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Monday, May 2, 2011

Monday Discussion: Summer Reading

It is the first week of May and plans for our Adult Summer Reading Program are in full swing.  This year we are using the theme "Novel Destinations," and highlighting the fun and interesting destinations you can visit in the Chicagoland area.  Betty and I are also planning a fun display which will take our patrons on a murder mystery around the world.  There is plenty more in store.  Details will follow soon.

But we are not the only ones thinking summer already.  Last week we got the official summer reading lists from the local high school and Random House sent out this summer reading link.  Early Word also already has 11 posts in their Summer 2011 Archive.  You can also access the Summer '11 catalog from the publishers on the main page of Early Word down at the bottom of the right gutter.

Some of my patrons are starting to pull together their own personal summer reading plans.  We will finalized the last 6 months of the book club suggestions by the end of May and many of the ladies in book club want their ballots back after the votes are tallied so that they can read some of the "losers" this summer.

My dad already decided that he will spend this summer re-reading the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  As a warm up, he begins The Hobbit this week.

All of this planning has got me thinking of what I am going to read this summer.  Although I do not have a specific plan as of yet, I am going to make an effort to read a few titles off of my person backlist.  In my line of work, you end up reading a lot of new books, but this summer, I want to make a dent in the older titles.  Here is the link to my "Plan to Read" list on Shelfari.  A few titles that have been on that list for a long time are River God by Wilbur Smith, War for the Oaks by Emma Bull, and Bloodroot by Amy Greene.  I was also thinking of re-reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, one of my all-time favorite books, in honor of its 10th Anniversary.

So, for today's Monday Discussion, what are your summer reading plans?

Click here to access the Monday Discussion Archive.

2 comments:

John BPL RA said...

I have half a mind to tackle the many books on my shelf at home that I bought and never read but will likely be distracted by new releases that catch my eye at work...seems to happen every year.

Laurie C said...

I'm not sure what I'll be reading yet, but I just listened to a great audiobook for summer: Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead, narrated to perfection by Mirron Willis.
It starts on the first day the narrator's family (he's 15) goes out to their summer home in Sag Harbor, where previous generations of middle-class black families had built up the neighborhood of summer houses, and it ends on Labor Day. It's a coming-of-age story and seems to capture perfectly that sense of summer, first stretching out before you and then is over.
Lots of colorful swearing, so not recommended for the family car trip!