Summer Reading List

Inspired by the reading lists at The Algonquin Books Blog, (via The Morning News) I am updating my summer reading plan. Remember how I wrote I was going to do a summer reading project, going through Lizzie Skurnick’s book Shelf Discovery, and reading a bunch of the books she mentioned in it?

Yeah, that’s not going to happen. For good reason, though. I continue to read in preparation for the book group I started, on fiction with themes of myth and religion. Our June book was Louise Erdrich’s Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (I look forward to the day I no longer have to type that title all the time). It made me want to go back to Love Medicine and read everything she’s written, though I’m not going to right now.

The July book is American Gods by Neil Gaiman, which coincides nicely with its 10th anniversary (will I be able to resist buying the 10th anniversary edition, as I already own a signed HC and a MMPB?) and the recent announcement that it’s getting the HBO treatment. Related reading I hope to do along with American Gods is the sequel, Anansi Boys, and Douglas Adams’ Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, which my husband says is very like it. (Does that mean reading Dirk Gently again?) Possibly also D’Aulaire’s Book of Norse Myths.

The August book is Mrs. Dalloway, and I picked up a copy of The Mrs. Dalloway Reader, so I hope to make it through that. Related reading with be Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, I hope.

Right now I’m re-reading Warren Ellis’ Planetary, that ended last year. I didn’t want to read the final issue until I re-read from the beginning, so here I am. I also plan to do this with the crime series 100 Bullets. And I mentioned recently that I’m interested in going back to the beginning of Carla Speed McNeil’s series Finder and re-reading up to the present.

So I’ve got an ambitious reading list, though the only Musts are American Gods and Mrs. Dalloway.

I am trying not to attend to the voice inside my head that says she wants to re-read Game of Thrones. There will be plenty of time for that. If I’m smart, I’ll wait till he finishes the series (no jokes or snarking allowed), see how folks like the ending, then decide whether to give it a go.

What do you hope to read this summer?

8 Responses to “Summer Reading List”

  1. carolyn Says:

    Mrs. Dalloway is not a hard read, dude, I doubt you’ll need the help of the Reader. I’m mostly reading Chemistry 100 this summer. :(

  2. Amy Says:

    I have American Gods on my desk, but haven’t cracked it open. I’ve read Mrs. Dalloway twice before, but have never made it through the essays in the Reader, which I do have, so I hope to change that this time. I hope also to stay on task with War and Peace.

  3. girldetective Says:

    I want the reader because it’s full of essays on Mrs. D by other authors, like Francine Prose, whose work I greatly admire. Glad I’m not doing Chem, though. Had a hard enough time the first go round.

  4. jennifer Says:

    American Gods has made my list since seeing Neil Himself at WITS this past Friday night. Have you read Odd and the Frost Giant? My oldest son, who just finished D’Aulaire’s Norse Gods and Giants, pressed Odd upon me when he heard that I was going to hear the author read. Gaiman’s take on Norse mythology is beautiful. I think your boys may enjoy it one day.

    Mrs. Dalloway is on my personal reading challenge for the year, but I doubt I will get to it as it is a re-read and I am completely undisciplined. Instead I’m reading Ann Patchett’s latest, Dean Bakopoulos’ My American Unhappiness, Ben Aaronovitch’s Midnight Riot and its sequels, the new Sarah Vowell, Life on the Mississippi, and the last three Narnia books (per the order in which they were published). And, I’m trying to move some shelf-sitters, including Mark Kurlansky’s Salt, Karen Russell’s story collection, and Zeitoun.

  5. girldetective Says:

    Jennifer, I was at Wits, too! I really enjoyed the show. Neil was v. funny (though in need of a proper hair cut) and Josh Ritter was adorable; I wanted to adopt him as my younger brother. I have read Odd, and want to re-read it soon. I agree, it will be a good one for the boys in a little while. The new Ann Patchett sounds terrific, and I just finished Vowell’s Wordy Shipmates. My husband enjoyed Salt, and I enjoyed Zeitoun, so it sounds like you’ve got a smashing reading list, too. If you’re interested, look up the group Gods and Monsters on Facebook, and you can see the upcoming selections: American Gods for July and Mrs. Dalloway in August.

  6. carolyn Says:

    I did just finish the new Ann Patchett and really loved it. But I’m a bit of a sucker for her writing so…

  7. girldetective Says:

    I’m one of the few people who liked but didn’t love Bel Canto. I _did_ love her Magician’s Assistant, which a writer friend recommended to me.

  8. carolyn Says:

    Ah, Magician’s Assistant is a great book. :)