On today’s show we took caller suggestions for great books to read over the summer months.
Some are for adults and some are for children and some are for both.
Have any other suggestions? Leave a comment and let us know!
Click through for the full list!
Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Ark, the Reed, and the Fire Cloud by Jenny Cote
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Restless Flame: A Novel About Saint Augustine by Louis de Wohl
Waking Rose by Regina Doman
Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s by John Elder Robison
Watership Down by Richard Adams
With Love from Karen by Marie Kililea
Replay by Ken Grimwood
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I, Robot by Issac Asimov
Paula by Isabel Allende
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Miracle Worker by WIlliam Gibson
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Hatchet by Gary Paulson
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald
Quo Vadis by Henrick Sieniewicz
I highly recommend Donna Tartt’s 2 novels. She is a catholic author from Mississippi. “The Little Friend” is a wonderful summer adventure that will remind you of the childhood innocents of years gone by. “The Secret History” is Tartt’s finest work and is a joy to listen to in the audio format as it is read by the author. With both you will laugh and cry but most of all praise the excellent writing of this fine author. She follows in the footsteps of the great Flannery O’connor.
Have a blessed Summer & Enjoy !!! DMc
Maybe not beach reading, but Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin is the best I’ve ever read. I also like Father Elijah by Michael O’Brien.
http://www.amazon.com/Winters-Tale-Mark-Helprin/dp/0156031191/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244044321&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Father-Elijah-Apocalypse-Michael-OBrien/dp/0898706904/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244044364&sr=1-1
Help! I can’t seem to get to the list.
The Shack – William P. Young – This was our suggested summer reading from our Priest last year. Great book, easy but impactful read. After reading I gave to my mom and mother-in-law, both have in turn passed it along to many others.
Christ the Lord – Anne Rice – After coming back to the Catholic Church she began a triology on the life of Christ. Cuurently there are two books out, Out of Egpyt and Road to Cana. A great look at Christ’s childhood and early adulthood in the terms of his humanity.
Peace Like a River – Lief Einger – loved this book. A teenage boy shoots two others in apparent (or is it) self-defense and goes on the run. The story is about his younger brother, sister, and Dad, and their journey to find him. I loved the spirtual side to the father, and the western poetry by the little sister.
I can’t see the full list either.
It seems like school-published summer reading lists for kids are very heavy on themes like: Holocaust, Native American, gangs and the Asia and Middle East. I always wonder if no one is writing books about anything ELSE anymore.
I second the suggestion of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn–that is my all-time favorite book ever.
For adults/older teens, an interesting author is (unfortunately deceased now) Jon Hassler. He has many novels, set in Minnesota/the surrounding area.
Homer Hickam’s memoirs concerning his early years in learning about rockets are fascinating and also good for adults or teens. The first one has two titles: originally ROCKET BOYS, now OCTOBER SKY.
For younger kids (first through 3rd grade) a great series is Geronimo Stilton, a mouse who solves mysteries, kind of like a rodent Indiana Jones.
The list is really just a bunch of amazon graphic links. Those aren’t showing up? I was adding them as people suggested them, but I guess I could go back and convert them as regular links if it’s not working.
The only graphic I see is “Gone with the Wind” and when you click it, you get an empty page with just the graphics. The last text I see is “Click through for the full list.” But there’s nowhere to click.
I updated all the links so they are just text-based now. Please let me know if you still can’t read them. Sorry about that. I have no idea why the images weren’t showing up for some people.
Thanks for fixing that! I can see all the links now.
April beat me to it but The Shack is excellent reading. My spiritual director recommended it and WOW!
Good list! I have a couple of favorites for kids.
Some of my favorite children’s book are The Dragons of Blueland series by Ruth Stiles Gannett.
I remember my mom created excitement about reading in the summer by making a trip to the library a big deal. We got to pick out our own bag to bring our books home in and she would let us learn to use the catalogue and wander amongst the stacks ourselves like “big kids”. Also, we watched our mom and dad read books in the evening and that kind of inspired us as well.
Happy reading!
Seeing Ken Grimwood’s Replay up there which I read recently made me think of The Time Traveler’s Wife which is a much better book with similar themes (although I enjoyed replay). Definitely read it before the movie comes out later this year since from everything I’ve heard they’ve completely watered it down. I have heard good things about the film adaptation of the road though so looking forward to that.
Also, although it’s admittedly not for everyone (or most people lol) i’d be remiss in not recommending David Foster Wallace’s book Inifinite Jest since it remains one of my all time favorites, and long enough to take up a whole summer!
Oops, I suppose I should have mentioned that Audrey Niffenegger wrote the time traveler’s wife. 🙂
I just started this podcast and was happy to hear someone mention THE GREAT BRAIN series for kids.
In the late 1970s I was teaching 6th grade in Wittmann, AZ and I took some of these out of the “big city” library for my kids. I may have read the first one aloud to them and got hooked myself. I read all of them.
I think they’re a great series of books for kids… young or young @ heart! I’d forgotten about them till you mentioned them.
Thanks for reviving some memories from those days!
Have a great summer!
I also recommend the Natalie Babbitt books for kids. My 6th graders enjoyed hearing The Search for Delicious… a great book to read aloud! I would read it after lunch or recess and the kid would draw pictures of what they were envisioning. She has written several books. Have your kids check them out!