Summer Reading

In Europe we are welcoming the summer. However, if you are from north of Europe you never know what kind of weather it will be. In southern Europe it is normally sunny and warm, but further north it can more or less be any weather; sunny, rainy, cold, windy, maybe not snow but we have seen hail storms here, one just the other day.

People who don't have too much time to read during the year, usually say that they will read during the holidays. For a Swede a very nice thing is to lie in the hammock, in the shade of a tree with a cold lemonade and read a good book! This is summer. Since Sweden in recent years have seen a lot of detective story writers, this is a popular option among us. Easy enough and a little bit of excitement and guessing on who is the murderer?

I thought it was a good idea to try to select a few books from my TBR shelves and my newly bought or downloaded books. I realised that we are soon half away through the year and I have only read 40 books. Multiplied with two that makes 80 and not enough for coming close to last years 108 books. That means I have to speed up a little. Life has been very busy lately, but I can see that the summer can brings me some moments for loosing myself in the world of books. Better than to try to set a list that I would like to finish, although I am not always too fond of this, since when I decide to read something I always feel like reading something else! Well, that is life I imagine.



Here is a collage of the 16 books I have chosen.

For clarity here are the list of the books in no special order:

• Ernest Hemingway by Carol Baker
• The Sun Also Rise by Ernest Hemingway
• The Empty Family by Colm Toibin
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
• The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell
• Curry, A Global History by Colleen Taylor Sea
• The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
• The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco
• The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
• The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
• Requiem in Vienna by J. Sydney Jones
• The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna
• Tiger by Tash Aw
• The Gift of Rain by Tan Twang Eng
• Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller

Then of course there are the books for my challenges. Hopefully some of the books will increase the years in A Century of Books. 

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: I am reading Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant for the moment. That is only my third book for the Renaissance package of 10 books. Have to hurry up here! Looking in my TBR pile I could opt for Sofia Magdalena a True Queen about a Danish princess who became queen of Sweden in the 18th century. Another option is Young Werther by von Goethe or Pope Joan by Woolfork Cross.

2014 Monthly Motif Challenge: for June is "A Long Journey" and I have chosen  A Writer's Notebook by Somerset Maugham. In July the motif is "Assassins, Warriors and Rebels" and for August it is "Alternate Reality". Hmm, I have to think about what I can read here. 

I am still only in the beginning of The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark. This is a thick book, very interesting and I have to try to come further during the summer. 

From my TBR shelves it would be good if I could also read 

• Äcklet (Las Nausé) by Jean-Paul Sartre
• It's Not What I Meant by Deborah Tannen
• A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine

Plus my present book The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton!

Well, a quick overview gives me 27 books, in 2,5 months! Let's keep an open and positive mind and see how far I get! Good luck with your own summer reading - or winter reading for those on other latitudes! Any special books on your lists?