Summer Reading | Book Chatter

The Stand Graphic 2

One of King’s best books to date is (in my opinion), The Stand. In my college days, I read them all. Some were more readable, but The Stand is the one that stayed with me all these years. After reading The Passage, which arguably was very similiar in theme, I just found myself wanting to read The Stand again, so I am kicking off the start of summer by re-reading this epic novel and today is the day!

I’m not alone. Two other bloggers are doing it with me (Jill and Michele). This isn’t a formal read-along because sometimes with a book of this size, a formal read-along just seems like too much work. I just want to have fun re-living the world that King created. I will blog about my thoughts here and there but what I’m hoping, is that the book is just as wonderful as it was when I read it in my much younger days.

There probably won’t be too many nights where I stay up all night to read it because let’s face it, those days are gone, but I look forward to getting to know King again. So pardon me if I spout off about King for the next month or so. For those that have never read King before, perhaps you’ll want to, after our little, summer rendezvous. You think?

Can I just take a moment to tell you how much I LOVE list-making? Well, I LOVE it. It has taken me weeks to complete my summer reading list because summer is summer, and summer reads have to be awesome and well, the expectation is just too high for them not to be. Some of these books, are books that I have had on my list for quite some time. For whatever reason, I just feel that some of these books need the relaxed pace of summer for me to really enjoy them.

As you can see, there aren’t any light reads here. No beach reads really, and some of them deal with “end of the world” weirdness which I seem fascinated with at this point in my life. All of these books are new to me with the exception of The Stand. I read The Stand when I was nineteen. That was a good chunk of time ago and for years I have recommended it to people but to be honest, it HAS been ages since I read it, and so many books (The Passage included) are being compared to The Stand that I feel that a re-read is in order. I will be re-reading the the uncut version which includes 400 pages that King was forced to cut due to cost.

Other tidbits of interest:

I’ve never read an Austen book and when I asked folks on Facebook which one to read first, they pushed for Pride & Prejudice.
I hear nothing but good things about Dorothy Whipple so I thought I’d give her a whirl.
I read Less Than Zero in my college days so when I heard about Imperial Bedrooms I decided that it must be read. The audio book is read by Andrew McCarthy (he played Clay in the movie), which is tempting but I think I’ll read it.
Thomas from My Porch raved about Elinor Lipman so that’s why she appears on this list.
I love the Brat Pack and grew up with them so when I read Gayle’s review of You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried, I decided I had to read it.

So what do you think? Are there some good ones here? If I get through half of them, I’ll be thrilled. As you all know, summer doesn’t always mean more time. Especially for those of us that work and have kids. I’m hopeful though.

2010 Summer List #1