Spring is really here now. I love how this time of year every time you go out the landscape has changed drastically. Flowers that weren’t out of the ground the day before are suddenly half a foot tall and in full bloom. Glorious.
Here’s what I’ve been looking at while walking:
And here’s what I’ve been listening to:
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I spent hours reading The Stand on the beach last month. Life is good. (Still not finished though…)
Summer reading is the best! I read sixteen books this month, and many of them were read on the beach, listened to in the car with my kids, or in my ears when I was taking a nice long twilight walk after dinner. Below are short descriptions of ten of the best.
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton - This was probably my fifth time reading this, but my first time on audio. It was a really good book to listen to. I got so into it one night when I was walking that when a squirrel ran out in front of me I jumped a mile thinking is was a t-rex or something.
The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff - Even though the love story felt forced to me, I still liked this book a lot. The truth is it would be hard to make me hate a WWII spy novel.
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid - I had heard rave reviews of this one, so I was feeling the pressure to like this futuristic book about refugees traveling through mysterious doors. A totally weird story that resonates with stories you read in the news.
The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict -I was fascinated by this novelization of the early life of Hedy Lamarr, the early Hollywood star/torpedo designer/Nazi escapee.
the princess saves herself in this one by Amanda Lovelace - I always think poetry will be hard to read, and then am surprised when it isn’t. This collection was sitting on my shelf for months, and I found the strong and emotional poems to be just the right thing for carrying in my purse and dipping into when I had a few minutes.
Wicked by Gregory Maguire - Another book I finally got to. I obviously knew the ending, but was very interested to see how Maguire would make it come out.
The Lady and the Panda by Vicki Constantine Croke - The story behind the first giant panda captured for a zoo. Fascinating. I’ll never think the same way when I go.
Things A Little Bird Told Me by Biz Stone - I found this audiobook to be interesting and relatable. Even kajillionaire Twitter inventors have bad days at work, and I appreciated Stone’s take on them.
The Runaway Jury by John Grisham - vintage Grisham at his best. I hope to get to more of these over the summer.
Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid - The books from The Austen Project aren’t very good on their own, but I do enjoy reading them to see how contemporary authors will spin some of my favorite classics. I bought this when it first came out, and it sat in my audiobooks.com account for years. I’m glad I finally got to it.
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