Summer reading: 2006

Summer is here, marked by Memorial Day in the US and by the Great Singapore sale at home. I used to make a summer reading list when I was at school, and thought I'd make one up again this year. There are also numerous lists online at NPR and NY Times (none up yet but there'll be some soon, I bet).

Many of the books on my list are old titles (seeing as how they've been on one list or another at some point in my life) but there are a few recent publications. This list is more like a current reading list, not just for the summer (I'd be lucky if I could finish 20 books in one summer). But with the change in seasons (not that I'm experiencing it now), it's nice to create something new, as if you had a new lease on life. I remember living in cities with marked seasonal changes, and thinking that one of the best things about it was watching the land around me change, and feeling that change deep inside my soul as well. Scents and weather have always had a great effect on me.

So now, I hope to make the weeks ahead a little more summery for myself. My summer reading list -

- The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue - a fantasy for grown-ups. Comparisons with beloved Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell are expected.
- Late Bloomer by C. Tyler - a graphic novel.
- Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura.
- Family and Other Accidents by Shari Goldhagen.
- Ethel and Ernest by Raymond Briggs. Another graphic novel about ordinary lives.
- When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs. If there had been no "Grave of the Fireflies," this may very well be the most tragic exploration of the effects of war on innocents.
- Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini. Actually a read for teenagers, but it's had good enough reviews to tempt me.
- Sailing Alone Around the Room : New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins.
- The Collected Poems of Stanley Kunitz by Stanley Kunitz.
- Eat, Pray, Love : One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert.
- Awakenings by Oliver Sacks.
- Swing: a Mystery by Rupert Holmes. Probably the most "beach read" type of book on my list, but he writes well.
- Mozart's Women by Jane Glover.
- Twilight of the Superheroes : Stories by Deborah Eisenberg.
- Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading : Finding and Losing Myself in Books by Maureen Corrigan.
- Self-Made Man : One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back by Norah Vincent.
- The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self & Soul by Douglas R. Hofstadter.
- The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher by Julian Baggini.
- Labyrinth by Kate Mosse.
- Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China by Rachel DeWoskin.

20 books. Well, one more wouldn't hurt. What's summer reading without some sort of travel reading? Jan Morris's updated Hav goes on my list this year too.

I sure hope the library carries a few of these titles.