Summer Reading List 2015

Yes I still make my own summer reading lists and they're awesome! I like to only read "summer themed" books during the summer months, so starting June 1st until August 31 I only read off of that list. The criteria to get on the list is the plot takes place during the summer, the cover is summer themed, or the title is summer themed. Right now I have 36 books on my list, but that can always get bigger, or I might not even finish (I still have a couple of books left over from last summers list). I read some pretty bomb books last summer, and I've already picked up my first 3 to start. On my list for this year I have:

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Open Road Summer by Emery Lord
Wicked Charms (Lizzie & Diesel #3) by Janet Evanovich
Diamond Head by Cecily Wong
Single, Carefree, Mellow by Katherine Heiny
Oh! You Pretty Things by Shanna Mahin
Eat, Drink, & Remarry: Confessions of a Serial Wife by Margo Howard
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
The Amateurs by David Halberstam
Witches of the East End (The Beauchamp Family #1) by Melissa de la Cruz
Rules of Summer (Rules of Summer #1) by Joanna Philbin
Since Last Summer (Rules of Summer #2) by Joanna Philbin
We Were Liars by e. Lockhart
Where You Left Me by Jennifer Gardner Trulsen
After Camelot: A Personal History of the Kennedy Family 1968 to the Present by Randy J. Taroborrelli
End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
Brooklyn Girls (Brooklyn Girls #1) by Gemma Burgess
The Rocks by Peter Nichols
The Agent: My 40 Year Career Making Deals & Changing the Game by Leigh Steinberg
Let's Spend the Night Together: Backstage Memories of Rock Muses & Supergroupies by Pamela Des Barres
Save the Date: The Occasional Mortification's of a Serial Wedding Guest by Jen Doll
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
Sum It Up: 1,098 Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective by Pat Summitt
Life in Spite of Me: Extraordinary Hope After a Fatal Choice by Kristen Jane Anderson
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
Buyoant: How Water & Willpower Helped Wella to Channel Aaron & Hayley Peirsol by Wella Hartig
Pinch Me by Adena Halpern
Swimming by Nicola Keegan
The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, & a Woman's Search for the Meaning of Wife by Janna Esarey Cawrse
Flip-Flopped by Jill Smolinski
Wining Balance: What I've Learned So Far about Love, Faith, & Living Your Dream by Shawn Johnson
Come to the Edge by Christina Haag
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Summer Secrets by Jane Green

I read The Great Gatsby every summer, it's just what I do (it really is a great summer beach read). I also had to delete The Rose Petal Beach by Dorothy Koomson, it sounded awesome butttt I couldn't find it through the library system or even on bn.com for my Nook, so I will not be reading it. I do not pay for books. I read too much to be doing that. Also I have some holds at the libby that should be coming through this summer. At least I hope they do because I am really looking forward to reading The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant. I have already knocked off We Were Liars by e. Lockhart, it was interesting. Actually it wasn't at all interesting, it was extremely predictable and not worth my time to read. Anywho check back for that review within the coming days. That's all for now!

<3's Laterz

The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee or Another Disappointing Read

A Book that Came Out this Year: The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee Ugh what a downer. Usually I'll stop reading something if it doesn't grab me within the first 50 pages, and I didn't have to do that here because within the first 50 I was in. It was the middle 200 that really wasn't that great. The best way to describe The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee is to take Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner minus the breastfeeding and Mommy woes and add in an exotic local and kidnapping. Not that I don't love myself some Jenn Weiner, but I thought this was going to be 100% different. Damn you GMA, you pulled me in with a review and it was not like you said! Mercy, a young Korean American and recent Columbia graduate, is adrift, undone by a terrible incident in her recent past. Hilary, a wealthy housewife, is haunted by her struggle to have a child, something she believes could save her foundering marriage. Meanwhile, Margaret, once a happily married mother o...

The Pulitzer Prize Dilemma...

I've been having a hard time deciding on what to read in order to check off Pulitzer prize winner on my reading list. Originally I wanted to read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. After some further research, I read a lot of reviews that weren't very kind about Ms. Tartt's work. And they weren't professional reviews either, they were just ordinary reviewers on Goodreads, because the professional reviews that seemed to only fawn over this book. I'm conflicted. I fell like I should at least give The Goldfinch a try, but it's a really big book. I have some backups A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr . I've just finished the 4th book in The Selection Series, so now I can focus on this daunting task ahead of me. Any suggestions if this doesn't work out? I'm open to non-fiction winners as well! UPDATE: Okay so The Goldfinch definitely did not work out. I think I'm going to go with A ll the Lig...

Terrible True Stories

Two books I read in January were both non-fiction accounts that were informative, sad, and grotesquely interesting. The first being Gracia Burnham's In the Presence of My Enemies , a terrifying recount of Burnham & her husbands time being held captive by an Islamic military sect, Abu Sayyaf, based in the Philippines. The second non-fiction novel was Jerry Oppenheimer's Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal, and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty . I don't think it needs a one sentence summary because really we can all draw our own conclusions from that title. Photo Courtesy of Goodreads Quick Facts: Based on the true story of two American missionaries taken hostage in the Philippines. The Burnham's (Gracia & Martin) spent over a year in captivity. Rescue attempts along with the actual rescue were very botched resulting in the wounding of Gracia & the deaths of Martin, as well as one other remaining hostage. Okay so that's not a lot of qu...

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