Summer Reading List

Things are starting to heat up this summer.  I was finally able to make it to the beach today and it was nearly perfect weather.  If there was more of a breeze, I would've been more comfortable, not so sticky.  Anyways, one of my favorite things about summer is the freedom to do some light reading.  It isn't school related, but purely for fun.  Here is the list of books I am dying to dig into.

A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai

The One & Only by Emily Griffin

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Donna Tartt won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with this novel and is an an alum of Kappa, so I have to read it!

I can't wait to read these books on my Kindle over the summer.  What are your summer reading plans? 

Gone Girl: A Novel

I wrote a week or so back that I would start reading Gillian Flynn's novel Gone Girl as it has been loaded on my Kindle for over... a year... I am ashamed to say this book was just sitting on my electronic bookshelf without being read for so long.  I made the purchase when Gone Girl was at the height of its popularity. And due to work, school, and well life... I never got around to reading it.

Well, let's just say that leaving this book sit around for a year will be on a list of regrets.  Gillian  Flynn completely captured by interest and my brain as she pulled me into the mystery of Nick and Amy Dunne's obscure, psychotic marriage.  Don't let that turn you away.  This novel was a page turner as I became desperate to solve the mystery of Amy's disappearance.

Flynn sets the novel up in three parts, with the first containing old diary entries leading up to her disappearance written by Amy, and Nick's current thoughts and dealings with his wife's disappearance on their fifth wedding anniversary in a small, Missouri town.  The other two parts expose the climax and to discuss it would just reveal too many spoilers.

This novel was complex in its mystery yet kept the reader's attention through its humor, wit and romantic tendencies.  In a case like this, it becomes natural to pick a side: Victim or Accused?  But through Flynn's writing, I was falling in love with both Amy, the woman who is described as men wanting her and women wanting to be here, and surprisingly, Nick.  Even though he is quickly pegged as the number one suspect in Amy's disappearance.  Both characters are flawed making them realistic.  Yet both characters are brilliant, keeping the reader wondering what they will do next.

Bottom line: Looking for a read to exercise your brain yet fall into a couple's romance? Read Gone Girl, it will blow your mind as the plot unfolds.
Check out Amazon to grab yourself a Kindle, paperback or hardcover copy of the novel.