Summer Reading List

Since many of you ask me what I am reading, I thought I would quickly catch you up on my 2008 list. I keep a log of the books I read, comparing the number I read to years past and to remember titles. So here's my list for 2008 thusfar (with an asterick by titles I highly recommend):

1. *Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth
2. *Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
3. *Rachel Cusk, Arlington Park
4. Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip
5. *Nancy Horan, Loving Frank
6. Brock Clarke, An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England
7. *John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
8. Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants
9. *E.M. Forster, A Room with a View
10.Philip Roth, The Human Stain
11. Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea
12. *W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil
13. Levitt & Dubner, Freakanomics
14. Mario Vargas Llosa, The Bad Girl
15. *Lionel Shriver, The Post-Birthday World
16. *Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
17. Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
18. *Geraldine Brooks, People of the Book
19. *Mary McCarthy, The Group
20. John Grisham, The Appeal
21. Baroness Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel
22. Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

It's a mixed bag: a combination of books I obviously teach (A Room with a View,The Painted Veil, Jane Eyre); Will's summer reading (Scarlet Pimpernel); and books for the various book clubs I try to keep up with (Freakanomics, The Bad Girl, People of the Book, Loving Frank, Three Cups of Tea, Mister Pip, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Water for Elephants). Then, of course, books I simply want to read for whatever reason and really liked (The Group, The Post-Birthday World). A book without an asterick does not mean I disliked it, but would I read it again? Probably not.