Sufacing by Margaret Atwood

This novel was listed on last year's AP Literature and Composition test and I had never read it. I am a huge Margaret Atwood fan and this novel did not disappoint, but it did get mightly dark. The main character travels to a remote island off of the coast of Canada to investigate her father's disappearance. She ends up drifting farther and farther from her old life and reconnecting with many dark secrets of her past.

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

This was our book club selection for August. I haven't read much Graham Greene and I enjoyed this somewhat. The narrator is an author who is having an affair with the wife of an acquaintance. The book is more about Catholicism and belief than it is about love.

Must Love Dogs by Claire Cook

This book has been playing in my ipod this summer while I run in the park. I did jump the gun and go to see the movie before I finished listening to the book. It was an entertaining story about a middle aged woman going back into the dating world. I could relate on a few levels.

West of Kabul, East of New York by Tamin Ansary

This book was recommended by a parent of one of last year's AP students as a good companion to Kite Runner. It is a memoir by an Afghan American who became famous by sending an email that circulated wildly after the terrorist attacks on September 11th. It was poignant reading and I intend to use it with my classes as a follow-up to their summer reading.

Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck

So my summer of Steinbeck is almost over. I bought a copy of Winter of Our Discontent in California at the Steinbeck Center after finding that my cousin's daughter wrote about this novel on her AP Lit test this year. It did not disappoint. I am still under the spell of Steinbeck's prose - nothing else this summer, Oates aside, has quite compared. There are pages of one-liner super quotes in this late novel of Steinbeck's.

A Garden of Earthly Delights by Joyce Carol Oates

When I did my Masters Thesis on Joyce Carol Oates in the 1980s, I thought I could keep up with her writing by reading everything she wrote for the rest of my life. How WRONG was I. This book, I may have read in its original form back in the day, but Oates decided to rewrite the novel a few years ago for a reissued publication. A Garden of Earthly Delights is the story of Clara, the daughter of a share cropper. I decided the early section of the book would make a good companion to The Grapes of Wrath for my AP students. I really enjoyed this book. I read most of it at Burr Oak State Park while vacationing with my husband's family to celebrate Grandpa Lackey's 80h birthday.

unimaginable zero summer by Leslie Stella

I found this one on the "books for school" table at Joseph Beth Booksellers along side classic summer books for students. To use the borrowed word, it is unimaginable to me what teacher would be requiring this book for what course, but I liked it a lot. The main character is a thirty-something named Verity who is getting ready to attend her high school reunion. The book is darkly comic and full of characters that I think I knew in high school too. I stayed up most of the night during a thunderstorm finishing this one.

Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Company by Maria Amparo Escando

Chosen for the subtitle, A Road Novel with Literary License, this book was a fun summer read. Libertad Gonzalez is in a women's prison in Mexico where she leads a Library Club for other inmates. She entertains the others by pretending to read from books in the prison library, but she is really just unravelling the story of her own life with her trucker dad.

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

This book was a gift from my dear friend Anne Flectcher who we stayed with in San Jose. I have never really read any of Hornby's others. This is the story of four people from distinctly different walks of life who meet on the rooftop on New Year's Eve. They have decided to commit suicide by jumping off of the roof, but the decide to work together to get through a few more weeks instead. It is quirky, darkly humorous and British.

Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill by Mark Bittner

I found this book at the historic City Lights bookstore in San Francisco and then later that day walked down Greenwich Street from Coit Tower - the very street where Bittner lived as he was observing these wild parrots. The book caught my eye because it has an emblem on the cover See the Movie, Read the Book. Although I had not heard of either before that day, I found the movie playing in a theatre in Haight Ashbury the next day and really wish I had taken the time out of our trip to see it. It seems the only was I can see the film in Cleveland is one day only at the Cleveland Cinematique at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Bittner's tale is full of detailed (almost too much so) descriptions of every parrot that he named and watched. But I loved the connections to Gary Snyder and the zen of being at one with nature. I finished the book on the red eye home from the trip. It is my summer California book

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

I read Travels with Charley on the plane to San Francisco as we travelled to Steinbeck country. I had never read this delightful book before and I enjoyed reading Steinbeck's perspectives about people and locales. Then I visited the Steinbeck museum and saw Rocinante, the truck, and was able to visualize the whole journey. It was a sweet read.

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

A funny ipod listen. Sarah Vowell is a hoot. This is a travelogue about a trip to visit site connected with Presidential assassinations. Her political commentary and witty humor make her an author I would like to read more from.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

I read this novel way back when I was in high school and I remember loving it. Now I had to read it for my Steinbeck class this summer and I loved it once more. It is a classic investigation into the nature of good and evil. Steinbeck asks, "What is the world's story about" and answers with these lines, "Humans are caught – in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have and that it occurs on all levels of feeling and intelligence”. After I put this book down, I could not start another book for a few days. It was that great

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

Steinbeck rules my reading for the next few weeks this summer. I am taking a Steinbeck course that will include a visit to Steinbeck country in Salinas California next month. Cannery Row is a great little book. I would call it a series of vignettes that show the lives of the listless on Cannery Row in Monterey California. I enjoyed it immensely until I realized that I had six pages of fill in the blank questions to complete for my coursework.

The Bright Forever by Lee Martin

I saw an ad for this book in the New Yorker and it was described as another The Lovely Bones. What an appropriate comparison. I read this book in one day on the shores of Lake Erie - the first day of summer. Although you know that tragedy awaits on the first page, the multiple narrators keep the story moving and gripping until the end. I loved it.

The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank

I really enjoyed Melissa Bank's Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, so when I began reading the mixed reviews of her new novel, I was curious enough to get the book from the library and give it a try. It is written in separate secions, each revolving around a different man in the main character's life. Although the title refers to a restaurant, it doesn't come in to play until the last few pages. It was a fun read.

Zorro by Isabel Allende

I am a huge Isabel Allende fan, so I had to run out and buy this book as soon as it was available. It was a fun read. I didn't know that much about the Zorro story, but the beauty is always her language and craft of storytelling. Another engaging Allende novel, although not my favorite.

Oyster by John Bigeunet

While scoring AP Literature essays in Daytona Beach this week, teachers were treated to a reading by John Biguenet. He read the first chapter of this novel and I was hooked. This is a powerful story of a rivalry between two shrimping families in Lousiana. I finished it on the plane on the way home and would recommend it as a fun summer read.

Riding the Bus with my Sister by Rachel Simon

I found this book on display at the local Borders store the Thursday before the Hallmark movie was to be on television. I started reading it and was drawn in by the voice of Rachel. It reminded me alot of Tuesdays with Morrie. A sad, sweet tale about the meaning of life.

The Dog of the Marriage by Amy Hempel

I have been teaching contemporary short fiction to my AP students to get them ready for anything on the upcoming AP test. I read on Chuck Palaniuk's web site that his writing was inflluenced by the work of Amy Hempel, so I added her to my syllabus. Then I read a review of this new collection of short stories in the New York Times Book Review last weekend and bought it (Borders Teacher's Appreciation Sale - YEA!) and read it in one sitting. These stories are moving and tricky. She is a master of minimalism and tends to play with her readers a bit. And the cover photo of her with her dog was taken by William Wegman.

Paula by Isabel Allende

This is perhaps one of the most moving books I have ever read, so when the retired Spanish teacher in our book club chose it, I was happy to reread it. It is a memoir that Allende wrote as her daughter, Paula, lay in a coma for many days. She wanted to tell the stories of Paula's life so she would have a roadmap of memory when she regained consciousness. I think I have read everything Isabel Allende has written to date and she remains one of my favorite story tellers. I have the awesome chance to hear her speak at the Cleveland Public Library last fall and she was fabulous and VERY short.

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

What a refreshing find. This book is pure fun. I read it while waiting for a delayed flight at the Chicago airport and Amy Rosenthal's humorous look at her own life made me remember a lot of moments from my own. I especially like when I got to the page in the middle of the book full of white space and the one word - intermission.

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

I had been putting off reading this book for a long time. Now that Foer's name is everywhere with review of his new novel, I decided to take it along on our vacation to San Antonio. It was almost too demanding for a vacation book, but I really enjoyed it. I finished it on the plane on the way home and immediately wanted to find someone else who had read it so that I could help myself understand the ending. The various narrators are hard to follow - especially the one who is supposedly translating for the character named Safran. It reminded me of A Clockwork Orange and even seemed a bit like the magic realism of Marquez.

The Ha-Ha by Dave King

I read this book quickly during the first two days of spring break. It is very sad. The narrator is a mute who was injured in Vietnam. He is charged with taking care of his old girfriend's nine year old son while she goes to rehab. The theme seems to be that family is any group of people who care about and care for each other.

Me and Emma by Elizabeth Flock

This book was compared to The Secret Life of Bees which is a book I really love. The narrator is an eight year old girl who lives with her sister, Emma, their mother and their abusive stepfather. The voice of the narrator is so innocent and naive, even though her troubles are not.