Summer Reading

For the next book selection, I thought we'd focus on summer reads - fun reads you can enjoy while sitting under a tree on a sunny summer day. I also thought that we would choose for two months instead of just one, coming back from summer with a new title for September (this has nothing to do with the fact that I haven't finished Cloud Atlas yet). I've compiled a list of summer reads - granted, "summer reads" have different connotations for different people, but I will try my best:

1. A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

2. The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon

3. The Believers - Zoe Heller

4. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers

5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

I've provided five possibilities, but I invite more, if there are any other suggestions. You'll notice that a few of them are familiar, as they have been previous nominees, but I think they fit the category and would be worthy reads for summer. All have great stories told with humour and are relatively short, with, I think, Eggers' book the longest at 375 pages. However, if I'm right, the pages will fly by as we will all have so much fun while reading. Who could ask for more? I'll set up the poll on Thursday with the list of suggestions.

June Selection Poll

I like to use a theme to select potential book club reads, and for June I was drawing a blank, so I decided upon a British writers theme, based mostly on titles sitting on my bookcase that I have yet to read. So, the list of nominees for the June selection are as follows:

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

I've read Mitchell's Black Swan Green and really enjoyed it, and Cloud Atlas has been up there on my to be read list. Mitchell plays with linearity, telling the story across several generations and through several characters. Its structure is essentially 12 short stories that make up the whole of the novel. Interesting enough to try, anyhow. Here are two views that, in my mind, add to the hype: Reading Matters and this one.

The Believers - Zoë Heller
Zoë Heller is also the author of Notes on a Scandal: What Was She Thinking? that was made into a pretty good movie with Cate Blanchett a few years back. Her latest novel is a "layered and utterly assured study of a family driven by political passion whose personal lives refuse to comply with prescribed ideology." So it's funny and bittersweet and sharp, and brilliant, according to this critic. Sounds interesting!

On Beauty - Zadie Smith
Another modern classic of the British family, Smith's novel was shortlisted for every major award in 2006, winning the Orange Broadband Prize which celebrates female authors. I've read a number of reviews and synopses of On Beauty, and I can only say that it intrigues me more. Her writing is celebrated, the characters are celebrated, the cultural and social issues are celebrated, and, of course, she's celebrated. It sounds delightful.

So there's the three. After researching these three I feel that it is not a question of if I will read them, but in what order. Which will be first? You decide. Poll opens tomorrow.