summer reading

i've read some great books this summer. here are my favorites:

#1: Alice Ozma, The Reading Promise

my dad gave me this book which makes it extra meaningful. the book is about a promise alice made with her dad to read aloud together every day from the time she was nine until her first day of college. what an accomplishment!

she writes, "We called it The Reading Streak, but it was really more of a promise. A promise to each other, a promise to ourselves. A promise to always be there and to never give up. It was a promise of hope in hopeless times. It was a promise of comfort when things got uncomfortable. And we kept our promise to each other. But more than that, it was a promise to the world: a promise to remember the power of the printed word, to take time to cherish it, to protect it at all costs. He promised to explain, to anyone and everyone he meets, the life-changing ability literature can have. He promised to fight for it. So that’s what he’s doing."

this is a sweet read about the relationship between a dad, a daughter, and their books. you'll finish it with the belief that books are essential for a parent/child relationship. while my dad and i didn't make it eight years of reading together every day, he made reading with me a priority and this book reaffirmed how lucky i am that he did.

#2: Pat Conroy, My Reading Life

i'm fascinated by books authors write about writing (and in this case, reading). i know that nearly every author tries to de-romantacize his profession, but still, there's something unduly romantic about the life of a writer. my favorite chapters are the ones about his mother's love of gone with the wind and the English teacher who "pointed him onto the path of letters." several times conroy states that books saved his life; his books make you believe that is true.

favorite lines:

*writing is the only way i have to explain my own life to myself.

*i reach for a story to save my own life.

*turn me into something else, writers of the world. tell me everything i must know. hold nothing back.

*the most powerful words in english are "tell me a story."

and saving the best for last....

#3: John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

this novel did exactly what conroy believes a novel should: changed my life, turned me into something else, left me changed.

it is incredible.

i don't really know what else to say about it. i cried and cried and cried some more. any summary i try to offer will do the book injustice. it's worth the read and might just leave you a better person. the writing is witty, tragic, hopeful, honest, and downright brilliant.

favorite lines....(all images from pinterest)





















*the fault, dear brutus, is not in our stars / but in ourselves...there is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars.

*it seemed like forever ago, like we'd had this brief but still infinite forever. some infinities are bigger than other infirmities.

*it's hard as hell to hold on to your dignity when the risen sun is too bright in your losing eyes.

*grief does not change you, it reveals you.

what else would add? what are your must-reads this summer?