Summer Reading - What's on Your List?

It's the summer reading season and many of the SpouseBUZZ team have been given books to read and possibly review on SpouseBUZZ. Some of the authors will be featured in upcoming segments on SBTR. We try to limit the books to ones that are written by members of the military community, or books that are pertinent to military culture. Over the next few weeks, you'll see a lot of reviews along these lines as the SpouseBUZZ team is making their way through all kinds of books including cookbooks, children's books, fiction and non-fiction. Our goal is to promote and support authors who are military, or who write about the military.

Our old-style book club sort of fell by the wayside because we began to get so many requests to read and review books, so we're working on getting a more organized book club cranking again. One that we can all participate in as a community and discuss. We'll keep you posted on developments.

Meanwhile, if you have a book that you recommend (military-related or not), let us know about it. As for me, I finished the last book in the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency and the Isabel Dalhousie series a few weeks ago. This author is my guilty pleasure. His work is incredible and, although I enjoy the military-related books, his books give my brain a great reprieve from the books that I normally read. Another of my favorite non-military authors is Jan Karon. I devoured The Mitford Series and am excited that she has started a new series, The Father Tim Novels. Great stuff.

Comments

[HeatherB]

You must read 'Eat, Pray, Love' this summer...It's so wonderful and funny and fulfilling. There is definitely something for everyone...Also, The Lovely Bones. Tough subject, but fascinating and truly lovely. :) But the best book ever for summer reading is Almost Paradise by Susan Isaacs. I have read it every year for about 20 years. Love it, love the characters. Fantastic read.

[Emily]

For light reading, I absolutely LOVE the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. They're about a family of archaeologists in Egypt in the early 1900s and their many adventures. The books are hilarious.

For slightly denser reading, I'm loving the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. Fantasy novels, but good ones (so many are not that good, but these are!).

[Linda]

Oh, I can't wait for the Father Tim series! I read, and re-read, and re-re-read the Mitford series over and over. It's one of the few that I own all the books in the series (Harry Potter, and the Yada Yada Prayer Group are the others...and I'm working on the Dearest Dorothy series of books, too)

Just read a few good books by newer authors...one called Done Gone Wrong by Cathy Pickens, and Beginner's Luck by Laura Pedersen (okay, the protagonist in the story is a teen, but it's STILL a great book!)

[Erin]

I LOVE summer reading! My mom used to take us to the library when we were little. They really did a good job with us. Prior to vacationing, we would go to the bookstore and we'd pick out books for the trip. They would be "special" books that we HAD to save for vacation - we couldn't open them prior to the trip. I still do this ritual today.

Here's what I picked up for my reading this summer:

"Final Salute" by Jim Sheeler
"Motherless Mothers" by Hope Edelman
"Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks
"A Year of Absence" by Jessica Redmond
"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig
"Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss

I'm working on Eats, Shoots & Leaves right now, with Zen and Motherless Mothers to go. I've started those two books but haven't dedicated myself to them quite yet. "Dear John" was great, I was sobbing throughout some of it. I couldn't help but think about how DH would be laughing at me if he saw me!

[cdgin]

Great easy reading for the summer: Janet Evanovich-the Stephanie Plum series. Absolutely hilarious-you laugh out loud as you read. 1-13 are in paperback-14 is out in hardback right now. It's the kind of books that you can't put down.

Not military related, but it helps you feel better when the loved one is deployed, because no one could have that bad of luck.

[pattie]

I'm actually a new columnist on a Christian military wives website, and I've been asked to spotlight military-themed fiction. I'll be reading your blog here to get some ideas :)

[Pattie]

OK, for non-military fiction:

Austenland by Shannon Hale is pretty good. I'm reading Stephen King's Lisey's Story right now too; it's intense (but not horror like his other books; more literary fiction like The Green Mile).

[Brittany]

I highly recommend the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. There are three books now and the fourth will be out on 8/2/08. From the first book I was hooked. They are page turners, I couldn't put them down.