Summer reading list

The time of the year where I tend to read the most would be summer. Well and fall. I tend to have a little bit more time on my hands during those times of the year and thus I find myself snuggled up with a book a lot more quickly. This summer, I thought it would be fun to pick a few books that I plan on finishing this summer. I ended up picking 6 and a series and this is them.

The books are a very random selection. Two books I already started reading earlier this year and I’m about half way in. Some other books I plan on reading are classics, but I have also chucked in some easy to read popular novels just for the fun of it. And Harry Potter. My summer would be incomplete without Harry.

Harry Potter series

I love reading Harry Potter over summer. I usually start at the end of the school year. It is always hella busy and it is a great way to take my mind off of things on the way to or home from work. Any of the books I then haven’t read I’ll finish during my summer break. They are a quick and absorbing read and no matter how many times I read them (I think this summer is the fifth time or so) I keep finding layers and details I hadn’t noticed before. And yet, I can get through one book in a day (except for the 5th one, that is just too big to be read in one day).

Steven Pinker – Words and Rules

I like reading books on language from time to time. This was the first book in a long that required me to grab a marker and a pencil and mark important bits. It is always nice to brush up your knowledge again. I already started this book earlier this year but then gave up on it half way into it. Not because it was difficult or dreary, quite the contrary. I was so busy that processing even more information on the train was simply impossible. Since it is more of an informative book, I decided to put it away and make it a point to finish it before the end of the year. I hope to read some of it during summer. Even if it is just one chapter, I want to make progress so I will only have a little bit left by the end of the year.

Thomas Hardy – Far From the Maddening Crowd

When I was in London in May, I saw posters for a movie rendition of this story all about featuring Carey Mulligan and some other rather well known actors. I read up on what the story was about and figured I’d want to read the book first before watching the movie. But I heard that is good as well and it’s a nice way to brush up on some classics. I try to (re)read a few every year (last year featured Pride & Prejudice) and this seems like a lovely story. But with classics you just never know about the writing, but from what I can remember of Hardy’s writing it’s quite easy to read. However, I still find that classics take more of an effort to read than most modern day novels.

Dracula’s Guest

This collection of stories about vampires hailing from the Victorian era had been on my TBR for so long. So earlier this year I decided to pick it up. Every time I was between books I read a few stories and I am nearly halfway through. I have decided that this is going to come with me on vacation as I think the short stories in here will be great for reading a bit here and there when I am at a restaurant or on a plane/ train. Not all the stories are as good, but I remember feeling that I was only coming onto the good stuff by now. Let’s hope it is.

Charlotte Brontë – Jane Eyre

The Brontë Sisters have written some of the best English classic books and Jane Eyre is one I have yet to read. Well, I did read. A LONG time ago, when I hardly knew any English. I had to read an abridged version of this in school and I figured it was about time to read the real thing. I didn’t even own this yet and I went out to the book store specifically to purchase this (and then I also found Far From the Maddening Crowd at the same time). This is another book I’ll pack for vacation as I like having another book on hand so I am not completely without it. However, I can always use my tablet for reading some Sherlock Holmes if the urge strikes me.

Alex Grecian – The Black Country
Alex Grecian – The Devil’s Workshop

From time to time I love reading books that suck me straight in and that I breeze through within what feels like seconds. I read the first book in this series by Alex Grecian called The Yard. They are detective novels set in Victorian London in the wake of the Jack the Ripper murders. It is a mixture of CSI (as there is a doctor experimenting with forensics), Sherlock Holmes (deductions, deductions) and some clever writing. At least that was what the first one was like. I loved that book, so when I found the two follow ups at my local bookstore I decided to pick them up.

Plenty to get through it seems. What are your summer reading picks?