What Should I Read At The Pool this Summer?

Reading has always been one of my favorite past time.  I love to lose myself in a good book!  And I especially love a good book series that has me hooked from book one and leads me on a great journey through several books.  Sadly, as the mom of a toddler, I do not get to read as much as I used to.  But I try to do it any time I can find a free minute.  Needless to say I wholeheartedly agree with Krystal’s suggest to join a book club!  Last year I got together with a few friends and started a Mook Club!  I have to admit that I stole this idea from a friend… but basically it’s a book club that reads books that have been made into movies.  And when we meet up for our monthly book club gathering, we watch the movie adaptation of the book we just read!  Sometimes we chat more than watch the movie.  Sometimes (when the movie is especially good) we get sucked in and spend the whole time comparing the differences and similarities.  It’s a great way to take the pressure off!  Most of the time (sadly) I just can’t find the time to finish the book each month.  So if I didn’t get to finish it, no big deal – we’re watching the movie anyway!  Plus, I have a few friends who’d love the chance to socialize, but aren’t big ‘readers’, and this is a great way to include them!

But whether you start a Mook Club or a more traditional Book Club, or even if you just like to read on your own, there’s always the question – what book should I read next?  So here are a few of my favorite books divided into different genres —

Mook Club Books

• Time Travelors Wife by Audrey Niffenegger – great book and pretty good movie!  Might also be an “all time favorite” book!
• Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald — A classic we’ve all probably read already, but worth the read again.  Especially since a new movie with Leonardo DiCaprio is coming out soon!!
• The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson — Really good book, also really good movie.  But very heavy subject matter, so definitely be prepared for that.
• Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy — also an “all time favorite”, but the movie is so good too.  And our book club hasn’t read/watched this one yet!
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin — but for this mook night I’d watch Bridget Jones Diary, because that movie was based on P & P the book!

The options for Mook Club are almost endless, so I really hope you can get inspired!  Check out this link if you need more ideas!

Mom Books

• What To Expect when You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel — how can you not get this book if you are pregnant?  It’s got answers to most of the questions you could possibly think of.  The pictures and suggestions are all great. Definitely worth owning and devouring!
• The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp — personally not my favorite baby book, but some people swear by it.
• Mommy Guide to Breastfeeding by Suzanne Fredregill — if you are going to only get one book on this Mom’s Book list – get this one!  GREAT suggestions and info on breastfeeding that I didn’t find anywhere else.
• Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy — mostly funny, sometimes annoying.  Some things were so eerily similar to my pregnancy that I thought she must be in my head!
• Your Best Birth by Ricky Lake — the book that made me decide to have a natural child birth.  The facts and info in this book will change your whole perspective on childbirth!
• The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears – info on vaccines to help you make the right decisions for your family.  Dr. Sears really tries to be unbiased and informative.  He’s definitely not against vaccines, but is just trying to inform!

My disclaimer for my “Mom Book” suggestions to new moms – being a mom is so different for every… And since every child is different you really have to pick and choose what info works for your family and ignore more than half the books and info out there.  I liked most of these books, but always found something I didn’t agree with.  So I just picked what I liked out of each one and built my own ideas from there!

All Time Favorites

• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez — Top 5 favorite of all time!
• The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts by Louis De Bernieres — it’s the first in a trilogy and the best one.  All 3 are good, but this one is the absolute best!
• Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres — Top 5 fav
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin — worth mentioning again because it’s one of my top 5 and every time I read it I love it more and more.
• History of Love by Nicole Krauss — I believe there is movie now, but this book is so beautiful I am afraid to the movie could never live up to it!
• For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway — fortunately I wasn’t forced to read this in high school, so when I picked it up later in life I was able to appreciate it and really fell in love with it.

I love so many authors and books that I find it hard to narrow it down for a list like this.  So I want to throw in a few authors who I gobble up and love anything they’ve written.  Obviously Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Love in the Time of Cholera is a classic everyone should read) but his other books are also amazing, all of Jane Austin’s books are worth reading, A.M. Homes (This Book Will Save Your Life and Music for Torching are my favs), and Anthony Burgess just to name a few.

Light Summer Reading

• The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells — such a good fun read!  In fact, I might pick it up and read it again this summer, it’s been a while.
• Anything by Laurie Notaro — All her books are light reads that make me laugh out loud until my face hurts and people think I’m going crazy.
• The Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella — I’ve only read the first two in this series, but they are such fun light reads that you can’t go wrong!  I’ve read some of her other books too and liked them.
• The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer — please don’t judge me, but everyone else was reading this and I just couldn’t help myself.  Aside from the whiny teenage love story, the vampire story is pretty entertaining actually.  And The Host by Stephanie Meyer is even better!
• The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling — unless you live under a rock you’ve probably read these or seen the movies.  But I cannot get enough of them!  I love the depth that book 6 and 7 go in to, and I love the magical world that Rowling creates.  Such a fun summer read!
• The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld — another fun teen series.  The first one was my favorite, but book 3 made me sad.  But I couldn’t put them down.

Well, these are just a few of my favorites worth sharing.  But like I said, I’m always looking for a good book to read next!  So… what book do you suggest I read next?  Whether it’s a light summer book or your all time favorite, I’d love to hear!!