Reading List

I'm doing something a little different this week. That might be because I just turned in my thesis 100% and now have nothing to do but wait for graduation. I feel I have earned a week of rest. Well, physical rest. Mentally I'm still writing like crazy. I heard about someone whose allergy takes away his sense of taste. I think there are all kinds of awesome things to do with that. What if this someone had to eat at a bad cook's house? Or, what if this someone was a spy who could identify poisons by taste? So, basically, I'm keeping my eyes open for anything that could spark a story. It's been a good week for that...sometimes I wonder how I got lucky enough to know the interesting people in my life.

Anyway, the title of this post is "Reading List". I have a lot of friends who ask me for summer reading lists and then I always forget. I decided to post my list of worthwhile and fun books, perfect for summer reading, on this blog and then if someone asks me to share my list I can refer them here. I've been doing a lot of reading lately and really appreciate a book's ability to affect emotion as well as inspire dreams for the future. I also like learning how to write better from the books I read.

MY LIST:
Beauty by Robin McKinley
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Holes by Louis Sachar
Heist Society by Ally Carter
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (or anything by Shakespeare)
The Squire's Tale by Gerald Morris
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Anything about Sherlock Holmes
Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg
Jake, Reinvented by Gordon Korman
Anything by Rick Riordan

Well, that should do it. For now. This is just a fraction of the full list of my favorite books. I'll spend the rest of the day thinking up other books I should have put on it, such as anything by Tolkien. The list is a mash-up of my favorite classics, favorite fantasies, favorite authors. I tried to include literary gems, like Peace Like A River and the classics, as well as the fun pool-side reads like Heist Society (girl is an art thief and her friends are great!). This is what I would recommend to someone who wanted a list for summer. I can't always put my finger on what I like about these books. Sometimes it's easy - the characters are clever and realistic, sometimes the plot is excellent, but sometimes there's an essence of magic behind the writing, like with Holes. Something mysterious and powerful.

Happy reading!