Summer reading 2011

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I’m not teaching this summer and plan to catch up on some reading. We’ll see how far I get. There’s no place in Ashland for real beach reading, but plenty of coffeeshops and other venues. My other summer projects are to learn more about video editing and InDesign. And to clean the garage, of course.

Here’s my summer reading list. What’s on your list?

Um–by Michael Erard. It’s the story of verbal slips and fillers, like “like” and “you know.”

Alcestis–Katherine Beutner’s award winning debut novel, a reimagining of Euripides tale of the Athenian good wife.

The Pink Tarantula–by Tim Wohlforth. A novel in 9 short stories, featuring his unlikely duo Crip and Henrietta.

Snotty Saves the Day–by Tod Davies. The laws of the universe revealed in fairy tales.

Dirk Quigby’s Guide to the Afterlife by E. E. King, a Zagat’s guide to the afterlives. I can’t wait–to read it.

Fast Eddie, King of the Bees by Robert Arellano. His first novel, set in dystopic future Boston.

Forgetting English–Midge Raymond’s elegant, award winning short story collection.

The Gift of El Tio–by Larry Buchanan and Karen Gans. A real life Avatar story about the discovery of thr world’s largest silver mine and fate of the Quechua people who lived above it.

Winning at Aging–John Kalb’s soon-to-be released wellness book for baby boomers. Winning would be nice, though at this point I’ll settle for a draw.

Bright-Sided–by Barbara Ehrenreich. Her critique of American optimism. I’m reading it as a complement to Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational, which I taught this year.

No Sleep Till Wonderland–by Paul Tremblay. Featuring his narcoleptic detective Mark Genevich. What could possibly go wrong?

Sudden Influence–My colleague Mike Rousell’s book about how sudden and small things change the course of our lives.

Tillamook 1952–by George Byron Wright–the 2nd in his Oregon trio about Tillamook, Baker City, and Roseburg.

The Eye: A Natural History–by Simon Ings–optics, biology and psychology for the layman.

Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style–by Mark Garvey–what goes better than grammar and obsessiveness?

Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception–by Charles Seife. He shows that it’s a lie that numbers don’t lie.

Girl Sleuth by Melanie Rehak–the tale of the women who ghost wrote the Nancy Drew series.

The Glass Rainbow–by James Lee Burke. I’m not one for delayed gratification but I’ve been saving this for the summer.

Two-bit Culture: The Paperbacking of America–by Kenneth Davis and Joanne Giusto-Davis. Time to reread this classic.