I’ve had a few emails asking if I planned to write a book list for the summer like last year. The answer is most definitely! I’m thrilled that you all are even asking for more book reviews because it’s something that’s very near and dear to my heart (nerd alert). I always want to write more, but then I’m like “well do they even care?!”
I’m glad to know that you care!
So here are ten new books for you to dig into this summer. Some I’ve read and a few are on my personal “to-read” list.
1. The Widow of the South: comes highly recommended to me by one of my college friends who said it was one of the best books she’d read all year. I love historical fiction…especially when it relates to the civil war!
2. The Hundred Secret Senses: Amy Tan may be old school but she knows what’s up. I’ve loved each and every one of her books, yet for some reason, skipped this one. I just downloaded it on my kindle and can’t wait to start reading!
3. The Tiger’s Wife: I’m going to recommend that we read this for my real life book club next month because I’ve wanted to read it for awhile now and it’s gotten great reviews. I’m in denial that the author is younger than me and has already written an award winning novel….
4. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: If you haven’t read this, you need to…like, today. It was such a fabulous book and I was really sad when it ended.
5. Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food & Family: another book on “to-read” list!
6. Dream of Joy: I’m sooooooo (emphasis: ooooooo) excited for this book to come out on Saturday it’s not even funny. It’s the sequel to Shanghai Girls, which I loved!
7. My Name is Mary Sutter: a novel about a young midwife during the civil war. I can’t wait to read this!
8. Secret Daughter: Hands down, the best book I’ve read lately. I read for about eight hours straight!
9. The Heart of Memory: I’m currently reading this and so far, so good! It’s a story about a woman who undergoes a heart transplant and looks at life very differently afterward.
10. Deep Down True: I’ve been meaning to read this for awhile now and summer is the perfect time to delve in.
Is there a book you’re reading that you can’t put down? I’d love to hear about it!
Also, on a totally unrelated note, I apologize for any issues you might be having leaving comments right now. I’m in the process of switching to a more powerful server (the blog should be loading waaaay faster now!) and still working through some kinks in the system. If you are having a problem leaving a comment, please let me know so I can work to correct the problem as quickly as possible.
As always, thank you all so much for reading every day! You all are the reason why I blog and your comments never fail to bring a big ol’ smile to my face.
Kristen
May 19, 2011 at 1:27 pmOh yay! I just started Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet yesterday. I’m already hooked!
Susan
May 19, 2011 at 1:37 pmI was going to, but I finished reading another book and I was ready for bed. I’m digging in tonight!
AnneliesDB
May 19, 2011 at 1:28 pmWe care! I love your book reviews because I loved every book I read with your recommendation. Have you read anything by Nicholas Evans yet? I’ve read ‘The Loop’ about four times already.
Kamaile
May 19, 2011 at 1:29 pmThanks for the new list, I do CARE! Right now I’m in the middle of The Paris Wife and am looking forward to finishing Cutting for Stone that I started and put down.
Kamaile
May 19, 2011 at 1:30 pmoh and I LOVE my kindle too! xxoo can’t wait to be able to download books from the library!
laurie @ the corner slice
May 19, 2011 at 1:33 pmCan. not. wait!
Hannah (Running In Freedom)
May 19, 2011 at 1:36 pmRight now I’m reading The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton and it is amazing!!
Kate
May 19, 2011 at 4:51 pmSO SO SOOOOO GOOD! Thank God it’s so long! haha
Christine
May 20, 2011 at 7:09 pmI loved this book too! The Distant Hours by the same author is also really really good
Michele @ Healthy Cultivations
May 19, 2011 at 1:37 pmI’m reading David Brooks’s “The Social Animal” right now, and it is quite fascinating.
Maureen
May 19, 2011 at 1:38 pmI have added these to my list!!
Do you have any book suggestions about Savannah (Other than “Garden of Good and Evil”)? I am going there for a girls weekend this summer, and would love any book reccs (or favorite spots!).
Susan
May 19, 2011 at 1:42 pmI totally got sucked into The Hunger Games series.
These books are older, but I always recommend them when people are looking for something to read.
We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
Bell Canto – Ann Patchett
Elaine
May 19, 2011 at 1:51 pmHunger Games!! Yes!!!!! I’m usually a slow reader, but I read the first and second (the third one still has 23 requests from the library…but the line is moving!) in about 3 days. Love that series.
Also, from The Chemical Garden Trilogy, Wither. So good!
Laramie
May 19, 2011 at 8:01 pmI was just going to suggest The Hunger Games series! I teach middle school (which is why I picked up the books in the first place) but now I’m recommending them to teens and adults. I love the series…and read it before the movie comes out Spring 2012!
Mary Catherine
May 19, 2011 at 8:46 pmAnother Hunger Games fan! Best books I’ve read in a long time!
Gavi @ Gavi Gets Going!
May 19, 2011 at 1:44 pmI just finished reading ‘Cutting for Stone’ by Abraham Verghese. It took me a while to get into it, but after about 150 pages I couldn’t put it down. It’s such an incredible, sweeping, touching novel.
Katie Jo
May 20, 2011 at 10:17 amI love this book so much! I keep recommending it to people. I just requested his two other books from the library.
Veronica (Run Write Repeat)
May 19, 2011 at 1:44 pmoh, this is perfect. i need some new reads and some of these sound fantastic!
Kyra
May 19, 2011 at 1:46 pmI 2nd the The Hunger Games series, they may be teen books but they were fantastic! I see you were liking Kristen Hannah a few weeks ago so i’m assuming you’ve read Winter Garden. If you haven’t, definitely put it on your list, I haven’t cried like that during a book in a while!
Off to go check out your list and add them to my library queue!
Sarah
May 19, 2011 at 6:40 pmCan I third The Hunger Games series? Brilliant. Couldn’t put them down. I picked up the first book a few years ago for a plane ride to a friend’s wedding in North Carolina. It was so good that all I wanted to do that weekend was curl up with that book. I bought the second one – Catching Fire – on the flight back.
Totally different genre, but I also loved A Homemade Life: Stories & Recipes From My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg {of the blog Orangette}. Sooooo good! It also comes with recipes at the end of each chapter.
Beth
May 19, 2011 at 1:47 pmMy 10 year old just read “The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate” and told me I just HAD to read it…. so I did…. it was really quite good…. if you’re a Laura Ingalls fan, which I know you are, you’ll love it 🙂
katie @KatieDid
May 19, 2011 at 1:50 pmI always look for good summer reads because I barely have time during the year (although I know there is always time), so thanks for the recommendations!
jess
May 19, 2011 at 1:54 pmThe Tiger’s Wife is good.
I think you would like Bossypants – it’s hilarious.
I am looking forward to Ann Patchett’s new book, State of Wonder.
Paj
May 19, 2011 at 1:58 pmI haven’t decided if you are better at book reviews or baking. It might be a tie. Keep the books and the recipes coming!
Krystina (Organically Me)
May 19, 2011 at 2:02 pmI desperately need to start reading again. Thanks for the inspiration, m’dear.
Averie (LoveVeggiesandYoga)
May 19, 2011 at 2:05 pmYay for summer reading lists and new book finds!
Good luck on your transition to new servers and your behind the scenes changes…technology. NEVER as easy as it should be, is it!
Thanks for the book list 🙂
Sarah
May 19, 2011 at 2:06 pmsuper random comment – the street i live on is bittersweet! just thought it was funny after i read the title of book number 4! maybe that is a sign i need to read that book. thanks for the reading list!
Katie @ Nourishing Flourishing
May 19, 2011 at 2:07 pmI plan to read more Louis Erdrich and Gloria Naylor. Love.
Belle
May 19, 2011 at 2:15 pmThe Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is my absolute favorite book of all time, if you haven’t already read it, definitely do!
Karen
May 21, 2011 at 5:39 amYes! That is a great book – great story, fantastic writing. Loved it.
Sarah @ The Strength of Faith
May 19, 2011 at 2:21 pmI’m in the process of reading “Onward” by Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks. It’s been really inspirational so far. I posted one of my favorite passages so far here – http://www.thestrengthoffaith.com/2011/05/onward.html – and I’ll post a longer review when I finish. I would recommend so far!
Rachel
May 19, 2011 at 2:25 pmI’ve started “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp and CANNOT put it down! It’s good, it’s challenging, it’s eye-opening and her writing style is the best I’ve read in a long, long time.
Miss @ Miss in the Kitchen
May 19, 2011 at 2:26 pmI love your book reviews and lists. It’s always fun to see what every one recommends. I just finished Cold Wind by CJ Box, his latest in a series about a Wyoming Game Warden, very intense.
Sophie
May 19, 2011 at 2:29 pmI’m in love with the book Jesus Land. I finished it in less than a day. SUCH a great and heartbreaking read.
Holly @ The Runny Egg
May 19, 2011 at 2:39 pmLove the reading list you have here — The Hunger Games series is really good and I just started The Uglies series — also very good!
Gabrielle
May 19, 2011 at 2:42 pmI read a couple of these and have bookmarked some for the library. Thanks for the suggestions!
Some of my recent reads:
– The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake – a little sad and a bit unusual but I really liked the concept.
– Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – only halfway through with this but it has me grinning ear to ear. It is giving me the same sentimental feeling that I got when I saw the movie Up!
– I also enjoy any of the Kate Morton books and am rereading classics such as Jane Eyre, Emma, Pride & Prejudice between newer novels
Linda
May 19, 2011 at 2:43 pmI enjoyed My Name is Mary Sutter and Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet too!
valerie
May 19, 2011 at 3:07 pmi just started reading The Help and am ALREADY dreading finishing it… to me, the sign of a super great book is when i slow down my reading because i don’t want it to end… since i’m only about 20 pages in, this is a VERY good sign that The Help will be fantastic!
Christy
May 19, 2011 at 3:12 pmI also loved Shanghai Girls and did not know there was a sequel coming out! Thanks for a great list!
Amanda @ Cakes and Ale
May 19, 2011 at 3:14 pmYes – I am reading “Fall of Giants” by Ken Follett and I cannot put it down!
It’s about 5 families in the time of the first world war. All from different socio-economic backgrounds and even different countries (US, England, Wales, Russia, Germany) but all linked together in various ways.
I’m a total sucker for historical fiction, and I’ve been loving this.
Christena
May 19, 2011 at 3:44 pmFall of Giants is awesome historical fiction. I love the detail & the characters are so well-developed!
Karen
May 21, 2011 at 5:40 amThat’s a great book. So are Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. Great books – could not put them down!
Molly @ RDexposed
May 19, 2011 at 3:22 pmI have diabetes text books in my near future. Jealous?
Mel
May 19, 2011 at 3:23 pmI have LOVED every book you’ve recommended. I read American Wife and The Poisonwood Bible over Christmas, and had read Sarah’s Key before you recommended it. I am currently reading The Help and have Those Who Save Us on the way! Many thanks, I hope your day is as sunny as it is here in Washington!
Jen
May 19, 2011 at 3:32 pmThank you for these! I am always on the hunt for good summer reads:)
I have been a reading maniac lately and wanted to pass along some of my favorites:
– Like many of the other commenters- THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy. I inhaled all three over the course of two weeks.
– My Name is Memory. by Ann Brashares (Sisterhood of Traveling Pants author, but this is for grown ups!)
– Little Bee. by Chris Cleave
– Bossypants. by Tina Fey. (But don’t read it in public unless you want to embarrass yourself by snort laughing:)
– The Hand That First Held Mine- Maggie O’Farrell
– The Bean Tree and Pigs in Heaven- Barbara Kingsolver. (they are old books but i recently read and LOVED them both.)
– ROOM. by Emma Donoghue
Elizabeth
May 19, 2011 at 3:36 pmI’m almost through with a biography of LvBeethoven and loving every page of it.
Melissa
May 19, 2011 at 3:38 pmThank you for the recommendations! Seriously I have loved every book I have read that you recommended. Even in the beginning if its slow and I think I don’t think I can read this I keep on reading because I know that Jenna always has great recommendations, and end up loving the book!
Christena
May 19, 2011 at 3:43 pmYay! I haven’t read ANY of those!
I always love your recs so far this year I have read & loved: Fortune’s Rocks, The Kitchen House, The Book Thief, & Prep (you recommended American Wife, which I read last year and loved so much I that I had to read Prep). I have read some other things, these are just what you have recommended. Thanks to Fortune’s Rocks, I am now OBSESSED with Anita Shreve & have read The Pilot’s Wife & Body Surfing.
Downloaded to my Kindle to read next: Beloved & My Antonia in between my trashy crime novels (guilty pleasure I’m trying to stop!).
Natalia - a side of simple
May 19, 2011 at 3:50 pmWoohoo! This list came at a perfect time 🙂 The weather in my area has been rainy and I’m in need of a good book! Well…that a job…but we’ll talk about that another time 😉
Nicole of Raspberry Stethoscope
May 19, 2011 at 3:59 pmThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks…CHECK IT OUT. True story about the HeLa cells. Would have been done by now, but the Happiness Project was available at my library, so i read that in between.
Susan
May 20, 2011 at 8:24 amHenrietta was the first book I bought on my Nook. I was fascinated when I read about it. Now to just find the time to read it.
Nicole of Raspberry Stethoscope
May 26, 2011 at 11:36 amDefnitely read it! Very fascinating look at science. I never knew most of this stuff.
Karen
May 19, 2011 at 4:14 pmYippee…thank you for our 2011 Summer Reading List, Jenna! Every book you recommended last summer was simply awesome. Both my mom and I traded notes on just about every selection – it was a blast and inspired me to read some novels for a change.
Some recent purchases of praised books: Room (just came out in PB) and Please Look After Mom, Unbroken and The Paris Wife, BUT have yet to crack any of them open! Oh, and I also just purchased Jimmy Fallon’s Thank You Notes book (adore that segment on his show…hilarious!) A sweet story I actually have read and liked a lot: Girl in Translation – filled w/likeable characters (just came out in PB.)
Off to do some shopping at Amazon…
Alli
May 19, 2011 at 4:15 pmI’m reading the Song of Fire and Ice series right now (aka Game of Thrones) – what can I say, the HBO series intrigued me! I’m not usually into fantasy type stuff, but this is INTENSE. AND SO GOOD.
Joelle
May 19, 2011 at 4:20 pmYou need to stop showing your kindle. Its festering flames of jealousy in me 😉
As for your picks, none of them appeal to me – sorry!
Latest reads has been Water For Elephants.
I read Hunger Game series (more my kind of thing) last fall and loved them. I should read them again probably if they are available at library.
I’ve yet to read the Harry Potter series, so I may try that.
There are some autobiographies I would like to read and some others, one Katie Couric wrote.
Regarding your comment on the author who published and is much younger than you. Good heavens Jenna, I’m much much older than you, and I certainly hope my chances for writing or publishing are not tainted simply by my old age!
Don’t count anyone out yet.
Tracy
May 19, 2011 at 4:22 pmI have to tell you I look forward to your book posts more than anything else! I am a huge reader and always read everything on the bestseller list, so am always looking for your recs!
Liz @ Tip Top Shape
May 19, 2011 at 4:32 pmLove your reading lists!! I’ve read one of these (Widow of the South) and am anxious to start the others!!
Cynthia
May 19, 2011 at 4:39 pmI just finished “The Help” and it was amazing. I finished in one day! I just couldn’t put it down.
Kate
May 19, 2011 at 4:53 pmone of my favorites! i read it in a day too!
Baking 'n' Books
May 19, 2011 at 4:41 pmI LOVE when you write about books!
Honestly Jenna – I think you should just write whatever YOU love to write or post about! That’s authenticity – and that’s how you garner a good audience for you.
I’ve never read any of these books! But now, I’ve got a full list.
Um…okay, I’m reading Chelsea Handler’s “Are You There God, It’s Me Vodka”…totally acceptable right?
I need a laugh 😉
Kate
May 19, 2011 at 4:54 pmHaven’t read any of these but some a definitely on my list!! I just started Water for Elephants and can’t wait to finish so I can start one of these! Also, just finished Black and Blue by Anna Quidlen…SOOOOO good, couldn’t put it down!!
Paige @ Running Around Normal
May 19, 2011 at 5:07 pmBookmarking this! 😀 Thanks!!
French Heart
May 19, 2011 at 5:10 pmI HEART books…working through quite a stack..but that never stops me from adding more.
And to celebrate Judgment Day May 21st~ I posted a Judgment Day Cocktail recipe & Style Guide on my site. It’ll go well with some of your selections. 😉
Mallory @forkvsspoon
May 19, 2011 at 5:27 pmBook #4 is a great book! You will enjoy. Summer reading is amazing, thanks for the list!
Chelsea @ One Healthy Munchkin
May 19, 2011 at 5:45 pmThanks for all the recommendations! I think I want to read Secret Daughter next.
I just finished reading The Glass Castle and I could not put it down! Have you read that one?
grace b
May 19, 2011 at 5:55 pmYay! More books to add to my “ReadReadRead” word document!
Don’t judge. 🙂
cathy
May 19, 2011 at 6:04 pmi know you’re known for your awesome recipes (i’ve made some of them, they rock!) but i love when you blog about books the very best.
i am reading “the help” right now – i know you blogged about it after you finished. i’m going to go back and read that post when i’m done. it’s one of the best books i’ve ever picked up.
haven’t read any of the 10 you suggest here – thanks for the list! i’m esp intrigued by the sounds of #4!
amy walters, aDESIGNdock
May 19, 2011 at 6:05 pmSounds like a great summer you’ve got planned. Reading is one of my fav summer activities 😉
Rachel
May 19, 2011 at 6:33 pmEveryone should read “the art of racing in the rain.”. Excellent. Quick read, you’ll be crying by the end, but a very touching story. Cutting for Stone was excellent. Just finished “the lotus eaters.”. Very good.
Victoria
May 19, 2011 at 6:44 pmLOVED The Tiger’s Wife. Wrote about it this month because I loved it.
Emily
May 19, 2011 at 7:36 pmCurrently reading Those Who Save Us – from one of your recommendations – VERY GOOD!!
AnneW
May 19, 2011 at 8:34 pmRead Ubroken by Laura Hillenbrand.
I would love to hear what you think of it!!
Karen
May 21, 2011 at 5:42 amFantastic book – all the more wonderful because it’s true!
Laura
May 19, 2011 at 9:27 pmI’m reading The Reliable Wife right now. I’m almost finished and I must say, I can’t wait to see how it ends!!
Katrina
May 19, 2011 at 11:26 pmI need to make a good ol’ reading list like this. I love summer reading!
Lynda
May 20, 2011 at 1:26 amI also enjoyed The Secret Daughter.
Right now I’m reading an early reviewers copy of Dreams of Joy 🙂
My favorite recent read was The Bells by Richard Harvell. I highly recommend it!!
http://www.amazon.com/Bells-Novel-Richard-Harvell/dp/0307590526/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305879556&sr=1-1
Kristin @ Wounded Fawn
May 20, 2011 at 2:44 amI’d love it if you made your master reading list into a page on your blog. I’ve used the search option of your site too frequently while at the library.
Whose with me?
Raya
June 3, 2011 at 11:08 amME!!!
Christine @ Burning It Off
May 20, 2011 at 3:18 amI didn’t know there was going to be a sequel to Shanghai Girls… but now that I think about it, it makes sense given how that book ended. Excited!! 😀
Fancy
May 20, 2011 at 4:18 amI’m also so excited for Dreams of Joy, I loved Shanghi Girls! Have you read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan? It’s by the same author and it was an amazing book. I am currently in the middle of Secret Daughter and can’t put it down! I have read so many of your book picks and they have all been wonderful…especially American Wife, Kite Runner, Thousand Splendid Suns, etc. Please continue to give us your suggestions, you have introduced me to some amazing reads! Have a great day, Jenna 🙂
R Chandra
May 20, 2011 at 4:20 amsomeone mentioned The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, i second that!! SUCH a good book, so eerie and beautiful and original. loved it!
also, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery.
Amy
May 20, 2011 at 5:09 amI read a lot but lately my favorite has been Matched by Ally Condie. It’s a YA book set in this future world but the emotions and storyline are so good. I got really into it. It was so good!
Khushboo
May 20, 2011 at 5:51 amIm in the middle of The Help and can’t rave about it enough- a must read for sure!
emily
May 20, 2011 at 6:41 amI could NOT put down Unbroken by Lauren Hillebrand. It is SUCH amazing amazing amazing story, so much so that its hard to believe its true- but it is. Next up might be the Art of Racing in the Rain or Water for Elephants (want to read it before I see the movie) or one that you recommended!
Shannon
May 20, 2011 at 6:43 amYour summer reading list from last year is one of the only posts I’ve ever starred in my Google Reader. I haven’t gotten through all of them yet (I know, I know, I blame my MBA program), but I’m going to star this one as well.
Please do more book stuff. I like your taste in books as much as your taste in food!
Karen
May 20, 2011 at 8:25 amThanks for the list! I just borrowed Secret Daughter from the library last night and I am already hooked. You post has urged me to come up with my own summer list!
Lauren
May 20, 2011 at 9:01 amI love your book recommendations. I’m finishing up The Paris Wife right now and can’t wait to get to some of your summer reading list — especially My Name is Mary Sutter, I’m the same way with anything relating to the civil war. Can’t wait!
Sarah
May 20, 2011 at 10:03 amHave you read The Emigrant Novels by Vilhelm Moberg? It’s a series of 5 books telling the story of i Swedish village’s inhabitants emigrating to the US in the 19th century. Sooo good!
Alex
May 20, 2011 at 10:32 amI just finished Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, which I really enjoyed! Kind of a cross between The Help….and something else. Thanks for all your great book recommendations. I read Elizabeth Street after seeing it on your blog and loved that one too.
Tina Boogren
May 20, 2011 at 11:56 amHave you read ‘The Happiness Project’ yet? Love, love it! I’m reading it on my Kindle while I jog on the treadmill every morning… a perfect combo!
cAT
May 20, 2011 at 2:03 pmHey Jenna
Have you read ‘Snowflower and the Secret Fan’? It’s by the same woman who wrote Shanghai Girls. I liked it better than Shanghai!
Karen
May 21, 2011 at 5:45 amThat was a great book – I hear they’re making it into a movie? I really don’t want to see the footbinding, though. It was a little too gruesomely depicted in the book for me.
Mel
May 20, 2011 at 2:41 pmAny book by Sarah Dessen. Yes, she is a young adult author. I teach 9-12 English and all my girls LOVE her. At one time I had a copy of each of her books. I am down to copies and the newest, What Happened To Goodbeye, on my Kindle.
I also loved The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake ahd Racing in the Rain.
Currently, I’m loving my Shelfari account. I can add all your recommendations to my “Plan to Read” List! Thank you 🙂
Melissa @ Journey to Marvelous
May 20, 2011 at 2:59 pmThis looks like a great list…definitely going to add some of these to my summer reading list!
Lauren
May 20, 2011 at 3:06 pmI’m reading “A Visit from the Goon Squad” (by Jennifer Egan) right now and absolutely love it! It’s so interesting and innovative, and totally worth all the fanfare.
Mellie
May 20, 2011 at 3:48 pmI love reading but have a hard time finding good books. Thanks for the recommendations!
Colleen
May 20, 2011 at 4:43 pmI LOVE your recommendations–seriously could not put down Sarah’s Key last summer after you posted about it. Thank you!
Parita
May 20, 2011 at 5:27 pmThanks for the recommendations! I am currently reading The Alchemist and loving it! It’s a deep book and also incredibly thought-provoking.
Andrea
May 20, 2011 at 5:58 pmLove the book recommendations!!! Since you like Kristen Hannah, you should read Night Road!!! Great book!!!!
Also, have you read The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo? I’m about half way through and I’m loving it!!!
DAILY NIBBLES: Good reads infused « daily nibbles
May 20, 2011 at 6:59 pm[…] reading list now, and as always, keen for recommendations. I snagged a few from Jenna’s recent post highlighting some good book […]
Dawn
May 21, 2011 at 6:53 amLove the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo – read the trilogy and the entire story line was great.
My friends at work got me started on the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon. If you like historical fiction, romance, and time travel, her books have it all. Don’t let the length of the books scare you. The chapters are nicely broken out so you can put them down and go back to them later….however you won’t want to put them down.
Katherine: Unemployed
May 21, 2011 at 8:08 amamazon has officially been selling more EBooks than physical ones: it’s happened
Sarah @ OC2Seattle
May 21, 2011 at 9:44 amI’ve heard great things about the Tiger’s Wife too – great book club choice!
Kim
May 21, 2011 at 8:31 pmI don’t read fiction often, but you totally caught my attention with the Civil War books. I used to want to be a Civil War historian when I was younger. I visited a bunch of the battlefields with my 8th grade class, and I memorized parts of Gone With the Wind, haha.
Lindsey @ Morningstar Project
May 22, 2011 at 12:50 pmI’m actually cutting my current book short to start up the Secret Daughter because it sounds way better than what I’m reading now. And I don’t know if you’ve read Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisinwood Bible, but it is hands down my all time favorite.
Kelly
May 22, 2011 at 1:36 pmI second the recommendation for The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. It’s beautifully written and poignant. Now I’m in the middle of Life, On the Line, the memoir of Grant Achatz and his Alinea partner Nick Kokonas. It’s fascinating and inspiring and one of those books I keep wandering back to even when I ought to be doing other things.
Rachel
May 22, 2011 at 4:34 pmI literally just finished “An Inconvenient Wife” by Megan Chance. I loved it, and could not put it down! The story takes place in New York City in the 1880s…check it out. You’ll be hooked!
Liz
May 22, 2011 at 7:11 pmSo this is a bit late of a post, but I just got a kindle for my birthday and I’m so excited to have book recommendations for the summer! And I just have to say how much I love your blog! As a twenty-something Southern girl with a goat cheese obsession…I can really connect to your blog and I love your optimistic, fun approach to blogging and food!
maria @ Chasing the Now
May 23, 2011 at 5:19 amI’ve got a few books downloaded on my Kindle app that I will work through first, but thanks for the list! 🙂
lcgrant03
May 23, 2011 at 2:56 pmElin Hilderbrand’s books are one of my favorite summer reads. I just finished The Island and looking forward to her newest novel (Silver Girl) coming out next month. She has a great way with capturing summer and has a great love of food. The Blue Bistro is my favorite foodie-esque read.
Still need to read The Help and hopefully can get to it soon! Thanks for all the suggestions. Definitely adding most of them to my list.
Colleen
May 24, 2011 at 6:55 amPut your sunbonnet on and don’t forget to pick up the Wilder Life – My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie – by Wendy McClure.
summer reading list « Are we there yet?
May 24, 2011 at 8:27 am[…] Daughter – thanks to a recommendation from Jenna at Eat, Live Run – I’ve already grabbed this one from the […]
Maddie
May 24, 2011 at 2:03 pmWHEN do you find time to read so much? But seriously…when do you normally read? Before bed? Randomly throughout the day? I am in the awful habit of checking out at least ten books at the library and then finishing two, while starting the other eight. And then they’re due back again. I’m always interested to see how others cultivate reading time in their lives…
Kait
June 8, 2011 at 1:05 pmUnbroken by Laura Hillenbrand!!! It’s a wonderful story of survival and the resilience of the human spirit. It’s one of my all time favorites. I devoured it, and after I finished it, I felt like I had my life back….it is that gripping you won’t be able to stop. Perfect book for history lovers!
Five Great Summer Reads
June 28, 2011 at 1:00 pm[…] first discovered Lisa See through the Eat Live Run Summer Reading List. While I have never had the pleasure of meeting Jenna at Eat Live Run, from her posts I can tell we […]
vacation reads — Eat, Live, Run
July 7, 2011 at 9:56 am[…] There’s nothing like losing yourself in a good book. […]
Morgan
January 7, 2012 at 1:45 amHi Jenna! This is my second time writing to you but you are SUCH an inspiration. You remind me of exactly who I want to be when I’m older and through your blog I’ve really come in touch with what I love most in life.
Anyways! I wanted to recommend this amazing book I read not to long ago: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. It’s about a gal who gets knocked off her stationary gym bike and wakes up thinking she’s only 30 but she’s actually 40 and her life is something she never thought it would be. I think you’ll love it! 🙂
Have a lovely day 🙂