Summer Book Club (for one!)

Below is my summer reading list.  My book club for one.  After 3 years of graduate studies (which should be done ANY day now!) I am so looking forward to reading books of my choosing, not one that illustrates or illuminates my research topic.  

photo via my iphone & Instagram

So, after a long morning spent researching on Amazon and then updating my hold account at my local library, I waited.  Thinking that the books might already be on hold (considering some of them are fairly new and popular) I expected to get a book a week or so.  But then, they all came in at once!  So, here is my hoard of books.  The tower of literature beside my bed, on my nightstand.  For a few nights, my husband kept willing that tower to collapse.  Jokes on him, I know how to stack a book or fourteen.  You can't see all the books, so I'll list them here:

1. Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls-David Sedaris

2. Saturday Night Widows-Becky Aikman

3. The Aviator's Wife-Melanie Benjamin

4. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie-Ayana Mathis

5. A Thousand Farewells- Nahla Ayed

6. The Headmaster's Wager-Vincent Lam

7. The Juggler's Children-Carolyn Abraham

8. Behind the Beautiful Forevers-Katherine Boo

9. The Queen's Lover-Francine du Plesix Gray

10. Gone Girl-Gillian Flynn

11 .Let's Pretend this Never Happened-Jenny Lawson

12. Z: A novel of Zelda Fitzgerald-Therese Anne Fowler

13. Wild-Cheryl Strayed

14. Happier at Home-Gretchin Rubin

15. The Beautiful Ruins-Jess Walter

I've already finished Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls and Z, and have started then put down The Twelve Tribes of Hattie.  This says nothing about the quality of the book, except that the first chapter broke my heart, and I was not in a--pplace to read a book so sad (I think it wasn't even THAT sad, but I just wasn't in the place to read it. Does this ever happen to you?)

David Sedaris was his funny self, only getting more self-deprecating as he ages.  My favourite essays were about the stolen passport, chinese food in China (I guess just food then) and the colonoscopy.  He takes even the most mundane, bureaucratic tasks and finds the humour in them, which seems to me like a great way to live your life, constantly searching for the laugh in the mundane.  I highly recommend this book if you need a light but intelligent read at the beach, for those warm nights on the front porch, or on the airplane (if you're ok with strangers giving you side-eye when you laugh out loud) this is a great one.

Z: A novel of Zelda Fitzgerald was a wonderful read.  You can tell Therese Anne Fowler is a well studied and trained author, because she manages to tell a thorough story through a first person narrative, and considering this is a fictional novel based on a real person, she had to do all of that while ensuring she was staying true to the facts.  I really didn't want to put this book down, and when I wasn't reading it, I was definitely thinking about it.

I look forward to the rest of my books in my book club for one.  I'm already deep into Saturday Night Widows although it creeps my husband out.  He asked me "what are you preparing for?!?!".  Mostly, it just speaks to my self-diagnosed anxiety preparation.  I like to read books about loss in case I ever actually experience loss, I'll better be able to navigate (this is how I calm myself...).  A whole other story, right there.

Are there any great books I'm missing this summer?