Today Show's Sizzling Summer Reads

As an English teacher and a general book freak I am always on the lookout for great book recommendations--especially for the summer (albeit short). I was watching the Today Show's weekend edition this morning and they did their Sizzling Top Ten Summer Reads. I wanted to share them with you. I have included the Today Show's summaries and added my thoughts in purple below the summary.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Hosseini's first novel, The Kite Runner, spent more than 105 weeks on the Times list and has editions published in thirty-four countries to date. In his second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, he takes us back to Afghanistan as he entwines the lives of his characters with the devastating events from the 1970's to the present. His characters guide us through the communist revolution, the Soviet occupation, the civil war under the mujahideen, the terrifying reign of the Taliban, the American invasion after 9/11, and the reconstruction since that time. It is a story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship and an indestructible love.

Hooray! I was waiting for his next novel. The Kite Runner was such a beautifully written novel that I was wondering if his writing style would be sustained through another work. I have high hopes that he will blow me away with this one as he did with the other.

The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants author delivers her first novel for adults in this summer read. It is the story of a beach-community friendship triangle among three young adults. Brashares takes us the town of Waterby, on Fire Island, and reminds us of the complexities that can arise when female friendship and young love all strike the same small group. Her plot twists carry us through the sting of friendship, the great ache of loss, and the complicated weight of family loyalty.

This intrigues me. She is mostly known for young adult works. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was a good story, but her style wasn't geared towards adults. I am interested to see if she can make the transition from young adult to actual adult fiction.

Drop Dead Beautiful by Jackie Collins
This is the 25th novel for bestselling author Jackie Collins. All 24 of her previous books have been New York Times bestsellers and many have been the basis for film or television miniseries. Collins is known for giving her readers an unrivaled insiders knowledge of the glamorous lives and loves of the rich and famous. In her newest novel, out June 26th, she re-introduces her readers to Lucky Santangelo, last seen in 1999's Dangerous Kiss. Lucky is proof that it's not always easy being rich, gorgeous, successful and a happily married mom, but Mafia princess turned Hollywood producer and real estate mogul again proves she is up to the challenge.

I will admit I have never read a Jackie Collins novel. I am not sure I will run out and get this--nothing against Jackie Collins--I just don't find the lives of the rich and famous all that interesting. It would be the last on my list of books to grab this summer. Now, if I stumble upon it and I can read it for free I may.

I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle
From the pen of a former Emmy award-winning writer and supervising producer of the The Simpsons, this book is an account of the 17 hours that take place after Denis Cooverman stands up to give his graduation speech, but instead uses the opportunity to announce his love for Beth Cooper. Beth, the head cheerleader, has only the vaguest idea who Denis is, but this homage to and deconstruction of classic teen movies reminds us all that we all once knew or were a "Beth" and a "Denis".

I will say that the fact this is written by one of the guys who did The Simpsons pushes me away from this one a little, but the concept is totally original. According to the guy who reviewed this on the Today Show, they get locked in the gym during graduation and that's when Denis proclaims his love. I will most likely check this one out due to the that fact that I feel I can relate to Denis: who hasn't had unrequited love?

A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans
Fitted somewhere between horror and psychological drama, Evans' first novel explores the notions of demons - how real they are and how real we are able to make them. The novel opens in a New York therapist's office, where thirty-year-old George Davies is seeking help for a unique problem: He can't bring himself to hold his newborn son. Desperate to save his dwindling marriage and redeem himself as a father and a husband, George begins to delve into his childhood memories. From there readers become immersed in a world of demonology and subsequently themes of religion, psychology, and medieval history.

This will most likely be one of the first novels I read this summer. The reviewed said that Stephen King fans will love this book because it deals with psychological thriller themes. I am hoping that this novel is as good as the summary sounds.

Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon
Set in rural Vermont, Promise Not to Tell is Jennifer McMahon's chilling debut novel about a woman whose past and present collide when she returns to her small hometown to care for her aging mother on the same night a young girl is killed. The crime mirrors the murder of her childhood best friend who had been murdered in the Vermont woods thirty years earlier. The similarities of the crimes draw the stories protagonist, Kate, into the new investigation as she begins to realize old friends were never quite what they seemed, and the ghosts of her childhood are far from forgotten.

The plot seems a little redone (I think It by Stephen King anytime you deal with childhood trauma, etc.) Still, if McMahon can find a way to make the plot fresh this novel has great promise.

The Accidental by Ali Smith
Smith's last book, Hotel World, was the winner of the Whitbread Award for Best Novel and a Man Booker Prize Finalist. In her latest novel, Smith introduces her readers to Heather O'Neill, who plays Amber, a mysterious stranger who wangles her way into the lives of a vacationing English family spending the summer in a remote cottage. Her "accidental" encounter transforms the lives of four variously unhappy people. However, after a disturbing event, Amber is compelled to leave. The family is left to re-evaluate who they are post-Amber and to decide how to live with the changes she has brought about in them.

First, as an English teacher I have problems with the fact that accidental has no noun to refer to--it is an adjective, after all. That aside, the novel looks to be somewhat interesting. I am hoping it is not predictable or dry. Although it seems it could have a good plot, something tells me that I may walk away let down. Maybe not-who knows?

Damage Control: Women on the Therapists, Beauticians and Trainers who Navigate Their Bodies Various Authors Edited by: Emma Forrest
Traditionally, women share their secrets with their hairdressers. But what about their manicurists, masseurs, chi gong teachers, and tattoo artists? In Damage Control, women wax poetic about the experts and gurus who help them love themselves, sharing stories of everything from friendships born in the make-up chair to the utter dismay of a truly horrible haircut. In this book Minnie Driver finally meets a Frenchman who understands her hair . . . and tries to teach her not to hate it, Marian Keyes remembers the blow-dry that pushed her over the edge, Francesca Lia Block tells the ugly story of the plastic surgeon who promised to make her beautiful, and Rose McGowan explains why it's harder to be depressed when you're glamorous . . . and shows how it takes a village to transform from mere mortal to movie star.

Um...who cares? I guess I can't say that--many people are interested in what celebs think--I will not be reading this novel (er, book) this summer. Why? Because everyone has had a bad haircut (I once cut mine so short it looked like a boy's...and then I permed my bangs. That was a dark time for me), bad hairstyling experience (when I was a senior in high school I went to get my hair chemically straightened and the lady left the solution on too long and made my hair the consistency of straw)...and everyone has made friends in odd places (one of my best friends is my brother's ex-girlfriend). If celeb gossip is for you then I guess you would like this book--I just don't think it would be for me.

Poolside by Various Authors
A waterproof collection of fourteen stories about the satisfactions (and tribulations) of learning to swim, making huge splashes, and just floating, among other aquatic pursuits. The book includes stories from bestselling and highly regarded authors including: John Cheever, Ernest Hemingway, John Updike, A.M. Holmes, Amy Bloom and David Foster Wallace. You can read it by the pool, in the pool, or even in the bathtub.

Amazing! A waterproof book. How often have I been in the tub and accidentally gotten my book wet? More times than I can count. And this book is really waterproof--they had it in a baby pool on the Today Show and they fished it out and it was fine. This book may be worth getting just to repeatedly throw it into the water to amaze your friends!

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
McEwan is the author of two collections of stories and ten previous novels, including Enduring Love, Atonement, Saturday and Amsterdam, for which he won the Booker Prize for in 1998. His newest book is set in July of 1962. Florence is a talented musician who dreams of a career on the concert stage and of the perfect life she will create with Edward, an earnest young history student at University College of London, who unexpectedly wooed and won her heart. Newly married that morning, both virgins, Edward and Florence arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their worries about the wedding night to come. Edward, eager for rapture, frets over Florence's response to his advances and nurses a private fear of failure, while Florence's anxieties run deeper: she is overcome by sheer disgust at the idea of physical contact, but dreads disappointing her husband when they finally lie down together in the honeymoon suite. On Chesil Beach is a story of lives transformed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken.

A virgin bride and groom? What a new concept! Novels this day and age have everyone sleeping with everyone else--what a change to have the two main characters be a little different. Granted, it is 1962, but still...I think I will check this one out.

There you have it--The Today Show's list. How many can you read this summer? Or, if you have read a few, what did you think? Let me know.