Summer Reading Lists

I've shared with you what I'm planning to read this summer and you'd think that would be the end of my talking about book choices, wouldn't you? I would have thought so, too. But I keep finding new recommendations of books to read during the summer and I just can't resist looking at all of them.

Forbes' writer Meghan Casserly is recommending reading memoirs for the summer. Her list includes Anna Quindlan's Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake which also appears on the Good Housekeeping list. "O" Magazine's summer reading list includes plenty of titles I've already added to the list of books I want to read, some books that are new to me, and even a couple that I'm already planning on reading this summer, including Ami McKay's The Virgin Cure. It also includes Jeanne Ray's Calling Invisible Women which I reviewed here.

Alan Cheuse, whose reviews can be heard on NPR, recommends Gone Girl which so many bloggers have been raving about on his summer reading list. Also from NPR comes this list of 15 Summer Reads Handpicked by Indie Booksellers. I have to admit that I'm a bit disappointed not to find any books from my beloved Unbridled Books on the list, but it does include The Book of Jonas by Stephen Dau which is on my bookshelf and which I had, I'm sorry to admit, kind of forgotten about.

For a varied list, perhaps more intellectual and a bit heavier on non-fiction works (but which still includes The Hunger Games), check out the list compiled by PBS's Washington Week. Books have been recommended by journalists from television and print media and include both older books and new releases including Blaine Harden's Escape From Camp 14. The New Republic's list claims to the summer reading list for thinking people. I wonder what the people at Washington Week think about that?

Deep South Magazine (I kid you not, there is actually a magazine called "Deep South"), has compiled a list of books from down South to read this summer including Karen White's Sea Change, Wiley Cash's A Land More Kind Than Home, and Ron Rash's The Cove.

I did discover that you pull up surprisingly similar lists when you search for "beach reads" rather than "summer reading lists." The Hollywood Reporter (not my usual source for books) includes Jess Walter's Beautiful Ruins (which I'll be reviewing this week). In fact, there were hardly any lists that included what I would traditionally think of as "summer" or "beach" reads, you know, light reads.

This list from Shore News Today might just be my favorite. Not because it's a long list of great books, or a list of books that sound perfect the patio and a cool drink. No, it's because I cannot imagine what kind of reader Shore News Today has who might like Gorilla Beach by "Snooki" Nicole Polizzi (of Jersey Shore fame) and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott!

I'm fairly well set on the summer reading plan I already had, but in looking at these lists, some books kept showing up again and again - those are the books I might just have to make time for...although I don't know how I would manage to work in something as long as Hilary Mantel's Bring Up The Bones to my already long list.

Are there any books you just have to read this summer?