Summer reading is like no other. I do remember the weekly reader and the bookmobile. I remember the summer reading lists that the teachers always used to hand out on the last day of school, and which I usually shunned in favour of my own, more interesting - at least to me -, list.
This summer, I just finished Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese. I liked it so much I also read Dr. Verghese other book, My Own Country. Another excellent read. I am currently reading Kate Atkinson's, Will There be Good News. I adore her. And, I am attending my out of state classic book club in a couple of weeks, so I must re-read Jane Eyre for that!
We never had a book mobile. My parents just took me to the library, a magnificent marble pile that I loved. Just before you posted about it, I ordered Merry Hall. I've also been rereading An English Garden in Provence by Natasha Spender. Thinking about tackling Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Friends:Expressionism from the Swiss Mountains, from the stack of good intentions.
My sister and I were "asked to refrain" from being in the summer reading club at our local library-- some parents complained that their children did not stand a chance of winning the summer reading trophy with Kirsten and me participating-- we were well-known readers-- and they considered it unfair that their kids had to compete with kids who read so much on their own! My parents consented, but only after the librarians gave us a special award.
I'll never forget the summer I had to read The Idiot(neither will my poor mother who chased me around until I finished)What an awful must read for a teenager on vacation, but I will admit, I never forgot it (not the book, the horrible experience!!!). On a brighter note, just finished Sissinghurst and loved it. A bit tedious in the middle but great all around.
I loved the Weekly Reader and went to the Carnigie Library in the summer. I told my daughter one summer, when she was younger, to read TREASURE ISLAND and she hated it. I used to read my son books like, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD AND THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. He made me quit halfway through CROSS CREEK. They are readers now though, which I hope they treasure one day.
Whe weekly reader - a blast from the past - as a child it was hard for me to read in the summer - I just wanted to be playing with a gang of kids outside my reading habits have greatly improved with age! Right now I am reading Liar's Club by Mary Karr; picked up this book after i heard her speak this past April. I should finish the last of the Merry Hall trio. So many books, so little time... that is the case with me...read Little Bee in May and loved it ... Cutting for Stone is on my list and so is the Space Between Us - also want to finally read The Angle of Respose by Wallace Stegner
My father, who was in the book business... added to our reading lists. I remember the summers I first read Sylvia Plath, Pearl S. Buck, W. Somerset Maugham. To appease his flock of hippie daughters, he also brought home a lot of Richard Brautigan poetry and of course, we all read Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha.
I'm a librarian--I used to be in Summer Reading Club, now I run it! (LOL!)
I just finished "The Bolter" by Frances Osborne--the true story of Idina Sackville (A cousin of Vita Sackville-West), who may have been the basis for the character known by that moniker in Nancy Mitford's "Love in A Cold Climate" and "The Pursuit Of Love." Idina was the archetypal Edwardian Upper-Crust wicked woman, married and divorced 5 times, and the Queen Kenya's dissolute "Happy Valley Set." A great read.
How did I not discover you before this?? You are on all the blogrolls, but till you mentioned Beverley Nichols... Anyway I LOVE your blog, I've been lost in it for hours.
This summer I have several Beverley Nichols books stacked near my chair. After I read the Merry Hall trilogy I had to buy all the others I could find.
WOW, so many great titles and authors- read the Bolter-wonderful! Wasn't she something else. I love MK Fisher. By the way,another of the Happy Valley set is coming this summer-did an earlier post)Something new-a bio-on the incredible Pearl Buck.
Several new authors to investigate via Pamela. Julieta-am I an IDIOT not to have read that one?! Donna- I wept when my niece told me she found Meg of Little Women fame boring! I read that one every year.
Beverley Nichols will be read and reread. So go for it-or bring it out.
I am doing some light reading and reading Diana Coopers 3 memoirs rolled into one fat book, Along with several from last years Summer list, oh dear.
I've just finished the marvelous Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead by Paula Byrne, and can't wait to re-read Brideshead Revisited, Scoop, and A Handful of Dust. Off to the library now to pick up my reserved copy of Fifth Avenue, 5 A. M. about the making of Breakfast at Tiffany's.
I only spent a few months in the first grade, but one of the very few early memories that I have is sitting in a little reading circle of chairs, perfectly suited for 6-year olds, taking turns in having a go at early reading. Between 1st and 2nd grades, that early reading included the Weekly Reader, and it was a prized possession which I read from cover to cover. A few years later, I always aroused a chuckle from my little town librarian, Miss Nell Pickens, when I walked in and asked her, "Do you have any good books to read today?"
A good book I highly recommend for your summer reading would be Peter Carey's "Parrot and Olivier." It has to be a prize winner.
Loved Weekly Reader. We also had a book club where you could order books at $1 or $2...what a thrill when they came. I always had a hard time making choices... science? mystery? animals? history?
They have RIF and school book fairs but it is not the same as every month's anticipation. I read everywhere, even up in trees! Still always have two books (at least) going. Just finished Shanghai Girls by Lee. Now on "The Girl with Dragon Tattoo" reading this series backwards. And hooked on blogs.
Mistress C. Your reading habits sound like mine- subjectwise & otherwise. Tabitha-have not read that one. Author, blogs are always good at top of my list too. I may check into the MAH book.
Two Cents- I have heard some good things about the Parrot and Olivier book, I think it will be a must read for me. thanks for the recommendation. Pat's addition-ditto the blogs! Jezebel- a wonderful thing.
Summer reading is like no other. I do remember the weekly reader and the bookmobile. I remember the summer reading lists that the teachers always used to hand out on the last day of school, and which I usually shunned in favour of my own, more interesting - at least to me -, list.
ReplyDeleteThis summer, I just finished Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese. I liked it so much I also read Dr. Verghese other book, My Own Country. Another excellent read. I am currently reading Kate Atkinson's, Will There be Good News. I adore her.
And, I am attending my out of state classic book club in a couple of weeks, so I must re-read Jane Eyre for that!
We never had a book mobile. My parents just took me to the library, a magnificent marble pile that I loved. Just before you posted about it, I ordered Merry Hall. I've also been rereading An English Garden in Provence by Natasha Spender. Thinking about tackling Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Friends:Expressionism from the Swiss Mountains, from the stack of good intentions.
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I were "asked to refrain" from being in the summer reading club at our local library-- some parents complained that their children did not stand a chance of winning the summer reading trophy with Kirsten and me participating-- we were well-known readers-- and they considered it unfair that their kids had to compete with kids who read so much on their own! My parents consented, but only after the librarians gave us a special award.
ReplyDeleteI'll never forget the summer I had to read The Idiot(neither will my poor mother who chased me around until I finished)What an awful must read for a teenager on vacation, but I will admit, I never forgot it (not the book, the horrible experience!!!). On a brighter note, just finished Sissinghurst and loved it. A bit tedious in the middle but great all around.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Weekly Reader and went to the Carnigie Library in the summer. I told my daughter one summer, when she was younger, to read TREASURE ISLAND and she hated it. I used to read my son books like, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD AND THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. He made me quit halfway through CROSS CREEK. They are readers now though, which I hope they treasure one day.
ReplyDeleteWhe weekly reader - a blast from the past - as a child it was hard for me to read in the summer - I just wanted to be playing with a gang of kids outside my reading habits have greatly improved with age! Right now I am reading Liar's Club by Mary Karr; picked up this book after i heard her speak this past April. I should finish the last of the Merry Hall trio. So many books, so little time... that is the case with me...read Little Bee in May and loved it ... Cutting for Stone is on my list and so is the Space Between Us - also want to finally read The Angle of Respose by Wallace Stegner
ReplyDeleteMy father, who was in the book business... added to our reading lists. I remember the summers I first read Sylvia Plath, Pearl S. Buck, W. Somerset Maugham. To appease his flock of hippie daughters, he also brought home a lot of Richard Brautigan poetry and of course, we all read Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha.
ReplyDeleteI'm a librarian--I used to be in Summer Reading Club, now I run it! (LOL!)
ReplyDeleteI just finished "The Bolter" by Frances Osborne--the true story of Idina Sackville (A cousin of Vita Sackville-West), who may have been the basis for the character known by that moniker in Nancy Mitford's "Love in A Cold Climate" and "The Pursuit Of Love." Idina was the archetypal Edwardian Upper-Crust wicked woman, married and divorced 5 times, and the Queen Kenya's dissolute "Happy Valley Set." A great read.
Now I'm re-reading the Miford books...
MFK Fisher - wonderful.
ReplyDeleteHow did I not discover you before this?? You are on all the blogrolls, but till you mentioned Beverley Nichols...
ReplyDeleteAnyway I LOVE your blog, I've been lost in it for hours.
This summer I have several Beverley Nichols books stacked near my chair. After I read the Merry Hall trilogy I had to buy all the others I could find.
WOW, so many great titles and authors- read the Bolter-wonderful! Wasn't she something else. I love MK Fisher.
ReplyDeleteBy the way,another of the Happy Valley set is coming this summer-did an earlier post)Something new-a bio-on the incredible Pearl Buck.
Several new authors to investigate via Pamela. Julieta-am I an IDIOT not to have read that one?!
Donna- I wept when my niece told me she found Meg of Little Women fame boring! I read that one every year.
Beverley Nichols will be read and reread. So go for it-or bring it out.
I am doing some light reading and reading Diana Coopers 3 memoirs rolled into one fat book, Along with several from last years Summer list, oh dear.
Keep um coming, I say.
I've just finished the marvelous Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead by Paula Byrne, and can't wait to re-read Brideshead Revisited, Scoop, and A Handful of Dust. Off to the library now to pick up my reserved copy of Fifth Avenue, 5 A. M. about the making of Breakfast at Tiffany's.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently enthralled by Joan Didion's memoir, Where I was From.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit... I've been reading lots of blogs this summer...:)
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I have been reading
The $12 Million Dollar Shark - the Curious Economics of Contemporary Art, by Don Thompson.
Aesops Mirror - A Love Story, by Mary Alice Huggins was a fun antiques read.
The Art Detective, by Philip Mould is next in line.
I only spent a few months in the first grade, but one of the very few early memories that I have is sitting in a little reading circle of chairs, perfectly suited for 6-year olds, taking turns in having a go at early reading. Between 1st and 2nd grades, that early reading included the Weekly Reader, and it was a prized possession which I read from cover to cover. A few years later, I always aroused a chuckle from my little town librarian, Miss Nell Pickens, when I walked in and asked her, "Do you have any good books to read today?"
ReplyDeleteA good book I highly recommend for your summer reading would be Peter Carey's "Parrot and Olivier." It has to be a prize winner.
Loved Weekly Reader. We also had a book club where you could order books at $1 or $2...what a thrill when they came. I always had a hard time making choices... science? mystery? animals? history?
ReplyDeleteThey have RIF and school book fairs but it is not the same as every month's anticipation. I read everywhere, even up in trees! Still always have two books (at least) going. Just finished Shanghai Girls by Lee. Now on "The Girl with Dragon Tattoo" reading this series backwards. And hooked on blogs.
I'm reading the diaries of Vanessa Bell's sister.
ReplyDeleteMistress C. Your reading habits sound like mine- subjectwise & otherwise. Tabitha-have not read that one. Author, blogs are always good at top of my list too. I may check into the MAH book.
ReplyDeleteTwo Cents- I have heard some good things about the Parrot and Olivier book, I think it will be a must read for me. thanks for the recommendation.
Pat's addition-ditto the blogs!
Jezebel- a wonderful thing.