Summer Reading List

Now that I have finished the first six books of the Harry Potter series, here are the rest of the books that are on my summer reading list.

• The Wizard’s Daughter by Victoria Graydale – a first novel by a friend of mine. The more I discuss promotional possibilities about her book the more I can’t wait for my first novel to find a publisher so I can get on with my writing career.
  
• The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon – Chabon is that unique writer who can be at home both in the geek world of genre literature and the frou-frou world of Literature. In fact, his 2001 book, The Adventure of Kavalier and Clay did both…and won him the Pulitzer. Now, he’s crafted an alternate history, noir, detective novel set in Alaska where the Jewish nation was not created in the Middle East but in the town of Sitka. Chabon’s prose is what makes him special. Oh, to write close to that…
• Up in Honey’s Room by Elmore Leonard – The Dialogue Master. Leonard’s way of writing is to get characters together, get them talking, and see what happens. That’s not exactly my way of doing things—so far, I’m an outliner because I like to plan my books and stories—but Leonard’s books are just plain fun.
• The Overlook by Michael Connelly – The revised Harry Bosch story first published in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. I created an eBook version of the NYT story and, as a writer, it is fascinating to compare the two works and figure out why Connelly made certain corrections. It shall be a lesson in writing and a dang good story. I recently met him at a book signing and he inscribed the neatest thing for me: “Writing is fighting. I hope you knock them out.”
• Short Science Fiction – For a few years, every summer I would buy both Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best Science Fiction and David Hartwell’s Year’s Best SF. I don’t have a lot of time to read so I let them cull the field and then I’d read those stories. I got behind so I’m working my way through the ones I already have, both to finish the books as well as research into the current state of SF. I plan to publish SF in my writing career as well as historical novels and mysteries.
• The Space Opera Renaissance - I am curious about space opera in the printed world. Sure, the movie/TV stuff is easy to watch and like: Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, the Adventure of Brisco County, Jr. But how did it evolve in the printed world. That's a question for the summer, too.
  
• Heinlein’s YA Books – Ever since visiting DisneyWorld in April, the world of YA fiction has awakened in me. I’d like to try my hand at it. And since I can’t determine if my stories should be SF or straight-up mysteries, I’m starting with Heinlein’s classics: Have Spacesuit Will Travel, The Rolling Stones, and Citizen of the Galaxy. Why those? Because the library has audiobook versions.
• Audiobooks – speaking of audiobooks, here is my list of audiobooks I’ll be listening to this summer: Boomsday, Nixon and Kissenger, Kingdom Keepers (another DisneyWorld connection), and Walt Disney’s biography.
• One Hundred years of Solitude – It’s just one of those books I’ve wanted to read for about 15 years now. I know I should. Perhaps this will be the summer it happens.

That’s about all for now. This list keeps churning and changing so I’ll update it when necessary.