It was a stretch. A BIG one. But summer reading programs have been a seasonal staple since before I could walk. (Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, according to my kids.) So when it came to summer reading 2018, I decided to aim high. My goal was to exceed last summer’s achievement: 136 books in about 90 days.

Frankly, I wasn’t sure I could do it. Neither did anyone else. Except my good dog Kimber. She thinks I can do anything. Everyone else just sort of smiled and shook their heads.

But once the school year winds down, I love how one long, sun-gilded day can glide into another, peppered with good reads. Grand adventures in books. (I’ve also slogged through more than one imbecelic political shill thinly disguised as a YA “novel.” Gag me.)

Anyway, this summer’s reading program ended August 31. My final tally: 156 books in about 90 days. Whew. In the past three months-ish I’ve read:

Biogs on: Rosa Parks, Jean Laffite, and Mark Twain. John Merrick and Harriet Tubman. Queen Victoria. Nelson Mandela. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Marco Polo. Ted Geisel. Lewis and Clark. A bunch more.

I’ve traveled by book to: China, Bolivia, Ecuador, Africa, Alaska, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Great Britain. Germany. Colombia. Russia. A motorcycle race across Europe. A deep-sea oceanographic research station. Many more.

I’ve chugged through a kaleidoscopic collection of genres, all colorful, creative, and remarkable in their own right: Dystopian. Magical realism. Creative non-fiction. Humor. Drama. Historical narrative.

Pressing toward my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 365 books in one year, I read or listened to many memorable books this summer. Short. Medium. Long.

Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

The Girl of Fire and Thorns Trilogy – Rae Carson

Time for Andrew – Mary Downing Hahn

The Jimmy Vega Detective series – Suzanne Chazin. Here’s my review of Chazin’s A Blossom of Bright Light.

Wolf by Wolf – Ryan Graudin

Thunder Rolling in the Mountains – Scott O’Dell

The Journey Back – Priscilla Cummings. Read my review.

My Family for the War – Anne Voorhoeve. See my review.

Unwind – Neal Shusterman

Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story – Mary Downing Hahn. Read my review.

The Wood – Chelsea Bobluski. Here’s my review.

Streams to the River, River to the Sea – Scott O’Dell

‘NEW’ AUTHORS OF NOTE (In no particular order. List not exhaustive.)

Suzanne Chazin

Khaled Hosseini

Toni Morrison – Here’s my review of her novel, A Mercy.

Erin Hunter

Andrew Fukuda – here’s my review of his first novel, The Hunt.

Rae Carson

Chelsea Bobulski

‘OLD FAITHFUL FAVES’:

Max Lucado, Scott O’Dell, Gary Paulsen and Sarah Sund. Also Ingrid Paulson and Richard Paul Evans. Karen Kingsbury. Debbie Macomber. And I don’t think I’ve ever met a book I didn’t like by C.W. Anderson, Walt Morey, or Maurice Sendak.

As you may know, I’ve long maintained that some of the finest stories and most gifted authors in all bookdom can be found in Children’s Literature. So I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention some favorites along these lines from this summer.

Like:

The Pilot and the Prince: The Life of Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The Boy from Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew up to Become Dr. Seuss. Also Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White.

Noteable ‘Sleepers’

These are books that took me by surprise. I usually scooped them up on a lark, looking for a quick, light read. These titles turned out to be engrossing and intriguing:

Cynthia Rylant’s Missing May. A touching story of how a young girl deals with the loss of her eldery aunt and foster mom, May. A Newbery Award Winner.

Captive of the Mountains, by Arthur D. Stapp. Hiking, mountaineering and a survival story. Young Chris must use his wits to survive following a hiking injury in the remote Olympic Mountains. Lots of recognizable sites for those familiar with Washington state and the Olympic Mountains. First published in 1952. Grabbed it off the free table at the library.

Run Far, Run Fast, by Walt Morey. A recently orphaned 16 y.o. from the wrong side of Chicago decides to ride the rails to California rather than get stuck in foster care or an orphanage. Nick Lyons meets up with “Knight of the road” “Idaho” Jamieson inside a west bound train. Trouble intervenes and Nick winds up stranded in the Pacific Northwest. Beautifully written by a master storyteller.

And…

If you keep a sharp lookout, every once in awhile you dig up an uber gem. Like a copy of a book published in 1974, signed by the author. Woo hoo!

Long story short (pun intended), I’m now at over 300 books read since January 1. (Yes, I read fast. ☺) So I’m within spitting distance of my 2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge: 365 books in one year. Still aiming high, I’m aiming to get there by Thanksgiving. With a little room to spare. I’ll keep you posted.

How’d your summer reading go?

Screen shot – Summer Reading Log, 31 August 2018