Summer reads

Some shots from last weekend's farmer's market...

So.  Independence and summer have taken a hold.  Jaime and I have moved into the first of our three summer apartments, and our domestic tendencies are definitely started to kick in.  At the moment, we have chicken roasting in the oven.  (Chicken, potatoes, lemon, basil, celery seed, rosemary, and salt and pepper.)  The apartment below us, for some reason, always sends up aromas of onions sauteing in olive oil (best. smell. ever.), so I think we're hoping to send some lovely scents wafting their way...

Cooking is something I'm hoping to do a lot of this summer.  Cooking, singing, writing, working, blogging, photography-ing, and....reading.

I love to read--I'm one of those.  You know the part in To Kill a Mockingbird, when the teacher doesn't let Scout read?  Scout says, "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."  I get that.

For the past couple of years, ever since I graduated high school, I've been reading all of these books that I've always felt I should read.  Jane Eyre.  The Hobbit.  The Handmaid's Tale.  I mean, I'm glad I've read them.  It's nice to have them under my belt, and they're good stories.  But, no more!!  I'm breaking free, and for this summer especially, I'm going to read stuff that looks good!

Right now I'm reading The Hunger Games.  Shay was reading it towards the end of school.  I kept begging her for updates, until I realized I might as well just read it for myself!  Not a particularly great book in the Tolstyan sense of greatness, but a fantastic story nonetheless.  The only problem?  I started reading it last night, and I'm already halfway through.  (Thank goodness it's a trilogy!)

But, what next?  I really need some good book recommendations.  I'm planning on finishing up this series, and then moving on to Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier. (One of my favorite authors, she wrote Girl With a Pearl Earring.)  But, after that-- who knows??  It's not a Harry Potter summer for me.  Too much of an emotional commitment.  (Seriously.)  But, what are you reading this summer?  I'd love to swap book lists.  I'm usually game for anything with a cool cover or historical with a romantic tinge...  Send me a summer reads list and I'd love to post it here!  Inspiration for one and all!!

Have a lovely Wednesday.
m.