Thursday, March 17, 2011

Spring Break Reading List

One thing and one thing only is on my mind at the moment... Spring break, next week! I have no plans at all -- no laying on a beach for me, no adventuresome trip mountain climbing or kayaking. Instead, I will be at home sweet home, doing some spring cleaning, planting flowers, (maybe) some shopping, and slowly (slowly... slowly) recalling my students as inquisitive vessels for learning and readying myself to return to the classroom. And -- of course -- above all -- reading.

I'm actually quite excited about my spring break reading stack this year. After a month or so of "meh" reading (seriously -- check out my February list and compare it to the almost-three-times-as-long January list; not to mention my single book for March so far), I have choices coming out my ears. My mom lent me credits from her Audible.com account, resulting in five new audiobooks to choose from. Also, I have some library books waiting and many advanced reading copies to begin.

A few highlights:


 The Help by Kathryn Stockett: Yes, that's right. I am the only person in America who has not yet read this book. And it's southern lit, which makes it even more ridiculous. It was one of my Audible.com purchases yesterday, so I'm hoping it will make doing dishes and vacuuming more enjoyable.

Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger: I loved The Devil Wears Prada long before it was a movie. I also liked Everything Worth Knowing, but thought Chasing Harry Winston was a disappointment. Still, I'm very much looking forward to this book from my local library.


Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A. S. King: Ever since author Sara J. Henry began pushing this book on her blog, Sara in Vermont, I knew I needed to read it. I (finally) read a preview on Amazon, but still hadn't picked it up. I added it to the Audible cart because I obviously wasn't going to get it any other way.

The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove by Susan Gregg Gilmore: There is, again, absolutely no excuse for my not having read this book. Like The Help, it is deep southern lit. I love Gilmore -- both in person (Southern Festival of Books a few years ago) and in her writing (Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen was excellent).


Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane: I watched the movie first -- something I don't usually do. This is also my first Lehane novel; kind of shocking when I think about it, since mysteries are one of my favorite genres. So far I've only glanced at the first few pages, but I'm reading it for a teachers' book group that meets in April. Therefore, it's a definite, no matter how I end up feeling about it. 

Guilt by Association by Marcia Clark: Yes, this is "that" Marcia Clark, made famous during the O. J. Simpson trial in the early 1990s. The attorney first wrote a nonfiction title about the trial, and has now written a book of fiction. Her first novel is a legal thriller starring a female DA from Clark's city of Los Angeles.

3 comments:

  1. Just finished "The Help" last week, and I really enjoyed it, though I was not as enthusiastic as the two friends who recommended it to me! I hope they have different people reading the different parts on the audio book, since the narrator is a different character every chapter or two. A couple of times I would take off reading a chapter, get two paragraphs in, and flip back to make sure whose story I was reading! Thoroughly Southern, thoroughly enjoyable.
    I just ditched "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" after giving it a good try...but if I'm halfway in and it hasn't hooked me yet, I figure it's not worth it!
    My spring break reading will start with "Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife", a book I found at a used bookstore and bought because I just re-read "Pride and Predjudice" during a snowstorm in January!

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  2. I also abandoned "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" several months ago. I just could not get into it -- similar to my feelings about "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" and the Alexander McCall Smith series. Lots of people loved them, but perhaps they were too old-fashioned for me? Not sure why I didn't like them.

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  3. I downloaded The Help from audible as well and I bet I have listened to it 3 times. I really loved it. The readers are very southern and that made it that much more enjoyable!

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