Like a Skank". It's a riot.

I'm listening to "Marie Antoinette: The Journey" on my iPod. It's the book on which Sofia Coppola based her movie. It's interesting.... Not light summer reading though.

An Embarrassment of Mangoes : A Craibbean Interlude by Ann Vanderhoof - just finished it and loved it! There are also some wonderful recipes in the book as well - I tried out a few and got rave reviews.

**ALSO**

A trip to the Beach: Living on Island Time in the Caribbean by Melinda and Roberty Blanchard is also a wonderful read full of awesome recipes as well.

Happy Reading!

SOMEBODY SHOOT ME!

For one of my classes I have to read a biography of Johannes Brahms. My professor (love him, but he's a classical music geek) thinks it's the greatest biography ever. It's touted as the "definitive work" on Brahms.

As if there are that many books that anyone would want to read about Brahms, for Pete's sake.

Had to vent that. (Is there a chance that one of you is a classical music geek who reads this mind-numbing crud on the beach and can send me some cheat sheets so I can go to sleep?)

SOMEBODY SHOOT ME!

For one of my classes I have to read a biography of Johannes Brahms. My professor (love him, but he's a classical music geek) thinks it's the greatest biography ever. It's touted as the "definitive work" on Brahms.

As if there are that many books that anyone would want to read about Brahms, for Pete's sake.

Had to vent that. (Is there a chance that one of you is a classical music geek who reads this mind-numbing crud on the beach and can send me some cheat sheets so I can go to sleep?)

I can say that Brahms wrote some of the most awesome classical music for his time. He was definitely considered musically eccentric, far out and way ahead of his time. Probably made Mozart look tame. This is my son's favorite composer and loves playing his pieces the most. Don't think of the Brahms Lullaby. He's sooo much more and then some. Good luck.

P.S. Give Academic Festival Overture a listen. And turn it UP!!! It's pretty amazing.

P.S.S. I realize this doesn't help you at all...

I can say that Brahms wrote some of the most awesome classical music for his time. He was definitely considered musically eccentric, far out and way ahead of his time. Probably made Mozart look tame. This is my son's favorite composer and loves playing his pieces the most. Don't think of the Brahms Lullaby. He's sooo much more and then some. Good luck.

P.S. Give Academic Festival Overture a listen. And turn it UP!!! It's pretty amazing.

P.S.S. I realize this doesn't help you at all...

Comfort is always helpful.

I have nothing against Brahms. I just hate reading anything that is non-fiction. (And, honestly, this biography isn't that bad. It's just incredibly long.) I managed to earn my undergrad degree without completing a single reading assignment.

The part where I actually learn something about Brahms' music is a good thing, too. I managed to miss out on him until now. I'll listen to the Overture!

Comfort is always helpful.

I have nothing against Brahms. I just hate reading anything that is non-fiction. (And, honestly, this biography isn't that bad. It's just incredibly long.) I managed to earn my undergrad degree without completing a single reading assignment.

The part where I actually learn something about Brahms' music is a good thing, too. I managed to miss out on him until now. I'll listen to the Overture!

Awesome!

Hey, this has interested me enough to where I might even try reading the Brahms bio.!

I just hate reading anything that is non-fiction.I managed to earn my undergrad degree without completing a single reading assignment.

I wouldn't brag about that! You probably missed out on some great books and a good part of your education. Non-fiction doesn't have to mean a boring biography. Some of the greatest stories are true.

I wouldn't brag about that! You probably missed out on some great books and a good part of your education. Non-fiction doesn't have to mean a boring biography. Some of the greatest stories are true.

Non-fiction is actually all of our fav's in our home.

I wouldn't brag about that! You probably missed out on some great books and a good part of your education. Non-fiction doesn't have to mean a boring biography. Some of the greatest stories are true.

Yikes, Scooter...I feel a bit admonished. Didn't mean to brag (although I see that it did come off that way.) I'm just awful when it comes to reading that sort of thing. I enjoy reading; it's hard to do that when you have to read 50 pages of complex material in one night. That's all I'm sayin...

The biography I'm reading isJohnannes Brahms by Jan Swafford, and if you like biographies you would probably enjoy it.

Comfort is always helpful.

I have nothing against Brahms. I just hate reading anything that is non-fiction. (And, honestly, this biography isn't that bad. It's just incredibly long.) I managed to earn my undergrad degree without completing a single reading assignment.

The part where I actually learn something about Brahms' music is a good thing, too. I managed to miss out on him until now. I'll listen to the Overture!

NoHall - I am with you. give me fiction! any kind of fiction! but love historical fiction of any kind. For example, Colleen McCullough's First Man in Rome series of immense novels about roman civilization. Uncle Timmy and I both read all of them - you are reading and learning about real people, events, cultures, history, but they are woven into a beautiful tale that you just cannot stop reading. much detail and depth.

also love science fiction. just finished two incredibly wonderful books by Mary Doria Russell that I highly recommend (The Sparrow, Children of God)...

from amazon:
Children of God is the sequel to Mary Doria Russell's 1996 The Sparrow, which saw a Jesuit mission to the planet Rakhat end in disaster. The sole survivor of that mission, a priest named Emilio Sandoz, returned a beaten and broken man, having suffered rape and mutilation at the hands of enigmatic aliens. Now the Jesuits want to go back to Rakhat, and they want Sandoz aboard the new mission. But Sandoz has renounced his priesthood and even found a measure of happiness with his new wife and stepdaughter. Meanwhile, on Rakhat, contact with the humans has thrown the local culture into turmoil, precipitating a war between Rakhat's two sentient races. As forces conspire to send Emilio back to Rakhat--and toward a possible reconciliation with God--the planet verges on genocidal destruction. Children of God is a more polished novel than The Sparrow, and the story is equally compelling.

I, too, have to say that I prefer fiction!!!!!! However, with that being said, I HAVE to suggest that Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy be added to the summer reading list. It is amazingly written, compelling, and so unbelievable that it reads like fiction. It is also a relatively short read.

Majority of what I read is fiction as well, I just didn't want NoHall to dismiss all non-fiction.

I also have been forced to slog through some horrible non-fiction and fiction books/texts as part of school and I didn't want it to ruin reading for NoHall.

NoHall - I am with you. give me fiction! any kind of fiction! but love historical fiction of any kind. For example, Colleen McCullough's First Man in Rome series of immense novels about roman civilization. Uncle Timmy and I both read all of them - you are reading and learning about real people, events, cultures, history, but they are woven into a beautiful tale that you just cannot stop reading. much detail and depth.

also love science fiction. just finished two incredibly wonderful books by Mary Doria Russell that I highly recommend (The Sparrow, Children of God)...

Ah, Toots--you are a kindred spirit. (I already knew that!) I'll be checking on those Russell books. I LOVE Historical fiction! Love Eugenia Price, Francine Rivers, Larry McMurtry's stories about the West. I read Gone With the Wind every few years because it taught me more about Georgia history than any class I ever sat through. I learned a lot about South Africa's structure and history (also a lot about Beethoven and succulent plants) from The Power of One and fell in love with New Zealand reading Green Dolphin Street.

I also have to say that the biography I'm whining about is, for the most part, written as a story. That makes it much easier for me. But it also goes into some drawn-out sections on the history of Classical vs. Romantic music. Yawn.

As for missing out as an undergrad, I'm not so sure. I still own all of the books that I didn't read. They're wonderful for reference. But gifted thinkers are not always gifted writers. Maybe I'm just a moron, but give me a gifted thinker who can tell me a story. Then I can understand his thoughts. I don't know how many times I've been asked about specifics of theology and recommended The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis was clearer (to me) in his stories than he was in his non-fiction. (I still believe that's why Jesus spoke in parables rather than in lectures.)