YouLookFab Forum » Topic: Summer Reads: whatcha reading?

YouLookFab Forum » Topic: Summer Reads: whatcha reading? https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Tue, 09 Jun 2026 07:45:17 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php Isis on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-992080 Sat, 27 Jul 2013 22:57:23 +0000 Isis 992080@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Have to post to say that I just went to the library to pick up,  <div> <div> <div> <a href="http://youlookfab.com/member/alicat/" rel="nofollow"></a> </div> <a href="http://www.mariasemple.com/whered-you-go-bernadette-praise/" rel="nofollow">Where'd You Go, Bernadette?</a> by Maria Semple.  As inspired by this thread.  </div></div> AND, a very stylish woman saw me in line, and told me it was a great book.  "Laugh out loud funny", she said.  She was wearing a black and white dotted dress, black-t-strap sandals, cool glasses, short great hair and red lips!  She looked great! (On the other hand, I was wearing frumpy too-big (but comfy) white shorts, a sour yellow t-shirt, old-lady sandals, and a white watch.) The book is very funny.  And so cool that I had an interaction with someone stylish, which never happens at my library. All because of this thread. Thanks Alicat! greenglove on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-962202 Sat, 22 Jun 2013 12:53:59 +0000 greenglove 962202@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Best book almost ever for me was: The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach Brilliant! David Copperfield- just finished, had never read it before, made me want to read Great Expectations which I liked but not as much as David Copperfield. Krista on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-962187 Sat, 22 Jun 2013 12:26:58 +0000 Krista 962187@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I just finished 419 by Will Ferguson and it's a great read about email scams, Nigeria, oil companies....very complex but it all dovetails so well in the end.  I highly recommend it! My summer list is remarkably "light" in content; I was a high-school English teacher for a long time and read a lot of complex novels so my senior students would have plenty to analyze. Now that I'm no longer teaching, I find myself going for lighter fare in fiction, but I enjoy non-fiction as well. Here's what's on the night-stand -  - The Checklist Manifesto - Atul Gawande  - Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg - Inferno - Dan Brown - Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain - The Next Best Thing - Jennifer Weiner - The Story of Beautiful Girl - Rachel Simon - The Lake of Dreams - Kim Edwards - Purpose-Driven Life - Rick Warren If I get through half of them, I will consider it a successful summer! Mochi on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-960545 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:14:21 +0000 Mochi 960545@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Zap, Latin American fiction was at the forefront of postmodern experimental literature in the 60s and 70s, and as far as I understand, that's where magic realism came from, or at least became a phenomenon. Writers such as Carlos Fuentes, Julio Cortazar (I read some of his short stories, but wasn't sure you wanted stories), Jorge Luis Borges, etc etc, not to mention Brazilian writers like Jorge Amado that are not writing in Spanish but have also been highly influential. It is disgraceful how much international literature remains untranslated into English, considering how in reverse, other countries are so much more open-minded about reading works in translation.  Anyway, I just finished Big Brother by Lionel Shriver, a novel about an adult woman who intervenes to help her extremely obese brother lose weight. It was a compassionate (and not sentimental) book, very insightful and timely. It was very very sad, so I'd recommend it based on your tolerance for non-uplifting books, but I won't be forgetting it.  Still trying to make my way through Kazuo Ishiguro's The Unconsoled.  Does anyone like sophisticated graphic novels? (I know Girl X would, but she's not on here often.) I have read some really good ones like Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (educated, middle-class Iranian girl growing up in Iran during the revolution), La Perdida by Jessica Abel (young expat American woman in Mexico gets caught up in all sorts of trouble), Maus by Art Spiegelman, of course (Holocaust theme).... Caro in Oz on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-960529 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:56:18 +0000 Caro in Oz 960529@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Gaylene thanks for the link to Suz's piece. suz I have a whole day at home (rare for me) & have just read your essay & loved it. I must admit Anna really annoyed me when I first read the book (at 15). The book marked the beginning of my relationship with feminism though. The utter hypocrisy of what was acceptable behaviour depending on your sex really stoked those fires in me. My husband read The Once & Future King to me as I'd never read it as a child All power stems from the nape of the neck does it not? One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of my favourite books too. I usually have about five books on the go at one time. I just finished I Want To Be Her by Andrea Linett - very light but interesting. I loved that she recognised the Australia input into Lucky. Also reading A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks. I really enjoy his prose. Anonymous on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-960514 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:42:53 +0000 Anonymous 960514@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Thanks Mochi. I have read Allende's La Casa de los Espiritus and La Tia Julia y El Escribidor by Vargas Llosa, which but I must look for Puig. I know I have heard of El Beso de la Mujer Arana but never read it. I am so psyched you know the good Latin American / Spanish writers. So happy! Mochi on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-960427 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:53:55 +0000 Mochi 960427@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Zap, you'd have to find his books in a library probably, but you could try the novels of an Argentinian writer, Manuel Puig. They are a bit experimental but certainly readable. Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Betrayed By Rita Hayworth, Heartbreak Tango, etc. I'd also mentioned Isabel Allende's House of the Spirits. Maybe books by Mario Vargas Llosa such as Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. I'll try to come up with more. Anonymous on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-960400 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:11:18 +0000 Anonymous 960400@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Allicat, that is my favorite book of his too, that's his Nobel Prize! I must have read it at least 5 times! The way he chooses his words is a delight and I know that is preserved in the translations. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a source of pride for all of us Colombians. I am so glad he has become so well known. Anonymous on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-959816 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:58:01 +0000 Anonymous 959816@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Zap, One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of my all-time favorite books.  I envy you being able to read him in Spanish! Anonymous on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-959810 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:43:16 +0000 Anonymous 959810@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Yes, please Mochi. My reading list is quite short and I re read a lot. Mochi on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-959582 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:55:32 +0000 Mochi 959582@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Oh yes, Zap, I think you're right. He is the original "Magical Realism" guy and no one does it like him.  If I can come up with some Spanish-language writers to recommend (based on my or colleagues' having read good translations of them, so the field would be limited), I will also let you know.  Anonymous on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-959520 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:08:09 +0000 Anonymous 959520@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Ummm, this is such a fun thread. I am not much of a reader in English but I do read in Spanish ( I am trying hard to maintain my vocabulary), so I have very little in the way of reccomendations. However, I just read Suz's book, Pathologies, and loved it. I am currently re-reading " El Amor en Los Tiempos Del Colera" ( Love in the Time of Cholera) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in Spanish. I do recommend anything by him, even in the English translations. His work will blow you away. Mochi, I think your friend would love Garcia Marquez. Suz on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-956089 Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:22:31 +0000 Suz 956089@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Thank you all for your very kind words on my essay. Most of my writing is not online so it is a very novel thing to think that I might actually find an audience! I am honoured that you actually took the time to read it.  Anonymous on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-956030 Fri, 14 Jun 2013 19:59:31 +0000 Anonymous 956030@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ . Isabel on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-955834 Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:02:49 +0000 Isabel 955834@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Pil, thank you so much !  I have never heard of Boxcar Children.  Both my kids love cooking, so that is a really special treat. I am off to look it up on Amazon.  ( this is just the greatest place ) Kristin L on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading/page/2#post-955832 Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:02:07 +0000 Kristin L 955832@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ @Isabel - I loved Cleopatra, A Life.  @Suz - I love your short story!  I recently finished The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen and loved it!  pil on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-955390 Fri, 14 Jun 2013 02:30:08 +0000 pil 955390@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Isabel, you'll have to read some Boxcar Children too. There is even a Boxcar Children cook book - at my son's request I made the angel food cake with seven minute frosting for his birthday : ) Rachylou, now that you mention it Confederacy probably was the perfect book for some teenaged male bonding. I wonder if I would enjoy it again. Irene, Orhan Pamuk's "Snow" is sitting on the table right next to me. Of course I started it about four years ago and still have a third of it to read. The one 'to read' book I have now is one of the Jack Reacher series. Suz, your piece was amazing! nancylee on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-955384 Fri, 14 Jun 2013 02:20:43 +0000 nancylee 955384@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I just finished reading the novel Me Before You (Jojo Moyes), and am in the process of reading Wired For Story  (Lisa Cron), which is a great resource for fiction writers.  I highly recommend! Isabel, I'm a HUGE Alain de Botton fan, too! Alicat, a good friend just recommended Beautiful Ruins to me. Mochi, I LOVE Middlesex.  Cannot recommend that novel highly enough! Congrats on the story, Suz!  What a powerful read.  You have such keen observational skills and lovely and accessible writing style.  (And I also know this because I've read your memoir!) Isabel on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-955295 Fri, 14 Jun 2013 01:01:48 +0000 Isabel 955295@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Oh, Suz, your piece is just wonderful !!!    I have never read Allende.  I will get at least one of her works for the summer.  Thanks guys.  So many good reads and only one week left of school. Haha. Soon the kids will be eating into my reading time.  I did not mention, but "we"  ( my children and I ) are going to read Nancy Drew, some Hardy Boys and Little House on the Prarie.  Along with I Hate Mathematics !   and Think !  and Mathematicians are People Too.  ( My daughter detests math...so we are doing some old time math reading.  LOL ) Mochi on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-955285 Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:50:32 +0000 Mochi 955285@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ How fun! I used to read a ton (a lot of fiction, but have a special love of good non-fiction, too). I have drifted away and am trying to make it back to steady reading. Right now I'm about 150 pages into a 500-page book by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Unconsoled. It was recommended by a friend and is an uncomfortable but compelling piece of fiction that starts off with a normal surface and then coolly draws you in to a strange world. Next up on my list is another novel by Lionel Shriver (I really loved We Need to Talk About Kevin, but you have to be able to deal with dark, violent themes for that). It's calle Big Brother and has an interesting theme, an adult woman's dealings with her brother, who has become very obese.  The Atkinson sounds intriguing. It's thanks to Diana's recommendation of Case Histories over a year ago that I started reading her work.  I also would love to be able to recommend books to a new friend of mine who's got great taste and would probably be open to anything, but she is particularly drawn to novels with some multicultural/historic aspect to them, like Salmon Rushdie, Jhumpa Ladhiri, etc. I recommended Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (early twentieth-century Greece, Detroit in the mid-sixties), A Tale for the Time Being (Japanese and multi-generational themes), The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (a prominent Chilean family through a few generations) and Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, which almost anyone would love. Any other ideas? I also thoroughly enjoyed Confederacy of Dunces.  Isabel on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-955053 Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:27:42 +0000 Isabel 955053@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Alicat, LOL  !!!  I was just thinking that there are so many books that I should re-read.  All I remember is that I loved them..but not much else.  Hahahaaaa !! I will have to add the Confederacy of Dunces to the list. Anonymous on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-955047 Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:24:24 +0000 Anonymous 955047@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Oh, I loved Cleopatra!   My book club read it, and then when we discussed everyone dressed in costume. I read Confederacy of Dunces many decades ago, when I was a wee kitten.  I remember thinking it was really funny.  I could probably read it now and it would all be new to me.  Perks of an aging brain! Shannon, I remember a book by Elin Hilderbrand called <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Blue-Bistro-Elin-Hilderbrand/dp/0312628269/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371147652&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+bistro">Blue Bistro</a>.  Fluffy but very enjoyable, nice for summer. I have a book of short stories checked out now that I need to either read or take back.  They look pretty bizarre:  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.amazon.com/Vampires-Lemon-Grove-Karen-Russell/dp/0307957233/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371147809&sr=8-1&keywords=vampires+in+the+lemon+grove">Vampires in the Lemon Grove</a> by Karen Russell. Isabel on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-955029 Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:08:12 +0000 Isabel 955029@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Thank you for this !!  I am not a fiction person, but I just finished ( I am going to join a book club and these were on the list for June and July )  Crazy Rich Asians The Giver and the non fiction   One Week at the Airport   by Alain de Botton  ( my favorite writer ).  Alain was hired to spend a week at Heathrow as the airport "writer".  It is a great book ! I am in the middle of  113 Million Markets of One on the to read list are  I Shall Not Hate   non fiction about a doctor who grew up in Palestine The Original Mapp and Lucia   fiction  Crime and Punishment  ( never read it ) Behind the Beautiful Forever  about working the Mumbai "under city "  nonfiction The Men Who Stare at Goats  ( I LOVE Jon Ronson ) a true story about a secret CIA program in the South where they were trying telepathy for war and they practiced on goats.  And yes, the Clooney movie was based on this.  The Language of God   nonfiction by the head of the NIH who also co-chaired the Human Genome Project and how he dove tails his deep faith and belief in God with science.   Cleopatra, a Life Makrame on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-955015 Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:50:21 +0000 Makrame 955015@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <a rel="nofollow"></a><a rel="nofollow"></a> <a rel="nofollow">Super Sad True Love story (just finished reading).</a> <a rel="nofollow"> </a><a rel="nofollow"> </a> <a rel="nofollow"></a> <a rel="nofollow"></a> <a rel="nofollow"></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.amazon.com/Super-Sad-True-Love-Story/dp/0812977866">http://www.amazon.com/Super-Sa.....0812977866</a>     <a rel="nofollow"> </a><a rel="nofollow"></a> <a rel="nofollow"> </a> <a rel="nofollow"></a> <a rel="nofollow"></a> <a rel="nofollow"></a> Irene on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-954737 Thu, 13 Jun 2013 12:06:37 +0000 Irene 954737@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I'm finishing Orhan Pamuk's 'The museum of innocence' and then will be onto reading 'The blind assassin' by Margaret Atwood for a bookclub I'll be hopefully joining on the 1st of July. This year I am making this 'list of books read in 2013', it encourages me to read even more than I used to! lyn* on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-954631 Thu, 13 Jun 2013 06:21:38 +0000 lyn* 954631@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I don't really have a lot of time for reading, but short stories would be excellent! And of course, I have to read Suz, right? rachylou on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-954583 Thu, 13 Jun 2013 03:36:50 +0000 rachylou 954583@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Pil, I have actually not read Confederacy, although it figures prominently in an episode in my teenaged life. My high school / college boyfriend - I found out he'd never read a book all the way through and had just the biggest hissy. Was a complete cow. I think I scarred him for life. My best friend - he gave my poor boyfriend Confederacy to read, sympathetic to his plight, and they male-bonded over this book Hahaha! L'Abeille on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-954537 Thu, 13 Jun 2013 02:35:00 +0000 L'Abeille 954537@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Suz I just read the link, wow! (And nice to know that not all writers end up like the Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, where he just grows deeper into It's all about Me) And to those of you looking for screwball comedies, I can only say, Connie Willis. Suz on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-954509 Thu, 13 Jun 2013 02:11:35 +0000 Suz 954509@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Oh, thank you so much, Gaylene and Rachy! You are both way too kind. Gaylene, that is the piece I wrote at Banff, so it has a special place in my heart for that reason alone.  Transcona Shannon on "Summer Reads: whatcha reading?" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/summer-reads-whatcha-reading#post-954467 Thu, 13 Jun 2013 01:11:27 +0000 Transcona Shannon 954467@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Fabulous thread Ali! I love reading both fiction and non-fiction and just finished reading Fonda My Life (as told to Howard Teichmann) - fabulous extremely honest story of Henry Fonda and let me tell you, the man doesn't hold back anything about his own life. It's the only autobiography he approved and participated in through hundreds of hours speaking with the writer. Henry Fonda had one seriously fascinating and bizarre life! Now I'm reading a fluffy little fictional book titled The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand...a deliciously trashy book that's a wonderful easy read in the evening. I'm definitely taking some notes here on your wonderful suggestions everyone.