This week's reading list

People are always recommending books to me which 'you have to read this' exhortations.  Here is the latest of these 'must reads' which are loaded up on my kindle.  Some of these deserve a good long review, others are to be purchased for the library collection at Bialik, and still others are for recommendation to my book club:

Jonathan Franzen.  Freedom (reading the sample tonight before bedtime)
Scott Spenser.  Man in the Woods.
Barbara Kingsolver.  The Lacuna.
Alan Furst.  Spies of the Balkans.
Colum McCann.  Let the great world spin.
Aharon Appelfeld.  Blooms od Darkness.

Others, such as 'Commencement' by J.Courtney Sullivan, and 'Secret Daughter' by Shilpi Somaya Gow, as well as Jamie Ford's 'Hotel on the corner of Bitter and Sweet', are titles I stumbled on in airport bookstores, along with Janna McMahan's 'The Ocean Inside'.  I have read the samples and would consider recommending these for a good read on the road, or in a deck chair on the dock.

Gary Shteynhart is taking us for another wild ride in his latest 'Super Sad True Love Story'.  Buyer beware though, Shteynhart is not for the literary faint of heart.

Reading Samples on my Kindle

I used to keep lists of books and authors that were mentioned to me by students or colleagues or friends.  I would take note (or perhaps not) of any interesting new titles which I came across in journals and newspapers, or heard about on the radio. Eventually, I would get around to checking on Amazon or Indigo/Chapters for the bibliographic info and put them into my 'to order' list.  Now I rush to check if there is a sample of the work on Amazon's Kindle website and, instantly upload the chapters onto my machine for quick consumption.  I take advantage of this opportunity to assess material for my high school library, for my book club, for my family and of course, myself. Because I am a librarian, people are always asking me what they should read next, and now I have a better idea. The many samples on my Kindle right now include several recent bestsellers, as well as a collection of YA suggestions gleaned from various sources, usually the kids around me at school.  I have become much more savvy to what they are talking about because I carry my Kindle about wherever I go these days and read it during every opportunity - meetings, doctor's appointments, etc. I even enjoy reading in the evening using the Kindle.  When my eyes are tired at the end of the day, I enlarge the font and continue to burn the midnight oil.  Some of the books I have purchased either in Kindle or hardcopy and am reading now include several memoirs, for which I thank Roz Reisner.  Roz, author of 'Read On...Life Stories: Reading Lists for Every Taste" and 'Jewish American Literature; Reading Lists for Every Taste" gave a great session at the Association of Jewish Libraries Convention in July and provided a recommended list which I am pouring through:

Anne Roiphe,  'Epilogue'; Tom Reiss 'The Orientalist', Michael Chabon 'Manhood for Amateurs'.