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June 8, 2007
It's "Summer Reads" season!
I've really, really been trying to get back on the book-reading wagon, now that I've pretty much got my online interaction habits in a more palatable routine (I still have those pesky blog feeds to take care of... I wonder if people are reading blogs as much anymore). I've often lamented my lack of readers advisory skills, mostly because I'm just not attracted to best sellers, which seem to be the bulk of RA requests at my library, and I'm really bad at remembering names.
As it turns out, there's a whole slew of people working the summer reading season angle, which makes it kinda handy for me. This morning I heard a story on NPR about small booksellers recommending summer reads, several of which are actually older books making a comeback. NPR actually has a whole Summer Books '07 feature, which might be nice to build a display around, including a sort of grown up Freaks and Geeks selection and summer cookbooks.
I received Libraries@Random in my inbox this morning which included their summer read recommendations, and I would link to it if Random House would fix their link to the email, but alas, I cannot. What I can do is give you the list, though, because in spite of all Random's faults, it's an interesting mix and should be shared:
Sheer Abandon by Penny Vincenzi
Mary Modern: A Novel by Camille DeAngelis: Something about this book screams, "Do a book club series with Children of Men by PD James and this book." Who knows, I just might do it myself.
Soon I Will Be Invincible: A Novel by Austin Grossman : This one is also on the small bookseller recommends list from NPR... looks like a must read for comic readers and morality fiction readers alike. This'll be on my list this summer.)
Last Flag Down: The Epic Journey of the Last Confederate Warship by John Baldwin and Ron Powers
The Manny by Holly Peterson: This book has a very urban chick lit feel to it. I'm guessing the Shopaholic crowd might like it. But I'm just guessing. It might also go well with The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy on the NPR small booksellers list.
Keeping the House by Ellen Barker
Last Nightingale by Anthony Flacco
Other summer book lists of note:
* Publisher's Weekly (4/9/2007): Also includes Soon I will be invicible, which gives me the impression that I should put a hold on this book *now* so I'll actually be able to read it soon.
* 10 Biz Books to Read This Summer (5/31/2007): There's a lot to learn from in this list, even for librarians, like Coolhunting by Peter Gloor and Scott Cooper, Your Management Sucks by Mark Stevens, and Buddha: 9 to 5 by Nancy Spears, to name a few.
* Summer Reads: Salon Books (6/3/2007): Links to the first of a four-part series on summer reading recommendations. The ads are annoying, but the summaries are robust, and the selections for the "Killer Thrillers" this week look really interesting.
My Books application on Facebook is already updated with my desired reads. :)
June 8, 2007 9:55 AM