By the time this post is published, we will all be back home, but right this moment, as I type this up, we are enjoying our last day at Daufuskie, a secluded island near Hilton Head, SC and Savannah, GA. We were lucky to score a cottage (without having to break the bank) with front-row access to the beach, something that has always been on my bucket list and that I was thrilled to cross off. This week has been very refreshing and just what I needed - a getaway, a break from it all, a retreat with family with no thoughts of work, to-do lists, and chores getting in the way. The island sure runs on its own time. The streetlights aren't turned ON at night to avoid attracting turtles too far from their ideal nesting place. There's the alligator crossing time at night when they go from pond to pond visiting friends (and hence tourists are advised to stay home when it's dark). There are very few cars - instead the preferred mode of transportation is via golf carts, which can go o
Another week over, but I hope it is back to normal from Monday onwards. After typing so much for Armchair BEA the previous week, visiting fellow participants' posts and then checking out all those updates from the BEA attenders, I had reached a burnout during the initial half of last week. The latter half was spent mostly on clearing up my Google Reader (still getting there), and finally, finally, focusing on my work at university.
Overall, I had a good bookish week! Usually end-of-months and beginning-of-months can be especially sweet for me. That's when I obsessively head to those famous "lists" and start tracking how much reading I did during that month, how I have been faring in my challenges and what picks I would love to see on my reading log for the next month. For this reason alone, I love the month-ends. That's just the reason I need to tempt myself with different books and predict where my reading tastes would take me during the next 30-odd days.
I know many of you have signed up for summer challenges. So far, I haven't been able to come across one that I really wanted to do, mainly because my summer is going to be crazy busy, and I don't want to commit to books I may or may not have access to over the next few months! Moreover, I have a stack of ARCs that I want to get through right now. So instead, inspired by Mary's post @ Bookfan, I have decided to create my own list of books that I want to read over the summer (between now and August 31, 2010). While choosing my books, I liberally picked a few that were on my 2010 challenge lists, plus I added a few books that I've always wanted to read.
- Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
- The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
- Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
- Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell
- Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
- Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Except for Leviathan, I own a copy of the rest. Again, except for Leviathan, all the other books are in some challenge list for this year. I wanted to finally read these books because I have been told time and again that they are good. I am sure I would read them at some point this year, but I guess this way is better. I will also be (definitely) reading The Passage by Justin Cronin and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, but figured that I would be cheating myself by including them in the list above.
What are you planning to read this summer?
Comments
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Good luck with your challenge, Aths :)
Breathing Lessons is on that list though.
Stephanie, thank you! Glad you liked them. That's motivation for me. :)
Harvee, one of my online book clubs is reading that book this month. Really looking forward to it!
Gwen, that is the only book I know very little about. I am going into it on pure recommendation.
Lynne, awww.. maybe we should read it together? :) But I like this idea of planning one-fourth of my reads for a season. Makes it easier to decide.
Molly, I would love to see your list. I don't know if missed it.
Ash, I think I will enjoy Candace Bushnell too. Not sure why I waited so long to read it.
Mary, good luck for sure! I think I will start next week.
Diane, glad to hear that. I am thrilled that most of these books got good reviews.
http://challenged2read.wordpress.com/summer-2010-tbr
Good luck!
~MizB