Amanda started a Summer Reading Challenge.  May 31st is the last day to sign up if you are interested.  The Challenge runs from June 1 – August 31. You decide what you’ll read and then blog about your reading. I loved the idea several participants had of reading books from their own shelves.  

I typically dish up more on my plate than I can/should ingest and that goes for reading too!  I’m doubtful that I can finish all these books in the time allotted.  And I do get sidetracked so easily, so I can only imagine what it will be like reading about all the other books in this challenge.  Here’s what’s on my summer menu:

Temperament, The Idea That Solved Music’s Greatest Riddle by Stuart Isacoff.  I list this first because it is the biggest challenge.  My esteemed friend, Dr. B., lent this to me with the hope that my enthusiasm for the book would help him get through it.  By all accounts I should love it: music and history fascinate me.  Science is my weakest area, for which I try to compensate by reading science history (i.e. Longitude).  There’s enough physics (?) in the intervals and ratios to qualify for my science book of the year.

 Here’s what Andre Watts wrote about this book: “A work of real virtuosity.  An exciting musical tour through Western civilization that reads like a thriller, filled with intrigue, discovery, jealousy, failure, and triumph.  it’s a fabulous exploration of the forces that influenced the wonderful music we hear today.”  I’ve had two false starts–it’s quite technical and if any time lapses between readings I have to go clear back to the beginning.  If I don’t make it through this summer, I’m returning the book unread. (sigh)

I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb  This is the other borrowed book on my shelf.  My friend Laura highly recommended it after I told her how much I appreciated The Kite Runner.  “It’s different, but it has the same tone,” was her description.  I know nothing else about it.

The Summer of My Great-Grandmother and The Irrational Season by Madeleine l’Engle.  I read A Circle of Quiet last summer, so I’m eager to keep reading the Crosswicks Journal.  l’Engle frames life’s situations in a wonderful way; she challenges my thinking.  Her prose is plain glorious.  I have three dear friends dealing with older moms: I hope that I might gain some insight to pass along to them.

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, translated by William Griffin. Ever since I heard George Grant talk about Gerard Groote several years back, I have been eager to read this.  Groote started the Brethren of the Common Life communities/schools.  Much of  a Kempis’ work is the transliteration of Groote’s sermons.  Griffin’s shimmering translation makes me drool.  Here’s a random excerpt: “Who cares whether praise or blame is raining on your soul when tranquility is puddling in your heart?”  I will be back to write about this book, oh yeah!

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard.   This falls into the category I-should’ve-read-this-before-now, I-don’t-know-why-I-haven’t.    Friends have sung this book’s praises for many years and I read quotes by Dillard often.  It looks promising.  And it’s been on my shelf for several years…

The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton.  Here’s the thing: I need to read Chesterton at least once a year.  I enjoy the Father Brown books. I have a partially read copy of Orthodoxy but this shorter book is on my shelf and seems manageable for this summer. 

The Tolkien Reader by J.R.R. Tolkien.  This is a small paperback that has stories, poems and commentaries by Tolkien.  I have a solo plane trip ahead and this seems the perfect book to read on a plane and in an airport.  Again, it’s manageable.

Every Living Thing by James Herriot.  I picked this up at a book sale.  When DH and I were first married we read through the earlier books of this series aloud before we went to sleep.  I remember laughing, crying, giggling, shaking my head as those lovely stories provided a fitting benediction to the day.  A few years back we read through his dog stories with our youngest son.  It was the first year with only one kid at home and the stories were a welcome way to end the day.

What’s missing:  I have several books for homeschooling that I’ll need to read through the summer that aren’t on the list.  They are just a given.  I really like to read a Dickens and an Austen every year, but it looks like that gratification will have to be delayed until the fall.  And a new Mma Romatswe book should be out soon – I will not be able to pass that up.  All in all, I’m pretty excited about the books ahead! 

Do you have a book you’d like to read this summer?