How I'm Spending My Summer -- Vacation?

Summer and reading seem to go together like, well, summer and reading. Things slow a bit, a lot of us head for vacations, there’s a bit more time for doing something besides demonstrating that the entire population has ADHD.

So we read.

Currently, I’m reading a novel called Fatfingers by Charlie White. It’s not what I usually read – it’s a historical novel. The catch for me? It’s “a tale of old New Orleans” and about the Acadians (Cajuns) coming to Louisiana. Like some of my forebears did. I'm already convinced that the characters in the novel are some of my forebears.

Also on tap:

Al Weiwei’s Blog. If you don’t know who Al Weiwei is, he’s an artist imprisoned by the Chinese government because he believes a little too much in freedom. You can find more information about him on Wikipedia. This book is the collection of his blog postings before it was taken down by Chinese authorities.

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke. I hear every poet is supposed to read this. I wonder if anyone’s written Letters to a Middle-Aged Poet, soon to be an Old Poet.

Delicate Machinery Suspended: Poems by Anne Overstreet. It's so brand new it's not even available yet on Amazon. I'm reading an advance reader copy, and if you like poetry, you will like this volume.

The Jesus Prayer by Frederica Matthewes-Green. It’s an entire book about a very short prayer, and it looks wonderful.

Longing for Home by Frederick Buechner. First published in 1996, it's by one of my favorite writers.

Destiny and Desire by Carlos Fuentes. This writer has written so many wonderful novels over the last 50 years you have to wonder where the Nobel Prize Committee’s head is (although they did give the literature prize to Mario Vargas Llosa last year, about 20 years overdue).

Gravestone by Travis Thrasher. The second in his Solitary Tales YA series. (My first read on Kindle!)

The Falling Away by T.L. Hines. One of the best speculative writers out there, who also happens to be a Christian (he does not write “Christian” novels), Hines writes edgy, provocative novels that turn your head inside out.

And I’ve decided I will read something I haven’t read since 9th grade – Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.

If you like to see some other recommendations, check out the list posted by Marcus Goodyear at The High Calling.

What are you reading this summer?

What I'm Reading This Summer

This week, I finished reading Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman and The Mailbox by Marybeth Whalen. I have whittled the pile of “to read” down a little bit, but here’s still a fairly ambitious stack. Or actually, two stacks, to be precise. And a few on a shelf.

Here’s the list:

Poetry

The Apple Trees at Olema by Robert Hass.
Lighthead by Terence Hayes.
Imagination and The Written Word by Shaun Masterton.
The Hidden Life and Fault Lines by T.M. Moore.
Open Ground by Seamus Heaney.

Fiction

Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott.
Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes.
Mending String by Cliff Coon.
The Matisse Stories by A.S. Byatt.

Suspense

Rooms by James Rubart.
Forget Me Not by Vicki Hinze.
Broken by Travis Thrasher.

Non-Fiction

Parting the Waters by Jeanne Damoff.
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
Ordinary Genius by Kim Addonizio.
Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef.
Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney by Dennis O’Driscoll.

Faith/Devotional

God in the Yard by L.L. Barkat.
The Ailbe Psalter by T.M. Moore.
The Cross Gardener by Jason Wright.

Ambitious, yes. But a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?

Related:

My Spring Reading Thing by Cheryl Smith, who’s still trying to catch up on her spring reading.

Dan King’s 7 Fascinating Books.

A Sort of Summer Reading List by L.L. Barkat.

Summer Reading by Heather at Madame Rubies Writes.

Ann Kroeker's Ambitious Summer Reading List.

Bradley Moore's Summer Reading List.

Charity Singleton's Summer is Time for Reading.

Cheryl Smith's My Summer Reading List Is Getting Out of Control.

Picnic by Laura Boggess for the High Calling Blogs.