Summer reading.

[Son_Of_Saul]

Does anyone do this?

If so, what books are you reading this summer?

I'm finishing Homer's The Odyssey this summer because it's always haunted me being that it was a book I was supposed to read in high school but didn't.

 

[-Mav-]

I'm finishing Homer's The Odyssey this summer

If you liked The Odyssey, try The Epic of Gilgamesh next -- it's, well, epic.

 

[Joneslab]

I'm reading Tara Westover's Educated. I don't read a lot of memoirs but this was on a ton of best-of-the-year lists so I thought I'd give it a shot. It's about a girl who was raised by a fundamentalist Mormon, anti-government family who didn't believe in public education. She went on to get a Ph.D. from Harvard.

Saving my big fiction reads until vacation in July. I'm excited for Blake Crouch's Recursion (I loved Crouch's Dark Matter; he's sort of the heir apparent to Michael Crichton) and especially Adrian McKinty's child-abduction thriller The Chain, which comes out in early July. Movie rights for The Chain have already sold for a gajillion dollars and McKinty is sort of a mad genius.

 

[anthonys735]

This is my most recent list:

Do No Harm - Henry Marsh

The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold: Adventures Along the Iron Curtain Trail - Time Moore

Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest - Wade Davis

 

[WildcatfaninOhio]

Cats Illustrated

 

[Blueisbest]

My reading tends to run toward fiction novels. Right now I'm reading the "Gray Man" series by Mark Greaney. For action novels, they are hard to beat. If you like the Jason Bourne type books, you'll love The Gray Man.

 

[anthonys735]

I'm reading Tara Westover's Educated. I don't read a lot of memoirs but this was on a ton of best-of-the-year lists so I thought I'd give it a shot. It's about a girl who was raised by a fundamentalist Mormon, anti-government family who didn't believe in public education. She went on to get a Ph.D. from Harvard.

How was it? It's been popping up on my lists as well.

 

[Joneslab]

How was it? It's been popping up on my lists as well.

Haven't finished yet but so far it's very good. She has this very lyrical style, so get ready for detailed descriptions of nature and the Idaho mountain this family lives on. (I tend to like nature writing, so I didn't mind this.)

The most interesting thing about the book is the mindset of the father himself, who's this wild, tyrannical figure who convinces the family to live in absolute fear--of other people, of the government, of the non-religious. You at once feel sorry for the man and want to punch him. How Westover escapes from her family drives the book.

It also asks really interesting questions about what education is. The title is a pun, essentially. Westover makes the argument that life experience can be a great education if harnessed correctly.

 

[JDHoss]

Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance. Didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but still a good story that brought back a few memories.

 

[BankerCat12]

Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance. Didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but still a good story that brought back a few memories.

I bought this over a year ago and have not read yet. Leaving for vacation in a month so might take it with me. I am from Louisville so I will prob learn a lot.

Been reading all of Don Winslow books. Cannot get enough of them.

 

[gamecockcat]

Haven't finished yet but so far it's very good. She has this very lyrical style, so get ready for detailed descriptions of nature and the Idaho mountain this family lives on. (I tend to like nature writing, so I didn't mind this.)

The most interesting thing about the book is the mindset of the father himself, who's this wild, tyrannical figure who convinces the family to live in absolute fear--of other people, of the government, of the non-religious. You at once feel sorry for the man and want to punch him. How Westover escapes from her family drives the book.

It also asks really interesting questions about what education is. The title is a pun, essentially. Westover makes the argument that life experience can be a great education if harnessed correctly.

Read it earlier this year and really enjoyed it. The level of dysfunction and just plain weirdness of the family is off the charts.

 

[JumperJack]

Do people really wait until summer to read?

 

[LeOtis Merriweather]

Earlier this year I read Ron Chernow's "Alexander Hamilton", because I wanted to know more before seeing the show in Louisville. I enjoyed it, so now I am reading "Titan", the story of John D. Rockefeller, by the same author. It hasn't really captured my interest yet, but I am just getting into the story of how Standard Oil was formed. The guy was a life long Baptist Sunday school teacher, but didn't see anything wrong with screwing someone on a business deal.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Gotta hit this thread with the

 

[BlueRaider22]

My 7 yr old and I have started to read Alex Morgan's book "Breakaway: Beyond the Goal" together.

While it's not the world's most life changing read, I love spending time with my baby girl.....and what she's passionate about.

 

[Joneslab]

Do people really wait until summer to read?

A lot more free time during the summer for many. Plus vacations, sitting on the beach, etc. Publishers put out their biggest books in the summer for this reason (this is particularly true of novels).

I'm one of these people who has a book with him at all times and that's been the case since I was probably 15. But I'm notorious for stopping before I finish books. I usually finish books in the summer.

 

[CAT Scratch FVR]

Summer reading is beach reading.. James Patterson's "Private" series. Brad Thor's books featuring the Scott Horvath character.

 

[anthonys735]

Earlier this year I read Ron Chernow's "Alexander Hamilton", because I wanted to know more before seeing the show in Louisville. I enjoyed it, so now I am reading "Titan", the story of John D. Rockefeller, by the same author. It hasn't really captured my interest yet, but I am just getting into the story of how Standard Oil was formed. The guy was a life long Baptist Sunday school teacher, but didn't see anything wrong with screwing someone on a business deal.

Bought Hamilton for the same reason, however it's still in my queue and I saw the play last week. I'll get around to it eventually.

 

[TruBluCatFan]

Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance. Didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but still a good story that brought back a few memories.

Put off reading it for a long time because I didn’t think he was qualified to right it since he didn’t grow up in the mountains. But gave in and was surprised at how good it was and how much it resonated with me.

 

[KingLlama]

Tried "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers on vacation and just couldn't get into it at all.

Picked up a couple of older books last night that I've never read...."A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole, and "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving.

 

[dgtatu01]

I read all year long. Right now I am reading the 2nd book in a sci-fi trilogy. The book is called A Closed And Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. The first book is called A Long Way To A Small Angry Planet. Both are excellent imo.

 

[Joneslab]

Picked up a couple of older books last night that I've never read...."A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole, and "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving.

A woman I worked with in the book industry loved Owen Meany to the point where it was sort of like her bible. Could quote these huge paragraphs from it. I read it just a couple of years ago and liked it, but about a decade ago I picked up The World According to Garp. I was shocked at how much I loved that book. First, it's the weirdest damn thing that's ever been put into print. And second, it's just so...odd that it becomes this masterpiece by the end. Never read anything like it.

 

[anthonys735]

Tried "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers on vacation and just couldn't get into it at all.

Picked up a couple of older books last night that I've never read...."A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole, and "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving.

I quit "A Confederacy of Dunces." Don't do that very often but it was annoying.

 

[kafka0117]

Haven't finished yet but so far it's very good. She has this very lyrical style, so get ready for detailed descriptions of nature and the Idaho mountain this family lives on. (I tend to like nature writing, so I didn't mind this.)

The most interesting thing about the book is the mindset of the father himself, who's this wild, tyrannical figure who convinces the family to live in absolute fear--of other people, of the government, of the non-religious. You at once feel sorry for the man and want to punch him. How Westover escapes from her family drives the book.

It also asks really interesting questions about what education is. The title is a pun, essentially. Westover makes the argument that life experience can be a great education if harnessed correctly.

Wait until you get to know her abusive brother.