summer reading

Vicarious Teenage Literary Angstiness and a Very Shallow Pool

But I mean that in a good way.

Here’s how I am I spending my summer:

I wake up, make coffee, slob around the house a bit, rouse my offspring from their sound sleep – much to their vociferous dismay – to get dressed and eat some ~~damn~~ breakfast ~~already~~, drive to the pool, and park my butt in a deck chair under a big umbrella. And there I sit for about three hours while my kids have swim practice and then frolic in the heavily chlorinated pool with their friends. And while I sit, I drink more coffee with my friend Tara and discuss Very Important Matters. Such as which pool dad might actually be a secret agent. And what is really involved in a Brazilian bikini wax. And how good the new kind of yogurt with the two flavors mixed together is, because really, the one with the chocolate and the raspberry together? Wow.

When I’m not wrangling these Very Important Matters, I’m sometimes reading books. I’ve finished re-reading fifteen of the sixteen Janet Evanovich books in preparation for reading number seventeen which just came out, which I think pretty much guarantees my spot in the trash reading Hall of Fame as well as the OCD Hall of Fame to say nothing of the Please Get Over This Thing With The Secret Agents Already (sort of explains the pool dad thing, yes?) Hall of Fame, as well as a few books for work, and approximately thirty-eight women’s magazines in order to maintain the appropriate balance of self-loathing and feelings of mediocrity and poor body image poolside.

I also read a book that I would normally not have picked up, had the lovely people at Penguin, via BlogHer, not sent to me, Whatever Happened to Goodbye, by Sarah Dessen. Sarah Dessen has written a veritable truckload of young adult novels and I am forever seeing teenage girls with their noses buried in one of them. I’ve never read any of them, but now that I have, I see why they are ever ubiquitous. I wrote about the book at BlogHer, and I would be thrilled and delighted if you’d head on over via clicky clicky and read the review. In short, I said it was well written, authentic, and, if I do say so myself, I happen to know a thing or two about teenagers, so you can take that to the bank.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to some Very Important Matters – like whether it’s more important to have well shaped eyebrows or perfectly manicured toes. Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments.

Peace.

Love.

Deep thoughts.

Wear sunscreen.

Summer’s Lease Hath All Too Short a Date

…and it can’t get here quickly enough.

It’s an occupational hazard, though not especially hazardous, that when the mercury begins to rise, people begin to ask, “Are you ready?”

Well, yes. I’m ALWAYS ready. But this year I didn’t really start thinking about summer vacation until a few days ago. I’m a little behind schedule with the literature and so caught a bit unawares in terms of my planning for final exam preparation. Really, though, I will confess the hopelessly uncool truth that I am reluctant to let these kids go. I hit the class roster lottery this year, and and I’m not quite ready to send them on their way. Make no mistake, they are well prepared for what lies ahead, but I’m reluctant say good bye. They don’t know it yet, and might not believe me even if I articulated it, but once they walk out my door at the end of their first year of high school, I won’t see them much. They will be, rightfully, far too occupied getting on with the business of growing up. Another occupational hazard, I reckon.

What I am starting to feel those anticipatory jolts about, though, is the Chucking of the Schedule. My big goal for the summer is to spend as much time as possible sitting by the pool watching my kids swim and reading books.

Without further sap, self-indulgent reflection, or ado, the first and sure-to-be-embiggened, summer reading list:

The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman, which I think was on my list last year and I still haven’t read.

The Medusa Amulet by Roberta Masello, a thriller whose title keeps appearing in front of my face, so I figure it’s meant to be, never mind the fact that it begins in the Newberry Library, which was formerly directed by my godfather.

The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Ohrent, a smash hit at my dad’s book club of 60-something men, which might not sound like the recommendation of a lifetime, but they’re not exactly dummies. Plus every review I’ve read repeats the same critical point: girlfriend can write.

*Elegies for the Brokenhearted by Christie Hodgen. The title says, “Meh,” but the review says, “Bring it.”

Good Stuff by Jennifer Grant, Grant’s memories of life with her devoted father, actor Cary Grant. Whom I adore. So I don’t really care if it’s even very good, I’m reading it.

An Irreverent Curiosity by David Farley. I’m not doing much traveling this summer. If I can’t do this, I might as well read about people who can, and did, and then some.

A Moveable Feast: Life Changing Food Encounters from Around the World by Don George. More travel + food. Nothing wrong with that. Plus it takes its title from the best example of descriptive writing I’ve yet to read. (Note, I got those last two titles from some ridiculous Huffington Post amalgamation slide show cluster…you get the idea).

*Our Kind of Traitor by John LeCarre. Spies. Sold.

I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive by Steve Earle. The man can do just about anything he sets his mind to, there’s no reason to think he can’t write the hell out of a novel, so I’ll give it a try.

The Privileges by Jonathan Dee. I keep finding scraps of paper with this title written on it, and there must be a reason for that.

But this is only going to get me through a few weeks, so what else should I be reading? You tell me!

*recomendations from Most Esteemed Colleague