One of the items on my 101 in 1001 list is to do #BookADay (follow up posts on last summer here and here) for one more summer. I hemmed and hawed about this being the summer, but I’m taking the plunge and starting again, dear readers, and here is why:
1. Why not? I’ve got no more or less time this summer than I did last year.
2. I know I won’t actually read a book a day, every day. I knew that last year. But I know it’s fun to try.
3. I was telling The (Not So) New Girl that one of the reasons I loved #ABookADay last summer is because there were many times when I chose reading over TV because of the hashtag. And that’s a choice I’d love to continue to make as much as possible. If it takes a hashtag to get me to make it, so be it.
4. There are a million books on my to-read list, and never enough time to read them all!
So I’m giving it a go for one more year. I tailor the books to the days I’m going to have. If I’m running around town and running errands all day, my #BookADay may be a children’s chapter book. And if I (intentionally) don’t make plans, I tackle something weightier. I count books I’ve started earlier in the year, but am only getting around to finishing now. I make it work for me, and I let myself have days where it just doesn’t get done. But not too many.
I am always on the search for new reading material. I get recommendations from friends, from blogs, and from Amazon. And I pick up whatever I see that looks good at Barnes and Noble, Target, and the library. Here are some titles I’m hoping to get to this summer.
The Real (Fiction) Books:
Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee – because duh.
Oh! You Pretty Things, by Shanna Mahin – I think because The Skimm told me to read it? I can’t remember where I found this one.
The Real (Non Fiction) Books:
Primates of Park Avenue by Wednesday Martin – because everyone is talking about it.
The Road to Character, by David Brooks – I’ll read anything David Brooks writes, but this one is especially intriguing.
Missoula, by Jon Krakauer – He’s so talented and can make me interested in just about anything. But the subject matter is seriously serious, and I wonder how it will come across.
The Drivel:
The Guest Cottage, by Nancy Thayer – I picked this solely because I figured I might as well be the girl on the cover, and polished this off as my first book, on my first day of summer vacation. From the very first chapter, I knew exactly what this book would be and I was 100% right. A great beach read, nonetheless.
The Knockoff, by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza – I think The Skimm turned me on to this one as well. After reading the back flap, I found out Lucy Sykes is Plum Sykes’ sister. Bergdorf Blondes, anyone?
The Kids’ Stuff:
The Heir, by Kiera Cass – I inhaled The Selection series last summer, and this is the next in that line. This will be a book for a day when I don’t have tons of time, but am ready to inhale something trashy.
Finding Audrey, by Sophie Kinsella – Because Teen Vogue told me to, and because I tore through the Shopaholic series back in high school. I’m intrigued to see what Sophie Kinsella will do now that she’s officially writing YA.
Harry Potters 3-7, by JK Rowling – I’ve read the first two already this year, and it’s been so long since my last reread (3 years, but that was only books 1-5).