After returning a few college textbooks to Amazon for credit, I thought what better way to spend my money than getting some more books? Plus, they make great poolside entertainment. Hopefully you will not only get inspired to read with the tales on my list, but also, get some ideas of what to read for your personal pleasure this summer. Since I like novels that fall into a broad range of genres, I've sorted each book into a distinct category. If you're interested in even more books than I've listed or want to see what I've already read, please head on over to my Goodreads account to get to know my reading tastes even better. By the way, I like to take my time when I read, so these are just my top picks that I know I'll probably be able to finish by the end of August. I would love to post a fall reading list as well!
My mom has been dying to get me to read Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist for quite some time now (ever since she saw his exclusive interview on OWN - The Oprah Winfrey Network really). By honoring her wishes, I am actually excited to go on a spiritual journey with Coelho's protagonsit - Santiago - and see what all the hype is really about. Everyone needs a book that change's one's perspective or outlook on life, and I'm thinking this might just be it.
Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasure found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.
Rainbow Rowell's Attachments sounds like my perfect beach read, which can directly apply to my upcoming vacation. It has both romance and comedic action to fulfill my chick lit craving.
"Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . "
Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.
Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.
When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.
By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.
What would he say . . . ?
If you're a Gone Girl superfan (like moi), then Gillian Flynn's Dark Places is sure to fill your void of all the disturbing morbidity Amy Dunne brought to the table and then some. Flynn's protagonist, Libby Day, seems to have quite the intriguing story to be told. Plus, Dark Places is set to hit theaters early this fall. If you're down to see the movie, you'll definitely want to get this read by then. Watch the trailer, starring Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult here.
Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars. Since then, she has been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back? She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find. Who did massacre the Day family?
*Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.com*
If you read my Summer Bucket List, then you know my wanting to read The Catcher in the Rye is no huge surprise. J.D. Salinger's aesthetic masterpiece - Holden Caulfield - is a famous character in American literature, and being an English major, I'm just ashamed and embarrased that I have no knowledge of this coming-of-age story every adolescent needs to read. It's like a rite of passage for young adults that I apparently missed out on. Not cool.
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*Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.com*Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins,
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."
His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.
I hope you enjoyed today's post and found a few summer read's to add to your list. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post where I show you a few Fourth of July outfit ideas in honor of America, the beautiful!
Until next time,
~Alexa~
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