Tell Me What to Read: Summer 2015 Edition
I seriously love reading book lists and book recommendations.
One of my favorite ways to spend down time is searching through book lists and putting as many books on hold as I can until I max out my library card.
So obviously Tell Me What to Read has long been one of my favorite things. I can’t tell you how often I go back to look at your recommendations on the previous posts.
I’ve read about five books in the last ten days (hello, vacation), so I’m ready to kick off my summer reading again.
Suggest something fun (although that doesn’t need to mean chick-lit – I’m up for non-fiction, memoirs, young adult, middle grade, AND chick-lit), and I’ll pick three to read in June, July, and August.
So! Your job: Comment with the title of a book you think I should read.
My job: I’ll choose three from the suggestions and announce them next week.
I’ll read one a month – June, July, and August. Feel free to read along.
I’ll write a review of each one here. Even if I hate the book, I will not hate you.
And . . . go! My library card is at the ready.
Smart Money Smart Kids by Rachel Cruze and Dave Ramsey.
Great ways to teach your kids about money and how to work. It's also practical and works in the real world (I have 5 kids).
Oh and one more. Born to Win by Dr. Kevin Leman. I'm an oldest child and I kept saying things like "oh, that's totally me!".
And obviously I'm a non- fiction junkie! 😉
I just finished The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. Short enough for summer reading and I personally thought the author was cute and quirky. I know the reviews are mixed but I loved it.
I'd second this vote. I loved this one too!
Kind of hard to find sometimes, but . . . "The Old World Kitchen" by Elisabeth Luard. It's relatively old–from the 80s. It's a cookbook, a huge compendium of peasant recipes from all over the world. I probably won't actually cook from it, but the anecdotes and history in the intro. to each recipe are fascinating. Mark Bittman called it, "The best cookbook you've never heard of." I think he's right.
The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant. I just finished it and I loved it.
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski. YA nonmagical fantasy–which I did not know was a genre until I read this book about a teen girl in a Rome-like fictional country who is physically weak, but has a mind brilliant enough to guide military strategy and shape international politics with her father, a celebrated general…but then she has to live with the consequences of the policies she suggests.
Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead or The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales – Contemporary YA
The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley – Middle Grade Historical Fiction
I didn't notice the coincidence in the titles until I typed them 🙂
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
by Atul Gawande
Flyboys by James Bradley, David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell, Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan. (I laughed myself to tears with the last one!)
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.
"All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr. Just won the Pulitzer Prize. It was a compelling novel that gave me a different, more personal view of WWII.
All of A Kind Family by Sydney Taylor is the read-aloud I'm doing with my kids right now and we are all enjoying. ..next up for us is My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. For myself, I always read your recommendations and I've been working my way through your blog reviews and lists so don't have any new to add 🙂
Papa Married a Mormon, if you can find it. It is such a fun and sweet story.
I just read "The Royal We" by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (aka the Fug Girls), and it was delightful. And I'll second "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins because I'm reading it right now and it's a page-turner. 🙂
I really really enjoyed "The Royal We"!
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
I love mining the comments on these posts for recommendations!
Most of what I've read and loved lately you'd already read! If you haven't already read it, I highly recommend 12 Years a Slave.
I haven't yet read the following, but I've heard good things about all of them:
Creativity Inc – Ed Catmull
Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin – Jill Lepore
In the Kingdom of Ice – Hampton Sides
I just looked more closely at your photo and since you have To Say Nothing of the Dog in your stack (I LOVE that book), I have one more recommendation. You might want to check out Doomsday Book by the same author. It's actually the first book of the Oxford Time Travel Series.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr! So good!
I second this!
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah! Historical fiction set during World War II – a page turner and a beautiful story.
I second this one!! LOVED it!
One of my recent favorite reads is Being Mortal. Although, I hesitate to suggest it because it is a deep read and not necessarily ¨fun¨. I found myself really thinking about quality of life and aging in ways I hadn't before. I consider a book especially good if it challenges me to think outside my comfort zone.
And on a happier note, my sister in law won your baby carrier giveaway. She was showing it off at my brother's wedding this past weekend with her 13 day old baby #3. She loves the carrier! 🙂
Cinder by Marissa Meyer…shoot you've probably already read it. But this is a series I couldn't stop reading.
For some extra LM Montgomery, The Blue Castle is nice summer read (probably not a crazy, can't put it down, five stars, but a very comfortable four).
The Edge of the Earth, by Christina Schwarz.
The Chocolate Thief by Laura Florand!
Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith! It's like a YA Pride and Prejudice with a little magic, mystery, royalty, and romance. The characters are so human and real; I still get butterflies everytime I re-read it!
If you haven't already then Watership Down by Richard Adams. My favourite childhood book.
Possession by A.S. Byatt, beautiful love story cum historical detective type story AND it has poetry in it. Makes this one of my favourite English novels.
Or if you feel brave and want to try something exotic, it is summer reading after all, read something foreign: A Father's Affair by Karel Glastra van Loon. Wonderful story about fatherhood. (No idea of the quality of the translation though.)
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. I am finishing up the audiobook version and really enjoying it even though it's not about a happy topic at all. Very thought provoking non-fiction.
And I know I'm being nosy, but where are you moving?
I will be on vacation in North Carolina in mid June. My best friend from high school lives in Wilmington. Any must sees and must dos you can pass on?
Who Rides a Tiger by Doris Miles Disney or Stuff Parisians Like: Discovering the Quoi in the Je Ne Sais Quoi by Olivier Magny
I highly, highly recommend The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser. I rarely buy books for myself (I'm a library junkie) and this is one of the few that I have in my personal collection. It's just that good.
The Royal We was adorable.
I also loved The Royal We, but I am recommending The Truth About Twinkie Pie by Kat Yeh. Fantastic middle grade novel that will give you goosebumps.
It is always a challenge to suggest a book that you haven't already read. I suggest The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde. I see that you have the Eyre Affair in that picture. Fforde can get pretty trippy—subsequent books in the Thursday Next series, but I found The Last Dragonslayer to be quirky but still normal enough to be enjoyable. I am currently listening to the second in that series (Song of the Quarkbeast) and am enjoying that as well.
I just looked back on last summer's books and noticed that you didn't get around to reviewing them. (o.k…..that sounds really anal and nit-picky. I don't mean that to be the case. I guess I am too tired to come up with more tactful phrasing.). What did you think of the Light between Oceans?
Complications by Atul Gawande
I know I've recommended the fun and fascinating non-fiction Packing for Mars by Mary Roach…but I promise I won't mention it again after today 🙂 My favourite book in the last month has been the most recent Penderwick book. I can't remember you mentioning this series but it feels like they would be right up your alley as they are lovely family stories about sisters.
Yayy! Totally one of my favourite things too!
This is not new but for some reason I found this book very enjoyable – The House of Joy by Sarah Kate-Lynch. Also The Cousins' War series by Philippa Gregory had me binge reading: The Red Queen, The White Queen, The White Princess and The King's Curse. But The White Queen was my favourite
So hard to pick just one – some of my recent favorites:
History of the Rain – unique writing style took me a bit to get into but really enjoyed it
Dancing Fish and Ammonites – (memoir by Penelope Lively- made me think)
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett – a quick fun read
The elegance of a Hedgehog – I loved this book
I also second the Elegance of the Hedgehog, I loved that one.
I also really liked Camilla by Madeleine L'Engle
Or if you're looking for something more classic and Russian I'd recommend Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak.
I enjoy a good old "whodunnit" murder mystery from time to time. One I picked up at a library sale that was a complete hit was Bleed for Me by Michael Robotham. It's part of a series but each story can stand by itself. It's well written (descriptive without dragging on) set in England which I enjoyed and it kept me guessing throughout the entire story line! Unlike some of your other readers, I do not recommend Elegance of the Hedgehog. I prayed for that book to end just so I could have closure and move on with my life.
Please read The Boys in the Boat. It's the best book I've read in a really long time.
Room by Emma Donoghue is one of my favourite books. The content itself is not the most pleasant, but the narration of book is outstanding. It's told from the perspective of a four year old boy, and I feel like you could really appreciate that. Check it out!
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbot, or I second The Boys in the Boat.
Mr. Churchill's Secretary, by Susan Elia McNeal. It's fun read and solid enough to be enjoyable.
Two books that I have loved are "The Alchemist" by Paulo Cohelo, and "The Historian" by Elizabeth Costova. The Historian is about the quest to find Dracula's tomb, and is written in letter form similar to Dracula.
Another fun read that my friend wrote is called "The Inventors Secret (Cragbridge Hall)" by Chad Morris. I believe it is more of a middle grade book, but I thought it was a fun book. It's the first in a trilogy, but I haven't read the other 2 books.
French Kids Eat Everything and You Only Live Once
The Book of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring – sweetest story – in my top 5.
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
I think you'd have a strong reaction to After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Hopefully a strong, positive reaction! It's kind of like Rainbow Rowell's Landline, but shorter and (according to me) stronger. It really is a wonderful book, and I wish more people knew about it. Best of luck selecting books!
The hypnotists love story!!
The hypnotists love story!!