From One Book Lover

We're getting down to the wire here at the Summer Reading Club headquarters: the end is near! Well, the end of summer reading is approaching. (For this club, it's the Sunday of or after the autumnal equinox. This year, that's September 27, the first day of Fall for the Book !) How are you doing with your reading? Have you deviated from your list, attracted by shiny new (or new to you) books? Or are you focused on what you want to read, book reviews be damned? I'm cheating on my original book list . (As usual.) I like the idea of a guideline, but I also like to deviate from my pre-approved script of reading w hen I read about a "great new book" from Book Riot, stumble across a great book in the library or one of my reading cohorts lets me know what's on their nightstand or Audible list. Since Memorial Day, I've consumed about 3o books, and I have bookmarks in a few others. Here are the books currently on my nightstand: The Monk Prisoner ...

As the days grow chillier and the sun sets sooner each night, I look back fondly on my summer reading — and, I have to say, it was pretty good.  Below is a list of books I completed, the final book skidding in under the wire as the clock ticked down to autumn. I did not like all of the books. In fact, I probably would not recommend Southern Gods or Poe's Children. (The former was more gory than Gothic, the latter too eclectic and scattered a vision.) I threw a couple of children's books into the mix, and more than my share of hefty tomes. Here they are, the most recent at the top of the list. Illusions Ella Minnow Pea Under New York   The Firebird   Catwings   Catwings Return Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings Jane on her Own: A Catwings Tale Southern Gods Unnatural Creatures Dreamfever Poe's Children The Tarantula in My Purse and 172 Other Wild Pets Salt Sugar Fat The New Yorker Book of Cat Cartoons The Charles Addams Mother Goose I...