Friday, July 23, 2010

Summer reading list

I would love to hear about great books that you've read recently, or old favorites, that you recommend! I'm going to be traveling non stop for work in the upcoming weeks, and good reading material always makes traveling more pleasant.

9 comments:

Sparkling Squirrel said...

Hi Jenny,
I think that many of the books I've mentioned recently (Unaccustomed Earth, House on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, People of the Book and Gold Bug Variations) you'd like. GBV may be a bit much for reading while traveling. For that, I highly recommend the Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency series.

Where are you traveling to?

salsis said...

I just bought about 10 Tony Hillerman books at the library's mystery book sale (Navajo police detective)! They had gone to $5per bag right as I walked in, so I grabbed all (5) the french books to take to Haiti. I read Michael Crichton's newest book, Pirate Latitudes, published posthumously. It was a fun easy read. Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite authors.

Irene said...

I wish I could post something intelligent and germane here, but the only fiction book I've read recently was a wonderfully tacky early-90's romance novel set in Colorado (thanks SpSq!).

Beth said...

Oh I forgot I read Bonk recently..

It's very fun, by the same author as Stiff but this one is about sex.

Also, Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to all creation is a fun read.

salsis said...

The Fruit Hunters! About the fruit industry and people obsessed with fruit varieties. It's making me buy more fruit from the farmers market.

Erin said...

One of my all time favorites is the Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. But it was a huge hardback book when I read it, so may not be great for traveling. It was also not super light. But a great book that maybe you haven't read? I also liked White Teeth by Zadie Smith. A little lighter and with a biology thread.

Jenny said...

SpSq, I'm traveling to exciting locales like C-U Illinois, Madison, WI, Ames IA, and Columbia MO. Now that I write it all out it looks like I'm going on a college tour, but I'm actually visiting to give a short course on pollinators.
Thanks for all of the suggestions so far. I look forward to delving into some of these. Do you have books that you read and reread again and again, revisiting them like trusted friends?

Irene said...

I definitely have books that I read over and over again. The Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop, the Anne of Green Gables books, Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein, James Herriot's animal books, Douglas Adams' books, many of Terry Pratchett's books, Prodigal Summer and Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver. As I looked through my bookshelves, I noticed that none of the books that I have re-read multiple times (except for Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice - and possibly Barbara Kingsolver's books) are considered "literature". I might be a bookworm, but I definitely fail at being a book snob.

Sparkling Squirrel said...

Books I re-read:
Pride and Prejudice
Barbara Kingsolver (but not Prodigal Summer or Poisonwood Bible)
The Blue Sword (and other McKinley less often)
Anne Books (and other Montgomery less often, recently The Blue Castle)
Harry Potter
Lord of the Rings
Chronicles of Narnia
a bunch of assorted children's books
the cheesiest trashy romance on my shelf (The Last Viking, Zinnia or something of the like. Most I give away immediately, but a few are keepers).