My Summer Reading List..

Something that I remember about growing up, is that reading was always greatly encouraged.  There was a bookcase taking up a whole wall in the back of the living room, and to reach some of the books, you had to use a chair.  We had all sorts of books, encyclopedias, set of books about the Wild West, and the Civil War.  Countless tomes that detailed American Presidents, and an almanac from every year of at least my entire life.  My Daddy enjoyed reading the almanac and would receive one each year for Christmas.  Next to his chair, Daddy had all sorts of books, some with book marks, some with newspaper articles or pictures tucked between the pages.  He read the newspaper in its entirety, he went through books faster than anyone I have ever seen, and remembered it all.

Something else I recently thought of, that kind of helped form this idea of a Summer Reading List, is the Summer I think before 6th grade.  It might have been 1993.  My Mother took my Brother and I to the local Library, I don’t really remember how many times we went.  I know there were lots of books about cats for me, and maybe super heroes for him; we were able to take part in arts and crafts that they had there too.  It stuck with me, that a Library was a place where you could find an adventure, have some fun, and even make a bookmark out of felt, also shaped like a cat- don’t judge me!  That was a close by branch of the Library, but somewhere down town when I was a few years older, my parents took me to look at books about Doc Holliday.  I was writing a paper on the infamous friend of Wyatt Earp, and became quite obsessed, again, no judging please! The huge space with floors and floors of books..it made it really feel like this was where everything was possible.  I could learn anything here.  Its a feeling I still have when I enter a library or book store.

I think that I mentioned at some point previously that I was taking the Summer off school to regroup, and let my mind charge a little.  Well because I’m me..I also decided that I could use this time that I wasn’t mandated to reading for school to read some books that had been sitting sadly on the book case in my room.  They were books that I really did want to read, and two I had started but was never able to finish because I ended up ass deep in some assignment for school.  I mean, stuff happens.  So I assigned myself a Summer Reading list.  I would read at least four books, and I would come here to tell y’all about them.  You can find all these books on Amazon with the handy links I’m throwing in here..So lets hit it!!!

The first was The Lost Girls.  I actually started this while I was in Pa with my Family during my mothers hip surgery. It’s about three friends that quit their jobs, leave loved ones and apartments behind, and take off on a year long journey all over the world.  The locations that they traveled to, and the things that they made sure to work into the trip sounded like things that I myself would love to experience.  I learned some lessons about myself, and the idea that you sometimes have to get lost in something that you really enjoy in order to find yourself.  The laughs that I shared with these three women writers were incredible, and sparked my wanderlust all the more.  Who wants a travel buddy?

Next up on the list was something a little different, and while I think it was hard for me at first to switch gears, I was brought to finish another book that I had started before and was very excited to get back into.  The book is Jerry Lee Lewis- His Own Story.  It is, obviously, the story of Jerry Lee Lewis.  It starts when he is an impressionable yet mischievous boy in Ferriday Louisiana.  Something that I really enjoyed about this was that it is written largely in his southern dialect. For my Pennsylvania born self, it was at times difficult, but living in Florida as long as I have, and listening to country music for the most part; I do from time to time slip into a pretty impressive southern accent. Normally just for a few words here and there, but reading this book, it was whole paragraphs.  You can feel the struggles of my beloved Jerry Lee.  I love him, went to see him in concert a few years ago with my sister for my birthday, and would happily marry him any day of the week! The change in perspective that he had on life and the way he was living it is a marvel to take in, and while he knows some of the things he did may have been morally wrong; you can tell that he is still somewhat proud of his rebel days.  If you allow him into your heart, he will stay there for ever.

Jerry Lee Lewis : His Own Story

I once again changed it up totally and picked up a book that I had not started reading, and it is now the basis of a verrrry popular Netflix show.  That’s right folks, Orange is the New Black.  Long before season two even hit America with a jab cross combo, my brother had gotten me this book for Christmas.  I am so sad that I never was able to read it, but elated that I added it to this list to read now.  I KNOW I have never said this before to ya’ll..but I myself have been to jail..twice.  I was only there overnight and for court both times, and no I am not a criminal.  I just made some not so wise choices.  Well anyway, while I know to a certain extent what going to jail is like, going to a Federal Prison for 15 months, is a really different thing all together.  The details and the personalities that you are introduced to in this book are not like anything you can really get even from the television show.  You really get an understanding of the day to day things that affect a woman in prison for a long period of time.  Piper Kerman really nails it when she gives the information that I maybe didn’t even know that I wanted to know. I’d like to think that prisoners are basically in safe conditions and have basic needs met, but they are not, and they do not.  Instead what I experienced here was something that I can always identify with-Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome.

If you haven’t noticed a theme just yet, the theme must be change.  For me, I am recently in a constant state of changing things up, making myself a little better with each step that I take.  This particular step was one back to music, to an autobiography of another of my most favorite singers.  I received it sealed in plastic, an old copy of Living Proof.  It is the story of Hank Williams Jr.  I was a little hesitant to even open it.  It seemed a little too special, but with its worn book cover, I could tell that someone before me had loved it, and I wanted to as well.  This novel starts in two places at once really.  In alternating chapters you are brought both into the world of Hank Jr when he is a child, having just buried his Father, and treated like the puppet he was nick named after; and also the reality of his life in 1975.  The author that worked with Mr Williams on this novel, Michael Bane, was somehow able to do flash backs and flash forwards in a book without it being confusing.  You follow him through Hanks childhood and adolescence, while at he same time,  his fall from Ajax mountain, and the healing process of that ordeal.  I actually wept when reading some parts of this book, I felt chills when I read the descriptions of his life and the accident.  I read this in only a few days, was thoroughly enthralled with it the entire time, and it just made me want to listen to some Hank.

Living Proof

I can understand that this may seem like the most random list of books for someone to put together and want to read all in a couple months, but if nothing else you can always count on me to be random! What I really liked about all these books, is that I was able to take away a lesson about things in my own life from four very different sources.  There were times that I felt that Hank Willams Jr was potentially speaking just to me about the pressures of growing up to be like someone you admired, times that the struggles to gut it out Piper Kerman was thinking on were directly pointed at me and the things in my life that I am changing and evolving into.  From the ever colorful Jerry Lee Lewis, I was able to cut myself some slack for the mistakes of my past, and know that it will all work out the way its supposed to in the end; and in The Lost Girls, I remembered, and also looked forward to the rush of a new trip, a new itinerary and endless possibilities.

What are some of the Summer Reading assignments that ya’ll have given yourself, and more importantly-what will you help yourself to learn before the buzz of Fall hits us all?