8 summer reads to get lost in...

I just LOVE sitting pool side, at the beach or on the patio on a warm and sunny day and getting completely lost in a great book.  It is one of the most delicious way to spend a summer day.  Here are 8 books I have read recently that make for really great summer reads…

What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman… This historical fiction set in a mental institution is a real page turner as the story line bounces between the present and the past. With themes of love, family and redemption with a touch of mystery thrown in, this story line will suck you in quickly.   

Dollbaby by Laura Lane McNeal… You will get lost in the South with this civil-rights era story set in New Orleans.  One part The Help and one part Secret Life of Bees you will soon wish Fannie and Queenie were your family too.

Primates of Park Avenue by Wednesday Martin… An honest look at motherhood on the Upper East Side of New York City.  This pages practically turn themselves in this book. I equally loved the peek into the lives of New York City mothers and could also find many parallels to motherhood regardless of location in this book.

Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore… Set in an idyllic family summer compound in Vermont… one minute you think you are reading a book about a girl from the "wrong side of the tracks" trying to become an insider in this new world. The next minute you realize there is way more mystery beneath the surface.  This is absolute favorite read in a while! I highly recommend.

Paris, He Said by Christine Sneed… When a wealthy art dealer offers a young beautiful starving artist a chance to live and create art in Paris, she says yes.  Through the eyes of Jayne, Paris is beautiful and full of opportunity but is it what she really wanted? This book asks the question, what happens when our dreams come true?

Charleston by Margaret Bradham Thornton… A writer returns to her roots in Charleston and the city is brought alive on the page with fancy parties, old lovers and Southern charm.  This is one of my favorite reads about Charleston to date.  Truly a great book to get lost in.

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber… This book is so mind-blowing and just plain strange.  That said, I adored every moment of it. A young pastor is offered to travel to space to live on a planet that is being colonized.  His experiences and daily interactions with the natives in nothing short of bizarre.  This book still haunts my thoughts.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins… If you haven't already - read this. It's creepy and addicting and the ultimate summer read.  I am desperately hoping they make this into a movie, like probably everyone else that has read it.

Have you read any of these? What other summer "get lost in" books do you recommend?

15. Book Review: End of Your Life Book Club (2014)

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

Synopsis

During her treatment for cancer, Mary Anne Schwalbe and her son Will spent many hours sitting in waiting rooms together. To pass the time, they would talk about the books they were reading. Once, by chance, they read the same book at the same time—and an informal book club of two was born. Through their wide-ranging reading, Will and Mary Anne—and we, their fellow readers—are reminded how books can be comforting, astonishing, and illuminating, changing the way that we feel about and interact with the world around us. A profoundly moving memoir of caregiving, mourning, and love—The End of Your Life Book Club is also about the joy of reading, and the ways that joy is multiplied when we share it with others.

Review

 I started this book skeptically wondering if it was going to be sappy or super sad only to discover it was neither of those. The author is one part chronicling the life and last years of his mother's life and one part reviewing and discussing books. It's a book about mothers and sons and about books and about family. The relationship between the author and his mother was extremely moving and inspiring. I love to read about books and this book talks about books in a deep and meaningful way - that is, how books because entwined in our lives and our own personal stories.  Most of the books that the author read with his mother were not books I had read already.  I found this book to be a delight to read and finished it quickly… by the end I had a warm feeling about familial love and specifically mother and son relationships - not too mention a few new books on my "to read" list!

Other books you may like…
A Happy Marriage: A Novel
The Fault in Our Stars

13. Book Review: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (2014)

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

Synopsis

Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. 
 John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else. 
 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city has become a modern classic.

Review

This was one of those books that I couldn't believe I hadn't read by the time I picked it up. It was on the NYT Bestseller's List for quite a long time (albeit quite a few years ago) and was a favorite by many of my friends. It seems like a million people had told me I should read it.
I had mixed emotions on this book. I see its appeal as a "tell all" when it was written in the 90's (nearly 20 years ago!). However, the entire time I had this feeling that I was on the outside of an "inside joke" or when someone is telling you a story and then they give up and say "you just had to have been there". I feel like I needed to know Savannah in person to really 'get' the popularity of this book.
 Part I of the book was dreadfully slow for me, but by Part II I will admit that I couldn't put the book down. Having the book take place in the South was definitely a bonus, I am always enamored by the way of life in The South (so different and 'romantic' compared to the mid-west). I will say I liked this book and it does bring up a desire to visit Savannah for sure!

Other books you may like…
Gone with the Wind
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt