Getting Unstuck: Summer Reading List

I've drafted my Summer Reading List. It's not final. It's not laminated. It's a work in progress. Because the thing is, you have to leave some room for the possibility that when you open the book up and start reading, you just might totally HATE the story (er... think that it's not quite right for you) and want to stop and move on to the next book in the list. Also now that all of you have been emailing and posting your own summer reading lists, I'm finding out about books I didn't even KNOW existed – and wanting to add them to my own list. I may need to quit my job to make more time for reading.

Disclaimer: These are not all new books. Actually, many are books that I have wanted to read for years but never got around to, but thanks to BookMooch, I have now acquired them and they are all sitting in a pile in my office, waiting to be read. So please don't laugh at me when I divulge some of the books that NO, I HAVE NOT READ and YES I REALIZE I MAY BE THE ONLY PERSON ALIVE TO HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK YET. I'm just going to pretend they're new books though. I'm going to synch my iPod accordingly so that I feel like I'm reading the book in the moment. Feel free to do the same. Donning stirrup pants or feathering your hair is not required.

1. The book that would've kicked off my summer reading list, had I not read an ARC of it, would've been Emily Giffin's Love the One You're With.

2008 iPod song: "Violet Hill", Coldplay

Note: If you haven't read it, you have to pick it up. If you've loved her other books, you will love this one even more than you thought possible. Or maybe you won't. I'm not going to tell you how to feel. If you do love Emily though, she's coming to Toronto! She'll be signing books at BookExpo Canada the weekend of July 14 & 15. You have to be a bookseller or an author or have something to do with the book industry to go to this, but stay tuned -- because maybe she'll also be doing a signing at Indigo while she's here? If she does, I'll post it.

2.. Jane Hamilton: Disobedience

2000 iPod song: "What a Girl Wants", Christina Aguilera

3. Nick Hornby: A Long Way Down

2005 iPod song: "Hollaback Girl", Gwen Stefani

4. Alice Sebold: The Lovely Bones

2002 iPod song: "How You Remind Me", Nickelback

Note: I know, I know. Everyone's read this and raved about it so why haven't I read it? I don't know. See the disclaimer. I warned you.

5. Mark Haddon: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

2003 iPod song: "I Miss You," Blink-182

Note: We'll see if I read this in a day.

6. Carson McCullers: The Member of The Wedding

1946 iPod song: "The Girl That I Marry," Frank Sinatra

Note: Ditto on the comments. PS: Carson McCullers is actually a woman. Her life is fascinating (both she and her first husband had gay affairs); her second husband committed suicide; she was close friends with both Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote...

7. Heather O'Neill: Lullabies for Little Criminals