Summer Reading

So we are starting into week four of summer vacation and I have done my fair share of reading already.  Some are worth passing on, others aren't even worth the mention. But since it's my blog, I'm going to go ahead and mention them, because I can.

Let's start with my favorite read so far this summer. This book rivals another (more appropriate book and by appropriate I mean it doesn't contain so many F bombs) for the best book of the year for me. Earlier this year I read "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand.
   It was such a great read.  I had a hard time putting the book down. I felt the same way about "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" by Jenny Lawson.
   Jenny Lawson is better known in the blogging community as The Bloggess.
I was reading another blog a few months ago that wasn't recommending Fifty Shades of Grey (cuz lets be honest for a few months that's all people were talking about) but instead recommended this book.  Not being one to follow the crowd (and happy to see that someone else was recommending something to read besides porn) and also being the cheap person that I am, I put a hold on my library account for it.  Little did I know I would be 567 on the wait list (probably it was only 83, but still).  Seems like "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" is just as popular as Fifty Shades of Grey. Well, not really, but maybe if I say that it will give Jenny warm fuzzies.  Because let's be honest, as soon as I review her book she's going to be my new best blogging fan.
Anyway, loved this book.  Now it's not for everyone because there are an awful lot of F bombs, but if you can read past that (and also try not to let your kids read over your shoulder), then you will be in for a laugh out loud good read.  Like laughing out loud so that people thing you are mentally unstable kind of read.
Jenny's got a super random train of thought but I love that because just last night my husband and I were debating the difference between unicorns and Pegasus.  A discussion that quickly derailed into a debate about rub on or spray jock itch cream and the benefits and drawbacks of both.  So really, I'm thinking Jenny and I should have our own blog conference in wine country (read the book) and we would have the most random conversations together.  Plus also, I would probably do my best to increase her taxidermy collection. I do have a bear head named Rocky hanging over my fireplace.  Or maybe we could just buy her another 5 foot tall metal chicken.  We will name it Jay Z.
I also started (for the second time) "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O' Reilly.    After my trip to DC in January, I have a new love for Lincoln so I really wanted to like this book. Every time I would start reading this book I would fall asleep.  Every.Time. I felt like I was reading my 8th grade History book. I hated History. My husband read the book and loved it. So I asked him if I just kept pushing through would they stop talking about the civil war. Spoiler alert, they don't.  So I stopped reading it. It's not to say it's not a stellar read. Just not one I was going to finish.
Our library has a special section called lucky day. I explained it here but let me take a second to recap. In this super awesome front section of the library, there is a display of some of the most popular bestselling books with lucky day stickers on them. Most of these books have HUGE wait lists on them, but these special few books can't be held or renewed so if you find the one you are looking for, it's your lucky day. Usually, this is the first place I look for a new book. 
Which is why I read my next book "Wild" be Cheryl Strayed. It's a book about a single woman's journey as she hiked the Pacific Coast Trail solo in order to find herself after her mother died when she was only 25.
   I am not a hiker, but I really enjoyed reading this book. Just reading about Cheryl's outdoor adventures made me feel more outdoorsy myself. It's worth picking up and reading.
In High School my favorite author was Mary Higgins Clark. I could find her mystery books at garage sales (yep, I even garage sale'd when I was in High School) for a quarter and devoured them.   That is, when I wasn't reading Sweet Valley High. The problem with Mary Higgins Clark is that she is a very predictable author.  I eventually got really bored with her style of writing and stopped reading everything she wrote but I was intrigued when I saw her new book "The Lost Years" at our library.  So I picked it up.   
Long story short, Mary Higgins Clark hasn't gotten any less predictable.
I also read "The Lifeboat" by Charlotte Rogan.    It's a story set in 1914 that follows Grace, a newlywed and a widow, after her husband secures a place for his new bride in a lifeboat after their ocean liner has an explosion.  The lifeboat brings with it it's own set of circumstances, one of which is the fact that it's over capacity.  For any to live, some must die.
Unfortunately, this book came from the library, sat on my nightstand before I realized how awesome it was and then was overdue with no renewals before I could finish it.  So now I'm on the wait list (56 of 84) dying to see how this book ends.  Don't be cheap like me, just buy it on Amazon.  It's worth it.
Remember how I started this post out with the proclamation that some of these books were worth reading and others were not?  Well, this is one of them.    "Carry the One" is a novel by Carol Anshaw that on the flap sounds like an intriguing story.  It's not.  It's a story that follows several siblings over a 25 year period after a terrible accident where while drunk and stoned the car load of people hits and kills a young girl.  The story follows this car full of people through the years as each of them deals with this single tragic moment in their own ways.  There were too many characters to keep straight and none of them were all together that interesting.  I say skip it.  I should have been reading The Lifeboat.
That's what I have been reading this month. What have you been reading?