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The “Don’t Kill Your Kids” Summer Book List

May 28, 2014

For as long as I can remember, reading has been my salvation.  In fact, my earliest memory is that of my then eighteen month self sitting in a play pen on a hot summer’s day while looking at the Golden Book “The Poky Little Puppy”.  For a shy girl who moved a lot growing up, books and their characters were my best friends.  Ramona Quimby, Ralph S. Mouse and Jessica Wakefield could always be counted on to play with me.  Never was I more excited than when the mailman delivered my next two installments of the Book Of The Month Club my mom enrolled me in when I was nine.  And yes, I read every single Sweet Valley High Book.  All 475 of them.  Twice.

I love the smell of a new book and have yet to completely convert over to e-reading because BOOK PAGE SMELL, people.  I love seeing how many pages are left, dying to get to the end but yet trying to read slowly enough to savor every delicious morsel of the story.  I loves me a book sale and don’t get me started on my local library’s yearly “Fill A Bag For $5” event.  Some women fight over shoe sales at Barney’s.  I, on the other hand, will cut you to get a $1 copy of Jennifer Weiner’s latest tome.  And God help you if you lay your hands on an Marian Keyes book before I do….

Yes.  I’m a Bookworm.  Book nerd.  Readaholic.  Spender of Too Much Money At Barnes And Noble.

One of the things I love most about reading is discussing books with someone who loved a book as much as I did.  I’ll stop perfect strangers in a mall or on a train and ask them how they like the book they are reading.  I’ll unabashedly strike up a conversation with the woman in front of me in Barnes and Noble with my unsolicited opinion on how much I loved the Gillian Flynn book in her hands.  I belong to book groups on Facebook, regularly share dogeared copies of my favorites with friends and just announce to whomever will listen that a book moved me to tears.  

I. Love. Reading.

And I love Summer Reading to the point of obsession.

Summertime is when I can really kick my reading sickness into high gear.  Long summer evenings with nary a Good Wife episode in sight allow for hours of reading pleasure.  A good summer read goes a long way in helping to ensure that I don’t beat my Fruit Loops senseless for bickering, demanding iPad apps and asking for a popsicle for the 900th time in three hours.   Even when I’m wrapped up in the demands of pool towels, sunscreen and trips to the park, my book beckons me with the sweet reminder that I will be able to escape to a wonderful world where my brain is filled with something other than the words, “Can I have a snack?”.

Summer Reading is the reason my Fruit Loops still exist in August.

And, so, I’ve decided to put together a list of my favorite summer books.  It’s a list filled with books that have juicy, well developed plots.  It’s a list that contains books that will make you laugh out loud.  I’ve read all of them and can give them the official “Fruit Loop Keeper Seal Of Approval”.  I will even go out on a limb and say these books might even become your favorites, too.  And it’s nothing like Oprah’s “Let’s All Get Smarter By Reading Faulker Or Tolstoy” List.  Rather, it’s a “Let’s Escape And Hopefully Not Kill Our Kids” List.  No disrespect, Oprah.

The “Don’t Kill Your Kids” Summer Book List
I Just Want To Be Alone- by Some Super Cool Lady Writers– You didn’t HONESTLY think that I’d compile a list and NOT put this one on it, did you??  If you haven’t already, purchase it, read it, laugh until your vagina prolapses and then tell your friends to buy one.  Or six.  Thirty seven hilarious women telling stories about the men in their lives means there’s a story that every woman can relate to.  And, pfft:  I’M IN IT.  Enough said.  
 
The Bungalow: A Novel by Sarah Jio– This book has it all:  Romance.  Heartache.  Redemption.  Sigh.  It’s just the bomb.  Set in 1942 against the backdrop of World War 2, it’s the story of a young woman as she sets out on a journey to the Pacific as a naval nurse.  It’s a love story for the ages and it will have you weeping at the end.  
 
One Thousand White Women:  The Journals Of May Dodd by Jim Fergus–  In this fictional novel, May Dodd and a group of women are sent to the far west in 1875 to marry Cheyenne Indians in an effort to assimilate Native Americans into the world of the white man.  This one is completely fictional but written in such a way that you REALLY think it happened.  Honest to Pete, as I read it, the words seemed so completely, outrageously believable that I had to keep reminding myself it was “just” a story.  A page turner until the end, I promise.  Or your money back.  Not from me though.  Barnes and Noble usually takes returns, I think….but only if the spine isn’t cracked.
 
Pillars of The Earth by Ken Follett– This is my FAVORITE. BOOK. OF. ALL. TIME.  No joke.  I first read it in high school as an assignment and have probably read it no less than ten times since.  In fact, I love this book so hard that Hubby presented me with a SIGNED First Edition copy of POTE for my 30th birthday.  Now, when I give you the description, don’t turn your nose, m’kay?  The story is set in 12th century England and takes place during the 30 year build of a cathedral.  Yes, cathedral building can be riveting, I swear.  This book, too, has everything:  Intrigue.  Back Stabbing.  Love.  Good vs. Evil.  And just a tiny bit of smut to make it believable for the time.  Give it 100 pages and I swear, you won’t put it down.  And, PS:  I heart Tom Builder big time.
 
Bitter Is The New Black- by Jen Lancaster– I found this book in the fall of 2006 while on a trip to Chicago.  As no surprise, I was browsing in a Barnes and Noble on Michigan Avenue under the “New Local Authors” section.  At the time, Jen Lancaster was a relative unknown and I honestly bought the book based solely on the subtitle:  “Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag To The Unemployment Line”.  I literally LAUGHED. MY. ASS. OFF and have followed Jen and her blog, Jennsylvania, since.  She’s written a ton of other very funny books in the last few years but I maintain her first was her best.  
 
Bossypants by Tina Fey- Because Tina Fey.  Enough said.
 
Love The One You’re With by Emily Giffin– Sigh.  What to say about this one?  First off, Emily Giffin writes in a way that makes you physically incapable of putting one of her books down.  Truly.  In fact, if you’ve read some of her others:  Baby Proof, Something Borrowed and Something Blue, you know that you basically need to make sure your kids have enough Goldfish crackers and Nickelodeon TV to survive for 48 hours.  In LTOYW, she explores that secret place that most of us have:  that first love we walked away from and the choices we make afterward.  If you had a first love and have wondered what has become of him or her, you will ignore your children for 48 hours straight with this one.  Note:  I’m 186 pages into her brandy new book “The One and Only” and I all I can say is:  Honey, the laundry will get done when I’m on page 415, m’kay?  Just try to cope…
 
The Kommandant’s Girl- by Pam Jenoff– Set in Nazi Germany, this is the story of a nineteen year old Jewish girl forced to help her family survive by working in a Nazi war office.  Surprisingly, she finds herself falling in love with a Nazi officer.  It’s a complicated, torturous and beautiful story about principals, love and the trappings of war.  If you love historically accurate fiction, you won’t be disappointed.  And, if you are, don’t tell me because I loved this book.  Like, a lot.  So don’t tell me if you hate it.  Just pretend that you did.
 
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn– I can’t tell you anything about this book because I will ruin it.  Read it because it will have you going UNTIL THE VERY LAST WORD ON THE VERY LAST PAGE.  And, because Ben Affleck is starring in the movie version in November and everyone and their brother will be talking about this book this fall so you may as well just read it now and be part of the discussion.  Good.  Glad we understand each other.
 
The Hour I First Believed- Wally Lamb– I’m not going to lie:  this one is a tough, tough read.  But, holy hell, is it riveting.  RI-VET-ING.  The story opens in 2004 Columbine, Colorado just prior to the shootings in the high school.  It’s a fictional account of a husband and wife who are completely and utterly undone by the vicious actions of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris.  Transcripts, interviews and actual victims’ names are woven into this unbelievable story of perseverance and tragedy.  You might need a bottle of wine for this one….or four.  It’s a great read, though, I promise.
 
Elin Hilderbrand novels: Because she’s written fourteen and I’ve read most of them (and she has a new one dropping in June…which, of course, I’ve preordered….SQUEEE!), I simply cannot choose one to tell you to read.  All of her books are set on the tiny island of Nantucket and include characters that are textured, flawed and real.  If I had to choose a few favorites, I’d pick Summerland,  Silver Girl and the one I just finished, Beautiful Day.  And, when I met her at a book signing a few weeks ago, she graciously did not call security when I handed her a signed copy of MY book, I Just Want To Be Alone.   She also favorites my tweets sometimes so there’s that, too….ahem.
Me.  And Elin Hilderbrand.  And she’s thinking, “OMG.  Stalker to my left”.
Hopefully, this list will keep you busy at least until the dog days of July.  In case you are wondering, I have Marian Keyes’ “The Case of Mercy Close: A Novel” and Elin Hilderbrand’s “One Summer: Two Novels” (The Blue Bistro and The Love Season IN ONE BOOK!) on my nightstand just waiting to be devoured.   Jennifer Weiner’s “All Fall Down” will be in my hot little hands when it drops June 17th so I’ve got my long summer evenings covered.  And that will ensure yet another summer where my Fruit Loops live to see another fall school year.  
 
Books save lives, people.  
 
What’s on YOUR nightstand, Kindle queue or bookshelf?  Tell me!!
 
 

 

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