Summer Reading List

  Summer is one of the best times to pick up a book and lose yourself for a few hours. I recently read a piece by author, Zadie Smith detailing just how much she likes to read and create memories through books.  I felt like I had found a kindred spirit.  Books are a vacation to me and never more so than in the summer months.  Sitting on my deck in the early morning, curled up on my sunny living room sofa in the late afternoon or nestled in bed at night I’m at my most content when I’m swimming and diving through the pages of a good read.  Here is what we are reading right now.  

FOR THE GROWN UPS   If you like to imagine you are living on a wooded compound, just off a lake then Bittersweet: A Novel  by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore is a good pick. It is the story of two college roommates, Ev and Mabel who spend the summer at Winloch, Ev’s summer estate. As the summer months slip by swimming in the lake, boating and exploring the land surrounding the family home, Mabel discovers that the Winslow family holds more than just one dark secret close to the chest. It’s an easy read, one that will make you want to head up to Vermont and live in a little cottage for the summer. I found it just perfect for a week at the beach.   FOR THE KIDS  by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore is a good pick. It is the story of two college roommates, Ev and Mabel who spend the summer at Winloch, Ev’s summer estate. As the summer months slip by swimming in the lake, boating and exploring the land surrounding the family home, Mabel discovers that the Winslow family holds more than just one dark secret close to the chest. It’s an easy read, one that will make you want to head up to Vermont and live in a little cottage for the summer. I found it just perfect for a week at the beach.   FOR THE KIDS   Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold: Book One of the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series (Volume 1) by Iain Reading is the first book in a series all about Kitty Hawk a thirteen year-old pilot/detective who sets off on adventures that take her around the world with each new mystery.  This first installment is all about how her plan to spend the summer studying humpback whales in Alaska turns into so much more.  Before Kitty Hawk knows it she is on the search for some stolen gold.  Shipwrecks, treks through Canada and Alaska ensue and a whole lot of adventure and precarious situations are in store for her in this fun, educational and spirited read.  My eight year-old and I were surprised at the depth of this book and will be spending the summer immersed in Kitty Hawk’s world.