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?

favorite reads of 2014!

It's almost impossible to narrow down my most favorite books that I read this year… but I tried!  These six books left a lasting impression on me… all for different reasons.  If you need a good book to read, I highly recommend these!

favorite book by an author I've read before…

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

unexpected favorite book…

A Sudden Light by Garth Stein

favorite book by a new favorite author…

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

favorite classic…

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

favorite book that everyone is talking about…

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

favorite book about social media…

The Circle by Dave Eggers

50. Book Review: The Great Gatsby (2014)

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Synopsis

This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.

Review

For my 50th book this year (I met my goal!) I decided to go with an easy and enjoyable read that would be a good companion to the holidays.  For some reason classics seem to perfectly pair with the Christmas break.  This was my third time reading this book and more enjoyable than the previous times.  This is such a fun and easy book to read. I often find myself reading and re-reading passages just because of how eloquent or absolutely perfect they are. This book was a great way to end the year!

Other classic books you may like…

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 

Pride & Prejudice

49. Book Review: The Accidental Creative (2014)

The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry

Synopsis

Many of us assume that our creative process is beyond our ability to influence, and pay attention to it only when it isn’t working properly. For the most part, we go about our daily tasks and everything just “works.” Until it doesn’t. 

 Adding to this lack of understanding is the rapidly accelerating pace of work. Each day we are face escalating expectations and a continual squeeze to do more with less. We are asked to produce an ever-increasing amount of brilliance in an ever-shrinking amount of time. There is an unspoken (or spoken!) expectation that we’ll be accessible 24/7, and as a result we frequently feel like we’re “always on.” 

Now business creativity expert Todd Henry explains how to unleash your creative potential. Whether you’re a creative by trade or an “accidental creative,” this book will help you quickly and effectively integrate new ideas into your daily life.

Review

This was one of those books that I kept hearing about from so many people and then I realized, duh! I own it and I haven't even read it yet!  Feeling a little in a rut with work and wanting a fresh start for the New Year I thought it was a great time to dig into a "business-y" book.

I loved the beginning and the end of this book… I could tell that the author really "got" what it meant to be a creative in a demanding environment, much like my life as a blogger can be. The middle of the book was really directed more towards individuals that have a boss or are working with a creative team.  So, as a sole proprietor/entrepreneur a lot of the insight was lost on me there.  

That being said, this book was extremely insightful and eye opening to the true demands of the work of the creative. Many times while reading I kept saying "yes! yes! He gets it!" and even realized more than once while reading that I was suffering from creative burn out more than I thought I was.  I dogeared tons of pages and will for sure use this as a guide for my creative work going forward.

Other books you may like…

How to Steal Like an Artist

The Success Principles

48. Book Review: Steal Like an Artist (2014)

Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

Synopsis

You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A manifesto for the digital age, Steal Like an Artist is a guide whose positive message, graphic look and illustrations, exercises, and examples will put readers directly in touch with their artistic side. 

 When Mr. Kleon was asked to address college students in upstate New York, he shaped his speech around the ten things he wished someone had told him when he was starting out. The talk went viral, and its author dug deeper into his own ideas to create Steal Like an Artist, the book. The result is inspiring, hip, original, practical, and entertaining. And filled with new truths about creativity: Nothing is original, so embrace influence, col- lect ideas, and remix and re-imagine to discover your own path. Follow your interests wherever they take you. Stay smart, stay out of debt, and risk being boring—the creative you will need to make room to be wild and daring in your imagination.

Review

I am getting down to the wire with my goal of 50 books read this year… and so it's time to read a few shorter books!

I picked this book up months ago and never cracked the cover. I am familiar with Austin Kleon so I guess I wasn't in a huge rush to read the book.  But that was a fail on my part.  This book is full to the top of inspiration and the insider secrets to a successfully creative life. I should have read it earlier and I should read it more often. Coming in at just over 100 pages and lots of graphic visual imagery it only takes about a half an hour to read. But it's one of the most productive 30 minutes I have had in a while. I highly recommend having this book on hand for creatives!

Other creative/business-y books you might like…

START

The Success Principles

47. Book Review: A Sudden Light (2014)

A Sudden Light by Garth Stein

Synopsis

In the summer of 1990, fourteen-year-old Trevor Riddell gets his first glimpse of Riddell House. Built from the spoils of a massive timber fortune, the legendary family mansion is constructed of giant whole trees and is set on a huge estate overlooking Seattle’s Puget Sound. Trevor’s bankrupt parents have begun a trial separation, and his father, Jones Riddell, has brought Trevor to Riddell House with a goal: to join forces with his sister, Serena, dispatch the ailing and elderly Grandpa Samuel to a nursing home, sell off the house and property for development, divide up the profits, and live happily ever after. 

 But as Trevor explores the house’s secret stairways and hidden rooms, he discovers a spirit lingering in Riddell House whose agenda is at odds with the family plan. Only Trevor’s willingness to face the dark past of his forefathers will reveal the key to his family’s future.

Review

I picked this book up on a whim from the library recently without having previously heard anything about this book or even having read this authors very popular previous book.  Which is pretty rare for me these days, usually I read on a recommendation.  I love it when I  randomly choose a book and then  absolutely fall in love with it. It is like winning the reading lottery.

This book was beautiful and eloquent and a definite page turner.  To say it is merely a "ghost story" doesn't do it any justice, but is in fact a ghost story in the best way possible. Ghosts, old dilapidated mansions, abandoned cottages, secret passageways and difficult family dynamics are a few of things that make this book irresistible.  I loved, loved, loved this book!  

In addition to an amazing story the author writes so candidly and tenderly about family and family obligations.  This book was an A+ in my book. I highly recommend it.  It's the perfect snuggle up and read by the fire book.  This would be a really great book club read as well… there are so many great opportunities for discussion.

Other books you may like (that are kind of "ghosty" in the best possible way)…

Her Fearful Symmetry

Thirteenth Tale

Bellman & Black 

46. Book Review: Station Eleven (2014)

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Synopsis

An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. 

 One snowy night Arthur Leander, a famous actor, has a heart attack onstage during a production of King Lear. Jeevan Chaudhary, a paparazzo-turned-EMT, is in the audience and leaps to his aid. A child actress named Kirsten Raymonde watches in horror as Jeevan performs CPR, pumping Arthur’s chest as the curtain drops, but Arthur is dead. That same night, as Jeevan walks home from the theater, a terrible flu begins to spread. Hospitals are flooded and Jeevan and his brother barricade themselves inside an apartment, watching out the window as cars clog the highways, gunshots ring out, and life disintegrates around them. 

 Fifteen years later, Kirsten is an actress with the Traveling Symphony. Together, this small troupe moves between the settlements of an altered world, performing Shakespeare and music for scattered communities of survivors. Written on their caravan, and tattooed on Kirsten’s arm is a line from Star Trek: “Because survival is insufficient.” But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave. 

 Spanning decades, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, this suspenseful, elegiac novel is rife with beauty. As Arthur falls in and out of love, as Jeevan watches the newscasters say their final good-byes, and as Kirsten finds herself caught in the crosshairs of the prophet, we see the strange twists of fate that connect them all. A novel of art, memory, and ambition, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.

Review

My goodness, everyone is talking about this book it seems!  I was lucky to find it recently at the library and was happy to join in on the conversation.  I find post-apocalypse novels just fascinating and what I love about them is how they seem to re-invent the wheel each time - each post-apocalypse novel does it differently.  This one was stunning.  And scary.

One thing about this book was that I found the characters really hard to keep track of (maybe just me?) but the story was fascinating.  I love to read these books and then think what I would've done or how I would've handled the situation.  Books like these are definite eye-openers.  I always think post-apocalypse books would make great book-club reads too.  So much to discuss!

Other books you may like…

California

The Giver

45. Book Review: The Rosie Project (2014)

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Synopsis

The art of love is never a science: Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers. 

 Rosie Jarman possesses all these qualities. Don easily disqualifies her as a candidate for The Wife Project (even if she is “quite intelligent for a barmaid”). But Don is intrigued by Rosie’s own quest to identify her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on The Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie―and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you. 

 Review

This novel got such great reviews and not less than four people told I just HAD to read this book.  I thought it looked cute and quirky - which it was.  But beyond that this book completely fell flat for me. It was insanely boring and predictable.  I hate to say that, because I love all books.  But for the sake of honesty, this one just didn't do it for me.  I felt like the author was writing a book he wanted to be a movie instead of just sitting down to write a great story.  And while there is nothing wrong with a good rom-com movie, I have come to expect a little more meat to a book.

Other books you may like…

Where'd You Go Bernadette

What Alice Forgot

44. Book Review: We Were Liars (2014)

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Synopsis 

A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth. 

 We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Review

There is something about young adult that always draws me in. I suppose it is the allure of a quick read.  But don't just buzz through this book.  The ending demands that you pay attention throughout.  Or if you did buzz through like me, re-read it.  I guarantee you will want to!

Great YA book here… I highly recommend!

Other books you may like…

The Fever: A Novel

The Fault in Our Stars

43. Book Review: Mariana (2014)

Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

Synopsis

Julia Beckett believes in destiny, settling into her rustic new home, Julia encounters haunting remnants of a beautiful young woman who lived and loved there centuries ago. It's seems Mariana has been waiting for Julia. 

 Review

I am now officially a Susanna Kearsley fan for life.  Similar in mood and readability as The Winter Sea, Kearsley effortlessly blends historical fiction and love into an absolute page turner.  These characters are instantly lovable and the scenery is so well written I absolutely felt like I was right in the action.  After I finished this book all I wanted to do was start another book by the same author.  Also the end has a very sweet twist that I loved.  I highly recommend this book!

Other books you may like…

anything by Susanna Kearsley

anything written by Kate Morton