In the early summer, I got a few novels by Anita Diamant and Barbara Kingsolver. The timing was bad, though, so I never got to read them. I also got a collection of devotional writings by Sue Monk Kidd that I thumbed through. I chose these books because of the authors' previous writings. I loved reading The Red Tent and Good Harbor by Diamant, but couldn't quite get into The Last Days of Dogtown. Prodigal Summer and The Bean Trees were good reads by Kingsolver, but I didn't have the time to dive into The Lacuna (which I hear is really good) and Animal Dreams.
Midsummer, I have more time. Due to the arrival of a brand new baby, I have time every two hours to read. Last year, I read a novel by Katherine Center titled Everything is Beautiful and loved it! So, I tried to give Center a chance again and read Get Lucky. I enjoyed this quick and easy read and was amazed at how Center is able to describe something so perfectly that I end up thinking to myself, "Ah, yes, That's it!" Sometime in the past year, I had a chance to read Kristin Hannah's books, Firefly Lane and Summer Island. I enjoyed both books, so I decided to pick up Winter Garden and give it a try. Again, Hannah amazed me with her capabilities of telling a good story. This book made me cry several times, and I'm not really a crier. It is not a cheesy happy beach read, but it is very good.
I've reserved another Katherine Center book in the hopes of reading it before the summer ends. I'm also hoping to read Eat, Pray, Love in time to see the movie.
So far, my summer in books has been a good one. If you haven't had a chance to do some good juicy reading lately, I recommend these books to get you started again!
