Summer Reading List

I know that summer technically started a week ago, but the last six months have felt like an eternal summer to me. When I arrived here in January it was in the 70's everyday. That's summer back home in Washington! Then the temperatures got hotter and hotter and now we are 105 to 110 every day. So when everything started popping up with summer reading lists I was initially confused. Isn't summer almost over? Isn't it going to start cooling down soon? No and No it turns out.

I read. A lot. When I was a kid they used to tell me I was going to hurt my eyes I was reading so much. Now, I read because I have eyes and I can still use them. When my vision was impaired back in January I was so freaked out about how long it would be wonky for.  And when would I lose it again? Vision symptoms are the most common in MS and I will lose it again in the future, even if it's only temporarily. The first thing we did when my vision was well enough that I would leave the house was go look at art. Seriously. It took another week or so before focusing on anything as tiny as paperback print didn't make me exhausted but I got back to reading voraciously as soon as I could.

You can find me on Goodreads ( www.goodreads.com/angelinarocks) now,if you want to see what I am reading. I'm currently reading WAR by Sebastian Junger and my current book club selection In One Person by John Irving. These two books make the 24th and 25th books I have read in the last six months and I highly recommend them both.

I'm going to share with you my summer reading list. Maybe you will see something that interests you, maybe you think I am pompous and don't care. If you regularly follow my blog you know how much disdain I have for the book 50 Shades of Gray. That book will NOT appear on this list.  In fact I am going to link you to two other summer reading lists that do not recommend you read 50 Shades.

Here's a link to a great infographic that will help you find a new book:

101 Books to Read This Summer Instead of 50 Shades of Gray

As well as the annual Summer Reading List of one of my favorite authors, Jen Lancaster:

The Summer Reading List ( on Ambien)

The First Annual Angelina's Summer Reading List:

1. Dry by Augusten Burroughs- Okay, I know I am 8 years late to the party, but I just finished reading this and I couldn't put it down. His memoir about becoming sober and trying to maintain it in the face of other personal challanges with very emotional and raw.

2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky- Again, I am about 13 years late to this party that is hardly a party. I read this book in one night. I was instantly hooked on Charlie's life and finished the book bawling my eyes out. When I posted this on Facebook I found out that it is one of several friends favorites. Reading a 15 year old's observations about friends, family, love and loss had me glued. I think I will always carry a piece of Charlie in the back of my mind.

3. Man Made by Joel Stein - A hilarious non-fiction tale about what it means to be a man in this modern world. Stein had me cracking up on everypage. Seriously, every single page. Chris is going to read it soon and I recommended it to everyone I know to buy for their men for Father's Day. He learns to shoot, fight, hunt for food, smoke a cigar and variously other "manly" activities.

4. The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman - An easy 200 pages of mystical romance. The librarian ( who is never named) is struck by lightening and meets a man who struck also in this modern mystical fairy tale. And if you just need a good sex scene, this is the book for you. Both The Librarian and Lazarus Jones have some emotional and physical trauma as a result of their strikes. This book engulfed me.

and here's the books I will be reading this summer...

5.America, You Sexy Bitch by Michael Ian Black and Meghan McCain- I have never read one of Black's books but I really enjoyed McCains's Dirty Sexy Politics. In this non-fiction book, the two drive around America in an RV discussing politics and life in general. Black is the athiest comedian raised by a lesbian mother and Meghan is... well she's Senator John McCain's daughter.

6.The Fault in Our Stars by John Green- I've had this on my Kindle wish list for a few months and even though my bookclub declined to read it, I'm going to . This is the story of 16 year old Hazel  who is two years post cancer when she meets Augustus, a fellow child cancer patient. They learn about the meaning of life and death together. This book is on Jen Lancaster's reading list too. She said it's possibly the best YA book she has ever read,  and she was awestruck when she actually met John Green. This is a good enough recomendation for me.

7. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - Several years ago my bookclub and I read Peony in Love by Lisa See. It was haunting and story that we all were surprised at loving so much. I just picked up this copy of Snow Flower and can't wait to read about women in 19th century china. They developed a secret code for communicating and drew it on fans, stitched it. on clothes to communicate with each other. Be advised, there will probably be a brutal foot binding scene like there was in Peony. But that doesn't make the book not worth it.

8.The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald- I can't lie. When I first got to Vegas and couldn't read, I watched Gossip Girl on Netflix. Serena constantly talks about The Beautiful and Damned as her favorite book of all time. Naturally, I have to read it. Originally written in 1922 this is the story of Anthony and Gloria Patch, and their tumultous marriage in the jazz age fueled by booze and ambition. Something we all know Serena VanDerWoodsen knows too much about.

So there you go. 8 books. 8 more weeks. If you have any recomendations for me, feel free to share! 

Happy Reading and Happy Summer!