Summer Reading

The luxury of reading, especially in the summer, is something I really look forward to and enjoy. Growing up, our local library had a summer reading program, and every year I did my absolute best to read as many books as possible so I could advance my game piece on the big board and hopefully win a prize at summer’s end for all my reading.  Each week we would travel to the library, pick out our set of books for the week, bring them home and escape in to the wonders of fiction and fantasy. Now that Austin library’s have reopened, I plan to leisurely browse the shelves, something that I missed dearly this past year.

When our children were younger, we did much the same at the Bee Cave Library.  They enjoyed the rewards for reading, both the reading itself and the prizes given for reading.  The thing about slowing down to enjoy a good book, is that it is YOUR imagination painting the pictures of the words being read, along with YOUR relationship with the characters on the pages.  I have fond memories of my mom reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, along with James and the Giant Peach to us in the summer months, still two of my favorite books. The following are a few lists I have gathered for readers of all ages.  

Classic Books to Reread as an Adult:

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Matilda by Roald Dahl
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Books that Will Make You a Better Person:

• Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
• Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albon
• Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
• Rewire by Richard O’Connor
• Thought-Provoking Fiction:
• Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
• Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Children’s Books:

• Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary
• The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
• Frindle by Andrew Clements
• How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
• Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
• The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
• Half Magic (series) by Edgar Eager
• The Zoo at the Edge of the World by Eric Kahn Gale
• Bliss (series) by Kathryn Littlewood
• Dragon Slayers Academy (series) by Kate McMullan
• Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
• Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective (series) by Donald Sobol
• The Boxcar Children (series) by Gertrude Chandler Warner
• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

With the summer months stretched out before us, take the time to slow down and read a good book!